Batten down the hatches

In today's Guardian, a story from 20 years ago:

Twenty years ago today, the Herald of Free Enterprise set out from the Belgian port of Zeebrugge on its crossing to Dover. Within half an hour, the ferry was lying on its side with its 539 passengers and crew fighting for survival in freezing seas. The bow doors had not been closed.

Twenty years ago, two of my husband's cousins died in that disaster. His aunt lost two of her children, her oldest and youngest daughters and the oldest daughter's fiance. They were on one side of the ferry. The rest of the family survived - just.

They received shockingly little compensation for lives utterly destroyed. The negligence was appalling - the head of the enquiry found that there was a "disease of sloppiness" among the ship's management. The employee responsible for shutting the bow doors - which would have prevented water rushing in and capsizing the ship - was asleep when the ferry left port.