Or if they had a callout plan. Can not leave harbor before every crewmember, in charge of something important reports they have performed their duties. "Deck assistant here, doors closed and latched" They would not have gotten that call when he was asleep, so would not have left.
@@ilaril right, with the new fifteen minute early requirement from the company operating the ferry would have just made it so they would have ignored the light. Like they ignored the dude responsible for closing the door was missing. Like they ignored speed limits.
Two of my neighbours died that night - a father treating his young daughter - may they rest in peace. I was involved in manning a helpline, taking details of people searching for information about missing loved ones. My worst call was a woman sobbing down the line totally distraught and unable to speak who eventually just rang off. To this day I can still hear those sobs. It was more than eight hours before I was finally able to confirm news of a survivor to someone. My heart goes out to all involved in this tragedy. Blessings to you all.
God bless your heart for doing that job. That must've been, and still likely is, very difficult to live with what with hearing the memories of sorrow in your head. Not everyone could do it. God bless you for finding the resolve inside yourself to do it. You have my utmost respect for your selflessness and performing the duties which had to be done, despite the grim circumstances.
I was due to get on that ship with my Dad, we had been to Germany for work and driving back when I realised I didn't get my paperwork signed, so drove back to the boarder to get it signed, this made us 4 hours late for that boat, we got into the port quite easily so I suspect the ship had only gone over as there was loads of helicopters flying around, later that evening me and my dad was on the first boat out , with all the TV crews on it, I asked my dad to go on deck to look at it when he said he was a sailor in the war and had seen loads of boats sinking in a sad and low tone to his voice, I went on deck as we came out of the harbour walls, it was quite on board and sad, I will never forget seeing that , GOD BLESS TO ALL OF THEM
@@sasfflegionarmyy1990If I remember right, one of my history teachers at school was in Europe and booked to come back on that sailing. For whatever reason, lucky for them, they missed the sailing.
The idea was mentioned, as concern was given, but it was considered an unnecessary expense, a bit like more lifeboats on the Titanic, the rest is history.
Its not just that, its the operation of warn if something wrong, not confirm everything is right. One is reactive, the other is proactive. If the procedure was call the bridge to confirm doors closed it would have acheved the same thing.
Of course, after the event happened the fleet installed C.C.T.V. cameras on the bridge, & in the engine control room of all their remaining vessels. During rough weather it was sometimes possible to see water flooding in through poor rubber seals from the outside, slowly filling up the gap between the inner & outer front doors.
Crews repeatedly demanded such safety measures but were denied. TT really was a shit house as you can see by the "15 minutes early" -letter cited in the video.
There were a lot of heroes that day but special mention should be made of passenger Andrew Parker.With the ship turned on its side,walls became floors and everything was topsy turvy.Passengers trying to escape up to the deck had their way blocked by a corridor filled with water.It was on its side and too wide too jump.6ft 4in Mr parker lay across it and acted as a human bridge,allowing more than 20 people to crawl across his outstretched body and up to safety.He was later awarded a well deserved George Medal,the highest civilian recognition for bravery in the UK.
Belgian Coast Guard, Navy & Air Force have always been damn good. Whenever a child's missing at our coast, multiple Coast Guard helicopters get dispatches, sometimes Air Force heli's, Navy ships and coast guard boats, all for one child.
@@prestiboiYour country's population is like 26 and a half people. I would hope you and your countrymen wouldn't just sit there and let the little dude or dudette drown. 😂
The rescue was called off until morning because the tide was coming in. Most of the people onboard died of hypothermia during this time. A proper response from rescue services would have likely saved many of those people.
I was a rescue diver working on recovery in the days after this tragedy. Many victims were in cabins with air space in them. The inquest decided that they hade succumbed to hypothermia being up to the waist in icy water.
I remember it well. We thought my brother and his wife were on the ferry. When we got the call to say they were safe was a relief. The tragic loss of life was appalling
Worked with a lad in the 90’s who was also a salvage diver on the herald, we taught recreational diving courses, he couldn’t bring himself to go into overhead environments of any sorts, he told me after about finding bodies in the wreck, it must’ve been horrendous
I remember this with horror. For several reasons. I was part of the team who analysed the hydraulic oil that closed the doors. All our signed notebooks were brought out, and we were summoned to a meeting. The manager however, who we called Ivor as 'Ivor, just got to this meeting' decided to go to his other meeting, so I took it upon myself to publicly to dress him down! He, therefore came to this meeting. I was not popular. As we listened to a tirade of abuse, which was common, it was eventually decided that our results showed no issues. Because of the abuse I decided that I would leave that company and moved to another company. The shock of being told, not only about the disaster, but also we would be thrown under the bus if they thought it was necessary. Enough said, after nearly 40 years, this still haunts me. The lack of care didn't just stop at TT.
JUST GOES TO SHOW BROTHER.THERE ARE SCUMBAGS IN POSITIONS THEY HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO RIGHT BEING IN...OUTRAGEOUS...ABSURD...UNBELIEVABLE..THE AMOUNT OF BULLSHIT YOU HAD TO TAKE...UNBELIEVABLE.
It's an amazing piece of irony that a ship called the "Herald of Free Enterprise" was laid low by the reckless profit-seeking of its owners and operators.
My Dad was meant to be on that ferry but decided to fly home instead, he was in the house watching television when the news came on about the disaster.
I had been on it months before and as the ship was about 2 miles out, the doors were already opened and we were told to get in the vehicles ready. I remember standing looking through the doors and watching water splashing up. It put me right off using a ferry again.
@@OH2023-cj9if My parents were on that ship one week before and the doors were open as it went out too sea on their occasion aswell. Everyone who knew about it said how dangerous it was, but the crew took no notice.
I was at the haourbour, I was traveling home from Stuttgart, I was drunk and decided not to board that ferry as some English on train had annoyed me,I went to pub instead to catch next ship.. my blood ran cold watching it on tv.. I was silent…am shocked now remembering… I possibly drank and shared tins of alcohol to some who died while on train to haourbour🧐
People in the UK were so disgusted by the attitude of the management of P & O .That major changes to corporate laws where made that held the corporate management liable unless proved otherwise -Which is why UK companies have so many safety courses heath risk management and all procedures to be documented and signed off by all employees. The reality is not to save life but to protect those in senior management who can then pass the buck down while keeping their salaries and hands clean.
I was 'double hatted' as the company safety manager. I had no problem getting management support for safety training and equipment. Where management fell down was in the enforcement of safety rules. Trivia note: The most dangerous things in a workplace in terms of injuries caused are wheeled chairs and extension cords. Another issue is wet floors. People spill coffee on the floor and don't clean it up the next person walks up to the coffeepot and we have another workplace injury. Dangerous equipment is less likely to cause injury because the people operating it recognize the hazards and typically have to get trained and certified beforehand. Never, ever accept a role that makes you responsible for safety - the extra pay is not worth the headaches.
You said that perfectly and yeah any work place with ridiculous amounts of health and safety is only there to cover the arses of the employer's if something bad happens because then they can blame it all on the employee and say look we had all the right safety measures in place and all the right paperwork they must have ignored it all that's why there seriously injured or dead.
@@theunemployedtrucker You are forgetting about the cost of insurance. Cutting down on workplace injuries not only prevents' lost time' costs - it also reduces what a company pays in liability insurance. BTW - the company's refusal to use unpaid time off or even firing employees who commit safety violations sets the company up for legal liability in a civil lawsuit. Allowing a 'permissive environment' is a guaranteed big dollar loss in a lawsuit. The senior management had a bad habit of not firing people. And it isn't senior management who are responsible for safety on a day-to-day basis. This depends on shop leads and foremen enforcing the safety procedures. Back in the 1970s a DC10 airliner crashed after an engine fell off while talking off. Turned out that the line mechanics had come up with an 'easier way' to swap out engines and the 1st level supervisors not only allowed this - but they also didn't notify management of the new procedure. (The only people who can approve 'new procedures are the manufactures.) This is why I'm of the opinion that management need to spend at least 20% of their time walking around the plant. The one who stay in their offices focusing on long-range and high-level stuff - frequently don't know what's going on down on the shop floor.
I know right? I listened to the court charges thinking, "finally, company execs are getting some real consequences for their actions," only to be slapped in the face and sorely disappointed with "the Judge ordered the jury to acquit."
Got a friend who works on the railways, who told me that the corporate manslaughter laws were written to be so wishy washy as to be essentially unenforceable. I suspect there was a reason for that.......
It's because the bow doors were meant to be higher. It's for RO-RO's that had one entry point for cars. It should've been updated when new types of ships come, but you really can't do that, because classification becomes impossible then. But as well as that, I'd argue that it's as stupid to not have a warning light on the deck for any open paths to outside. But some laws are tombstone-laws. It takes lives to see the problem.
I am really glad you have covered this disaster. My friend and his family survived the Herald by getting stuck in traffic, they missed boarding by minutes. It was his 16th birthday. I have since been fascinated by this disaster and many others, this one though is classic of the "Swiss Cheese Model of Accident Causation." Your presenting of it is exceptional.
@@waterlinestories we were just talking about it recently. At the time the U.K didn’t have a national lottery. But if it did, you’d buy a ticket after that near miss.
A little bit like the Partnair Flight 394 disaster The people on board was employees of a Norwegian shipping company. They were going to Germany to see the launching of their new ship and the people on board were the winners in a raffle they had among the employees. In the end, the winners of that raffle were the "losers". All the winners died, while the ones that did not win, won by not being killed in the crash.
