The Costa Concordia cruise ship disaster reminded me of something that happened back in 1987, 6th March to be precise. 'The Herald Of Free Enterprise' ferry capsized just after starting it's journey back from Zeebrugge. It was tragic that 193 people died, especially when the accident was caused by the bow doors not being closed, something entirely preventable.
That year 'The Sun' newspaper had a deal where you could go to France or Belgium for £1, and £5 for your car, or something like that. My fiance and I decided to take up the offer, along with my brother and a friend of my fiance's. We thought seriously about going to Belgium but my fiance's friend had never been to France so we went there instead for his benefit. It was one of the best decisions we ever made.
To cut a long story short, we got to France, checked out a few sights - I think we went to Rouen, or it could have been Rennes, & stocked up in the hypermarket - mainly booze! We were on our way back, and I forget what the others were doing, but I went and sat on the observation deck. As I sat there I thought about how or if I would get out if the ferry capsized. For some reason I looked at my watch, and it turned out later to have been the exact time that the 'Herald Of Free Enterprise' capsized. What an incredible co-incidence! I did hear a couple of crew members mention the 'Herald Of Free Enterprise', but we weren't aware of the disaster until we were off the ferry.
Anyway, we got home without incident, much to the relief of family and friends who knew that we were going on a 'Sun' trip but weren't sure where to. I haven't been on a British ferry since, although I did go on some Greek ones when on holiday in 1999. They were possibly less seaworthy than the British ones, but they were a lot smaller.
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