MS ''Herald of Free Enterprise'' was a
roll-on/roll-off
Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels or using ...
(RORO) ferry which capsized moments after leaving the Belgian
port of Zeebrugge
The Port of Zeebrugge (also referred to as the Port of Bruges or Bruges Seaport) is a large container, bulk cargo, new vehicles and passenger ferry terminal port on the North Sea. The port is located in the municipality of Bruges, West Flanders ...
on the night of 6 March 1987, killing 193 passengers and crew.
The eight-deck car and passenger ferry was owned by
Townsend Thoresen, designed for rapid loading and unloading on the competitive cross-channel route. As was common at the time, it was built with no
watertight compartments
Floodability is the susceptibility of a ship's construction to flooding. It also refers to the ability to intentionally flood certain areas of the hull for damage control purposes, or to increase stability, which is particularly important in comb ...
. The ship left harbour with her bow door open, and the sea immediately flooded the decks; within minutes, she was lying on her side in shallow water. The immediate cause of the capsizing was found to be negligence by the assistant
boatswain
A boatswain ( , ), bo's'n, bos'n, or bosun, also known as a deck boss, or a qualified member of the deck department, is the most senior rate of the deck department and is responsible for the components of a ship's hull. The boatswain supervi ...
, who was asleep in his cabin when he should have been closing the bow door. However, the official inquiry placed more blame on his supervisors and a general culture of poor communication in Townsend Thoresen. The vessel was salvaged, put up for sale, and sold to Naviera SA Kingstown on 30 September 1987, renamed ''Flushing Range''. It was taken to Taiwan on 22 March 1988 to be scrapped.
Since the disaster, improvements have been made to the design of RORO vessels, with watertight ramps, indicators showing the position of the bow doors, and banning of undivided decks.
Design and construction
In the late 1970s,
Townsend Thoresen commissioned the design and construction of three new identical ships for its
Dover
Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...
–
Calais
Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's prefecture is its third-largest city of Arras. Th ...
route for delivery from 1980. The ships were branded the ''Spirit''-class, and were named:
''Spirit of Free Enterprise'', ''Herald of Free Enterprise'', and
''Pride of Free Enterprise''. The name "Free Enterprise" dates from Townsend Car Ferries' pioneering private sector roll-on/roll-off ferries, introduced in 1962. ''Herald of Free Enterprise'' began active service on 29 May 1980.
To remain competitive with other ferry operators on the route, Townsend Thoresen required ships designed to permit fast loading and unloading and quick acceleration. The ships comprised eight decks numbered A to H from top to bottom, which contained the following:
* A-deck: crew accommodation and radio room
* Half deck (between A and B decks) wheelhouse (bridge)
* B-deck: passenger areas, crew accommodation and galley
* C-deck: passenger areas and galley
* D-deck: suspended vehicle deck within E deck
* E-deck: upper vehicle deck
* F-deck: crew accommodation (port and starboard)
* G-deck: main vehicle deck
* H-deck: engine rooms, stores and passenger accommodation at the forward end.
Loading of vehicles onto G deck was through watertight doors at the
bow and
stern
The stern is the back or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite the bow, the foremost part of a ship. Ori ...
. The
wheel house was positioned at the forward end, and the ship had clam shell doors rather than raising a visor door, making it difficult to see the bow doors. Loading of vehicles onto E deck and D deck was through a weathertight door at the bow and an open portal at the stern. Vehicles could be loaded and unloaded onto E and G decks simultaneously, using double-deck
linkspan
A linkspan or link-span is a type of drawbridge used mainly in the operation of moving vehicles on and off a roll-on/roll-off (RO-RO) vessel or ferry, particularly to allow for tidal changes in water level.
Linkspans are usually found at ferry t ...
s in use at Dover and Calais.
The ships were constructed by
Schichau-Unterweser AG in
Bremerhaven
Bremerhaven (, , Low German: ''Bremerhoben'') is a city at the seaport of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, a state of the Federal Republic of Germany.
It forms a semi-enclave in the state of Lower Saxony and is located at the mouth of the Riv ...
