MS Estonia MS Estonia  was a cruiseferry built in 1980 at the West German shipyard Meyer Werft in Papenburg.   was a cruiseferry built in 1980 at the West German shipyard Meyer Werft in Papenburg. 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.