Capsizing of the European Gateway

On 19th December 1982 the Townsend Thoresen car ferry European Gateway was departing the port of Felixstowe outbound with 34 passengers and 36 crew on board and a cargo of vehicles. She had been built in 1975 as the European Express in Germany but renamed before the year was out. At 386 feet long she was over 4000 gross tons and could carry over 300 passengers and 400 cars on a typical journey (Photo right shows her in August 1979 - image by Wolfgang Fricke).

In the meantime the Speedlink Vanguard was inbound to the nearby port of Harwich. Launched in 1973, she was operated by Stena Cargo Line and was at this moment in time carrying 28 crew and a full cargo. Built in Sweden, she was 466 feet long and just over 3,500 gross tons and had the ability to carry around three dozen passengers. 

The two ships sailed closer towards each other in the dark until at 2250 hours the two vessels collided and the Speedlink Vanguard’s bow slammed into the side of the European Gateway, tearing a huge gash down her starboard side. Water immediately flowed in and entered the car deck creating a phenomenon known as the Free Surface Effect, where liquid as the free space to move around thereby creating instability on the platform – in this case the ferry itself. 

The European Gateway came to rest on its side on a nearby sandbank, only good fortune preventing her from completely going over. A  huge rescue operation was launched and helicopters began winching survivors out of the upturned ship, search lights trying to find those that were now missing, the operation would continue into the night. 

By the following morning it was clear that the ship was in a bad way, six people were confirmed dead, the rest taken off by a nearby ferry, lifeboats and the helicopters. The Speedlink Vanguard was alongside Harwich with the front of her bow smashed in but very little other damage compared to what the other ship had suffered. 

An investigation blamed both vessels for the tragedy, an inquest recording an open verdict. The Speedlink Vanguard was repaired and back at sea pretty much straight away. For the European Gateway, she was successfully salvaged the following year and incredibly she too was repaired and put back into service. 

Speedlink Vanguard would go on to have seven further name changes and be chartered by other companies all over the world before she was scrapped in 2013 as the Boa Vista. 

European Gateway would change names a further six times and spend most of her career in the Mediterranean, few people knowing her tragic past as they took this ferry around the Greek islands. With her final name as Penelope, she was scrapped in Piraeus in 2013. 

On the 31st anniversary of the disaster a memorial plaque was unveiled overlooking the place where this disaster happened, attended by many people who were there and who can never shake the memories of that terrible night from their minds. 

NOTE – At some point I would very much like to write a book about this disaster and tell the story of what happened. Everybody remembers the sinking of the other ferry owned by the same company five years later, the Herald of Free Enterprise, but few remember the European Gateway. If you have anything you think may be useful or were there at the time then please get in touch at shipwreckdata@yahoo.co.uk or via my Facebook page.