, Germany. Propulsive power was by means of three 12-cylinder Sulzer medium-speed diesel engines driving variable-pitch propellers. The vehicle deck bow doors were constructed by
Cargospeed,
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
, Scotland.
Accident of March 1987
Background
On the day the ferry capsized, ''Herald of Free Enterprise'' was working the route between
Dover
Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...
and the
Belgian
Belgian may refer to:
* Something of, or related to, Belgium
* Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent
* Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German
*Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...
port of Zeebrugge
The Port of Zeebrugge (also referred to as the Port of Bruges or Bruges Seaport) is a large container, bulk cargo, new vehicles and passenger ferry terminal port on the North Sea. The port is located in the municipality of Bruges, West Flanders ...
. This was not her normal route and the
linkspan
A linkspan or link-span is a type of drawbridge used mainly in the operation of moving vehicles on and off a roll-on/roll-off (RO-RO) vessel or ferry, particularly to allow for tidal changes in water level.
Linkspans are usually found at ferry t ...
at Zeebrugge had not been designed specifically for the ''Spirit''-class vessels: it used a single deck, preventing the simultaneous loading of both E and G decks, and the ramp could not be raised high enough to reach E deck.
To compensate for this, the vessel's bow ballast tanks were filled.
The ship's natural trim was not restored after loading.
Had ''Herald of Free Enterprise'' survived, she would have been modified to remove the need for this procedure.
[Robins, Nick (1995) ''The evolution of the British ferry'', Kilgetty : Ferry, , p. 89]
It was normal practice for the assistant
boatswain
A boatswain ( , ), bo's'n, bos'n, or bosun, also known as a deck boss, or a qualified member of the deck department, is the most senior rate of the deck department and is responsible for the components of a ship's hull. The boatswain supervi ...
to close the doors before moorings were dropped. However, the assistant boatswain, Mark Stanley, had returned to his cabin for a short break after cleaning the car deck upon arrival, and was still asleep when the harbour-stations call sounded and the ship dropped her moorings.
[Wittingham, ''The Blame Machine'', p. 120] The first officer, Leslie Sabel, was required to stay on deck to make sure the doors were closed. Sabel said he thought he saw Stanley approaching. He was seriously injured in the disaster and the court concluded that his evidence was inaccurate. It is believed that, under pressure to get to his harbour station on the bridge, he had left G deck with the bow doors open in the expectation that Stanley would arrive shortly.
The court also described the attitude of boatswain Terence Ayling, believed to have been the last person on G deck.
Asked why he did not close the doors given there was no one else there to do it, he said it was not his duty. The court nevertheless praised his work in the rescue.
Captain David Lewry assumed that the doors had been closed since he could not see them from the wheelhouse owing to the ship's design, and had no indicator lights in the wheelhouse.
Capsizing
The ship left her berth in Zeebrugge inner harbour at 18:05 (GMT) with a crew of 80 and carrying 459 passengers, 81 cars, three buses and 47 trucks. She passed the outer
mole
Mole (or Molé) may refer to:
Animals
* Mole (animal) or "true mole", mammals in the family Talpidae, found in Eurasia and North America
* Golden moles, southern African mammals in the family Chrysochloridae, similar to but unrelated to Talpida ...
at 18:24 (GMT) and capsized about four minutes later. When the ferry reached 90 seconds after leaving the harbour, water began to enter the car deck in large quantities. The resulting
free surface effect
The free surface effect is a mechanism which can cause a watercraft to become unstable and capsize.
It refers to the tendency of liquids — and of unbound aggregates of small solid objects, like seeds, gravel, or crushed ore, whose behavior ap ...
destroyed her
stability
Stability may refer to:
Mathematics
*Stability theory, the study of the stability of solutions to differential equations and dynamical systems
** Asymptotic stability
** Linear stability
** Lyapunov stability
** Orbital stability
** Structural sta ...
.
[ In a matter of seconds, the ship began to ]list
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby union ...
30 degrees to port
A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...
. The ship briefly righted herself before listing to port once more, this time capsizing
Capsizing or keeling over occurs when a boat or ship is rolled on its side or further by wave action, instability or wind force beyond the angle of positive static stability or it is upside down in the water. The act of recovering a vessel fro ...
