I couldn't understand the reference to 5 degrees either but then the BBC and such-like are not known for nautical expertise. There will be an angle at which unsecured vehicles start to slide unless tethered and cause a list but even that, I would have thought, would have been greater than 5 deg. However, as I never served on ferries, perhaps somebody with the experience will comment. Certainly 5 deg. would normally be no problem for a seaworthy vessel which should be capable of recovery from much greater angles. If it was, ships would never go to sea in anything but a flat calm. As some used to say, "When your mattress falls off your bunk, that's the time to worry".
This morning the BBC is saying that the 3rd Mate was "at the helm" at the time the ship got into trouble as if this is somehow out of the ordinary and conjuring up images of some great wheel which he was tending. If the vessel was running a normal watch system then there is nothing unusual in the 3rd being in charge.
As always, the media speculates on causes of incidents without engaging its corporate brain and as its masters demand news, reporters will start clutching at straws. Far better if they all said "We don't know" and wait until those who do, have figured out the causes.
Why was evacuation delayed? Probably because evacuation plans are created around the idea of maximum control reducing the possibility of panic in a large body of untrained personnel unfamiliar with shipping. Thus, people are marshalled for an orderly evacuation. Unfortunately this plan is too inflexible in some cases. Remember that when Piper Alpha went up, large numbers of well-trained personnel were still following the evacuation plan and gathering in the accommodation module mess room. They died. By and large, the ones who survived were those who recognised that the situation was beyond control and took independent action.
Barry M