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Condor Ferries
Condor Ferries Page 1: Commodore Shipping
This page is devoted to postcards and photographs of the conventional vessels of Commodore Shipping. Fast ferries of Condor are shown on
Condor - Page 2
.
An alphabetical list of ships
shown on this page is shown below.
The Table
beneath gives links to complete history pages on selected individual ships. Below the table is a
Fleet List
in chronological order.
Commodore began operations in 1947 as Commodore Cruises, when they operated a number of ex-Royal Navy Fairmile 'B' craft were used on excursions from South East England resorts. In September 1947,
Red Commodore
was chartered by a Guernsey operator who ran to Sark and Alderney. The following year, Commodore, employed
Red Commodore
and
Silver Commodore
on similar routes, joined by
White Commodore
later in the season. Their complete fleet of Fairmile launches was:-
White Commodore
(ex-ML445),
Silver Commodore
(ex-RML499),
Fleet Commodore
(ex-RML534),
Red Commodore
(ex- RML537) and
Gay Commodore
(RN serial unknown).
In 1950, the first cargo vessel,
Island Commodore (1)
joined the fleet, although she was also licensed to carry 144 passengers on inter-island routes. Typically,
Island Commodore (1)
would run from St Peter Port, Guernsey to Sark three times a week, and twice to Alderney all year round. The Fairmile launches would operate summer-only on extra trips.
Ownership of Commodore passed to Mansfield Markham in 1960, and a larger vessel was acquired from Germany, becoming the
Commodore Queen
. The intention was to run her to France, but she lacked sufficient speed to be totally successful on such services. In 1962, the Alderney Tramp Shipping Company was acquired along with the vessel
Orselina
. She was soon joined by the chartered coaster
Allen Commodore
, which was used on a cross-channel cargo service to Portsmouth. A sister,
Norman Commodore (1)
joined the fleet for a service to Shoreham, whilst
Orselina
was used to St Malo.
British Railways
withdrew their ferry
Brittany
in 1963, and a new company,
Condor Limited
, was formed to operate high speed services to France with the hydrofoil
Condor 1
. Control passed to Jack Norman in 1965, who then acquired Channel Transporters (Portsmouth), allowing Commodore to become major players in the Channel Islands freight markets.
The new Albert Johnson Quay opened in Portsmouth in 1968, allowing Shoreham services to be transferred. Increasing numbers of containers were carried, and many open flush decked container vessels were chartered to augment services, but additional ships were also purchased, becoming
Commodore Clipper (1)
and
Commodore Goodwill (1)
, and new container ships
Norman Commodore (2)
and
Island Commodore (2)
were delivered in 1971. A third ship,
Commodore Trader
joined them in soon afterwards.
Sealink (British Railways) introduced first car ferries to Channel Island services in 1973, followed by multipurpose ferries also carrying trucks in 1977. A major Sealink freight customer was Mainland Market Deliveries (MMD), who were specialised fruit carriers. They transferred their business to
Channel Islands Ferries (CIF)
in 1985.
CIF
made significant inroads into the Sealink traffic to the islands, and in 1986 a joint company
British Channel Islands Ferries (BCIF)
was formed. However strike action by Sealink crews prevented Sealink ships from joining the new company, and Sealink eventually lost its entire shareholding. Following the failure to provide a joint service with Sealink to the Channel Islands, BCIF were left to operate services on their own. However, they chose to concentrate all their services on Poole, abandoning Portsmouth and Weymouth, and leaving MMD without a service from their port of choice, Portsmouth. In collaboration with Commodore, MMD chartered a ship and began a freight-only ro-ro service. The ship was renamed the
Pride of Portsmouth
and was managed by Sealink, at the time keen to re-enter the trade.
Pride of Portsmouth
initially operated in MMD livery, but worked in consort with the Commodore lo-lo container ships. On 1st August 1989, MMD were taken over by Commodore, and the Sealink management contact for
Pride of Portsmouth
was not renewed.
Pride of Portsmouth
changed to Commodore livery and was renamed
Norman Commodore (2)
in 1993. She had been joined by the
Juniper
in August 1990, at which point all traffic transferred to the ro-ro services.
