Herald of Free Enterprise in Dover's Eastern Docks,

1984
Career
(United
Kingdom)
Name: Herald of Free Enterprise
(1980-1987)
Flushing Range (1987-1988)
Owner: P&O (1980-1987)
Compania Naviera S.A. (1987-1988)
Operator: P&O
Port of
registry:
Dover, UK
Kingstown, Saint Vincent
Builder: Schichau Unterweser, Bremerhaven,
Germany
Launched: 1980
Identification: IMO number: 7820485
(http://www.marinetraffic.com
/ais/shipdetails.aspx?imo=7820485)
Fate: Capsized 6 March 1987
Raised and scrapped in 1988
General characteristics
Class & type: RORO car and passenger ferry
Tonnage: 13,601 brt
Length: 131.91 m (432 ft 9 in)
Beam: 23.19 m (76 ft 1 in)
Draught: 5.72 m (18 ft 9 in)
Propulsion: 3 x Sulzer 12ZV 40/48
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
MS Herald of Free Enterprise was a roll-on roll-off
(RORO) ferry which capsized moments after leaving the
Belgian port of Zeebrugge on the night of 6 March 1987,
killing 193 passengers and crew.
[1]
The modern 8-deck car and passenger ferry, owned by P&O,
had been designed for rapid loading and unloading on the
competitive cross-channel route, and there were no
watertight compartments. When the ship left harbour with
her bow-door open, the sea immediately flooded the decks,
and within minutes she was lying on her side in shallow
water.
The immediate cause of the sinking was found to be
negligence by the assistant boatswain, asleep in his cabin
when he should have been closing the bow-door. But the
official inquiry placed more blame on his supervisors and a
general culture of poor communication in the ferry company
P&O European Ferries, Peninsular and Oriental Steam
Navigation Company.
Although the vessel was salvaged and put up for sale, there
were no takers, and she ended her days in a scrapyard in
Taiwan.
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 the banning of
undivided decks.
This incident caused the highest death-count of any
peacetime maritime disaster involving a British ship since
the sinking of the RMS Empress of Ireland in 1914.
1 Design and construction
2 Capsizing
2.1 Background
2.2 Sinking
2.3 Investigation and inquiry
3 Aftermath
Coordinates: 512228.5N 31126E
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Speed: 22 knots (41 km/h; 25 mph)
Capacity: 1,400
3.1 Immediate
3.2 Long term
3.3 Disaster Action
3.4 Gallantry awards
4 See also
4.1 Sister ships
5 References
6 External links
In the late 1970s, Townsend Thoresen commissioned the design and construction of three new identical ships
for its DoverCalais route for delivery from 1980. The ships were branded the Spirit-class and were named
Herald of Free Enterprise, Pride of Free Enterprise and Spirit of Free Enterprise.
The DoverCalais crossing of the Channel is the shortest route between England and France, and in 1987 (prior
to the opening of the Channel Tunnel) it was the quickest route. To remain competitive with other ferry
operators on the route, Townsend Thoresen required ships which were 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
B deck: 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: Mezzanine level
G deck: Main vehicle deck
H deck: Engine rooms, stores and passenger accommodation
Loading of vehicles onto G deck was through watertight doors at the bow and stern. Both sets of doors were
hinged about a vertical axis, meaning the status of the bow doors could not be seen from the wheel house.
Loading of vehicles onto E deck and F 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 deck simultaneously using double-deck
linkspans in use at Dover and Calais.
The ships were constructed by Schichau-Unterweser AG in Bremerhaven, Germany.
Background
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On the day the ferry capsized, the Herald of Free Enterprise was working the route between Dover and the
Belgian port of Zeebrugge. This was not its normal route and the linkspan 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.
[2][3]
To compensate for this, the vessel's
bow ballast tanks were filled.
[2]
However, the ship's natural trim was not restored after loading.
[2]
Had the
Herald survived, she would have been modified to obviate this procedure.
[3]
Before dropping moorings, it was normal practice for the assistant boatswain to close the doors. 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.
[4]
The
first officer, Leslie Sabel, was required to stay on deck to make sure the doors were closed.
[5]
Sabel said he
thought he saw Stanley approaching. He was seriously injured in the disaster and the court concluded that his
evidence was inaccurate.
[5]
It's 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.
[5]
The court also
described the attitude of boatswain Terence Ayling, believed to have been the last person on G deck, as most
unfortunate.
[5]
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.
[5]
