This is the legend of eight sisters, Herald was the famous one It happened twenty years ago although the sea was calm It was 1987 and winter nearly gone On that Friday running late with rolling off and rolling on
Trucks and cars were sleeping door by door and side by side Someone had to close the back door That day it must have slipped his mind He was fast asleep in his cabin, tired from cleaning out the hall While passengers were eating, indulging duty-free-for-all
Herald of Free Enterprise Herald of Free Enterprise Herald of Free Enterprise In just ninety seconds, right down to the wire
Sailing with the doors wide open so the waves kept pouring in As they passed the Outer Mole the disaster could begin An a hundred yards from the shore right outside a Belgian port The lights went out the ship turned around and fell to starboard Then nothing but silence, silence and the cold Herald and her sisters just never fit the mold
Two months later she was refloated a final one-way trip exchange Pensioned off into the Third World Where they named her Flushing Range And in '88 she broke in two, probably because of guilt Pride and Spirit changed their names They were all doomed since they were built
This is the legend of eight sisters, Herald was the famous one It happened twenty years ago although the sea was calm I was just a boy then, holding daddy's hand Watching on tv how Herald's time came to an end