In October 1993, an order was placed for a purpose-built ro-ro ferry since available chartered tonnage was too slow and also slow to load/unload because most required the use of lifts.
Island Commodore (2)
was delivered in 1995, followed by sistership
Commodore Goodwill (3)
the following year. There was a requirement for additional passenger capacity in the conventional ferries, so cover the fast ferries in bad weather, and in 1999 the
Commodore Clipper (5)
arrived, replacing the
Island Commodore (2)
. From 2004, the ferries received full Condor Ferries colours. In 2005, the Condor Group is owned by the Royal Bank of Scotland.
Reference:-
Commodore Shipping
-
The First Half Century 1947-1997:
by Kevin le Scelleur - published by Commodore Shipping
Sections on This Page:-
Commodore Fleet List
Commodore Publicity
Ships on This Page:-
Clare
(2000)
Commodore Clipper (1)
Commodore Clipper (4)
(1991-1996)
Commodore Clipper (5)
(1999- )
Commodore Enterprise
Commodore Goodwill (3)
(1996- )
Commodore Queen
Fleet Commodore
Gay Commodore
Havelet
(1994-2000)
Island Commodore (1)
Island Commodore (2)
(1995-1999)
Juniper
(1990-1991, 1994)
Norman Commodore (1)
Norman Commodore (3)
(1993-1994)
Pride of Portsmouth
(1989-1992)
Purbeck
(2002)
Red Commodore
Silver Commodore
White Commodore
Condor Fast Ferries on
Page 2
:-
Condor 1
(1964-1977)
Condor 2
(1969, 1981 - chartered)
Condor 3
(1971-1980)
Condor 4
(1974-1993)
Condor 5
(1976-1993)
Condor 6
(1980 - chartered)
Condor 7
(1985-1994)
Condor 8
(1988-1997)
Condor 9
(1990-2002)
Condor 10
(1993-1996, 2002)
Condor 11
(1995 - chartered)
Condor France
(1996-1999 - chartered)
Condor 12
(1996-1997 - chartered)
Condor Express
(1997- )
Condor Vitesse
(1998- )
Associated Pages:-
Commodore Shipping
- this page!
Condor - Page 1
- Conventional ferries
- this page!
Condor - Page 2
- Fast ferries of Condor Ferries
Fairmile 'B' Header Page
- List of Fairmile 'B' launches used in the UK
Ferry Postcards
Cruise Ship Postcards
Ocean Liner Postcards
Simplon Postcards Home Page
Search This Website:-
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Table of Ship Histories
Name
Other names
Built
Commodore Clipper
1999
Commodore Fleet List
Condor Ferries Page 1: Commodore Shipping
Red Commodore
Red
Commodore
was used on Guernsey services in 1948 and 1949. She was a Royal Navy Fairmile B launch built in 1942.
For the record, the Commodore Fairmiles were
Gay Commodore
,
White Commodore
(ex-ML445),
Silver Commodore (RML499)
,
Fleet Commodore (RML534)
and
Red Commodore (RML537)
.
Photograph of
Red
Commodore
.
Photo: © Condor Ferries.
Silver Commodore
Silver
Commodore
was used on Guernsey services in 1948 and in 1962. She was a Royal Navy Fairmile B launch built in 1942. She was then sold to
Croson Limited
of Bournemouth, and renamed
Swanage Belle
.
For the record, the Commodore Fairmiles were
Gay Commodore
,
White Commodore
(ex-ML445),
Silver Commodore (RML499)
,
Fleet Commodore (RML534)
and
Red Comm
odore (RML537)
.
Postcard of
Silver
Commodore
.
White Commodore
Commodore began operations in 1947 as Commodore Cruises, when they operated a number of ex-Royal Navy Fairmile 'B' craft were used on excursions from South East England resorts. In September 1947,
Red Commodore
was chartered by a Guernsey operator who ran to Sark and Alderney. The following year, Commodore, employed
Red Commodore
and
Silver Commodore
on similar routes, joined by
White Commodore
later in the season. Their complete fleet of Fairmile launches was:-
White Commodore
(ex-ML445),
Silver Commodore
(ex-RML499),
Fleet Commodore
(ex-RML534),
Red Commodore
(ex- RML537) and
Gay Commodore
(RN serial unknown).
