Mikhail Lermontov sinking

The 155m-long Russian cruise ship Mikhail Lermontov has lain on the sea floor at Cape Jackson at a depth of about 50m since the night of February 16, 1986, when it struck a rock in Port Gore Inlet and sank.

Of the more than 700 passengers and crew on the 15-year-old vessel, only one crew member died.

For reasons that remain unclear, Picton pilot and acting harbourmaster Captain Don Jamison took the 20,000-tonne Lermontov through a passage never before used by ships of its size. Mr Jamison was not charged.

Documents relating to the disaster are sealed in the National Archives.