As per title: Today (this evening) it's 35 yrs ago that the Herald of Free Enterprise capsized outside Zeebrugge. In my mind, it's like yesterday.
Detailed info on Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_Her...ree_Enterprise
Menno
As per title: Today (this evening) it's 35 yrs ago that the Herald of Free Enterprise capsized outside Zeebrugge. In my mind, it's like yesterday.
Detailed info on Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_Her...ree_Enterprise
Menno
Last edited by thieuster; 6th March 2022 at 16:56.
Seems so much more recent
A shocking day in history.
Wow really - remember it very well - around here most people knew someone affected by it
A sad reminder of a disaster that should have never occurred.
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
For me it was a 'Where were you when it learned about it' moment. I know exactly where I was and who was with me.
The weather was - like now- totally calm when it happened.
Most of blame went to the Company and the bosun - but the master of the vessel seemed happy to rely upon “I told the office!”
How much blame can you attribute to the Bosun, when they system was to ‘assume’ that the doors were closed.
BUT, as is normal - the tragedy influenced further much-needed safety regulation and systems.
But - there is something particularly tragic about people dying in situations where basically they are in an alien environment, and relying upon others to save them - where it is not survivable.
Last edited by blackal; 6th March 2022 at 21:08.
The grave near to my grandparents had a lot of names on it of all the same family on the same date, several children as well which really moved me. When I checked it was a family from that tragic event. RIP.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Wow 35 years
I remember it as a child (6 years old) and being shocked by the event
As a child I could not understand how the boat never ‘actually sank’ but all the people died.
Awful event for all involved.
Still sends shivers down my spine as we’d been on similar Townsend Thoresen cross channel ferries - if not that one - a number of times.
Another dreadful and preventable tragedy.
DMAX has a documentary Saturday at 9
I lived in Ashford as a kid so the ferries were quite well known, people used to go on booze/fag cruises all the time, had a huge paper model of a ferry given away at the Kent County show.
I had been on the sister ship the Spirit of Free Enterprise a few weeks earlier.
The images of it on it’s side are unforgettable.
I was bought up in Folkestone so remember this all too well. My Dad was a bosun on Sealink ferries for many years so he took this disaster pretty badly. Hard to believe 35 years have passed
I can barely believe how long ago it was. I sailed into Zeebrugge before she was recovered - the booking having been made well in advance. I stayed on-deck for the whole long, miserable journey due to paranoia... It made my flesh creep knowing what was still on board, and there was something oddly-obscene about seeing a vessel in that condition, especially in such shallow water...
I was on the continent for a few months after, and due to deteriorating weather conditions decided to head for Calais and come home a day early - as it turned out I was on the last ferry to dock in Dover on October 15th... Had I not done so, I'd have been spending the night of the Great Storm sleeping in the back of a Toyota Lite Ace in a French car-park...
My niece should have been on that but arrived at the port early and got out on the one before. A sad set of circumstances for all involved.
Very tragic and definitely an unforgettable sight! I too remember seeing this on the news and asking my parents what had happened as I was quite young at the time unlike now!
Sent from my iPhone using TZ-UK mobile app
I was on it that day, and the memories of it enter my mind every day since. Truly tragic event. It's not something i often talk about and only close family and friends knew i was on it.
Haven't been on a ferry since or been back to Dover or Zeebrugge. I will go back one day to pay my respects but not at the moment.
Good grief. Well, I'm very glad you're still with us.Originally Posted by Robxxx7
Thanks ... every day has been a bonus since
It's a pretty cliché thing for me to say but it must have been a life changing experience.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote