the drive around this new standard was driven in half from a streak of shipping - involved incidents in the late 1980s , such as the capture of cross - channel ferry the herald of loose enterprise in 1987 , the petrol field piper alpha disaster in 1988 , and the marchioness barge canal boat sinking in 1989 . more than 400 people lost their minds in these three disasters , but no one individuals or sector was brought to account .
100 or more people lost their lives in a ferry sinking.