List of shipwrecks in 1981

The list of shipwrecks in 1981 includes all ships sunk, foundered, grounded, or otherwise lost during 1981.

table of contents

1981
Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr
May	Jun	Jul	Aug
Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Unknown date

January

7 January

List of shipwrecks: 7 January 1981

Ship	Country	Description
José Martin	Soviet Union	The tanker ran aground off Dalarö, Sweden.

26 January

List of shipwrecks: 26 January 1981

Ship	Country	Description
Deifovos	Greece	The cargo ship sank off Vega, Norway, with the loss of nine of her 37 crew.

27 January

List of shipwrecks: 27 January 1981

Ship	Country	Description
Tampomas II	Indonesia	The ferry caught fire and sank in a storm in the Java Sea 500 nautical miles (930 km) north east of Java. She was carrying a 1,136 people, of whom 762 were reported to have been rescued.

30 January

List of shipwrecks: 30 January 1981

Ship	Country	Description
Ems	West Germany	The cargo ship sank after collision with Undine (Belgium) off Happisburgh, England (52°55′N 1°37′E). Six crew rescued by Undine and taken to Vlissingen, Netherlands. Thirteen others rescued by helicopter and taken to Great Yarmouth. Four crew were killed.
Frederika 1	West Germany	The cargo ship sank after colliding with Blackthorn (United Kingdom) in the River Thames at Greenwich. All five crew were rescued by the tug Redriff (United Kingdom).

Unknown date

List of shipwrecks: unknown date January 1981

Ship	Country	Description
MV Golden Princess	Greece	The passenger ship sank in a storm while laid up at Perama, Greece.

February

6 February

List of shipwrecks: 6 February 1981

Ship	Country	Description
Nellie M	United Kingdom	The Troubles: sunk at Lough Foyle after being boarded and bombed by an IRA team, raised and refitted in 1982, sold to an Irish company and renamed Ellie (Republic of Ireland).

8 February

List of shipwrecks: 8 February 1981

Ship	Country	Description
Burgundia	Panama	Burgundia. The coaster was driven ashore at Castlerock, County Londonderry, United Kingdom. She later caught fire and was declared a constructive total loss and consequently scrapped. Burgundia was on a voyage from Coleraine, County Londonderry to Portugal.

13 February

List of shipwrecks: 13 February 1981

Ship	Country	Description
Eastern Mariner I	Panama	The cargo ship was damaged in a storm, and sank three days later east of Bermuda (32°19.36′N 64°31.30′W).

19 February

List of shipwrecks: 19 February 1981

Ship	Country	Description
Akra Aktion	Greece	Ran aground off Mangalia, Romania and sank.

26 February

List of shipwrecks: 26 February 1981

Ship	Country	Description
USS Glennon	United States Navy	The Gearing-class destroyer was sunk as a target off Puerto Rico.

March

8 March

List of shipwrecks: 8 March 1981

Ship	Country	Description
Mezada	Israel	The cargo ship sank in rough seas approximately 100 nautical miles (190 km) southeast of Bermuda. Eleven of 35 crew rescued.

25 March

List of shipwrecks: 25 March 1981

Ship	Country	Description
Rio Bravo	Greece	The cargo ship caught fire and sank 600 nautical miles (1,100 km) south west of the Azores. All 27 crew rescued.

April

9 April

List of shipwrecks: 9 April 1981

Ship	Country	Description
Nisho Maru	Japan	The ballistic missile submarine USS George Washington (United States Navy) surfaced underneath the cargo ship, sinking her with the loss of two of her crew.

May

20 May

List of shipwrecks: 20 May 1981

Ship	Country	Description
Alkmini	Greece	The cargo ship collided with Duro Seis (Spain) in the English Channel and sank. All 28 people on board were rescued by helicopter and taken to Cherbourg, France.

June

1 June

List of shipwrecks: 1 June 1981

Ship	Country	Description
Reina del Mar	Greece	scuttled off Kynosoura, Greece.

15 June

List of shipwrecks: 15 June 1981

Ship	Country	Description
Charity	Netherlands	She collided with Good Captain (Greece) and sank 15 nautical miles (28 km) off Pantellaria Islands, Italy.

July

3 July

List of shipwrecks: 3 July 1981

Ship	Country	Description
Arctic Explorer	Canada	the icebreaker sank off St. Anthony, Newfoundland and Labrador. Thirteen of her 32 crew were killed.

12 July

List of shipwrecks: 12 July 1981

Ship	Country	Description
USNS Wheeling	United States Navy	The inactivated Wheeling-class missile range instrumentation ship was sunk as a target by Harpoon missiles.

27 July

List of shipwrecks: 27 July 1981

Ship	Country	Description
Sir Winston Churchill	United Kingdom	The schooner ran aground 4 nautical miles (7.4 km) off Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. Later refloated and returned to service.

August

3 August

List of shipwrecks: 3 August 1981

Ship	Country	Description
Prince Ivanhoe	United Kingdom	The former ferry struck a rock and sank at Horton, Swansea. All 450 on board rescued but one passenger suffered a heart attack and died.
Melpo Lemos	Greece	The tanker ran aground on the Lepe Bank, in the Solent off Southampton, United Kingdom. She was refloated the next day.

