Why did the MS Herald of Free Enterprise sink?

Answer 1

The official line was that the bosun Mark Stanley had forgotten to close the bow doors. In fact, the ferries regularly sailed with both their bow and stern doors open to clear the diesel fumes from the lorries that had just boarded, and in calm conditions were quite capable of doing so. As lorries were driven onto the ferry, sea water was pumped into ballast tanks to balance their weight and keep the ferry level. Also, the height of the loading ramp was changed by adjusting the amount of water pumped into the tanks, and this had to be changed for each of the ferries car decks as the port of Zeebrugge had only a single-decker linkspan (loading bridge). As the ferry left Zeebrugge harbour, the water in the ballast tanks had not been correctly adjusted and hundreds of tonnes of water entered the car decks. Due to the lack of bulkheads, the water washed against one side of the car deck as the ferry began to turn, and the weight of this made the ferry capsize. Reports of the ferry running aground are utter nonsense. Two more of our truck drivers just missed the ferry but witnessed its capsize. This happened in under a minute, and only upon the onset of the ferries turning manuver. Mark Stanley was made a scapegoat for the officers on the bridge who had failed to correctly ballast the bridge. The word was that Mark had been drinking and was asleep in his bunk. Townsend Thoreson had just been bought by P&O, but were still notorious amongst the port staff for the wild drinking that when on when they were on shift as they all received a generous regular duty-free allowance. One of our drivers drowned while sleeping in the cab of his lorry, the other in the shower. One of them had actually been on the European Gateway when it sank and survived it, he was due to retire within a couple of weeks. Clayton died of head injuries and Egerton drowned in the engine room.