page_title: MS Herald of Free Enterprise
section_title: Immediate
hierarchical_section_title: MS Herald of Free Enterprise / Aftermath / Immediate
caption_attribution_description: English: MS Herald of Free Enterprise being towed into the harbour of Vlissingen, Netherlands after salvage.
context_page_description: MS Herald of Free Enterprise was a roll-on/roll-off ferry which capsized moments after leaving the Belgian port of Zeebrugge on the night of 6 March 1987, killing 193 passengers and crew.
  The eight-deck car and passenger ferry was owned by Townsend Thoresen, designed for rapid loading and unloading on the competitive cross-channel route, and there were no watertight compartments. The ship left harbour with her bow door open, and the sea immediately flooded the decks; within minutes, she was lying on her side in shallow water. The immediate cause of the sinking was found to be negligence by the assistant boatswain, who was asleep in his cabin when he should have been closing the bow door. However, the official inquiry placed more blame on his supervisors and a general culture of poor communication in Townsend Thoresen. The vessel was salvaged, put up for sale, and sold to Naviera SA Kingstown on 30 September 1987, renamed Flushing Range. It was taken to Taiwan on 22 March 1988 to be dismantled.
  Since the disaster, improvements have been made to the design of RORO vessels, with watertight ramps, indicators showing the position of the bow doors, and banning of undivided decks.
context_section_description: A salvage operation, conducted by Dutch company Smit-Tak Towage and Salvage (part of Smit International), was embarked upon almost immediately to refloat the ship.  The operation was successfully concluded in late April 1987, allowing the remaining bodies trapped underwater to be removed.  The ship was towed to Zeebrugge, and then across the Western Scheldt to the yard of De Schelde in Flushing, where her fate was decided. It had originally been assumed that she could be repaired and continue sailing.  However, no buyer was found; she was sold to Compania Naviera SA of Kingstown, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, for scrapping. She was renamed Flushing Range and the Townsend Thoresen branding painted over before her final sailing to Kaohsiung, Taiwan, for scrapping. She began her final voyage on 5 October 1987, together with MV Gaelic, towed by the Dutch tug Markusturm. The voyage was interrupted for four days when the ships encountered the Great Storm of 1987 off Cape Finisterre, where Herald of Free Enterprise was cast adrift after its tow rope parted, resuming on 19 October 1987. The hull began to disintegrate while off the coast of South Africa on 27 December 1987, and had to be towed into Port Elizabeth on 2 January 1988 to undergo temporary repairs to allow her to continue her voyage. She finally arrived in Taiwan on 22 March 1988.
  The Townsend Thoresen brand name had inevitably been seen on television and in newspapers around the world. P&O quickly decided to re-brand the company as P&O European Ferries, repaint the fleet's red hulls in navy blue and remove the TT logo from the funnels.
caption: MS Herald of Free Enterprise towed into the harbour at Vlissingen after salvage, May 1987
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