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MS ''Herald of Free Enterprise'' was a roll-on roll-off (RORO) ferry which capsized moments after leaving the Belgian port of Zeebrugge on the night of 6 March 1987, killing 193 passengers and crew.〔MV Herald of Free Enterprise Report of Court N0. 8074, Formal Investigation. ''UK Department of Transportation''〕 The modern 8-deck car and passenger ferry, owned by Townsend Thoresen, had been designed for rapid loading and unloading on the competitive cross-channel route, and there were no watertight compartments. When the ship left harbour with her bow-door open, the sea immediately flooded the decks, and 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, asleep in his cabin when he should have been closing the bow-door. But the official inquiry placed more blame on his supervisors and a general culture of poor communication in Townsend Thoresen. Although the vessel was salvaged and put up for sale, there were no takers, and she ended her days in a scrapyard in Taiwan. 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 the banning of undivided decks. This incident caused the highest death-count of any peacetime maritime disaster involving a British ship since the sinking of the in 1914. ==Design and construction== In the late 1970s, Townsend Thoresen commissioned the design and construction of three new identical ships for its Dover–Calais route for delivery from 1980. The ships were branded the ''Spirit''-class and were named ''Herald of Free Enterprise'', ''Pride of Free Enterprise'' and ''Spirit of Free Enterprise''. The Dover–Calais crossing of the Channel is the shortest route between England and France, and in 1987 (prior to the opening of the Channel Tunnel) it was the quickest route. To remain competitive with other ferry operators on the route, Townsend Thoresen required ships which were designed to permit fast loading and unloading and quick acceleration. The ships comprised eight decks numbered A to H from top to bottom which contained the following: *A deck: Crew accommodation and radio room *B deck: Crew accommodation and galley *C deck: Passenger areas and galley *D deck: Suspended vehicle deck within E deck *E deck: Upper vehicle deck *F deck: Mezzanine level *G deck: Main vehicle deck *H deck: Engine rooms, stores and passenger accommodation Loading of vehicles onto G deck was through watertight doors at the bow and stern. Both sets of doors were hinged about a vertical axis, meaning the status of the bow doors could not be seen from the wheel house. Loading of vehicles onto E deck and F deck was through a weathertight door at the bow and an open portal at the stern. Vehicles could be loaded and unloaded onto E and G deck simultaneously using double-deck linkspans in use at Dover and Calais. The ships were constructed by Schichau-Unterweser AG in Bremerhaven, Germany. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「MS Herald of Free Enterprise」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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