September

13 September

List of shipwrecks: 13 September 1981

Ship	Country	Description
HMS Rapid	Royal Navy	The decommissioned Q and R-class destroyer was sunk as a torpedo target in the Western Approaches by the submarine HMS Onyx (Royal Navy).

19 September

List of shipwrecks: 19 September 1981

Ship	Country	Description
Sobral Santos II	Brazil	The ferry sank in the harbour of Óbidos, Pará with the loss of an unknown number of people. Estimates range from 50 to 300

20 September

List of shipwrecks: 20 September 1981

Ship	Country	Description
Tungufoss	Iceland	The coaster sank in a storm 4 nautical miles (7.4 km) off Land's End, Cornwall, United Kingdom. All of the crew were rescued, either, by helicopter from RNAS Culdrose or the Sennen Cove lifeboat.

21 September

List of shipwrecks: 21 September 1981

Ship	Country	Description
BRP Datu Kalantiaw	Philippine Navy	BRP Datu Kalantiaw. Typhoon Clara: The Cannon-class destroyer escort was driven ashore on Calayan Island with the loss of 79 of her 97 crew.

24 September

List of shipwrecks: 24 September 1981

Ship	Country	Description
MV Dimitris	Greece	The 963 grt freighter (formerly known as MV Harrogate of Associated Humber Lines) flooded, foundered and was lost

Unknown date

List of shipwrecks: unknown date 1981

Ship	Country	Description
Chrisoula K	Greece	Ran aground on the Sha`b Abu Nuhas reef and later sank.

October

21 October

List of shipwrecks: 21 October 1981

Ship	Country	Description
S-178	Soviet Navy	The Whiskey-class submarine was rammed and sunk by Refrizkerator-13 (Soviet Union) in Golden Horn Bay. Thirty-one of her crew were killed.

28 October

List of shipwrecks: 28 October 1981

Ship	Country	Description
S-363	Soviet Navy	The Whiskey-class submarine ran aground off Karlskrona, Sweden and was damaged. After a diplomatic incident and military standoff, the submarine was refloated on 5 November and towed into international waters for handover to the Soviet Navy.

31 October

List of shipwrecks: 31 October 1981

Ship	Country	Description
Temple Hall	Greece	Temple Hall, February 2008 The cargo ship was beached at Arrecife, Canary Islands after developing a leak. The stern section of the ship survives as of February 2014.

November

15 November

List of shipwrecks: 15 November 1981

Ship	Country	Description
USS Charles R. Ware	United States Navy	The decommissioned Gearing-class destroyer was sunk as a target in the Caribbean.

26 November

List of shipwrecks: 26 November 1981

Ship	Country	Description
Globe Asimi	Gibraltar	The tanker ran aground at Klaipeda, Lithuania and broke in two.

27 November

List of shipwrecks: 27 November 1981

Ship	Country	Description
Elma Tres	West Germany	The cargo ship foundered 215 nautical miles (398 km) west of Hamilton, Bermuda with the loss of all but one of her 24 crew.
Euro Princess	Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia	The cargo ship ran aground off Sable Island, Nova Scotia, Canada. All 26 crew rescued by helicopter.

December

13 December

List of shipwrecks: 13 December 1981

Ship	Country	Description
Bonita	Ecuador	The freighter capsized by two massive waves 40 miles north of Guernsey while on voyage from Hamburg to Panama with fertiliser. One member of crew lost, the rest saved by navy helicopter and St Peter’s Lifeboat, Sir William Arnold.

14 December

List of shipwrecks: 14 December 1981

Ship	Country	Description
Grain Ville	United Kingdom	The cargo ship foundered off County Wexford, Ireland. Five of her nine crew were rescued.

19 December

List of shipwrecks: 19 December 1981

Ship	Country	Description
Mark	Panama	The coaster was lost in Mount's Bay, Cornwall while bound for Spezia, Spain with a cargo of china clay from Teignmouth. All six of her crew were lost and the wreck has never been found.
Lifeboat Solomon Browne	Royal National Lifeboat Institution	The lifeboat was lost while attempting to rescue the crew of the Union Star (Republic of Ireland) off Tater Du, Cornwall. Eight crew lost from each vessel.

23 December

List of shipwrecks: 23 December 1981

Ship	Country	Description
Dimitrios	Greece	Dimitrios The laid-up cargo ship was swept from her offshore anchorage by a storm and wrecked on the beach at Valtaki, near Gythio, Greece.

30 December

List of shipwrecks: 30 December 1981

Ship	Country	Description
Marina di Equa	Italy	The bulk carrier sank in the Bay of Biscay with the loss of all thirty crew.

Unknown date

List of shipwrecks: Unknown date 1981

Ship	Country	Description
Aurore		The fishing trawler, a former yacht, sank in the D'Entrecasteaux Channel after sriking an unidentified object. she was later refloated and restored to her original configuration as a yacht.
Holland XXIV	Netherlands	The dredger was beached at Cleveleys.
J. P. Webb	Australia	The hopper barge sank off Port Lillias.
USS Ozark	United States Navy	USS Ozark sinking Serving as a target ship, the decommissioned mine countermeasures support ship sank in the Gulf of Mexico 28 to 30 miles (45 to 48 km) due south of Destin, Florida, the day after being hit by a Maverick missile fired by a United States Air Force F-4 Phantom II from Eglin Air Force Base, Florida.