MS Herald of Free Enterprise

Herald of Free Enterprise in Dover's Eastern Docks, 1984
History
United Kingdom
Name	Herald of Free Enterprise (1980–1987) Flushing Range (1987–1988)
Owner	Townsend Thoresen (1980–1987) Compania Naviera S.A. (1987–1988)
Operator	Townsend Thoresen (1980–1987)
Port of registry	Dover, UK Kingstown, Saint Vincent
Builder	Schichau Unterweser, Bremerhaven, Germany
Launched	21 December 1979
In service	1980
Out of service	1987
Identification	IMO number: 7820485
Fate	Capsized 6 March 1987 Raised 24 April 1987 Scrapped 22 March 1988
General characteristics
Class and type	RORO car and passenger ferry
Tonnage	7951.44 gt; 3439.05 net tonnage
Length	131.91 m (432 ft 9 in)
Beam	23.19 m (76 ft 1 in)
Draught	5.72 m (18 ft 9 in)
Installed power	23,967 bhp (17,872 kW)
Propulsion	3 x Sulzer 12ZV 40/48 diesel engine
Speed	22 knots (41 km/h; 25 mph)
Capacity	1,400

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 eight-deck car and passenger ferry was owned by Townsend Thoresen, designed for rapid loading and unloading on the competitive cross-channel route between Dover and Calais. As was common at the time, it was built with no watertight compartments. 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, 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.