M/S Herald of Free Enterprise
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M/S Herald of Free Enterprise was a roll-on roll-off (RORO) car and passenger ferry that sank on March 6, 1987, killing 193 passengers. There was civil negligence by the crew and company operating the ship. Controversy emerged over whether there was criminal negligence sufficient to justify a charge of manslaughter.
The ferry was built by Schichau-Unterweser AG in Bremerhaven, Germany in 1980 and owned by Townsend Thoresen, and had two sister ships: Pride of Free Enterprise and ''Spirit of Free Enterprise. She worked the English Channel ferry routes between Dover and Calais, and Dover and Zeebrugge.
The Disaster:
Being a RORO, the Herald had doors at both the bow and stern. In the early evening of March 6 1987 she capsized in the approaches to the Belgian port of Zeebrugge en route to Dover, England. When the ferry left port, not all the water had been pumped out of the bow ballast tanks, leaving the ship three feet (90 cm) down at the bow. This ballast was necessary to enable the ship to dock with the Zeebrugge linkspan in some tidal conditions (Dover-Zeebrugge was not her usual route). However, the main cause of the tragedy was the failure to close the bow door and, when the ferry had reached 18 knots (33 km/h), large quantities of water started to enter the car deck, destroying her stability and causing her to capsize within seconds.
The ship had a crew of 80 and was carrying 459 passengers, 81 cars, 3 buses, and 47 trucks. She capsized about 90 seconds after leaving the harbour, ending on her side half-submerged in shallow water just 100 yards (90 m) from the shore. Only a fortuitous turn to starboard in her last moments, and then capsizing onto a sandbar, prevented the ship from sinking entirely in much deeper water.
The disaster resulted in the death of 193 people. Many of those on board had taken advantage of a promotion in The Sun newspaper for cheap trips to the continent. Most of the victims were trapped inside the ship and succumbed to hypothermia because of the frigid (3 °C) water. It was not until the end of April 1987 that the ferry was refloated. The disaster brought the highest death toll of any British vessel in peacetime since the sinking of the Iolaire in 1919.
The Inquiry:
After a public inquiry into the sinking in July 1987, Britain's Lord Justice Sheen published a report that castigated Townsend Thoresen, the ship's owners as part of the P&O Group, and identified a "disease of sloppiness" and negligence at every level of the corporation's hierarchy. It was confirmed that the ferry left port with her bow doors open and the extra ballast still in her tanks. Water began flowing onto the car deck and the vessel quickly became unstable. In October 1987, a coroner's inquest jury into the capsizing returned verdicts of unlawful killing. Many of the individuals involved at the company were prosecuted for manslaughter, as was the operating company, P&O Ferries (Dover) Ltd. (for a discussion of the legal issues, see corporate manslaughter). The disaster was one of a number that influenced thinking leading to the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998.
The Aftermath:
A few scenes of the disaster videotaped live by the media were used by film director Krzysztof Kieślowski as part of the conclusion of his film Three Colours: Red that bound together the Three Colors trilogy.
In Britain, a group named Ferry Aid released a charity record.
Following the sinking, the Herald was raised and renamed "Flushing Range" for a final one-way trip to Alang, India, where she was broken up in 1988. Her two sister ships are still operational, though the ex-Spirit of Free Enterprise was extended to increase her cargo capacity during her time under the P&O flag in a process commonly described as jumboisation. The Pride of Free Enterprise is still more or less as built.
The Right Hon Nicholas Ridley MP, a government minister at the time, was criticised a few days later for his entirely crass remarks on an unrelated subject. He was quoted as saying that in pursuing a particular policy he would, however, not be sailing with his bow doors open. He did apologise for this.
See also
- MV Princess Victoria, a similar ferry disaster in 1953
- Estonia, a similar ferry disaster in 1994
- MV Tricolor, an automobile cargo ship which sank nearby in 2002
- Al-Salam Boccaccio 98, which sank in early February 2006
- List of United Kingdom disasters by death toll
External links
- [Hundreds trapped as car ferry capsizes] (BBC News)
- [Zeebrugge disaster was no accident] (BBC News)
- [The Ferry Site] (A privately-owned site with information on the Herald and her sister ships)
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