I travelled on this ferry on numerous occasions. I was in the British Army in Germany, and regularly crossed between Dover and Zeebrugge. I was a motorcyclist, and motocycles were always loaded last to fill in the gaps along the side of the main car deck. The crews issued us ropes to tie the bikes to the stantions. On every journey without fail, we would already be sailing out of the port whilst I secured my bike, because I watched the harbour lights pass by through the open stern doors!
I was on my way from the Netherlands to catch the Herold and stopped to call my wife. We had a row, so I turned back and booked into a hotel. She never let me forget that she "likely saved my life".
Multiple cockup: 1) Company fail - too much pressure for a quick turnaround 2) Designer fail - no warning light on the bridge. 3) Crew fail - dereliction of duty by bosun and officer on car deck 4) Captain's fail - breaks safe speed limit. Catastrophically unprofessional.
To be fair blaming the entire thing on one overworked crewman falling asleep is a little unfair. This tradgedy was caused by undermanning, the crew were trying to do too many jobs at once and no one had time to check on each other's work. The cheif officer was literally required by the company to be in two places at once. He had to oversee loading and prepare the car deck for departure, and be on the bridge before departure, and there was no time in the schedule for him to move between these stations, And he's under pressure to not delay the ship, he needed to leave before seeing the doors shut to have any chance of doing that.
The ever-popular trend of forcing the people doing the actual work to do more with less is intolerable in most cases, be it a restaurant, office or wherever customers go to get short-changed on a product or service. In scenarios where loss of life is a real possibility, there are boardrooms full of specimens that don't deserve to share the same species as the rest of us.
It's like with maintenance, you can falsely gain savings for a while by cutting resources and people because you'll be able to coast by temporarily, but eventually something will give because people burn out and duties will slip the same as how machines wear out.
that is such an unobjectionable statement. people who see others as just a means to generate revenue and nothing else are in my mind the worst kind of life form.
The judge directed the jury to acquit because "there's nothing in the rule book says I can't set sail with those doors open" even though lives were lost because they placed a higher priority on profits than human lives. Yeah, sounds like completely legit, totally not corrupt behavior to me, sure.
But it was common practice back then...I distinctly remember going on a cross channel ferry school trip in the early 80's, as we were departing in the evening gloom, we saw another ferry outside of the seawalls & harbour in open waters coming in at full speed with it's bow doors fully open & a couple of crew stood at the front in the open gap on the transport deck.. i think we might have even waved at them...!
The the accident investigation concluded that poor workplace communication and stand-off relationship between ship operators and shore-based managers was the root cause of the capsizing, and identified a "disease of sloppiness" and negligence at every level of the corporation's hierarchy. This describes many non-profit organizations, and even some national economies where profits are forbidden. Given this, the wreck can hardly be an indictment of the profit motive. It would be more accurate to blame it on fallible human nature.
We lost 2 children from my old school in the disaster. I never knew them personally but I used to see them around. I do remember the girl who I think was in the year below me was very pretty, she lost her life along with her parents and their neighbors son who they took on the trip with them. Such a sad loss of so many all in the name of corporate greed.
Being asleep at your post is not the fault of executives or a prompt departure. Having no door position indicator on the bridge & the captain leaving without a status report is nuts. Being aware of a problem and not communicating it regardless of your current responsibility is a critical error for any officer. An officer wittiness a man missing at his post & a bulkhead in a wrong position. With a single radio communication, we would never tell this story.
@@IHWKR I have read about this accident before and i believe the crew had asked for CCTV to be installed so that the people on the bridge could see if the doors were closed, but that was dismissed as they did not feel there were no need, as they had people on the deck that was responsible for that. The craziest thing to me is, why was there not a simple door latch switch to show that the door was closed and the latch engaged. Sort of like on airplanes where they have an indicator that wheels are down and locked, because they can not physically see the wheel status from the cockpit.
After this we did get status indicators on the bridge and CCTV covering the doors. The cameras were usually covered in soot and grime from exhaust fumes and the mechanical switches often got stuck and gave false positives. There was no change in the pressure on the crew to do whatever was needed operationally to keep to schedule, constant reductions in crew numbers and increasingly little time for maintenance.
These videos are so well put together, no overdramatization, clear facts, the events summarized into easily consumable info without overextending the length, And thank god, no weird deep horror voice narration.
Good observations. 👍🏼 And I appreciate that, while there is music for effect, it’s not exaggerated or overwhelming the the narrator’s voice. Appropriately subtle. Thanks! 🙏🏼
@@MortenK65 And what if the crew did its job perfectly but the door didnt latch on properly and opened after they left thinking it was closed? It has already happened multiple of times... So basicially whatever excuse for not putting a sensor/light is bunch of bs...
I remember this so vividly. I was 7 years old when it happened, but it’s always stuck with me. I remember BBC news having extensive helicopter coverage of it at first light. So many people praise the 80’s as being this fun decade of entertainment, but the flip side was so dark. So many of these man made catastrophes happened in that decade. So many lives were lost through negligence and profiteering.
Had I not been rushed into hospital with a serious medical condition, my wife, two children and I would have been on that ship. When I heard the news, I sobbed.
@@Barkmann94 Two years in the Merchant Navy as a cadet Sir, it takes team work AND effective communication to take a ship to sea safely, take it from someone who knows
@@dracorex426 The Bridge and Navigational Procedures manual issued by the company operating the Herald include the following statement: "The officer on watch (OOW)/ captain must be on the bridge by no later than 15 minutes before departure." It doesn't say anything about leaving early. In fact the ship left 5 minutes late on that night.
I remember travelling to Holyhead with my family from Dun Laoghaire port in Dublin Ireland on a Sealink ferry a year after this disaster. I remember the captain announcing, "I can confirm the bow doors are shut"
I highly recommend the book "Ninety Seconds at Zeebrugge" if you are interested in this incident. The online version has many interesting colour pictures and ads from TT. It's a good read, but sad. One thing I had never stopped to realize was, that, even though most of the people survived, many of them lost family members, so most families were never the same again. At least one survivor ended himself in 1990 after the trauma became too much to bear.
😢 thankyou for sharing. I feel it’s our duty to remember and learn from these horrible events, I’d be interested in reading this book, though no doubt it’ll be a hard read. It’s insane how many of these siblings happen due to cost cutting and rush jobs. Sadly, the men upstairs only care for one thing 💵💰💰💰💰💰it’s so vile. RIP to the poor souls that died in this horrific tragedy and healing prayers to their families and first responders. ❤️🩹
I still have some I took from the deck of the sister ship Spirit when we passed by a couple of weeks later, she had been raised upright but was still hull-down in the water then. We had travelled back and forth on these ferries many times before as it was the 'sweet spot' for us to cross Zeebrugge-Dover while I worked in Utrecht, Netherlands
I'm rather surprised no one at the port saw the bow doors opened and reported it. Perhaps a layman might not understand the significance, but surely there are experienced sailors or dock workers around.
You don't need to be an expert on shipping to know that a bloody great big door wide open on a ship is not a good mix with water, weather your a layman or not 😂
It was not uncommon for the ferries to sail with the doors open, it helped clear the exhaust fumes from the decks. My brother in law was second officer on TT's Felixstowe-Zeebrugge service, those vessels had a visor type bow door with an internal watertight door, clearly visible from the bridge. We got a call from him that night to confirm it was not his vessel, and that they never sailed with the bow doors open. Even bow visors were not foolproof, hence the loss of the Estonia in heavy seas when the bow visor failed.
@@JohnDoe-bd5sz no, he was I think one of the only people who got any significant time behind bars (not as a convict I believe, but, he did spend something like 9 months in pre-trail confinement)... though not highlighted, he briefly appears as one of the faces in the trail photos of this video... he was the only one who was not an officer, and therefore protected by a different union. the officers union put a lot of pressure to make the judge allow a Bail agreement.
he was supposed to go to bed, as the time in port was his sleep break however he did not wake up for his shift, I believe due to a faulty alarm clock in the cabin he was assigned
@@stanislavkostarnov2157 Even so, wouldn't the Master and Second know he was supposed to be at a spot he wasn't? I'm not going to say I would have looked, but I'm also not responsible for 300 souls and crew.
@@sid2112 the problem was, with the tiny crew that they allowed to operate this ship, each member of crew was supposed to be at a different part of the ship, and, it was standard for that position to be empty when the second came there (as the previous person manning the car deck loading was already supposed to be on the Bridge (looking out for small vessels as the ship began maneuvers in the harbor) by the start of the seconds shift when he should have closed those doors) thus the Load-master, never would see the second come down in normal circumstances...
I don't understand how such a massive, complex feat of engineering could be designed without a simple indicator light letting crew in the wheelhouse know that the friggin' cargo bay doors are wide open. These vessels cost tens of millions of dollars to construct... just to be relegated to the bottom of the ocean because someone couldn't be bothered to install what essentially amounts to a $5 piece of equipment and a couple of door sensors.
Even the titanic of 75 years earlier had light indicators on the bridge showing that it’s watertight doors has all closed successfully - sadly the compartments themselves were not watertight but it does make it even more staggering that such an omission occurred at all.
When I was in the Royal Navy I served on Sir Tristram which is/was a Landing Ship Logistic (LSL). We were told that if there was 6 inches of water on the Tank Deck, she would roll over in 22 seconds.
Not illegal to have the doors open, but it IS illegal to be grossly negligent and get people killed. Anyone else smell something rotten about that judge?