.[ The entire event took place within 90 seconds.][Wittingham, ''The Blame Machine'', p. 122] The water quickly reached the ship's electrical systems, destroying both main and emergency power and leaving the ship in darkness. The ship ended up on her side half-submerged in shallow water from the shore. Only a fortuitous turn to starboard in her last moments, and then capsizing on a sandbar
In oceanography, geomorphology, and Earth science, geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank (geography), bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material and rises from the bed of a body o ...
, prevented the ship from sinking entirely in much deeper water.[
Crew aboard a nearby ]dredger
Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing da ...
noticed ''Herald of Free Enterprise''s lights disappear, and notified the port authorities. They also reported that the bow doors appeared to be wide open. The alarm was raised at 19:37 local time (18:37 GMT). Rescue helicopters were quickly dispatched, shortly followed by assistance from the Belgian Navy
The Belgian Navy, officially the Belgian Naval Component ( nl, Marinecomponent; french: Composante marine; german: Marinekomponente ) of the Belgian Armed Forces, is the naval service of Belgium.
History Early history
The Belgian Navy w ...
, which was undertaking an exercise in the area. , the German captain of a nearby ferry, was commended by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...
and received a medal from King Baudouin of Belgium
Baudouin (;, ; nl, Boudewijn Albert Karel Leopold Axel Maria Gustaaf, ; german: Balduin Albrecht Karl Leopold Axel Maria Gustav. 7 September 1930 – 31 July 1993), Dutch name Boudewijn, was King of the Belgians from 17 July 1951 until his de ...
for his heroic efforts in rescuing passengers.
The disaster resulted in the deaths of 193 people. Many of those on board had taken advantage of a promotion in '' The Sun'' newspaper offering cheap trips to the continent. Most of the victims were trapped inside the ship and succumbed to hypothermia
Hypothermia is defined as a body core temperature below in humans. Symptoms depend on the temperature. In mild hypothermia, there is shivering and mental confusion. In moderate hypothermia, shivering stops and confusion increases. In severe h ...
because of the frigid water. The rescue efforts of the Belgian Navy and Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
divers limited the death toll. Recoverable bodies were removed in the days following the accident. During the rescue the tide started to rise and the rescue team was forced to stop all efforts until morning. The last of the people left on board died of hypothermia.
Investigation and inquiry
A public Court of Inquiry into the incident was held under British Mr Justice Sheen in 1987.[Wittingham, ''The Blame Machine'', p. 119]
It found the capsizing was caused by three main factors—Stanley's failure to close the bow doors, Sabel's failure to make sure the bow doors were closed, and Lewry leaving port without knowing whether the bow doors were closed. While the court determined the immediate cause of the capsizing was Stanley's failure to close the bow doors, it was very critical of Sabel for not being in a position to prevent the disaster, calling his actions "the most immediate" cause of the capsizing.
The fact that Stanley was asleep at the time of departure led Sheen to examine the working practices of Townsend Thoresen, from which he concluded that the poor workplace communication and stand-off relationship between ship operators and shore-based managers was the root cause of the capsizing, and identified a "disease of sloppiness" and negligence at every level of the corporation's hierarchy. Issues relating to the breaking of waves high on the bow doors while under way and requests to have an indicator installed on the bridge showing the position of the doors were dismissed; the former because of the attitude that ships' masters would come and "bang on the desk" if an issue was truly important, and the latter because it was thought frivolous to spend money on equipment to indicate if employees had failed to do their job correctly.[Wittingham, ''The Blame Machine'', p. 120–1]
The design of ''Herald of Free Enterprise'' was also found to be a contributory cause of the capsizing. Unlike other ships, which are subdivided into watertight compartments, the vehicle decks of RORO vessels are normally contiguous: any flooding on these decks would allow the water to flow the length of the ship.[Wittingham, ''The Blame Machine'', p. 121] This issue had been identified as early as 1980, following the losses of and in June and November 1977 respectively. The need to adjust the ship's bow trim to use the port facilities at Zeebrugge and failure to readjust before departure was another factor in the capsizing.