Postcard of
White Commodore Queen
- Click to open larger copy
Fleet Commodore
Fleet
Commodore
was used on Guernsey services in 1949 and then from 1951 to 1965. She was a Royal Navy Fairmile B launch built in 1942.
For the record, the Commodore Fairmiles were
Gay Commodore
,
White Commodore
(ex-ML445),
Silver Commodore (RML499)
,
Fleet Commodore (RML534)
and
Red Commodore (RML537)
.
Postcard of
Fleet
Commodore
.
Gay Commodore
Gay Commodore
was part of the Commodore Cruises fleet of ex-Navy Fairmile 'B' launches.
Gay Commodore
has not been identified and reportedly went to Qatar as
Shellex
in 1948. However the photo below of her at Harwich is dated 1952. I have no further information about her use in the Ipswich/Harwich area.
For the record, the Commodore Fairmiles were
Gay Commodore
,
White Commodore
(ex-ML445),
Silver Commodore (RML499)
,
Fleet Commodore (RML534)
and
Red Commodore (RML537)
.
The
Gay Commodore
off Harwich.
Photo: © Philip Cone, August 1952
Click to open larger image in new window
Commodore Queen
Commodore Queen
was used on Guernsey services between 1960 to 1969, and was sold in 1971.
Commodore Queen
was built as the
Rochester Queen (2)
, one of four LCG(M)(1) Class (Landing Craft gun, Medium Mark 1) conversions undertaken by the Jake Bolson Shipyard in Poole after the Second World War. Three vessels were used by the associated
Bolson
excursion boat company as the
Bournemouth Skylark 4, 5
& 6
, whilst the fourth became the
Rochester Queen (2)
. She operated on the Medway and Thames on New Medway SP Co routes until 1956 when she was sold for coastal use in Germany as the
Hein Mück
. In 1961 she passed to
Commodore Shipping
as the
Commodore Queen
, and used for services in the Channel Islands. She spent a further 3 years in the Channels Islands as Jersey Queen with Jersey Car Ferries before leaving to work in Nigeria.
Postcard of
Rochester Queen (2)
at Clacton.
Postcard of
Hein Mück
(later
Commodore Queen)
.
Postcard of
Commodore Queen
.
Postcard of
Commodore Queen
- Click to open larger copy
Island Commodore (1)
Photograph of
Island
Commodore (1)
.
Photo: © Condor Ferries/Brian Green.
Commodore Clipper (1)
Photograph of
Commodore Clipper (1)
.
Photo: © Condor Ferries.
Norman Commodore (1)
Photograph of
Norman
Commodore (1)
under construction.
Photo: © Condor Ferries.
Commodore Enterprise
Photograph of
Commodore Enterprise
.
Photo: © Condor Ferries.
Pride of Portsmouth
(1989-1992)
Norman Commodore (3)
(1993-1994)
Pride of Portsmouth
was built as the
Anu
in Norway in 1972, one of four sisters. She was owned by Alander Frachtschiff of Hamburg, and had an initial charter with Avomeri Line running between Helsinki, Helsingborg and Århus. Between 1973-1974 she was chartered to
North Sea Ferries
as
Norcliff
, reverting to
Anu
afterwards. In 1979-1980 Anu was chartered to
Tor Line
for Gothenburg-Immingham service, followed by charter to
Sealink
as
Lune Bridge
on Irish Sea services. Further charters followed with
B&I Line
, the UK Ministry of Defence and Cenargo until used by
Mols Linien
between 1987-1989 between Sjællands Odde-Ebeltoft. She was temporarily renamed
Mols Trader
before entering service as
Mads Mols (1)
.
Following this she operated for Commodore Shipping to the Channel islands as
Pride of Portsmouth
and
Norman Commodore (3)
. In December 1993,
Norman Commodore (3)
was seriously damaged by fire, and was out of service until the following June. She was replaced by the chartered
Juniper
. Within days of her return to service,
Norman Commodore (3)
was involved in another incident when lost engine control and sank the local passenger vessel
Herm Trident IV
. Since 1995 she has worked as Finnish
Fjärdvägen
between Långnäs and Nådendal.