100% yes, I used to cross on these ships regularly during those years and they were intrinsically negligent and it stinks, having said that I had good friends at Hillsborough and nearly went myself so I’m fully briefed about corruption and the protection of the most important people and even money over the likes of me and you my friend. Best wishes. ☘️🙏
Yesmy TAKE on thatjudgement was that the short section of the rules misrepresented the real facts of this case , surely the Vessel setting sail whilst still in Balast was a major failure , of ships security ; I recall something about the Shipping Company being a political donor and that Politics had a bearing on the verdicts ? but cannot recall itall now :
This was a classic case of everyone assuming that everyone was doing there job properly and NO ONE bothered to check, it would have taken less than 1 minuite.
What a complete clusterf*ck of failures. Crew asleep, other crew just assuming critical items were completed without verifying, corporate pressure to rush departures, crew being changed so they know their ship less, no indicator lights on the bridge to show the bow doors were open, nobody outside noticing the door open, no training for quick evacuation... And of course everyone got off scot-free because of badly written legislation and (likely) judicial corruption. Absolutely unforgivable...
No. The chief officer was the backstop; he left his post improperly, and on reaching the bridge failed to mention the door was still open to the captain.
It seems like sleeping on the job DIDN'T kill 193 people, Chief Officer Leslie Sabel was supposed to remain where he was, and left the post. Meaning that it is Chief Officer Leslie that doomed 193 people, as he is the one in charge, abandoned his post, and never made sure that there was someone there to make sure the doors were closed. The Chief Officer is the one who should be held most accountable, not the assistant.
Idk what it is about you, but out of all the nautical story/disaster channels out there, you just have such a unique cadence and story-telling style. I like it so much. Plus your research is super great from what I've seen! Still loving the videos :) Thank you! Thinking about it, it might be the way you have a knack for explaining things. -To me-, it's just right, perfect! Edit: If you're looking for small suggestions/nitpicks, your room audio seems to have a veeeery slight echo! I'm sure you're aware tho! And it's not at all distracting imo
A few years ago I took an overnight ferry from Pireaus to Santorini. I found myself thinking things like can I bust this cabin window out if I need to, which is the fastest way to the deck and how do I and the family navigate it in the dark, how professional is this crew? I blame/credit channels like this.
I've worked at sea for 36 years and what you do is perfectly correct, one of the first things all seafarers do when they join a new ship is to eyeball escape routes, you should be congratulated for your common sense, well done mate.
I’m trained as a rescue diver and do similar, including assessing where all the emergency oxygen and first aid supplies are (I’m first responder trained too).
1) Probably not 2) The crowded/cramped/cluttered hallway you came in through 3) You don't 4) Probably not as professional as you would hope Why such pessimism? I, too, blame/credit channels like this.
I went on a school trip from England, via Dover, to France, fairly sure Boulogne-sur-Mer, crossing the Channel on one of the Free Enterprises, not long before this tragedy. I was just shy of 13-yo when we watched this unfold on the TV news, and I remember clearly the cold, hollow thought, "I was on that ship". Now, I couldn't be sure on which I crossed the channel, but I remember the crossing very well; it was a very rough day, and the as the ship rocked in all directions, I stood in the most central spot I could find and watched all my classmates and other passengers falling around and throwing up like it was the last days of Rome and they'd just finished the wine! It was hilarious! The lives lost, trauma inflicted and families destroyed because of this insane catalogue of errors was a disgusting travesty that should have never happened. Interesting video. Well produced. Good job :)
Good Documentary, I worked in industry and used this example my whole career, emphasising the absolute need for a “Positive Reporting” culture, for those that do not understand this concept, it’s like commonly installed, understood and practiced in the aeronautical industry, (except it appears, in parts of the Boeing organisation). So with this culture, if the captain used a positively reporting process, he could not leave, until he had positive confirmation that bow doors were closed and locked, whereas the system this company and this captain used, was not positive reporting, with the fundamentally flawed system, that he by process, sailed out to sea at full speed, unless told otherwise, with the inevitable consequence. What I found over many years, is the more senior the Manager or Director, the more they forcibly resisted implementing positive reporting into procedures and decision making. I actually came to realise that the culture in a lot of UK sectors, is to positively promote a “doers” culture within the organisations senior staff, with little and in most cases, an absolute disregard of objective thinking type trait people. This results in a cohort of people with influence in the company, that will positively fight changes to process, which, with their engrained personality traits, they just can not see the need for “positive reporting” in the processes and decisions within their organisation. Then, once the organisation is lead with a cohort of people with this engrained personality trait, in senior positions, including the CEOs, Chairman and Directors, who have a lack of objective thinking on running systems which are fundamentally safe and reliable, by employing positive reporting in their process systems procedures, the organisation becomes stuck in this unsafe culture and defends this at all costs, (what all objective thinking people) think is alien and illogical. I do not think things have improved in this way of thinking and in a metaphor way, “ships will continue to sail out to sea, at full speed with their bow doors open, because no one told the captain that the bow doors had been left wide open” So to the next preventable disaster, be it a NHS Hospital Trust in the UK, the Post Office prosecuting thousands of innocent staff or a Ship sinking, where poor culture in processes, are a result of the cohort of personality traits that are allowed to lead and approve the processes for the organisations activities and decision making.
This is the kind of stuff Basic Military Training weeds out. Maritime shouldnt be any different when hundreds to thousands of lives are in a small group's hands.
Not just military training - civil aviation too. They start by telling you that "flying on air is not hard, but the air is like the sea - it does not forgive carelessness and indiscipline".
We used to sit up on the cliffs at Dover and used to watch ferries going across the channel the bow of the ferries used to lift up. You wouldn't believe the amount of ferries that crossed the channel with the bow up all the way across. I was on a school trip once and when we went to get the coach the doors were wide open with the sea was coming right up to the opening at the bow. We did actually come back from Zeebrugge on the Herald of the Free Enterprise. I really didn't like that ferry at all. It kind of freaked me out. That would have been about 4 years before the disaster.
I was working in the Netherlands during this time.. We (my wife and I) had travelled back to the UK for the Christmas break via Zeebrugge on the Herald and also returned on her a week later. 2 weeks after this terrible night we again travelled back to the UK via Zeebrugge but on the Spirit of Free Enterprise. It was daytime and most passengers were out on the deck, nobody wanted to be down below at that point. We passed the Herald, still in the water having been raised to the upright position, it was very very quiet on the Spirit as we passed her. It still causes tears to think of those people who lost their lives because of the 'assume all was ok' rather than 'assume it's not unless confirmed ok 3 times' - a small difference the lack of which is usually at the bottom of every preventable tragedy like this.
My stepfather used to be a HGV driver. He was, initially, furious that he missed getting on this ferry by a couple of vehicles because of delays earlier in his journey as it would screw with his ability to finish the journey because of mandatory rest hours etc. He was sitting at the port, watching it sail out, before everything went to shit. It was one of a couple of incidents that persuaded him to retire from international driving for a living. As a rather dark aside, I remember that at the time of the accident, I saw more than once that people in the press were joking that Ro-Ro actually stood for "Roll on, roll over". The eighties were a very different time, that's for sure.
The deceased Man being brought in to the rescue boat looks so peaceful. Companies and government officials always have enough money to buy themselves out of being held accountable. These people must be held responsible for their actions that take the lives of others! *🙏🏻Rest In Peace🕊* *To The 192 Victims* Prayers and best Wishes to their families.
I re member passing this ferry. 1 month after. This disaster truly haunting site...the. doors being opened was a cost saving measure they wanted to save money using extract fans. To get rid of exhaust fumes below leave Bow doors open..the rest is history
I was a young child at the time, and my parents were booked on this very crossing. They never went because the babysitter meant to be looking after me and my sister let them down.
I remember this , my manager Les was on that ship with his wife & 18 yr old daughter, unfortunately his wife and daughter died on that ship . The poor man died two years later of a heart attack
Thank you for bringing this tragedy to the World. As someone who spent most of the first 19 years of my life around Dover I knew of the ferries across to France etcetera. I left the country in 1967, arriving in Australia in 1980, but I knew nothing of this incident, even though my family still lives in the same village just outside the town. It is heart breaking to find out these facts now. Thank you again for enabling me to learn about this tragedy.
I was meant to be on that ferry with my father, but luckily my dad's lorry had a malfunction with its ignition switch. This meant we missed the ferries departure by 30 minutes.
What a total shitshow of negligence, absolutely horrendous company policy and unmotivated, not-at-all communicating officers. Crew-management at its worse. A horror story of failure.
I remember the first news report, i was on my way to Rotterdam, it was reported that a ship had capsized. Hours later on the way home the true magnitude of the disaster became apparent.
Excellent analysis of the disaster. You point out that the number of officers was reduced from 15 to 10 for this new service to Zeebrugge. At this time Thatcherism was in full swing and the Herald of Free Enterprise name for the vessel was no coincidence. The "overmanning" of the 1970s - which few would deny - was replaced with the "undermanning" of the 1980s. And severe cost reduction - which is all fine until safety starts to be neglected - meant video cameras were not installed near the doors. Cheap VHS video was widely available at the time.
This got so so much more interesting when you said it's from Zeebrugge. I'm from Belgium and I didn't know such a severe accident ever happend on our coastline.
Looking at this in light of the yacht disaster in Sicily? Could the yacht disaster be down to the crew sleeping or similar? The sea has no mercy for those who don't remain vigilant!
