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The incident resulted in the deaths of 193 passengers and crew.
It was the most deadly sinking of a British ship in peacetime in more than 50 years.
The Herald of Free Enterprise began active service in 1980, having been designed specifically for the popular ferry route between Dover and Calais.
This ship, and the others in its class, were designed to facilitate quick loading and unloading and to have rapid acceleration.
On the day of the incident the Herald of Free Enterprise was not on her normal route.
Instead she was ferrying between Dover in England and Zeebrugge in Belgium.
This caused some problems when loading and unloading passengers and cars - specifically the ramp at Zeebrugge could not be raised high enough to reach Deck E, the upper vehicle deck.
To address this issue water was pumped into the bow ballast tanks on board the Herald, thus lowering the whole vessel in the water until the deck was low enough for boarding to commence.
Once all the cars and passengers had been loaded, however, the ballast tanks were not emptied and the ship remained low in the water.
This was further exacerbated by something known as the squat effect.
When a vessel is in motion the movement of water beneath the hull creates an area of low pressure and causes the boat to sink slightly lower in the water this effect is strongest in shallow water or when a boat is moving rapidly.
Both of these conditions were true for the Herald of Free Enterprise that day.
The Zeebrugge Harbour was shallow and the boat pulled rapidly away from port in an effort to compensate for a slightly late departure.
The result of these combined factors was that water at the bow of the ship was able to reach all the way up to G Deck.
Normally this would not be an issue as the doors there would be sealed.
However, on this day, the bow doors on G Deck were for some reason wide open.
Water cascaded in flooding the deck and leaking down to the other decks below.
The car decks on the Herald were large uninterrupted spaces not subdivided by watertight bulkheads.
This allowed the water to slosh around freely, throwing off the balance of the ferry and causing it to capsize.
The incident unfolded with astonishing rapidity.
The ship left Zeebrugge Harbor at 6:24pm with a crew of 80 and 459 passengers.
She began to capsize less than four minutes later.
After listing to port almost 30 degrees she briefly righted herself before listing to port again and capsizing onto her side.
The whole events took no more than a minute and a half.
During that minute and a half contact between water and electrical systems plunged the ship into darkness.
Floors became walls, walls became floors, passenger decks were inundated with water.
Many people drowned in those first chaotic minutes, while others died from injuries sustained during falls or when crushed by falling objects.
It was a stroke of good fortune that the ship capsized onto a sandbar.
Were this not the case it would have undoubtedly sunk completely into deeper water.
As it was the ship came to rest on its side partly submerged with hundreds of souls trapped inside.
Here is an account of the incident from survivor Simon Osborne: "I was standing at a duty-free counter when I felt a sudden "violent jolt a woman behind me in the queue started screaming and I thought "she was overreacting but seconds later another more violent jolt shook the "vessel and then almost instantaneously the ship capsized.
It happened so very, "very quickly.
I fell onto my back and slid along the polished wooden decks of "the ship's lounge until I landed on the front of the bar, which had gone from "being vertical to horizontal. In the brief moments before the lights went out "I had a clear view of the horror around me. Everything that wasn't bolted to the "decks came crashing down.
I recall fruit machines chairs tables and waste bins "tumbling through the air as the vessel suddenly flipped over. Much worse was the "sight of people somersaulting from one side of the ship to the other.
One "man cried out as he crashed through a glass panel just feet from where I stood "rooted to the spot, wide-eyed, frozen in fear.
Aa split-second later we were "plunged into darkness as the lights failed and I was instantly swept up by "the swirling wave of freezing water which had crashed through the ship's "doors and windows.
I thought I was going to die."
Passengers, like Simon, who survived the initial capsize of the ship were then stuck within the overturned hull, often submerged in freezing cold water.
They had no choice but to wait for rescue - something that for many was too late in coming.
An immediate inquiry was launched into the incident.
It found that many different factors contributed to the sinking but that none were more prominent than the fact that the bow doors were open when the ship left port.
Who was to blame for this terrible lapse? It was the job of the Assistant Boatswain, a man named Mark Stanley, to close the doors, and the job of the First Officer, a man named Leslie Sabel, to make sure that they were shut before departure.
When the ferry left on its fateful voyage, however, Stanley was asleep in his cabin.
Sabel left the vicinity of the bow doors to be on deck for departure without ensuring that the bow doors were closed, simply assuming that Stanley would turn up and do his job.
The court placed the majority of blame on these men, but also criticized the working culture of the company as a whole.
There was, it reported, "a disease of "sloppiness and negligence at every level of the corporation's hierarchy.
" Seven people from the ferry company were charged with gross negligence manslaughter and corporate manslaughter, but the case swiftly collapsed when a judge ordered the jury to acquit all concerned.
Nobody was punished for actions contributing to the disaster.
In the aftermath many changes were made to similar vessels.
These included the addition of indicators on the bridge to show when the bow doors were open, water- -tight ramps fitted to bow sections, and flaps to allow water to escape from vehicle decks in the event of flooding.
Regulations were also changed to require a greater minimum distance between the waterline and any car deck for all roll-on roll-off ferries.
As for the Herald of Free Enterprise itself a salvage operation was successful in refloating the ship.
The final bodies were removed from the vessel a month after its sinking and the damaged ship was towed to a shipyard near Zeebrugge.
The owners attempted to sell her on the basis that she could be repaired and sail again...but, unsurprisingly, no buyer was found and she was eventually sold for scrap to a shipyard in Taiwan.
More than a year after the disaster had concluded the ship arrived at its final destination and was broken down for scrap.
The Herald of Free Enterprise is now nothing more than a memory, but the incident which cost so many of its passengers their lives is one that the survivors and the world at large will never forget.
Read More Maritime Incidents
They had no choice but to wait for rescue - something that for many was too late in coming.
An immediate inquiry was launched into the incident.
It found that many different factors contributed to the sinking but that none were more prominent than the fact that the bow doors were open when the ship left port.
Who was to blame for this terrible lapse? It was the job of the Assistant Boatswain, a man named Mark Stanley, to close the doors, and the job of the First Officer, a man named Leslie Sabel, to make sure that they were shut before departure.
When the ferry left on its fateful voyage, however, Stanley was asleep in his cabin.
Sabel left the vicinity of the bow doors to be on deck for departure without ensuring that the bow doors were closed, simply assuming that Stanley would turn up and do his job.
The court placed the majority of blame on these men, but also criticized the working culture of the company as a whole.
There was, it reported, "a disease of "sloppiness and negligence at every level of the corporation's hierarchy.
" Seven people from the ferry company were charged with gross negligence manslaughter and corporate manslaughter, but the case swiftly collapsed when a judge ordered the jury to acquit all concerned.
Nobody was punished for actions contributing to the disaster.
In the aftermath many changes were made to similar vessels.
These included the addition of indicators on the bridge to show when the bow doors were open, water- -tight ramps fitted to bow sections, and flaps to allow water to escape from vehicle decks in the event of flooding.
Regulations were also changed to require a greater minimum distance between the waterline and any car deck for all roll-on roll-off ferries.
As for the Herald of Free Enterprise itself a salvage operation was successful in refloating the ship.
The final bodies were removed from the vessel a month after its sinking and the damaged ship was towed to a shipyard near Zeebrugge.
The owners attempted to sell her on the basis that she could be repaired and sail again...but, unsurprisingly, no buyer was found and she was eventually sold for scrap to a shipyard in Taiwan.
More than a year after the disaster had concluded the ship arrived at its final destination and was broken down for scrap.
The Herald of Free Enterprise is now nothing more than a memory, but the incident which cost so many of its passengers their lives is one that the survivors and the world at large will never forget.
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