Nigel Thornton Collection

Steel triple screw motor vessel built by Schichau-Unterweser AG at Bremerhaven, (Yard No. 2281) West Germany in 1980 as a passenger and roll-on roll-off car and commercial vehicle ferry. Engined by Sulzer Bros. Ltd., Winterthur. Launched 31^st May 1980.

D i m e n s i o n s / T e c h n i c a l  D a t a

MMSI Number - 210422000 (2004)

IMO Number - 7820497 (2004)

Length - 131.91m (overall)

Breadth of hull - 23.19m (extreme)

Draught - 5.72m (Maximum)

Tonnage - 7,951 gross

3,439 net

Engines - Three 8,000 bhp Sulzer 2V/48 Diesels

Capacity - 1,326 passengers, 350 cars (maximum)

Call sign - GBSL (1980)

P3ZJ8 (2004)

Sister Ship: Spirit of Free Enterprise, Herald of Free Enterprise

H i s t o r y / R e m a r k s 

May 31^st 1980: Launched at Bremerhaven by seven year old Philippa Simes as a stunt for BBC television’s “Jim’ll Fix It” programme.

After all three identical sisters went into service each had their own distinguishing paintwork:

Initially the “Spirit” had green bridge roof with white vents together with a green top to the lift housing on the starboard side, to the rear of the funnel. The “Pride” had a green bridge roof with “Townsend” orange vents and orange lift housing, the “Herald” white bridge roof, vents, lift housing together with black surrounds to the bridge windows.

October 31^st 1980: Delivered to Townsend Car Ferries Ltd., Dover, England.

November 23^rd 1980: Introduced between Dover - Calais and Dover - Zeebrugge.

February 9^th 1982: “Cracked the Herald’s” (HERALD OF FREE ENTERPRISE) record Dover - Calais. With a force 7 blowing at the time, 52 minutes 49 seconds was clocked

© Gary Davies (Maritime Photographic)

1984: A new TT logo, in white, was introduced on the funnels.

November 8^th 1986 : “ill” with one engine not working at all and another one far from fit.

1987: Following the “HERALD” disaster, from spring onwards, pale blue funnels with P & O flag logo became the norm.

© Brian Fisher

October 1987: Change to P & O European Ferries navy blue hull and funnel.

December 11^th 1987: Renamed PRIDE OF BRUGES and installed between Dover - Zeebrugge December 31^st 1987: Registered to P&O European Ferries Ltd., Dover, England.

© Brian Fisher

February 1988: Laid up at Wilton Feijenoord, Scheidam Harbour near Rotterdam, owing to seaman’s strike

May 1^st 1988: Resumed service Dover - Zeebrugge.

 © Brian Pawley

March 18^th 1991: Sold to Howill Shipping Ltd, London, England, and bareboat chartered for a further period to P&O European Ferries Ltd.

1992: Operated between Dover - Calais.

© Nigel Thornton (left) and © Andreas Wörteler (right)

October 16^th - October 28^th 1996: Transferred back to Dover - Zeebrugge .

March 1998: P & O Stena Line was a British private sector company, 60% owned by the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company and 40% owned by Stena Line AB of Sweden. The new company took over the Dover and Newhaven services of P & O European Ferries and Stena Line. March 3^rd 1998: All vessels operated under the P & OSL banner.

© Andreas Wörteler

March 10^th 1998: Introduced between Dover - Calais.

May 1998: Refit in Dunkirk

December 1998: Renamed P&OSL PICARDY.

© Andreas Wörteler

January 17^th 2000: Last crossing between Dover and Calais

January 2000: Introduced between Dover - Zeebrugge.

February 3^rd 2000: Went to Dunkerque to lay-up

2002 :P & O Stena joint venture ended. The Dover-Calais fleet adopted the appropriate P & O “Pride of ….” names, the P & OSL labels being dropped….All vessels had their Stena house flag removed from their funnel, along with the deletion of the name Stena from their hulls.

April 3^rd 2001: Sold to Transeuropa Shipping, Limassol, Cyprus, renamed OLEANDER and continued her lay-up in Dunkerque.

© Andreas Wörteler

July 8^th 2002: Introduced between Ostend - Ramsgate.

July 20^th 2004: Transeuropa Ferries started a new passenger service between Ostend and Ramsgate with LARKSPUR and OLEANDER, but initially no coaches or foot passengers.

June 10^th 2005:  Underwater a survey in the port of Zeebrugge.

© Nigel Thornton

June 12^th 2005: Resumed service.

May 18^th 2006: Dry-docking at Dunkerque. Expected return to service 21^st.

© Robert Fournier

May 20^th 2006: Left Dunkerque bound for Ostend and resumed service.

© Andreas Wörteler

All information is believed to be correct and no responsibility is accepted for errors and omissions.

We would like to thank: Micke Asklander (Faktaomfartyg), Gary Davies (Maritime Photographic), Joe@ Ferry Fantastic, Brian Fisher, Brian Pawley, Andreas Wörteler, Cedric Hacke and Robert Fournier for there assistance in producing this feature.

© Nigel Thornton & Ray Goodfellow 2008 | Email the Webmaster | Guestbook | Forum | Copyright and Disclaimer