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This website has no connection with any shipping company, cruise line, boat operator or other commercial organisation - There are no postcards for sale on this website
Condor Ferries
Condor Ferries Page 2: Fast Ferries
This page is devoted to postcards and photographs of the fast craft Condor Ferries. Conventional ferries of Commodore Shipping are shown on
Condor - Page 1
.
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 of
Fast Ferries
.
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. 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.
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
. This company was two thirds owned by Onesimus Dorey & Sons, led by Peter Dorey. The remaining third was largely held by Jack Norman of Commodore, linking the two companies. Jack Norman and Peter Dorey visited the Italian hydrofoil builders Rodriquez in Messina, Sicily, and bought at PT50 class vessel for
around £200,000.
Condor 1
entered service in 1964. After some experimentation, services settled with
Condor 1
being based at Jersey running trips to St Malo, Guernsey and Sark. Following the collapse of Jersey Lines in 1969, there was potential for extra sailings by Condor, filled with the charter of
Condor 2
. She was chartered for two seasons in 1969-1970 until the delivery of
Condor 3
, A third hydrofoil,
Condor 4
, joined the fleet in 1974, and in 1976 the pioneer
Condor 1
was replaced by
Condor 5
. Peter Dorey was lost at sea in a sailing accident in 1979, his interest passing to his wife.
Advances in fast ferry technology were being made in other countries, particularly Norway, and in 1980 a gas-turbine powered catamaran
Condor 6
was chartered, built by Westmarin of Mandal. She carried 260 passengers, compared to 180 of the
Condor 5
, and replaced the
Condor 3
. Unfortunately
Condor 6
suffered technical problems and the charter was not repeated.
Condor 2
was chartered again the following year 1981 in her place, but increased competition led to a reduction to two craft again,
Condor 4
and
Condor 5
, in 1982. In 1983, Commodore Shipping acquired all remaining shares in Condor which it did not own, and David Norman was appointed managing director. Condor returned to their tried and tested Rodriquez hydrofoils in 1985, with the delivery of
Condor 7
, but she was the last of these craft acquired. The next vessel bought in 1988 was a catamaran
Condor 8
, built in Singapore and carrying 300 passengers. The next new ferry increased passenger capacity again, to 450 passengers.
Condor 9
was built in Fareham by Aluminium Shipbuilders, and entered service in August 1990 on Weymouth-Jersey-Guernsey services.
- to be completed -
Reference:-
Commodore Shipping
- The First Half Century 1947-1997:
Kevin le Scelleur - published by Commodore Shipping
Fast Ferries on This Page:-
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- )
Commodore Ships on
Page 1
:-
Clare
(2000)
Commodore Clipper (1)
Commodore Clipper (4)
(1991-1996)
Commodore Clipper (5)
(1999- )
Commodore Enterprise
Commodore Goodwill (3)
(1996- )
Commodore Queen
Fleet 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
Associated Pages:-
Commodore Shipping
Condor - Page 1
- Conventional ferries
Condor - Page 2
- Fast ferries of Condor Ferries
- this page!
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Table of Ship Histories
Name
Other names
Built
Condor Express
1996
Fast Ferries Fleet List
Condor 1
(1964-1977)
Condor 1
was built in 1964, and served until 1976. She was sold the following year. She was 27.89m in length, and 127 grt. Her cruising speed was 33 knots, carrying 140 passengers. After some experimentation, services settled with
Condor 1
being based at Jersey running trips to St Malo, Guernsey and Sark. She was joined by the chartered
Condor 2
in 1969 and 1970, and then the larger
Condor 3
from 1971.
Photograph of
Condor 1
.
Photo: © Kevin le Scelleur - Scan: Condor Ferries
Jarrald's Cotman-Color postcard J158 of
Condor 1
.
Photo Precision Colourmaster postcard PT29600 of
Condor 1
.
E.T.W.Dennis postcard A.1 of
Condor 1
.
John Hinde postcard 2/1018 of
Condor 1
.
Postcard ACG143 of
Condor 1
at Jersey.
Photo: David A. Fry.
John Hinde postcard 2J50 of
Condor 1
.
John Hinde postcard 2J90 of
Condor 1
, using the image from the card above.
EMGE (St Malo) postcard 1894 of
Condor 1
.
Condor 2
(1969-1970, 1981)
Condor 2
was built in 1968, and of similar size to Condor 1. Following the collapse of Jersey Lines, there was potential for extra sailings by Condor, filled with the charter of
Condor 2
. She was chartered for two seasons in 1969-1970 until the delivery of
Condor 3
, and again in 1981 to replace
Condor 6
, but was never owned by Condor.
No image available
Condor 3
(1971-1980)
E.T.W.Dennis postcard 67 of
Condor 3.
E.T.W.Dennis postcard G49 of
Condor 3.
N.P.O.Dexter postcard C2161--8130C of
Condor 3.
Condor 4
(1974-1993)
Ile de Jersey (St Helier), postcard of
Condor 4.
The lines on the image are due to the canvas-effect surface on the card, not a scanning fault.
Condor postcard of
Condor 4.
Published: Guernsey Press - Photo: © Brian Read.
Photograph of
Condor 4
.
Photo: © Kevin le Scelleur - Scan: Condor Ferries.
Condor 5
(1976-1993)
E.T.W.Dennis postcard G49 (the same serial as a card of
Condor 3
) of
Condor 5.
Condor postcard of
Condor 5.
Published: Guernsey Press - Photo: © Brian Read.
A.C.Galle postcard AOG159 of
Condor 5.
Published: Guernsey Press - Photo: © Brian Read.
J.Salmon postcard 023/088 of
Condor 5
at Weymouth.
Condor 6
(1980)
Condor 6
was chartered for the 1980 season only. She was a 260-seat water-jet catamaran, powered by gas-turbine engines, but suffered from technical problems and the charter was not renewed. She was replaced by a further charter of
Condor 2
in 1981.
E.T.W.Dennis postcard G4 of
Condor 6.
Condor 7
(1985-1994)
Condor postcard of
Condor 7.
Condor postcard of
Condor 7.
Photograph of
Condor 5
.
Photo: © Kevin le Scelleur - Scan: Condor Ferries.
Condor 8
(1988-1997)
Condor postcard of
Condor 8.
Photograph of
Condor 8
.
Photo: © Condor Ferries.
Condor 9
(1990-2002)
Condor 9
was built in Fareham by Aluminium Shipbuilders. She entered service with Condor in August 1990 on Weymouth-Jersey-Guernsey services. She continued on this service until 1993 when she was replaced by the car-carrying
Condor 10
. During the summer of 1994,
Condor 9
was chartered to
Viking Line
for Helsinki-Tallinn services as
Viking Express
, followed by a winter charter in the Caribbean. In 1995, she ran some trips from Torquay, whilst in 1997, Poole was used as the UK mainland port. In 2002,
Condor 9
was sold to
Stetson Navigation
as the
Cortez
, and used between La Paz and Topolobampo across the Gulf of California (Sea of Cortez) in Mexico. The service started in May 2002, and operated for about a year, until halted by engine problems. In 2004,
Cortez
was sold to Wronowski in the USA, as
Jessica W
.
Condor postcard of
Condor 9.
Condor postcard of
Condor 9.
Condor postcard of
Condor 9.
Condor postcard of
Condor 9.