However the court praised his work in the rescue.
[5]
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.
[6]
Sinking
The ship left its berth in Zeebrugge inner harbour at 18:05 (GMT) with a crew of 80 and carrying 459
passengers, 81 cars, 3 buses and 47 trucks. She passed the outer mole at 18:24 and capsized about four minutes
later.
[7]
When the ferry reached 18.9 knots (35.0 km/h; 21.7 mph) 90 seconds after leaving the harbour, water began to
enter the car deck in large quantities. The resulting free surface effect destroyed her stability.
In a matter of seconds, the ship began to list 30 degrees to port. The ship briefly righted herself before listing to
port once more, this time capsizing. The entire event took place within 90 seconds.
[8]
The water quickly reached
the ship's electrical systems, destroying both main and emergency power and leaving the ship in darkness.
The ship ended on its side half-submerged in shallow water 1 kilometre (0.5 nmi; 0.6 mi) from the shore. Only a
fortuitous turn to starboard in her last moments, and then capsizing on a sandbar, prevented the ship from
sinking entirely in much deeper water.
Crew aboard a nearby dredger noticed the Herald's lights disappear, and notified the port authorities. The alarm
was raised at 18:26 British time (or 19:26 Belgian time). A rescue helicopter arrived within half an hour, shortly
followed by assistance from the Belgian Navy, who were undertaking an exercise within the area. Wolfgang
Schrder, a German Captain, was commended by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and received a medal from
King Baudouin of Belgium for his heroic efforts in rescuing passengers.
[9]
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 because of the frigid (3 C) water. The rescue efforts of the Belgian Navy limited
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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 Lord Justice Sir Barry Sheen in 1987.
[10]
It
found the sinking was caused by three main factorsStanley's failure to close the bow doors, Sabel's failure to
make sure the bow doors were closed, and Lewry leaving port without knowing the bow doors were not closed.
While the court determined the immediate cause of the sinking 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 sinking.
[5]
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 sinking,
[4]
and
identified a "disease of sloppiness" and negligence at every level of the corporation's hierarchy.
[11]
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.
[6]
The design of the Herald was also found to be a contributing cause of the sinking.
[4]
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.
[2]
This issue had been identified as
early as 1980, following the losses of Seaspeed Dora and Hero in June and November 1977 respectively.
[12]
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 sinking.
[8]
In October 1983, the Herald's sister ship Pride of Free Enterprise had sailed from Dover to Zeebrugge with the
bow doors open, after its assistant boatswain fell asleep.
[5]
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, the vessel would likely capsize
within 30 minutes, while other tests showed that the lack of watertight subdivision common on other vessels
allowed the weight of water to flow freely and increase the likelihood of capsizing.
[8]
Another factor that contributed to the capsizing was the depth of the water. When a vessel is under way, the
movement under it creates low pressure, which has the effect of increasing the vessel's draught. This is known
as the "squat effect". 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 1.5 metres. Although the bow doors were open and 1.5 metres above the water, it
was still not enough to cause the ship to capsize, so the investigators looked at the height and volume of water
produced by the bow wave. After extensive tests, the investigators found that when the ship travelled at a speed
of 18 knots (33 km/h), 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.
In October 1987, a coroner's inquest jury into the capsizing returned verdicts of unlawful killing. Seven
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MS Herald of Free Enterprise towed
into the harbour at Vlissingen after
salvage, May 1987
individuals 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, but the case collapsed
after Justice Turner directed the jury to acquit the company and the five most senior individual defendants.
[13]
It
did, however, set a precedent that corporate manslaughter is legally admissible in English courts. The disaster
was one of a number that influenced thinking leading to the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998.
[14]
Immediate
A salvage operation, conducted by Dutch company Smit-Tak Towage
and Salvage (part of Smit International), was embarked upon almost