I'm surprised that there wasn't anyone in the pilothouse who was supposed to get positive confirmation that the doors were closed. Going on "it should be closed" is way to dangerous.
The grandfather of my kids was a rescue diver in the Belgian Navy. He was called to the rescue that day, only to recover corpses. He never talked about it afterwards.
It's difficult to understand these tragedies with hindsight but until it happens these events are impossible to imagine. Who would have thought before the Bradford city football club fire that people could burn to death in a "wide open" football stand ? Or that an underground station with nothing flamable in its tiled tunnels could burn like a furness. Until Kings Cross.
I used the Zeebrugge route monthly as a freight driver and missed being on that crossing by 3 or 4 days, I feel that you have missed a few important points, they often left the bow visor / ramp open to clear the vehicle decks of fumes, closing it before leaving the outer harbour, so it was not unusual to see the Herald sailing with the front open! As I understand / remember it, at that time there was an occupational (for the crew) duty free drink allowance that could not be taken ashore, it had to be consumed on the vessel. The freight drivers cabins were on the very lowest deck, each side of the propeller shaft, a very long way down several flights of stairs, the crew member who was supposed to be in charge of the freight drivers cabins was often found asleep in a cabin so we often did not get a wake up call when arriving in Dover, he would have been no help in an emergency!
The crew helped to save lives and rescue teams are on site within an hour. Saving many lives. Compare that to the Korean ferry Sewol that sanked about 10 years ago. Which took hours to sink. About 300 people died, mostly school kids. Because they were told to stay in their rooms while the ship slowly rolled over. Capt and crew escaped the ship ASAP. Leaving passengers to figure things out. The korean coast guard dragged their feet. The PM wanted photo Ops about the rescue. Telling families that all were saved. A US Navy ship in the area with EXPERTS were on the way to help, told to go away "we got it". Japan offered to help. "No". Hundreds of parents went to shelter/arena to pick up their kids. There were no kids. (About 75 lived, 250 died). They had a good 90 mins to get everyone on top deck with life vests. Those were the survivors.
I fitted coffee machines on this ship during a refit at Newcastle. My van was loaded aboard as we were heading back South. Me and a Coworker were invited up to the bridge. Captain David Lewry was in charge. We were impressed by the professional attitude being applied as the ship only had workers on board but all safety features were still being applied. The tragedy was due to a moments lapse.
‘Leave 15mins early’ instruction from the Townsend Thoresen is emblematic of how ‘free enterprise’ has a tendency to put profit before safety - bit like Boeing I guess…
The Bridge and Navigational Procedures manual issued by the company operating the Herald include the following statement: "The officer on watch (OOW)/ captain must be on the bridge by no later than 15 minutes before departure." It doesn't say anything about leaving early. In fact the ship left 5 minutes late on that night.
I travelled on this ferry many times and I remember it used to leave Zeebrugge with the bow and aft doors open. When I questioned the safety of that the reply from a crew member was " We leave the doors open to clear the deck of exhaust fumes "
Me and the rest of my group were supposed to be aboard her on that sailing. We were running late after deciding to go watch the Scotland Rugby match in Paris. Thank goodness we were late. I remember wondering what on earth all the fuss was as we pulled in to the terminal. Such a sad time.
I used to be a scout leader before moving away from my village. One of the scouts in my troop was on the ferry when it sank along with his mother and father and sister. He lost his mother and sister that day.
It is actually a difficult question of whether we SHOULD punish people in these sort of disasters, especially as they are rarely one person's fault - it takes a whole string of lapses. Punishing people satisfies our emotions, but it can and does really get in the way of finding out exactly what went wrong so it never happens again. That's because people will naturally lie or otherwise cover up to avoid punishment. Air investigations, for instance, always work on "if you report your mistake/s there will be no blame" for this reason.
My neighbours left their car boot open the other day all afternoon baffled me how you could do such a thing I check my car over every time I leave it. Some people are in the wrong jobs.
I heard about this ship. It was mentioned in the articles about the MS Estonia, due to the similarities in both sinkings. The remaining brothers of the MS Herald of Free Enterprise were sold to different companies until they were scrapped somewhere after their service.
I m a seaferer with some years on board of ships. I m not though familiar with RoRo ships but even though a water ingress alarm should have been installed on the lower decks with possible openings to the water. Bilge wells with high level alarms and connections with the bilge pumps ( automatic start?) along the deck- not clear if they were installed from new build. As a professional seafarer i can confirm that the pressure exists. Go,go go, faster faster is always there.
@@UncleHo5 No one would use Wifi in that scenario anyway, back then CCTV cameras using Coax was certainly a thing. Not HD / 4K and so on, but more than ample to see if a big part of the back of the ship was closed or not.
@@JohnDoe-bd5sz yes, coax is still used on the outside decks, engine room, bridge, ECR. But some places are using small WiFi cameras. At least in our case.
Goodness, 193 casualties?
One little warning light of DOOR OPEN, would have prevented this entire thing...
Or if they had a callout plan.
Can not leave harbor before every crewmember, in charge of something important reports they have performed their duties.
"Deck assistant here, doors closed and latched"
They would not have gotten that call when he was asleep, so would not have left.
Not a foolproof system either. Estonia had warning lights if the bow wasn't locked. Chain is as strong as its weakest link.
90 seconds? Damn I don't know anything that happens in 90 seconds. Except one thing.
There are too many Desk/Office people who wright the roles, with no reality knowledges, that's why.
@@ilaril right, with the new fifteen minute early requirement from the company operating the ferry would have just made it so they would have ignored the light. Like they ignored the dude responsible for closing the door was missing. Like they ignored speed limits.
Two of my neighbours died that night - a father treating his young daughter - may they rest in peace. I was involved in manning a helpline, taking details of people searching for information about missing loved ones. My worst call was a woman sobbing down the line totally distraught and unable to speak who eventually just rang off. To this day I can still hear those sobs. It was more than eight hours before I was finally able to confirm news of a survivor to someone. My heart goes out to all involved in this tragedy. Blessings to you all.
Thankyou
God bless your heart for doing that job. That must've been, and still likely is, very difficult to live with what with hearing the memories of sorrow in your head. Not everyone could do it. God bless you for finding the resolve inside yourself to do it. You have my utmost respect for your selflessness and performing the duties which had to be done, despite the grim circumstances.
I was due to get on that ship with my Dad, we had been to Germany for work and driving back when I realised I didn't get my paperwork signed, so drove back to the boarder to get it signed, this made us 4 hours late for that boat, we got into the port quite easily so I suspect the ship had only gone over as there was loads of helicopters flying around, later that evening me and my dad was on the first boat out , with all the TV crews on it, I asked my dad to go on deck to look at it when he said he was a sailor in the war and had seen loads of boats sinking in a sad and low tone to his voice, I went on deck as we came out of the harbour walls, it was quite on board and sad, I will never forget seeing that , GOD BLESS TO ALL OF THEM
@@sasfflegionarmyy1990 God moves in mysterious ways. May he always move with you.
@@sasfflegionarmyy1990If I remember right, one of my history teachers at school was in Europe and booked to come back on that sailing. For whatever reason, lucky for them, they missed the sailing.
No red light on the bridge to indicate the open door? Unforgiveable. Saved a few dollars skipping that simple safeguard.
The idea was mentioned, as concern was given, but it was considered an unnecessary expense, a bit like more lifeboats on the Titanic, the rest is history.
Its not just that, its the operation of warn if something wrong, not confirm everything is right. One is reactive, the other is proactive. If the procedure was call the bridge to confirm doors closed it would have acheved the same thing.
it should be annoying noise like if U don't lock safty belt in car
Of course, after the event happened the fleet installed C.C.T.V. cameras on the bridge, & in the engine control room of all their remaining vessels. During rough weather it was sometimes possible to see water flooding in through poor rubber seals from the outside, slowly filling up the gap between the inner & outer front doors.
Crews repeatedly demanded such safety measures but were denied. TT really was a shit house as you can see by the "15 minutes early" -letter cited in the video.
Thank you for pointing out that many crew members responded really well in remaining aboard to carry out rescue work. That's often forgotten.
With the procedure relying on one man to check, no conformation, was an accident waiting to happen.
There were a lot of heroes that day but special mention should be made of passenger Andrew Parker.With the ship turned on its side,walls became floors and everything was topsy turvy.Passengers trying to escape up to the deck had their way blocked by a corridor filled with water.It was on its side and too wide too jump.6ft 4in Mr parker lay across it and acted as a human bridge,allowing more than 20 people to crawl across his outstretched body and up to safety.He was later awarded a well deserved George Medal,the highest civilian recognition for bravery in the UK.
The response by rescue services was impressive. It's a shame they had no chance to save more. Well done, responders.
Belgian Coast Guard, Navy & Air Force have always been damn good. Whenever a child's missing at our coast, multiple Coast Guard helicopters get dispatches, sometimes Air Force heli's, Navy ships and coast guard boats, all for one child.
@@prestiboiYour country's population is like 26 and a half people. I would hope you and your countrymen wouldn't just sit there and let the little dude or dudette drown. 😂
@@prestiboi As it should be.
The rescue was called off until morning because the tide was coming in. Most of the people onboard died of hypothermia during this time. A proper response from rescue services would have likely saved many of those people.
I was a rescue diver working on recovery in the days after this tragedy. Many victims were in cabins with air space in them. The inquest decided that they hade succumbed to hypothermia being up to the waist in icy water.
Why was drivers called off work because the water was getting deeper ? That's the whole point of diving gear and underwater lights .
