MS Herald of Free Enterprise 1987
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Marker: recorded wreck position (Modern).
Key facts
| Name | MS Herald of Free Enterprise | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Year lost | 1987 | Wikidata P793 significant event, point-in-time qualifier |
| Era | Modern | derived from year |
| Ship type | roll-on/roll-off ship | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Cause of loss | Foundered | Keyword match in English Wikipedia lead sentence |
| Operator | P&O European Ferries | Wikidata P137 operator |
| Sea / ocean | North Sea | Natural Earth marine areas (public domain), point-in-polygon |
| Nearest coast | Flemish Region | Natural Earth (public domain); approx. 4 km from land |
| Position | 51.3746, 3.1906 | Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0) |
About the wreck
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.
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 is common with RORO ferries, it was built with watertight compartments terminating below the vehicle deck, with the doors at the end of the vehicle deck becoming vital to avoiding uncontrolled flooding. The ship left harbour with her bow door open, and the sea immediately flooded the vehicle deck; 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. The official inquiry, however, 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.
Location
- Recorded position: 51.3746, 3.1906 (Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0); may be approximate)
- Sea / ocean: North Sea
- Nearest coast: Flemish Region
Wreck positions on this site are for interest only and are not for navigation. Many wrecks are war graves or legally protected: never disturb human remains or remove artefacts, and check local law before diving.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article MS Herald of Free Enterprise (revision 1381159564), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; condensed by selecting paragraphs and trimming at sentence boundaries; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.
Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).
Nearby wrecks
- SM U-5 1914 · 1 km
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