Chantry Classics
postcard CC/S169 of
Pride of Portsmouth
.
Photo: © Walter Sartori.
Chantry Classics
postcard CC/S230 of
Norman Commodore (3)
.
Photo: © Walter Sartori.
Juniper
(1990-1991, 1994)
Juniper
was chartered from
TransEuropa Ferries
to run with
Pride of Portsmouth
to convert the Portsmouth-Channel Islands service to full ro-ro operation. She did not prove to be totally suited, so was replaced by
Commodore Clipper (4)
in 1991. However, she returned to the fleet temporarily in 1994 when
Norman Commodore (3)
was damaged by fire.
Tropic Postcards
issue T207 of Juniper, on
TransEuropa Ferries
Oostende-Ramsgate service.
Photo: ©
Photo Tropic (Yvan Broux)
Commodore Clipper (4)
(1991-1996)
Commodore Clipper (4)
was built in Norway as the
Juno
of
Finska Ångfartygs Ab
. She entered service between Finland and Lübeck. From 1978 received many charters including
OY Bore Lines AB
,
North Sea Ferries
,
Brittany Ferries
etc. In 1991, Juno was chartered to Commodore as the
Commodore Clipper (4)
. The charter lasted until March 1996, and was followed by further charters to Pandoro, Fjord Line, Caledonian MacBrayne and
Northlink
as
Hascosay
.
Photograph of
Commodore Clipper (4)
.
Photo: Hans Neels
Photograph of
Commodore Clipper (4)
.
Photo: © Andreas Wörteler
Havelet
(1994-2000)
Havelet
was chartered by Condor to run winter services and cover for bad weather cancellations of the fast ferries when they achieved a monopoly of UK-Channel Islands services. The charter was ended on the delivery of
Commodore Clipper (5)
.
Simplon Postcards release sp1198 of
Havelet
, issued August 1995.
Photo: © Anthony Meads.
Island Commodore (2)
(1995-1999)
Photograph of
Island Commodore
.
Photo: © Kevin le Scelleur - Scan: Condor Ferries
Photograph of
Island Commodore
.
Photo: © Andreas Wörteler
Photograph of
Island Commodore
(rear) and
Commodore Goodwill.
Photo: © Commodore.
Commodore Goodwill
(1996- )
Commodore Goodwill
was built by Koninklijke Scheldegroep B.V., Vlissingen, Holland, in 1996. She entered service with Commodore Ferries in March 1996 between Portsmouth and the Channel Islands. She is 126 m long, 11166 gross tons, and achieves 17.3 knots with MAK diesels totalling 8600 kW.
Commodore Goodwill
carries 12 passengers, 1250 lane metres for freight. Her sistership was
Island Commodore
.
Photograph of
Commodore Goodwill
(front) and
Island Commodore
.
Photo: © Commodore.
Photograph of
Commodore Goodwill
leaving Portsmouth.
Photo: © Kevin le Scelleur - Scan: Condor Ferries
Commodore Goodwill
arriving at Portsmouth.
Photo: © Ian Boyle, 5th April 2003.
Commodore Goodwill
arriving at Portsmouth.
Photo: © Ian Boyle, 5th April 2003
Click to open larger image in new window
Commodore Goodwill
arriving at Portsmouth.
Photo: © Ian Boyle, 5th April 2003.
Commodore Goodwill
arriving at Portsmouth.
Photo: © Ian Boyle, 5th April 2003.
Commodore Goodwill
arriving at Portsmouth.
Photo: © Ian Boyle, 5th April 2003.
Commodore Goodwill
arriving at Portsmouth.
Photo: © Ian Boyle, 5th April 2003.
Commodore Goodwill
at Portsmouth Ferryport.
Photo: © Ian Boyle, 5th April 2003.
Commodore Goodwill
arriving at Portsmouth.
Photo: © Ian Boyle, 17th July 2007
Click to open larger image in new window