immediately to refloat the ship. The operation 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 to the yard of De Schelde in Flushing, 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, Saint Vincent for
scrapping. She was renamed Flushing Range and the Townsend
Thoresen branding painted over before her final sailing to Kaohsiung,
Taiwan, for scrapping.
[15]
She began her final voyage on 5 October
1987, together with the MV Gaelic, towed by the Dutch tug
Markusturm.
[16]
The voyage was interrupted for four days when the ships encountered heavy weather off Cape
Finisterre, though it resumed on 19 October 1987. The hulk began to disintegrate while off the coast of South
Africa on 27 December 1987, and had to be towed into Port Elizabeth on 2 January 1988 to undergo temporary
repairs to allow her to continue her voyage. Flushing Range, the former Herald of Free Enterprise, finally
arrived in Taiwan on 22 March 1988.
[17]
Owing to the incident, the Townsend Thoresen name had inevitably been broadcast on television and in
newspapers around the world. P&O quickly decided to rebrand the company as P&O European Ferries, repaint
their fleet's red hulls in navy blue and remove the TT logo from the funnels (the "TT" logo on the Herald of
Free Enterprise had been removed at the start of the salvage operation).
Long term
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 regulations were changed in 1990 to require 125
centimetres (49 in) of freeboard (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 76 centimetres (30 in).
[8]
Some vessels omit the
bow door configuration altogether and vehicles enter and exit from rear doors only. New International Maritime
Organization (IMO) regulations are in place that prohibit an open (undivided) deck of this length on a passenger
RORO vessel.
The divers and rescuers who entered the capsized vessel to retrieve corpses received psychosocial support
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designed and delivered by Belgian Army psychologist Luc Quintyn. This was the first step to the establishment
of a Crisis Psychology Unit within the Belgian Army Hospital.
Only one of Herald'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. The Pride of Free Enterprise is still more or less as built.
[18]
A few scenes of the disaster videotaped live by the media were used by film director Krzysztof Kielowski as
part of the conclusion of his film Three Colours: Red that bound together the Three Colours trilogy.
In Britain, a group named Ferry Aid released a charity record of the song "Let It Be" by The Beatles.
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
[parliamentary] Bill, he has not got his bow doors open". He apologised for the remark.
[19]
In 2007 Belgian singer Jonathan Vandenbroeck, more commonly known as Milow, released a song to mark the
20th anniversary of the tragedy. Titled "Herald of Free Enterprise" the song echoes the tragic 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.
On 1st 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.
Disaster Action
Subsequently Maurice de Rohan, an Australian businessman who lost his daughter and son-in-law in the
tragedy, founded the charity Disaster Action to respond to and assist others who might find themselves involved
in similar occurrences.
[20]
Gallantry awards
The following British awards for gallantry on the night of the sinking were gazetted on 30 December 1987:
[21]
Herald of Free Enterprise crew
Michael Ian Skippen, Head Waiter, George Medal (posthumous)
Leigh Cornelius, Seaman, Queen's Gallantry Medal
Stephen Robert Homewood, Assistant Purser, Queen's Gallantry Medal
William Sean Walker, Seaman, Queen's Gallantry Medal
Thomas Hume Wilson, Quartermaster, Queen's Gallantry Medal
Herald of Free Enterprise passenger
Andrew Clifford Parker, Assistant Bank Manager, Nippon Credit International, George Medal
Belgian Navy
Luitenant-Ter-Zee 1ste Klas Guido A. Couwenbergh, Queen's Gallantry Medal
Luitenant-Ter-Zee 1ste Klas Alfons M. A. C. Daems, Queen's Gallantry Medal
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Royal Navy
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
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
List of RORO vessel accidents
List of maritime disasters
MV Tricolor, an automobile cargo ship which sank nearby in 2002
List of United Kingdom disasters by death toll
Why-Because Analysis
Ferry Aid
Sister ships
Fate of the three sister ships:
the Herald, renamed Flushing Range, was scrapped in 1988
the Spirit of Free Enterprise sailed under a range of names on the English Channel and between the Greek
islands. She was finally scrapped in September 2012 as MS Anthi Marina.
The Pride of Free Enterprise is still sailing as MF Scherbatsky between Spain and Morocco.
^ MV Herald of Free Enterprise Report of Court N0. 8074, Formal Investigation. UK Department of Transportation 1.
^
a

