MS Estonia was a cruiseferry built in 1980 for the Finnish shipping company Rederi Ab Sally by Meyer Werft, in Papenburg, West Germany.

The ship's sinking on 28 September 1994, in the Baltic Sea between Sweden, Finland and Estonia, was one of the worst peacetime maritime disasters of the 20th century, claiming 852 lives.

An official inquiry found that failure of the locks on the bow visor caused water to flood the car deck and quickly capsize the ship.

Meyer Werft had constructed a large number of ships for various Viking Line partner companies during the 1970s.

[4][6][8] Viking Sally was chartered to Rederi AB Slite to continue on her current traffic for the next three years.

The following spring Silja Star began her service with Wasa Line, another company owned by EffJohn.

Her name was changed to Wasa King and she served on routes connecting Vaasa, Finland to Umeå and Sundsvall in Sweden.

[4][6] It has been reported that the Wasa King was widely considered to be the best behaving ship in rough weather to have sailed from Vaasa.

[4][6] As the largest Estonian-owned ship of the time, the Estonia symbolized the independence that her namesake regained after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The report criticised primarily the ship's construction, as well as the passive attitude of the crew, failing to notice that water was entering the vehicle deck, delaying the alarm, and providing minimal guidance from the bridge.