That's HORRIBLE!!
I remember it well. We thought my brother and his wife were on the ferry. When we got the call to say they were safe was a relief. The tragic loss of life was appalling
Worked with a lad in the 90’s who was also a salvage diver on the herald, we taught recreational diving courses, he couldn’t bring himself to go into overhead environments of any sorts, he told me after about finding bodies in the wreck, it must’ve been horrendous
Me too.
I remember this with horror. For several reasons.
I was part of the team who analysed the hydraulic oil that closed the doors.
All our signed notebooks were brought out, and we were summoned to a meeting.
The manager however, who we called Ivor as 'Ivor, just got to this meeting' decided to go to his other meeting, so I took it upon myself to publicly to dress him down!
He, therefore came to this meeting. I was not popular. As we listened to a tirade of abuse, which was common, it was eventually decided that our results showed no issues.
Because of the abuse I decided that I would leave that company and moved to another company. The shock of being told, not only about the disaster, but also we would be thrown under the bus if they thought it was necessary.
Enough said, after nearly 40 years, this still haunts me. The lack of care didn't just stop at TT.
Yuck.
Thanks for sharing.
So sad to read this
JUST GOES TO SHOW BROTHER.THERE ARE SCUMBAGS IN POSITIONS THEY HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO RIGHT BEING IN...OUTRAGEOUS...ABSURD...UNBELIEVABLE..THE AMOUNT OF BULLSHIT YOU HAD TO TAKE...UNBELIEVABLE.
"make all efforts to be sure that you leave 15 minutes early"
what could possibly go wrong? 🤷♂
It's an amazing piece of irony that a ship called the "Herald of Free Enterprise" was laid low by the reckless profit-seeking of its owners and operators.
@@kvantkissen6616 Ironic? No, that is exactly what unregulated capitalism is, reckless profit-seeking.
@@ostrich67 No matters the "philosophical system" that runs your country. Awful people do awful things.
@@alvaroasiTRUTH.
That still happens.
My Dad was meant to be on that ferry but decided to fly home instead, he was in the house watching television when the news came on about the disaster.
Wonder how he took it. On one hand I know I'd feel relieved but at the same time devastated. Hope he lives/lived life to the fullest before and after.
I had been on it months before and as the ship was about 2 miles out, the doors were already opened and we were told to get in the vehicles ready. I remember standing looking through the doors and watching water splashing up. It put me right off using a ferry again.
@@OH2023-cj9if My parents were on that ship one week before and the doors were open as it went out too sea on their occasion aswell. Everyone who knew about it said how dangerous it was, but the crew took no notice.
I was at the haourbour, I was traveling home from Stuttgart, I was drunk and decided not to board that ferry as some English on train had annoyed me,I went to pub instead to catch next ship.. my blood ran cold watching it on tv.. I was silent…am shocked now remembering…
I possibly drank and shared tins of alcohol to some who died while on train to haourbour🧐
@@karylhogan5758you and me both Karyl, I was driving from Frankfurt and missed boarding by around ten minutes.
People in the UK were so disgusted by the attitude of the management of P & O .That major changes to corporate laws where made that held the corporate management liable unless proved otherwise -Which is why UK companies have so many safety courses heath risk management and all procedures to be documented and signed off by all employees. The reality is not to save life but to protect those in senior management who can then pass the buck down while keeping their salaries and hands clean.
I was 'double hatted' as the company safety manager. I had no problem getting management support for safety training and equipment. Where management fell down was in the enforcement of safety rules.
Trivia note: The most dangerous things in a workplace in terms of injuries caused are wheeled chairs and extension cords. Another issue is wet floors. People spill coffee on the floor and don't clean it up the next person walks up to the coffeepot and we have another workplace injury. Dangerous equipment is less likely to cause injury because the people operating it recognize the hazards and typically have to get trained and certified beforehand.
Never, ever accept a role that makes you responsible for safety - the extra pay is not worth the headaches.
You said that perfectly and yeah any work place with ridiculous amounts of health and safety is only there to cover the arses of the employer's if something bad happens because then they can blame it all on the employee and say look we had all the right safety measures in place and all the right paperwork they must have ignored it all that's why there seriously injured or dead.
@@theunemployedtrucker You are forgetting about the cost of insurance. Cutting down on workplace injuries not only prevents' lost time' costs - it also reduces what a company pays in liability insurance. BTW - the company's refusal to use unpaid time off or even firing employees who commit safety violations sets the company up for legal liability in a civil lawsuit. Allowing a 'permissive environment' is a guaranteed big dollar loss in a lawsuit. The senior management had a bad habit of not firing people.
And it isn't senior management who are responsible for safety on a day-to-day basis. This depends on shop leads and foremen enforcing the safety procedures.
Back in the 1970s a DC10 airliner crashed after an engine fell off while talking off. Turned out that the line mechanics had come up with an 'easier way' to swap out engines and the 1st level supervisors not only allowed this - but they also didn't notify management of the new procedure. (The only people who can approve 'new procedures are the manufactures.) This is why I'm of the opinion that management need to spend at least 20% of their time walking around the plant. The one who stay in their offices focusing on long-range and high-level stuff - frequently don't know what's going on down on the shop floor.
See my comments on this feed about how this was endemic in relation to everything around TT.
Same corporate protection and passing bucks to staff in private health care in UK. Profits, poor investment, and private paying patients have no clue.
The company executives got away with murder...
I know right? I listened to the court charges thinking, "finally, company execs are getting some real consequences for their actions," only to be slapped in the face and sorely disappointed with "the Judge ordered the jury to acquit."
"The judge directed the jury to acquit the company and the five most senior defendants"
This is one way to guarantee safety culture will not prevail.
Unbelievable level of corruption
*Not illegal to go to sea with it's doors open ?* ------------ Whoever wrote those laws -------------------- *Must have never been to sea* 😑
Got a friend who works on the railways, who told me that the corporate manslaughter laws were written to be so wishy washy as to be essentially unenforceable. I suspect there was a reason for that.......
It's because the bow doors were meant to be higher. It's for RO-RO's that had one entry point for cars. It should've been updated when new types of ships come, but you really can't do that, because classification becomes impossible then. But as well as that, I'd argue that it's as stupid to not have a warning light on the deck for any open paths to outside. But some laws are tombstone-laws. It takes lives to see the problem.
Well, the open doors alone were not the problem - it was the unlawful higher speed that allowed too much water to enter the ship at the same time
Most these laws were made with input from the industry, like pointed out above, it’s no wonder most laws are vague and full of loopholes
@@maurusluctum8886as it is usually failure on may levels that result in these accidents
I am really glad you have covered this disaster. My friend and his family survived the Herald by getting stuck in traffic, they missed boarding by minutes. It was his 16th birthday. I have since been fascinated by this disaster and many others, this one though is classic of the "Swiss Cheese Model of Accident Causation." Your presenting of it is exceptional.
That's lucky
@@waterlinestories we were just talking about it recently. At the time the U.K didn’t have a national lottery. But if it did, you’d buy a ticket after that near miss.
A little bit like the Partnair Flight 394 disaster
The people on board was employees of a Norwegian shipping company.
They were going to Germany to see the launching of their new ship and the people on board were the winners in a raffle they had among the employees.
In the end, the winners of that raffle were the "losers".
All the winners died, while the ones that did not win, won by not being killed in the crash.
So, they were lucky that she left 15 minutes earlier.
@@torstenwehnert8549 Wow, good point.
I travelled on this ferry on numerous occasions. I was in the British Army in Germany, and regularly crossed between Dover and Zeebrugge. I was a motorcyclist, and motocycles were always loaded last to fill in the gaps along the side of the main car deck. The crews issued us ropes to tie the bikes to the stantions. On every journey without fail, we would already be sailing out of the port whilst I secured my bike, because I watched the harbour lights pass by through the open stern doors!
I was on my way from the Netherlands to catch the Herold and stopped to call my wife. We had a row, so I turned back and booked into a hotel. She never let me forget that she "likely saved my life".
Did you bring her flowers and a thousand pound gift card?
You'd better have spoilt her for that, she really did save your life with that argument
no doubt she “saved his life” twice a day after that!
Multiple cockup:
1) Company fail - too much pressure for a quick turnaround
2) Designer fail - no warning light on the bridge.
3) Crew fail - dereliction of duty by bosun and officer on car deck
4) Captain's fail - breaks safe speed limit.
Catastrophically unprofessional.
Totally agree
To be fair blaming the entire thing on one overworked crewman falling asleep is a little unfair. This tradgedy was caused by undermanning, the crew were trying to do too many jobs at once and no one had time to check on each other's work.
The cheif officer was literally required by the company to be in two places at once. He had to oversee loading and prepare the car deck for departure, and be on the bridge before departure, and there was no time in the schedule for him to move between these stations, And he's under pressure to not delay the ship, he needed to leave before seeing the doors shut to have any chance of doing that.
The ever-popular trend of forcing the people doing the actual work to do more with less is intolerable in most cases, be it a restaurant, office or wherever customers go to get short-changed on a product or service.
In scenarios where loss of life is a real possibility, there are boardrooms full of specimens that don't deserve to share the same species as the rest of us.
It's like with maintenance, you can falsely gain savings for a while by cutting resources and people because you'll be able to coast by temporarily, but eventually something will give because people burn out and duties will slip the same as how machines wear out.
@@meckelbu 100% 👍 and the blame typically falls on those who tried their best
that is such an unobjectionable statement.
people who see others as just a means to generate revenue and nothing else are in my mind the worst kind of life form.
