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Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Herald of Free Enterprise: The Ferry That Sailed With Its Bow Door Open

Herald of Free Enterprise: The Ferry That Sailed With Its Bow Door Open

Paperback

Series: Shipwrecks That Shaped History, Book 23

BoatingGeneral World HistoryBritish History

ISBN13: 9798199347501
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: May 31 2026
Pages: 206
Weight: 0.56
Height: 0.52 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English

On 6 March 1987, the Herald of Free Enterprise left Zeebrugge bound for Dover. Minutes later, the ferry capsized in shallow water. The cause was brutally simple: she had sailed with her bow door open.

This was not a disaster of storm, collision, or war. It was a preventable failure of routine, communication, management, and safety culture. Water entered the vehicle deck, stability vanished, and 193 passengers and crew died in one of the most shocking ferry disasters of the modern era.

Also from

MacKenzie, Gordon J.

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Boating