The Herald of Free Enterprise is a new class of ferry that allows cars to drive directly into the ship. The doors protecting the ship must be closed before every departure, or the ship sails with a gaping hole at one end. One black night in 1987, on the freezing waters off Zebrugge, Belgium, a single crew member falls asleep at the worst possible time.
For bonus episodes, ad-free listening, our monthly newsletter and behind-the-scenes conversations with members of the Cautionary Tales production team, consider joining the Cautionary Club.
Further Reading
Iain Yardley’s book, Ninety Seconds at Zeebrugge: The Herald of Free Enterprise Story, brings together accounts form survivors. This script also relied on reporting from outlets such as The Times, the BBC, The Independent, Evening Chronicle, UPI, and Kent Online.
Mr Justice Sheen’s report is available online as MV Herald of Free Enterprise Report of Court No. 8074 Formal Investigation. The Herald’s link to James Reason’s thinking is outlined in Good and bad reasons: The Swiss cheese model and its critics by Justin Larouzee and Jean-Christophe Le Coze.
Peter Spooner reflects on the Herald disaster in “Corporate responsibility in an age of deregulation”, Chapter 8 of Hazard Management and Emergency Planning, published by Routledge in 1992. For more on the corporate law reform, see an overview from The Law Commission in 1996, Corporate manslaughter and the company director by Simon Daniels, and The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 – A 10-Year Review by Victoria Roper.