"It's not an offence for a RORO ferry to go to sea with it's bow doors open"... but it's probably not a good idea.
It's unseaworthy, and therefore illegal.
Bow doors or stern doors should not be open until harbour limits, then with caution.
Why would this even be allowed ??
The judge directed the jury to acquit because "there's nothing in the rule book says I can't set sail with those doors open" even though lives were lost because they placed a higher priority on profits than human lives. Yeah, sounds like completely legit, totally not corrupt behavior to me, sure.
There's always a first time.
Wonder if the judge bought a Rolls Royce or a Bently from the "gift" given to him after the trial...
@@justesbad Both.
But it was common practice back then...I distinctly remember going on a cross channel ferry school trip in the early 80's, as we were departing in the evening gloom, we saw another ferry outside of the seawalls & harbour in open waters coming in at full speed with it's bow doors fully open & a couple of crew stood at the front in the open gap on the transport deck.. i think we might have even waved at them...!
The the accident investigation concluded that poor workplace communication and stand-off relationship between ship operators and shore-based managers was the root cause of the capsizing, and identified a "disease of sloppiness" and negligence at every level of the corporation's hierarchy. This describes many non-profit organizations, and even some national economies where profits are forbidden. Given this, the wreck can hardly be an indictment of the profit motive. It would be more accurate to blame it on fallible human nature.
We lost 2 children from my old school in the disaster. I never knew them personally but I used to see them around. I do remember the girl who I think was in the year below me was very pretty, she lost her life along with her parents and their neighbors son who they took on the trip with them. Such a sad loss of so many all in the name of corporate greed.
Yet again executives putting pressure on staff forcing them to cut corners for profit and not follow proper safety checks
Yep. I've learned this channel that it is more than common on water. It's some kind of phenomenon.
Tale as old as time.
BS basic failure to perform essential duties.
Being asleep at your post is not the fault of executives or a prompt departure. Having no door position indicator on the bridge & the captain leaving without a status report is nuts. Being aware of a problem and not communicating it regardless of your current responsibility is a critical error for any officer. An officer wittiness a man missing at his post & a bulkhead in a wrong position. With a single radio communication, we would never tell this story.
@@IHWKR I have read about this accident before and i believe the crew had asked for CCTV to be installed so that the people on the bridge could see if the doors were closed, but that was dismissed as they did not feel there were no need, as they had people on the deck that was responsible for that.
The craziest thing to me is, why was there not a simple door latch switch to show that the door was closed and the latch engaged.
Sort of like on airplanes where they have an indicator that wheels are down and locked, because they can not physically see the wheel status from the cockpit.
After this we did get status indicators on the bridge and CCTV covering the doors. The cameras were usually covered in soot and grime from exhaust fumes and the mechanical switches often got stuck and gave false positives. There was no change in the pressure on the crew to do whatever was needed operationally to keep to schedule, constant reductions in crew numbers and increasingly little time for maintenance.
I am thinking that the ''Chunnel' just added more pressure to 'reduce overheads'
Great example of why safety features aren't a substitute for safety culture.
Y’all know the saying, “go to bed at sea, wake up in Davy Jones’ Locker .”
Only time I did that I ended up in Hoek Van Holland
These videos are so well put together, no overdramatization, clear facts, the events summarized into easily consumable info without overextending the length, And thank god, no weird deep horror voice narration.
@@KeesAlderliesten yes!
Good observations. 👍🏼 And I appreciate that, while there is music for effect, it’s not exaggerated or overwhelming the the narrator’s voice. Appropriately subtle. Thanks! 🙏🏼
😀 thanks, I appreciate that
As bad as this disaster was, it would have been worse if it had happened in deep water, and hadn't settled on the sand bar.
Basically the Estonia disaster, which killed over 80% of passangers.
@@slimrat3422 Ro-Ros have a tendency to sink frighteningly fast once they start going.
how on earth wasn't there a signal light on the bridge that showed the doors were open??
My car beeps at me if a door is even left slightly ajar but apparently doors on a boat don't matter 🤔
@@Me-zo8yc But your car isn't from 1980
From the wiki: 'It was thought frivolous to spend money on equipment to indicate if employees had failed to do their job correctly'
@@Tom-sg4iv my car that i did have from 1980 had switches on the doors for the interior lights
@@MortenK65
And what if the crew did its job perfectly but the door didnt latch on properly and opened after they left thinking it was closed? It has already happened multiple of times... So basicially whatever excuse for not putting a sensor/light is bunch of bs...
I remember this so vividly. I was 7 years old when it happened, but it’s always stuck with me. I remember BBC news having extensive helicopter coverage of it at first light. So many people praise the 80’s as being this fun decade of entertainment, but the flip side was so dark. So many of these man made catastrophes happened in that decade. So many lives were lost through negligence and profiteering.
Had I not been rushed into hospital with a serious medical condition, my wife, two children and I would have been on that ship. When I heard the news, I sobbed.
There by the grace of God go you, and your family, sometimes in taking a hit, we avoid a wipeout, you were so lucky, so was your family.
You can be whoever you want on the internet though
@@Barkmann94 Two years in the Merchant Navy as a cadet Sir, it takes team work AND effective communication to take a ship to sea safely, take it from someone who knows
@@Barkmann94 And you chose troll
@@jonhall9000 thats a random profile picture bro that ain’t me I hope you’re okay though
Personally, I'd be extremely pissed if I missed a ferry because it left 15 minutes early.
And Then you learned it sank and how would you feel then? "pissed"? . Doubtful.
@@EmptyPeace I mean that telling your employees that you expect them to leave fifteen minutes early is stupid.
I'd assume they want you to arrive long before that to get all the vehicles loaded
@@dracorex426 The Bridge and Navigational Procedures manual issued by the company operating the Herald include the following statement:
"The officer on watch (OOW)/ captain must be on the bridge by no later than 15 minutes before departure."
It doesn't say anything about leaving early. In fact the ship left 5 minutes late on that night.
Not if it was this particular one.
The duty officer should never have left the vehicle deck without ensuring that all doors were secure. Basic seamanship !
I remember travelling to Holyhead with my family from Dun Laoghaire port in Dublin Ireland on a Sealink ferry a year after this disaster. I remember the captain announcing, "I can confirm the bow doors are shut"
I highly recommend the book "Ninety Seconds at Zeebrugge" if you are interested in this incident. The online version has many interesting colour pictures and ads from TT. It's a good read, but sad. One thing I had never stopped to realize was, that, even though most of the people survived, many of them lost family members, so most families were never the same again. At least one survivor ended himself in 1990 after the trauma became too much to bear.
😢 thankyou for sharing. I feel it’s our duty to remember and learn from these horrible events, I’d be interested in reading this book, though no doubt it’ll be a hard read. It’s insane how many of these siblings happen due to cost cutting and rush jobs. Sadly, the men upstairs only care for one thing 💵💰💰💰💰💰it’s so vile. RIP to the poor souls that died in this horrific tragedy and healing prayers to their families and first responders. ❤️🩹
I still have some I took from the deck of the sister ship Spirit when we passed by a couple of weeks later, she had been raised upright but was still hull-down in the water then. We had travelled back and forth on these ferries many times before as it was the 'sweet spot' for us to cross Zeebrugge-Dover while I worked in Utrecht, Netherlands
I'm rather surprised no one at the port saw the bow doors opened and reported it. Perhaps a layman might not understand the significance, but surely there are experienced sailors or dock workers around.
That was a common thing in those times. Many react with disbelief because they can often (due to their age) only compare with today's standards.
You don't need to be an expert on shipping to know that a bloody great big door wide open on a ship is not a good mix with water, weather your a layman or not 😂
@@theunemployedtruckerwhat I was thinking 🤔
Pitch dark, middle of winter.
It was not uncommon for the ferries to sail with the doors open, it helped clear the exhaust fumes from the decks. My brother in law was second officer on TT's Felixstowe-Zeebrugge service, those vessels had a visor type bow door with an internal watertight door, clearly visible from the bridge. We got a call from him that night to confirm it was not his vessel, and that they never sailed with the bow doors open. Even bow visors were not foolproof, hence the loss of the Estonia in heavy seas when the bow visor failed.
It’s even worse when lost of life is completely avoidable!
Thank you for another well explained great video!
The fact that the company and the crew who were all tried for manslaughter were all acquitted, goes to show how weak the law in the UK is.
And P&O's more recent illegal activities weren't punished either: they keep getting away with it.
And a man has just been sentenced to jail in Britain for reposting a “ racist “ tweet! Bizarre!
Went to bed?!? And nobody wondered about it? Damn, that's a huge failure of discipline.
I wonder if he was one of the people that perished in the disaster.
@@JohnDoe-bd5sz no, he was I think one of the only people who got any significant time behind bars (not as a convict I believe, but, he did spend something like 9 months in pre-trail confinement)...
though not highlighted, he briefly appears as one of the faces in the trail photos of this video... he was the only one who was not an officer, and therefore protected by a different union. the officers union put a lot of pressure to make the judge allow a Bail agreement.
he was supposed to go to bed, as the time in port was his sleep break
however he did not wake up for his shift, I believe due to a faulty alarm clock in the cabin he was assigned
@@stanislavkostarnov2157 Even so, wouldn't the Master and Second know he was supposed to be at a spot he wasn't? I'm not going to say I would have looked, but I'm also not responsible for 300 souls and crew.