In October 1983, ''Herald of Free Enterprise''s sister ship ''Pride of Free Enterprise'' had sailed from Dover to Zeebrugge with the bow doors open, after her assistant boatswain fell asleep.
It was therefore believed that leaving the bow doors open alone should not have caused the ship to capsize. However, tests by the Danish Maritime Institute after the accident found that once water began to enter the vehicle deck of a RORO, it was likely that the vessel would capsize within 30 minutes, while other tests showed that the lack of watertight subdivision (which was common on other vessels) allowed the weight of water to flow freely and increase the likelihood of capsizing.
Another factor that contributed to the capsizing was the " squat effect". When a vessel is under way, the movement under it creates low pressure, which has the effect of increasing the vessel's draught. In deep water the effect is small but in shallow water it is greater, because as the water passes underneath it moves faster and causes the draught to increase. This reduced the clearance between the bow doors and water line to between . After extensive tests, the investigators found that when the ship travelled at a speed of , the wave was enough to engulf the bow doors. This caused a "step change": if the ship had been sailing at less than 18 knots and not in shallow water, people on the car deck would probably have had time to notice the bow doors were open and close them.
Inquest
In October 1987, a coroner
A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into Manner of death, the manner or cause of death, and to investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within th ...
's inquest jury into the capsizing returned verdicts of unlawful killing
In English law, unlawful killing is a verdict that can be returned by an inquest in England and Wales when someone has been killed by one or more unknown persons. The verdict means that the killing was done without lawful excuse and in breach of ...
. Seven people involved at the company were charged with gross negligence manslaughter, and the operating company, P&O European Ferries (Dover) Ltd, was charged with corporate manslaughter
Corporate manslaughter is a crime in several jurisdictions, including England and Wales and Hong Kong. It enables a corporation to be punished and censured for culpable conduct that leads to a person's death. This extends beyond any compensation t ...
, but the case collapsed after Mr Justice Turner directed the jury to acquit the company and the five most senior individual defendants. It did, however, set a precedent that corporate manslaughter is an offence known to the law of England and Wales. The disaster was one of a number that influenced thinking leading to the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998
The Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (c.23) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that protects whistleblowers from detrimental treatment by their employer. Influenced by various financial scandals and accidents, along with the re ...
.
Aftermath
Immediate
A salvage operation, conducted by Dutch company Smit-Tak Towage and Salvage (part of Smit International
Smit Internationale N.V. (or Smit International) is a Dutch company operating in the maritime sector. The company was founded in 1842 by Fop Smit as a towage company with only the 140 horsepower paddle steamer tug ''Kinderdijk''.
Fop's sons, J ...
), was embarked upon almost immediately to refloat the ship. The operation included parbuckling
Parbuckle salvage, or ''parbuckling'', is the righting of a sunken vessel using rotational leverage. A common operation with smaller watercraft, parbuckling is also employed to right large vessels. In 1943, the was rotated nearly 180 degrees to ...
and was successfully concluded in late April 1987, allowing the remaining bodies trapped underwater to be removed. The ship was towed to Zeebrugge, and then across the Western Scheldt
The Western Scheldt ( nl, Westerschelde) in the province of Zeeland in the southwestern Netherlands, is the estuary of the Scheldt river. This river once had several estuaries, but the others are now disconnected from the Scheldt, leaving the W ...
to the yard of De Schelde in Vlissingen
Vlissingen (; zea, label=Zeelandic, Vlissienge), historically known in English as Flushing, is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a city in the southwestern Netherlands on the former island of Walcheren. With its strategic l ...
(Flushing, Netherlands), where her fate was decided. It had originally been assumed that she could be repaired and continue sailing. However, no buyer was found; she was sold to Compania Naviera SA of Kingstown
Kingstown is the capital, chief port, and main commercial centre of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. With a population of 12,909 (2012), Kingstown is the most populous settlement in the country. It is the island's agricultural industry centre ...
, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines () is an island country in the Caribbean. It is located in the southeast Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, which lie in the West Indies at the southern end of the eastern border of the Caribbean Sea wh ...
