European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 9, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday March 9. 1387 the stars and stripes Pago 3 passenger accommodation saloons bars shops restaurants  i Quarter Bow door through which water poured pa461 Herald of free Enterprise . Ferryboat standards strict officials say new York not a ferry of the Type thai capsized off Belgium on Friday night probably would be prevented from operating in . Waters because the design would not meet . Standards a coast guard inspector said. The inspector cmdr. Jack Mcgowan As Well As ferry operators said saturday that ferries operating in . Waters Hod to have a variety or design features that would contain flooding and prevent the Type of capsizing that occurred off Belgium on the ferry her Ltd of free Enterprise. Among those features Are partitions known As bulk Heads below the vehicle deck watertight doors and Bilge pumps. The maritime Arm of the United nations known As the International maritime organization issued a re port in 1980 expressing concern about the design of such Large Roll on Roll off ferries without bulkheads. Experts said that on that category of ship which apparently includes the one that capsized Friday a surge of water on the vehicle deck could come so Sud Denly that passengers would be unable to escape before the vessel capsized. The officials said a failure to build or maintain such features even if they were included in the design of the ship could have caused inc British operated ferry to to hover but they said they believe that regular strict checks by the coast guard make a similar Accident in the United states unlikely. The safety features if properly maintained pre vent the deck Edge of a ship from Ever even approach ing the water said Mcgowan chief of investigations for the coast guard s Marine inspection office in Newyork. The coast guard conducts quarterly inspections of every Large passenger carrying ship in the United states. Mcgowan said. Ray Martin a spokesman for the Woods Hole mar tha s Vineyard and Nantucket steamship authority said the coast guard is pretty strict and we Are stricter than the coast guard in insuring that ferries am Safe. Martin whose company shuttles 1,8 million Passen Gers and 380,000 vehicles a year Between Cape cod and the nearby islands said the captains regularly in Spect the vessels and hold safely drills with Crews. Most Short Range passenger ferries such As the Slaten Island ferries or the boats that Cany commuter passengers Between san Francisco and nearby Sausalito Are somewhat smaller in site with Hatter hulls and lower Keels than the 433-Fooi-Tong Herald of free Enterprise. They also have watertight bulkheads beneath the vehicle deck. Mcgowan asked whether the Slaten Island ferries could Ever sink said Only Given a totally outrageous set of conditions All superimposed on each other. Asked to describe such conditions he said some thing like an iceberg in new York Harbor ripping out the Bottom All the passengers running Over to one Side to look at the statue of Liberty and a freighter Hilling the ferry on the other Side.1 Mcgowan who conducts quarterly inspections of the Staten Island ferries and other vessels likened the Hull of a ferry to a Shoebox divided into a number of different watertight bulkheads that keep the ship steady no matter what happens on the cargo and Pas Senger decks above the lid of the Box. Thus even if water were to sweep into the space that holds cars and trucks or if Alt passengers were to run to one Side of a ship the Craft would remain relatively stable. And even if watertight seals were to fail and water came pouring into one or two of the bulkheads the vessel could easily survive Mcgowan added the Duchess of York talks with Julie Zutic and daughter Carlo survivors of survivors get Royal visit the capsized British ferryboat Herald of fret Enterprise in Vorous hasp Ilal at Knoke heist saturday. The Duchess and her husband Prince Andrew flew a Plotti to Belgium to visit inc scan Elf la disaster and consult tick los