@@sid2112 the problem was, with the tiny crew that they allowed to operate this ship, each member of crew was supposed to be at a different part of the ship, and, it was standard for that position to be empty when the second came there (as the previous person manning the car deck loading was already supposed to be on the Bridge (looking out for small vessels as the ship began maneuvers in the harbor) by the start of the seconds shift when he should have closed those doors)
thus the Load-master, never would see the second come down in normal circumstances...
Thanks for this. Very informative. The incompetence was astounding. RIP to the passenger who lost their lives.
I don't understand how such a massive, complex feat of engineering could be designed without a simple indicator light letting crew in the wheelhouse know that the friggin' cargo bay doors are wide open. These vessels cost tens of millions of dollars to construct... just to be relegated to the bottom of the ocean because someone couldn't be bothered to install what essentially amounts to a $5 piece of equipment and a couple of door sensors.
Even the titanic of 75 years earlier had light indicators on the bridge showing that it’s watertight doors has all closed successfully - sadly the compartments themselves were not watertight but it does make it even more staggering that such an omission occurred at all.
When I was in the Royal Navy I served on Sir Tristram which is/was a Landing Ship Logistic (LSL). We were told that if there was 6 inches of water on the Tank Deck, she would roll over in 22 seconds.
free surface effect is a great danger on ships with 'vehicle' decks.
@@KiwiSentinelI was just about to mention that. 😊👍
Guess that's a different Sir Tristram from the one I knew, her and the Galahad, bad memories there too 😟
To quote Dad's words, "God comfort the bereaved and have mercy on the souls of those who died. Amen."
Not illegal to have the doors open, but it IS illegal to be grossly negligent and get people killed. Anyone else smell something rotten about that judge?
100% yes, I used to cross on these ships regularly during those years and they were intrinsically negligent and it stinks, having said that I had good friends at Hillsborough and nearly went myself so I’m fully briefed about corruption and the protection of the most important people and even money over the likes of me and you my friend. Best wishes. ☘️🙏
Yesmy TAKE on thatjudgement was that the short section of the rules misrepresented the real facts of this case , surely the Vessel setting sail whilst still in Balast was a major failure , of ships security ; I recall something about the Shipping Company being a political donor and that Politics had a bearing on the verdicts ? but cannot recall itall now :
@@DaveSCameron oh man- the final Hillsborough verdict is absolutely perverse.
This was a classic case of everyone assuming that everyone was doing there job properly and NO ONE bothered to check, it would have taken less than 1 minuite.
My dad was on this ferry 12 hours before it sunk. He was a truck driver heading into Europe.
What a complete clusterf*ck of failures.
Crew asleep, other crew just assuming critical items were completed without verifying, corporate pressure to rush departures, crew being changed so they know their ship less, no indicator lights on the bridge to show the bow doors were open, nobody outside noticing the door open, no training for quick evacuation...
And of course everyone got off scot-free because of badly written legislation and (likely) judicial corruption. Absolutely unforgivable...
The full report into the disaster is available to read online. Makes for quite shocking reading
No. The chief officer was the backstop; he left his post improperly, and on reaching the bridge failed to mention the door was still open to the captain.
Declared "Not guilty " like always in this events in USA,Britain..
Absolutely appalling - the negligence, and the (even worse) dismissal of charges!
It seems like sleeping on the job DIDN'T kill 193 people, Chief Officer Leslie Sabel was supposed to remain where he was, and left the post. Meaning that it is Chief Officer Leslie that doomed 193 people, as he is the one in charge, abandoned his post, and never made sure that there was someone there to make sure the doors were closed.
The Chief Officer is the one who should be held most accountable, not the assistant.
Idk what it is about you, but out of all the nautical story/disaster channels out there, you just have such a unique cadence and story-telling style. I like it so much. Plus your research is super great from what I've seen!
Still loving the videos :) Thank you!
Thinking about it, it might be the way you have a knack for explaining things. -To me-, it's just right, perfect!
Edit: If you're looking for small suggestions/nitpicks, your room audio seems to have a veeeery slight echo! I'm sure you're aware tho! And it's not at all distracting imo
Thanks. I appreciate the thoughtful comment.
Room echo. I know and am trying to add acoustic foam. It's a new room Doo takes a little change in setup.
You are killing it! Videos just get better and better.
Thanks brutha🤟🏻
A few years ago I took an overnight ferry from Pireaus to Santorini. I found myself thinking things like can I bust this cabin window out if I need to, which is the fastest way to the deck and how do I and the family navigate it in the dark, how professional is this crew? I blame/credit channels like this.
I've worked at sea for 36 years and what you do is perfectly correct, one of the first things all seafarers do when they join a new ship is to eyeball escape routes, you should be congratulated for your common sense, well done mate.
Especially if you're taking a Greek ferry. They're notorious, especially the crews.
I’m trained as a rescue diver and do similar, including assessing where all the emergency oxygen and first aid supplies are (I’m first responder trained too).
@@eliz_scubavn
Right on friend, it's not paranoid to be aware of your surroundings.
This kind of common sense thinking should be encouraged.
1) Probably not
2) The crowded/cramped/cluttered hallway you came in through
3) You don't
4) Probably not as professional as you would hope
Why such pessimism? I, too, blame/credit channels like this.
I went on a school trip from England, via Dover, to France, fairly sure Boulogne-sur-Mer, crossing the Channel on one of the Free Enterprises, not long before this tragedy.
I was just shy of 13-yo when we watched this unfold on the TV news, and I remember clearly the cold, hollow thought, "I was on that ship".
Now, I couldn't be sure on which I crossed the channel, but I remember the crossing very well; it was a very rough day, and the as the ship rocked in all directions, I stood in the most central spot I could find and watched all my classmates and other passengers falling around and throwing up like it was the last days of Rome and they'd just finished the wine! It was hilarious!
The lives lost, trauma inflicted and families destroyed because of this insane catalogue of errors was a disgusting travesty that should have never happened.
Interesting video. Well produced. Good job :)
Good Documentary, I worked in industry and used this example my whole career, emphasising the absolute need for a “Positive Reporting” culture, for those that do not understand this concept, it’s like commonly installed, understood and practiced in the aeronautical industry, (except it appears, in parts of the Boeing organisation).
So with this culture, if the captain used a positively reporting process, he could not leave, until he had positive confirmation that bow doors were closed and locked, whereas the system this company and this captain used, was not positive reporting, with the fundamentally flawed system, that he by process, sailed out to sea at full speed, unless told otherwise, with the inevitable consequence.
What I found over many years, is the more senior the Manager or Director, the more they forcibly resisted implementing positive reporting into procedures and decision making.
I actually came to realise that the culture in a lot of UK sectors, is to positively promote a “doers” culture within the organisations senior staff, with little and in most cases, an absolute disregard of objective thinking type trait people.
This results in a cohort of people with influence in the company, that will positively fight changes to process, which, with their engrained personality traits, they just can not see the need for “positive reporting” in the processes and decisions within their organisation.
Then, once the organisation is lead with a cohort of people with this engrained personality trait, in senior positions, including the CEOs, Chairman and Directors, who have a lack of objective thinking on running systems which are fundamentally safe and reliable, by employing positive reporting in their process systems procedures, the organisation becomes stuck in this unsafe culture and defends this at all costs, (what all objective thinking people) think is alien and illogical.
I do not think things have improved in this way of thinking and in a metaphor way, “ships will continue to sail out to sea, at full speed with their bow doors open, because no one told the captain that the bow doors had been left wide open”
So to the next preventable disaster, be it a NHS Hospital Trust in the UK, the Post Office prosecuting thousands of innocent staff or a Ship sinking, where poor culture in processes, are a result of the cohort of personality traits that are allowed to lead and approve the processes for the organisations activities and decision making.
This is the kind of stuff Basic Military Training weeds out. Maritime shouldnt be any different when hundreds to thousands of lives are in a small group's hands.
Not just military training - civil aviation too. They start by telling you that "flying on air is not hard, but the air is like the sea - it does not forgive carelessness and indiscipline".
Good video and information, just a pity the graphics kept showing the stern doors open
My thought too. Several times in this video the graphics showed the stern doors open and facing the dock while talking about the bow doors being open.
Came looking for this comment, well spotted. The graphics were wrong. water entered through the bow doors.
We used to sit up on the cliffs at Dover and used to watch ferries going across the channel the bow of the ferries used to lift up. You wouldn't believe the amount of ferries that crossed the channel with the bow up all the way across. I was on a school trip once and when we went to get the coach the doors were wide open with the sea was coming right up to the opening at the bow. We did actually come back from Zeebrugge on the Herald of the Free Enterprise. I really didn't like that ferry at all. It kind of freaked me out. That would have been about 4 years before the disaster.
I was working in the Netherlands during this time.. We (my wife and I) had travelled back to the UK for the Christmas break via Zeebrugge on the Herald and also returned on her a week later.
2 weeks after this terrible night we again travelled back to the UK via Zeebrugge but on the Spirit of Free Enterprise.
It was daytime and most passengers were out on the deck, nobody wanted to be down below at that point.
We passed the Herald, still in the water having been raised to the upright position, it was very very quiet on the Spirit as we passed her. It still causes tears to think of those people who lost their lives because of the 'assume all was ok' rather than 'assume it's not unless confirmed ok 3 times' - a small difference the lack of which is usually at the bottom of every preventable tragedy like this.