, for scrapping. She was renamed ''Flushing Range'' and the Townsend Thoresen branding painted over before her final sailing to a scrapyard at Kaohsiung
Kaohsiung City (Mandarin Chinese: ; Wade–Giles: ''Kao¹-hsiung²;'' Pinyin: ''Gāoxióng'') is a special municipality located in southern Taiwan. It ranges from the coastal urban center to the rural Yushan Range with an area of . Kaohsi ...
, Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
. She began her final voyage on 5 October 1987, together with MV ''Gaelic'', towed by the Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
tug ''Markusturm''. The voyage was interrupted for four days when the ships encountered the Great Storm of 1987 off Cape Finisterre, where ''Herald of Free Enterprise'' was cast adrift after its tow rope parted, resuming on 19 October 1987. The hull began to disintegrate while off the coast of South Africa on 27 December 1987, and had to be towed into Port Elizabeth
Gqeberha (), formerly Port Elizabeth and colloquially often referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, Sou ...
on 2 January 1988 to undergo temporary repairs to allow her to continue her voyage. She finally arrived in Taiwan on 22 March 1988.[History of th]
Herald of Free Enterprise
visited 6 November 2011
The Townsend Thoresen brand name had inevitably been seen on television and in newspapers around the world. P&O quickly decided to re-brand the company as P&O European Ferries
P&O European Ferries (formerly Townsend Thoresen), a division of P&O Ferries, was a ferry company which operated in the English Channel from 1987 after the MS Herald of Free Enterprise#Capsizing, ''Herald of Free Enterprise'' disaster, when ''T ...
, repaint the fleet's red hulls in navy blue and remove the TT logo from the funnels.
Long term
The capsizing of ''Herald of Free Enterprise'' caused the highest death-count of any peacetime maritime disaster involving a British ship since the sinking of HMY ''Iolaire'' on 1 January 1919 near Stornoway
Stornoway (; gd, Steòrnabhagh; sco, Stornowa) is the main town of the Western Isles and the capital of Lewis and Harris in Scotland.
The town's population is around 6,953, making it by far the largest town in the Outer Hebrides, as well a ...
, Isle of Lewis
The Isle of Lewis ( gd, Eilean Leòdhais) or simply Lewis ( gd, Leòdhas, ) is the northern part of Lewis and Harris, the largest island of the Western Isles or Outer Hebrides archipelago in Scotland. The two parts are frequently referred to as ...
, where at least 205 perished of the 280 aboard.
Since the accident, several improvements to the design of this type of vessel have been made. These include indicators that display the state of the bow doors on the bridge, watertight ramps being fitted to the bow sections of the front of the ship, and "freeing flaps" to allow water to escape from a vehicle deck in the event of flooding. The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea
The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) is an international maritime treaty that sets minimum safety standards in the construction, equipment and operation of merchant ships. The International Maritime Organization ...
regulations were changed in 1990 to require of freeboard
In sailing and boating, a vessel's freeboard
is the distance from the waterline to the upper deck level, measured at the lowest point of sheer where water can enter the boat or ship. In commercial vessels, the latter criterion measured relativ ...
(in the case of RORO vessels, defined as the height between the vehicle deck and the water line) for all new ROROs, instead of the previous . Some vessels omit the bow door configuration altogether and vehicles enter and exit from rear doors only. New International Maritime Organization
The International Maritime Organization (IMO, French: ''Organisation maritime internationale'') is a specialised agency of the United Nations responsible for regulating shipping. The IMO was established following agreement at a UN conference ...
(IMO) regulations are in place that prohibit an open (undivided) deck of this length on a passenger RORO vessel. The capsizing of the ship is used as a standard example of the free surface effect
The free surface effect is a mechanism which can cause a watercraft to become unstable and capsize.
It refers to the tendency of liquids — and of unbound aggregates of small solid objects, like seeds, gravel, or crushed ore, whose behavior ap ...
in manuals of seamanship dealing with stability.
