On the night of 13 January 1993, the ferry 'Jan Heweliusz' sailed from the port of Świnoujście in Poland to Ystad in Sweden two hours late.
Difficult weather conditions had been reported prior to the voyage and the crew knew they were in for a difficult night at sea. No one, however, could have predicted that the challenging crossing would turn out to be the biggest peacetime maritime tragedy in the country's history.