My stepfather used to be a HGV driver. He was, initially, furious that he missed getting on this ferry by a couple of vehicles because of delays earlier in his journey as it would screw with his ability to finish the journey because of mandatory rest hours etc. He was sitting at the port, watching it sail out, before everything went to shit. It was one of a couple of incidents that persuaded him to retire from international driving for a living.
As a rather dark aside, I remember that at the time of the accident, I saw more than once that people in the press were joking that Ro-Ro actually stood for "Roll on, roll over". The eighties were a very different time, that's for sure.
Thanks for the video! Always look forward to your releases. I know I say this all the time but thank you!
I appreciate it all the time🤣 honestly it's great to know you like it
The deceased Man being brought in to the rescue boat looks so peaceful.
Companies and government officials always have enough money to buy themselves out of being held accountable. These people must be held responsible for their actions that take the lives of others!
*🙏🏻Rest In Peace🕊*
*To The 192 Victims*
Prayers and best Wishes to their families.
As a retired sailor this is nightmare fuel. Subbed!
Subscribe here for more nightmares ☠️
I re member passing this ferry. 1 month after. This disaster truly haunting site...the. doors being opened was a cost saving measure they wanted to save money using extract fans. To get rid of exhaust fumes below leave Bow doors open..the rest is history
I was a young child at the time, and my parents were booked on this very crossing. They never went because the babysitter meant to be looking after me and my sister let them down.
I remember this , my manager Les was on that ship with his wife & 18 yr old daughter, unfortunately his wife and daughter died on that ship .
The poor man died two years later of a heart attack
Thank you for bringing this tragedy to the World. As someone who spent most of the first 19 years of my life around Dover I knew of the ferries across to France etcetera. I left the country in 1967, arriving in Australia in 1980, but I knew nothing of this incident, even though my family still lives in the same village just outside the town. It is heart breaking to find out these facts now.
Thank you again for enabling me to learn about this tragedy.
My first thought was this was going be about a dive instructor doing a huge group lesson
I was meant to be on that ferry with my father, but luckily my dad's lorry had a malfunction with its ignition switch. This meant we missed the ferries departure by 30 minutes.
What a total shitshow of negligence, absolutely horrendous company policy and unmotivated, not-at-all communicating officers. Crew-management at its worse. A horror story of failure.
I met a lady who survived this tragedy.
She even told me few things ,wasnt so afraid to talk about it,but i disnt want to ask her too much.
Is it me, or even though the bow doors caused the accident, the animation has the stern doors open?
Ah, we used to call this the ro-ro-ro ferry. Roll on, Roll off, Roll over ferry.
I remember the first news report, i was on my way to Rotterdam, it was reported that a ship had capsized. Hours later on the way home the true magnitude of the disaster became apparent.
Excellent analysis of the disaster. You point out that the number of officers was reduced from 15 to 10 for this new service to Zeebrugge. At this time Thatcherism was in full swing and the Herald of Free Enterprise name for the vessel was no coincidence. The "overmanning" of the 1970s - which few would deny - was replaced with the "undermanning" of the 1980s. And severe cost reduction - which is all fine until safety starts to be neglected - meant video cameras were not installed near the doors. Cheap VHS video was widely available at the time.
Interesting to see how politics influences the work place safety
This got so so much more interesting when you said it's from Zeebrugge. I'm from Belgium and I didn't know such a severe accident ever happend on our coastline.
My brother lived in Brussels at the time and said it was huge news there.
Looking at this in light of the yacht disaster in Sicily? Could the yacht disaster be down to the crew sleeping or similar? The sea has no mercy for those who don't remain vigilant!
I'm surprised that there wasn't anyone in the pilothouse who was supposed to get positive confirmation that the doors were closed. Going on "it should be closed" is way to dangerous.
Everybody thought it was somebody else's job.
The grandfather of my kids was a rescue diver in the Belgian Navy. He was called to the rescue that day, only to recover corpses. He never talked about it afterwards.
It's difficult to understand these tragedies with hindsight but until it happens these events are impossible to imagine. Who would have thought before the Bradford city football club fire that people could burn to death in a "wide open" football stand ? Or that an underground station with nothing flamable in its tiled tunnels could burn like a furness. Until Kings Cross.
I used the Zeebrugge route monthly as a freight driver and missed being on that crossing by 3 or 4 days, I feel that you have missed a few important points, they often left the bow visor / ramp open to clear the vehicle decks of fumes, closing it before leaving the outer harbour, so it was not unusual to see the Herald sailing with the front open! As I understand / remember it, at that time there was an occupational (for the crew) duty free drink allowance that could not be taken ashore, it had to be consumed on the vessel. The freight drivers cabins were on the very lowest deck, each side of the propeller shaft, a very long way down several flights of stairs, the crew member who was supposed to be in charge of the freight drivers cabins was often found asleep in a cabin so we often did not get a wake up call when arriving in Dover, he would have been no help in an emergency!
Sadly, 193 souls had to perish before safety regulations were changed.
The crew helped to save lives and rescue teams are on site within an hour. Saving many lives. Compare that to the Korean ferry Sewol that sanked about 10 years ago. Which took hours to sink. About 300 people died, mostly school kids. Because they were told to stay in their rooms while the ship slowly rolled over. Capt and crew escaped the ship ASAP. Leaving passengers to figure things out. The korean coast guard dragged their feet. The PM wanted photo Ops about the rescue. Telling families that all were saved. A US Navy ship in the area with EXPERTS were on the way to help, told to go away "we got it". Japan offered to help. "No".
Hundreds of parents went to shelter/arena to pick up their kids. There were no kids. (About 75 lived, 250 died). They had a good 90 mins to get everyone on top deck with life vests. Those were the survivors.
I am amazed this channel has not taken over RUclips for this genre.
I fitted coffee machines on this ship during a refit at Newcastle. My van was loaded aboard as we were heading back South. Me and a Coworker were invited up to the bridge. Captain David Lewry was in charge. We were impressed by the professional attitude being applied as the ship only had workers on board but all safety features were still being applied. The tragedy was due to a moments lapse.
My late father lost two of his colleagues on the Herald of Free Enterprise. RIP to the 193.
Any supervisor or ceo who demands times should be jailed
‘Leave 15mins early’ instruction from the Townsend Thoresen is emblematic of how ‘free enterprise’ has a tendency to put profit before safety - bit like Boeing I guess…
The Bridge and Navigational Procedures manual issued by the company operating the Herald include the following statement:
"The officer on watch (OOW)/ captain must be on the bridge by no later than 15 minutes before departure."
It doesn't say anything about leaving early. In fact the ship left 5 minutes late on that night.
I travelled on this ferry many times and I remember it used to leave Zeebrugge with the bow and aft doors open. When I questioned the safety of that the reply from a crew member was " We leave the doors open to clear the deck of exhaust fumes "
Me and the rest of my group were supposed to be aboard her on that sailing. We were running late after deciding to go watch the Scotland Rugby match in Paris.
Thank goodness we were late. I remember wondering what on earth all the fuss was as we pulled in to the terminal. Such a sad time.
I used to be a scout leader before moving away from my village. One of the scouts in my troop was on the ferry when it sank along with his mother and father and sister. He lost his mother and sister that day.
Besides "What's going on with shipping" one of the best maritime channels around! ;) Thanks, Mate!
Love how no one ever gets punished for these disasters.
😂 Yep. Maritime lawlessness
It is actually a difficult question of whether we SHOULD punish people in these sort of disasters, especially as they are rarely one person's fault - it takes a whole string of lapses. Punishing people satisfies our emotions, but it can and does really get in the way of finding out exactly what went wrong so it never happens again. That's because people will naturally lie or otherwise cover up to avoid punishment. Air investigations, for instance, always work on "if you report your mistake/s there will be no blame" for this reason.
My lovely dear school friend died unnecessarily on this herald tragedy , forever in my thoughts J. Reader x
My neighbours left their car boot open the other day all afternoon baffled me how you could do such a thing I check my car over every time I leave it. Some people are in the wrong jobs.
People leave their babies in their cars and they go inside and never think about them.
Lucky no Boeing employees were involved as they may have expired under mysterious circumstances.
We get the intent of your post, but try to relate what's happening to Boeing to some other recent issues.......not happening in the 1980s?
I heard about this ship. It was mentioned in the articles about the MS Estonia, due to the similarities in both sinkings.
The remaining brothers of the MS Herald of Free Enterprise were sold to different companies until they were scrapped somewhere after their service.
I m a seaferer with some years on board of ships. I m not though familiar with RoRo ships but even though a water ingress alarm should have been installed on the lower decks with possible openings to the water. Bilge wells with high level alarms and connections with the bilge pumps ( automatic start?) along the deck- not clear if they were installed from new build. As a professional seafarer i can confirm that the pressure exists. Go,go go, faster faster is always there.
A simple CCTV camera, connected to a monitor on the bridge would have shown the doors to be open as well..
@@JohnDoe-bd5sz year was 1987, way before the WiFi and WiFi cameras. This days, yes, we have cameras everywhere including the smoke stacks
@@UncleHo5 No one would use Wifi in that scenario anyway, back then CCTV cameras using Coax was certainly a thing.
Not HD / 4K and so on, but more than ample to see if a big part of the back of the ship was closed or not.
@@JohnDoe-bd5sz yes, coax is still used on the outside decks, engine room, bridge, ECR. But some places are using small WiFi cameras. At least in our case.
@@UncleHo5 But in 1987 all they had was coax.
I would have thought all things camera related would be LAN based and PoE powered
RORORO = Roll on, Roll off, Roll over…