Neither of ''Herald of Free Enterprise''s two sister ships is still operational. The former ''Spirit of Free Enterprise'' was extended to increase her cargo capacity during her time under the P&O flag in a stretch and total rebuild operation and scrapped in 2012. '' Pride of Free Enterprise'' remained more or less as built; she was scrapped in 2015.
In the UK, an ensemble group named Ferry Aid
Ferry Aid was a British- American charity supergroup, brought together to record the song " Let It Be" in 1987. The single was released following the Zeebrugge Disaster; on 6 March 1987 the ferry had capsized, killing 193 passengers and crew ...
released a charity record
A charity record or charity single is a song released by musicians with most or all proceeds raised going to a dedicated foundation or charity.
George Harrison's " Bangla Desh" single in 1971 is commonly acknowledged as the first ever purpose-m ...
of the song "Let It Be
Let It Be most commonly refers to:
* ''Let It Be'' (Beatles album), the Beatles' final studio album, released in 1970
* "Let It Be" (Beatles song), the title song from the album
It may also refer to:
Film and television
* ''Let It Be'' (1970 ...
" by The Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
.
Nicholas Ridley, a government minister at the time, was criticised for alluding to the accident (while speaking on another subject) on 10 March 1987. He was quoted as saying that "although he is the pilot of the arliamentaryBill, he has not got his bow doors open". He apologised for the remark.
In 2007, Belgian singer Jonathan Vandenbroeck, more commonly known as Milow
Jonathan Ivo Gilles Vandenbroeck (; born 14 July 1981), known professionally as Milow, is a Belgian singer-songwriter. Milow released his debut album, ''The Bigger Picture'', in 2006 on his own label Homerun Records. The fourth single from that ...
, released a song to mark the 20th anniversary of the tragedy. Titled "Herald of Free Enterprise", the song echoes the events of the evening and was featured on his 2009 album ''Milow''.
The disaster was the subject of an episode from Series 2 of ''Seconds From Disaster''.
The disaster was also featured in an episode of ''Deadly Engineering'' (Season 1, Episode 5) on the Science Channel
Science Channel (often simply branded as Science; abbreviated to SCI) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel features programming focusing on science related to wilderness survival, engineering, manu ...
.
On 1 July 2014, The History Press released a book called ''Ninety Seconds at Zeebrugge: The Herald of Free Enterprise Story'' (), telling the story of the disaster and its aftermath. A second edition, updated to reflect the thirtieth anniversary, was released on 1 March 2018 ().
St Mary's Church, Dover houses a permanent memorial to the disaster. In the village of St Margaret's at Cliffe
St. Margaret's at Cliffe is a three-part village situated just off the coast road between Deal and Dover in Kent, England. The centre of the village is about ¾ mile (1km) from the sea, with the residential area of Nelson Park further inland, and ...
, there is a stained-glass window dedicated to three of the crewmen who died during the disaster, Bob Crone, Bryan Eades and Graham Evans.
Disaster Action
Australian businessman Maurice de Rohan, who lost his daughter and son-in-law in the tragedy, founded Disaster Action, a charity
Charity may refer to:
Giving
* Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons
* Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sharing
* Ch ...
which assists people affected by similar events.
Gallantry awards
The following British awards for gallantry
Gallantry may refer to:
* military courage or bravery
* Chivalry
* Warrior ethos
* Knightly Piety Knightly Piety refers to a specific strand of Christian belief espoused by knights during the Middle Ages. The term comes from ''Ritterfrömmigkei ...
on the night of the capsizing were gazetted
A gazette is an official journal, a newspaper of record, or simply a newspaper.
In English and French speaking countries, newspaper publishers have applied the name ''Gazette'' since the 17th century; today, numerous weekly and daily newspapers ...
on 30 December 1987:
* ''Herald of Free Enterprise'' crew
** Michael Ian Skippen, Head Waiter, George Medal
The George Medal (GM), instituted on 24 September 1940 by King George VI,''British Gallantry Medals'' (Abbott and Tamplin), p. 138 is a decoration of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth, awarded for gallantry, typically by civilians, or in circ ...
(posthumous)
** Leigh Cornelius, Seaman, Queen's Gallantry Medal
The Queen's Gallantry Medal (QGM) is a United Kingdom decoration awarded for exemplary acts of bravery where the services were not so outstanding as to merit the George Medal, but above the level required for the Queen's Commendation for Braver ...
