If I remember well, Malcolm, the stern sank rapidly which explains the high lass of life while the cargo section and the bow remained afloat for many hours. I think there was an attempt to tow what was left of the ship but it too went beneath the waves.

FLARE tragically broke in two off St.-Pierre-et-Miquelon on 16th January 1998. She had left Rotterdam on 30th December 1997 bound for Montreal in ballast and encountered severe storms during most of the Atlantic crossing. Due to the vessel’s water ballast being insufficient and incorrectly distributed, she was trimmed down by the stern with a shallow forward draught, not even reaching her loading manual’s condition for a light ballast, let alone heavy ballast situation. This exacerbated the pounding on her forefoot and led to catastrophic hull failure. Sadly only four of her twenty five crew members survived.