b

c

d
Wittingham, The Blame Machine, p. 121 2.
^
a

b
Robins, Nick (1995) The evolution of the British ferry, Kilgetty : Ferry, ISBN 1-871947-31-6, p. 89 3.
^
a

b

c
Wittingham, The Blame Machine, p. 120 4.
^
a

b

c

d

e

f

g

h
"mv HERALD OF FREE ENTERPRISE Report of Court No. 8074 Chap 10 The immediate cause of
the disaster" (http://www.maib.gov.uk/cms_resources.cfm?file=/HofFEfinal.pdf). DTI. Retrieved 2010-12-31.
5.
^
a

b
Wittingham, The Blame Machine, p. 120-1 6.
^ http://www.maib.gov.uk/cms_resources.cfm?file=/HofFE%20part%201.pdf court report 7.
^
a

b

c

d
Wittingham, The Blame Machine, p. 122 8.
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^ http://www.mastermariner.org/sidelights/winter06.pdf Quote: Captain Schrder was a hero of the MV Herald of
Free Enterprise Disaster some years back, when he and his ship saved a large number of the passengers. For his
heroic actions, he received a letter of commendation from the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (Margaret
Thatcher) and a medal from the King of Belgium.
9.
^ Wittingham, The Blame Machine, p. 119 10.
^ "mv HERALD OF FREE ENTERPRISE Report of Court No. 8074 Chap 14 The management"
(http://www.maib.gov.uk/cms_resources.cfm?file=/HofFEfinal.pdf). DTI. Retrieved 2010-12-31.
11.
^ "Roll on, roll off freight ships with open garage decks potential death traps, naval men believe" The Times
(London). Monday, 20 January 1981. (61529), col A, p. 2.
12.
^ [(1990) 93 Cr App R 72 ] 13.
^ DRAFT WHISTLEBLOWING SPEECH FOR OPENING ADDRESS TO PUBLIC CONCERN AT WORK
CONFERENCE: WEDNESDAY 23 FEBRUARY (http://archive.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/ministers/ministers
/2000/speeches/mccartney/whistleblowing.html)
14.
^ Micke Asklander. "M/S Herald of Free Enterprise" (http://www.faktaomfartyg.se
/herald_of_free_enterprise_1980.htm). Fakta om Fartyg. Retrieved 2008-02-23.
15.
^ History and photos of Gaelic Ferry (http://doverferryphotos.co.uk/pastandpresent/gaelic.htm), visited 5 November
2011
16.
^ History of the Herald of Free Enterprise (http://www.faktaomfartyg.se/herald_of_free_enterprise_1980.htm),
visited 6 November 2011
17.
^ Koefoed-Hansen, Michael (2007) M/F Oleander (http://www.ferry-site.dk/ferry.php?id=7820497&lang=en), The
ferry site, www page, accessed 22 June 2007
18.
^ House of Commons PQs | Margaret Thatcher Foundation (http://www.margaretthatcher.org/speeches
/displaydocument.asp?docid=106763)
19.
^ Disaster Action website (http://www.disasteraction.org.uk) 20.
^ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 51183. p. 61 (http://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/51183
/supplement/61). 30 December 1987. Retrieved 2007-12-20.
21.
Whittingham, Robert B. (2004). "Organizational and management errors". The Blame Machine: why
human error causes accidents. Oxford: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann. ISBN 0-7506-5510-0.
Hundreds trapped as car ferry capsizes (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march
/6/newsid_2515000/2515923.stm) (BBC News)
Zeebrugge disaster was no accident (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october
/8/newsid_2626000/2626265.stm) (BBC News)
Disaster Action website (http://www.disasteraction.org.uk)
Herald of Free Enterprise accident 3D simulation (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jz2jpLO-bYw)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=MS_Herald_of_Free_Enterprise&oldid=615267422"
Categories: Ferries of the United Kingdom Shipwrecks in the North Sea Maritime incidents in 1987
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