** Stephen Robert Homewood, Assistant Purser
A purser is the person on a ship principally responsible for the handling of money on board. On modern merchant ships, the purser is the officer responsible for all administration (including the ship's cargo and passenger manifests) and supply. ...
, Queen's Gallantry Medal
** William Sean Walker, Seaman, Queen's Gallantry Medal
** Thomas Hume Wilson, Quartermaster
Quartermaster is a military term, the meaning of which depends on the country and service. In land armies, a quartermaster is generally a relatively senior soldier who supervises stores or barracks and distributes supplies and provisions. In m ...
, Queen's Gallantry Medal
* ''Herald of Free Enterprise'' passenger
** Andrew Clifford Parker, Assistant Bank Manager, Nippon Credit International, George Medal
* Belgian Navy
The Belgian Navy, officially the Belgian Naval Component ( nl, Marinecomponent; french: Composante marine; german: Marinekomponente ) of the Belgian Armed Forces, is the naval service of Belgium.
History Early history
The Belgian Navy w ...
** Lieutenant-Ter-Zee 1ste Klas Guido A. Couwenbergh, Queen's Gallantry Medal
** Lieutenant-Ter-Zee 1ste Klas Alfons M. A. C. Daems, Queen's Gallantry Medal
* Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
** Lieutenant Simon Nicholas Bound, Queen's Gallantry Medal
** Able Seaman Eamon Christopher McKinley Fullen, Queen's Gallantry Medal
** Chief Petty Officer Edward Gene Kerr, Queen's Commendation for Brave Conduct
The Queen's Commendation for Brave Conduct, formerly the King's Commendation for Brave Conduct, acknowledged brave acts by both civilians and members of the armed services in both war and peace, for gallantry not in the presence of an enemy. Est ...
** Chief Petty Officer Peter Frank Still, Queen's Commendation for Brave Conduct
* Tijdelijke Vereniging Bergingswerken
** Piet Lagast, Diver, Queen's Gallantry Medal
** Dirk van Mullem, Diver, Queen's Gallantry Medal
See also
* MS Estonia
MS ''Estonia'' was a cruiseferry built in 1980 at the West German shipyard Meyer Werft in Papenburg. In 1993, she was sold to Nordström & Thulin for use on Estline's Tallinn–Stockholm route. The ship's sinking on 28 September 1994, in the B ...
, a ferry lost in 1994 due to bow door failure
* Ferry Aid
Ferry Aid was a British- American charity supergroup, brought together to record the song " Let It Be" in 1987. The single was released following the Zeebrugge Disaster; on 6 March 1987 the ferry had capsized, killing 193 passengers and crew ...
* List of maritime disasters
The list of maritime disasters is a link page for maritime disasters by century.
For a unified list by death toll, see .
Pre-18th century
Peacetime disasters
All ships are vulnerable to problems from weather conditions, faulty design or huma ...
* List of RORO vessel accidents
This is a list of roll-on/roll-off vessels involved in maritime incidents and accidents.
References
{{Reflist
Lists of shipwrecks, RORO ...
* List of United Kingdom disasters by death toll
* , an automobile cargo ship which sank nearby in 2002
* Why–because analysis
Why–because analysis (WBA) is a method for accident analysis. It is independent of application domain and has been used to analyse, among others, aviation-, railway-, marine-, and computer-related accidents and incidents. It is mainly used as an ...
References
Citations
Sources
*
*
*
External links
DOT Report Of Court No. 8074 Formal Investigation
Hundreds trapped as car ferry capsizes
(BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...
)
Zeebrugge disaster was no accident
(BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...
)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Herald of Free Enterprise, MS
1979 ships
1987 disasters in Europe
1987 in Belgium
Belgium–United Kingdom relations
Connections across the English Channel
Ferries of the United Kingdom
March 1987 events in Europe
Maritime incidents in 1987
Ships built in Bremen (state)
Shipwrecks in the North Sea
Shipwrecks of Belgium
Zeebrugge