Charging of ferry master advised

Press, 8 April 1987, Page 1

Charging of ferry master advised

NZPA-AAP London The Belgian authorities say they have a moral responsibility to bring charges against the master and at least two crewmen of the stricken car ferry Herald of Free Enterprise. Maritime Police Commissioner Jose van den Bussche said that Captain David Lewry, first mate Leslie Sable, and an unnamed seaman should be charged with negligence. In his unfinished report on the the disaster, Mr van den Bussche said the vessel was not seaworthy when she left Zeebrugge and the first mate did not ensure that his orders to close the bow doors were followed, according to British newspapers. At least 194 people died when the Herald of Free Enterprise capsized off Zeebrugge on March 6. Judicial inquiries into the sinking will be held in Britain and Belgium but it will be up to the Belgian judge to decide on charges. Mr van den Bussche said the master, the first mate and a seaman believed to be dead must bear responsibility for what happened. “I know it was the captain’s responsibility,” Mr van den Bussche said in the “Daily Telegraph” in London.

“I would not sleep anymore if I were responsible for 200 people on my ship and they died. “They (the courts) will reproach him for sailing

with the bow doors open. I believe someone will be charged; it would be morally wrong not to do so.”

Releasing details of an investigation, Mr van den Bussche said there was a “catastrophic breakdown in the command structure” in the ship because steps were not taken to ensure doors were closed after a crewman responsible for the duty reported sick.

Mr van den Bussche made details of his investigation public before an inquiry on April 27 because he felt strongly about alleged on-board errors, the London “Evening Standard” newspaper said.

A steward, John Butler, told Mr van den Bussche’s investigators that he was serving drinks to truckdrivers on H deck, below the lower car deck where the main bow doors are, and he telephoned the purser’s office immediately he heard water running above his head. He spoke to Assistant Purser Stephen Homewood who put a message out on the intercom for the ship’s carpenter, according to the account made public yesterday.

Two minutes later the steward on H deck saw water pouring down the stairs and he ran to telephone the,assistant purser again. As a result another call was made over the intercom for the carpenter but Captain Lewry was not informed.

The commissioner said, "The assistant purser did not think to inform the captain on the bridge of what was happening. There is no way that Captain Lewry could have known what was going on below so he had no opportunity to take early corrective action.” Mr van den Bussche said the warning would have come even earlier had not G deck been completely unmanned.

“We know now that the doors were wide open when they should not have been. “There must have been no-one on G deck for several minutes after tlje ferry left port because m order for the water to have come through the doors, and been spotted by the steward pouring down the steps, it would have had to have risen at least 17cm above the car deck floor, and that is a lot of water.

“Nobody was on G deck to raise the. alarm and that concerns me very much.”

Mr van den Bussche also said the man responsible for closing the doors, the assistant boatswain, Petty Officer Mark Stanley, said he had been taken ill when the ferry left Zeebrugge. Petty Officer Stanley was widely reported in the British press immediately after the disaster as blaming himself for the tragedy, although his lawyers later retracted the statement