Malmöhus

The shipyard wanted to do the test run as quickly as possible so it could deliver the ship and get paid. Painting on the inside had just been completed, and the windows in the aft saloon stood open to speed up the drying process. The doors were locked and the key was still at the shipyard.

During the test run, the ship rose as it travelled ahead at full speed. Something was also happening inside the locked aft saloon. The locked door had to be pried open, and it turned out that the rise was causing water to gush in through the open windows. It was already so high now that the ship was about to sink.

Some of the people on board rescued themselves in a small lifeboat. The regular larger lifeboats were not on board during the test run. From the lifeboat they could witness how Malmöhus raised its bow out of the water, only to swiftly sink. Nine people were killed.

The shipwreck was a huge loss for the shipyard. The ship was not insured, and the yard lost 120,000 kronor, an enormous sum at the time.

In the late 1970s, Malmöhus was rediscovered at a depth of 39 metres by a group of divers from Oskarshamn. Even on the first dive, they could see that the windows in the aft saloon were still ajar.