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British
Railways - Sealink
Page
8: Harwich Services
This
page is still under construction
- This page is devoted to
postcards and photographs of the Harwich services of British Railways,
which was formed in 1948 with the ships from former LMS, LNER,
SR and GWR fleets. British Railways was rebranded British Rail
in 1965, and new corporate colours and logo were introduced.
In 1968, an Act of Parliament separated the shipping interests
of British Rail into a new division, for which the marketing
name Sealink was adopted in 1970. In 1979, the ownership of of
vessels was transferred to Sealink UK Ltd, in preparation for
the privatisation of the railway fleet. In 1984, Sealink was
acquired by Sea Containers Ltd, becoming Sealink British Ferries.
After a lengthy battle,
Stena
Line completed
a hostile takeover of Sealink in 1990, the company then being
known as Sealink Stena Line until later absorption into the Stena
Fleet.
- 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.
- Ships on This Page:-
- Amsterdam - BR/Sealink: 1950-1969
- Norfolk
Ferry
- BR/Sealink: 1951-1981
- Suffolk
Ferry
- BR/Sealink: 1951-1981
- Essex
Ferry (1)
- BR: 1949-1957 - later:
Essex Ferry II
- Essex
Ferry (2)
- BR/Sealink: 1957-1983
- Essex
Ferry II
- BR: 1957 - ex-Essex Ferry (1)
- Avalon - BR/Sealink: 1963-1980
- Cambridge
Ferry
- BR/Sealink: 1963-1984
- St
George
- Sealink: 1968-1984
- St
Edmund
- Sealink: 1974-1983
- St
Nicholas
- Sealink: 1983-1990
- British Railways Pages:-
- Great
Eastern Railway
- Harwich Services
- London
& North Eastern Railway - Harwich Services
- British
Railways/Sealink
- BR/Sealink Header Page
- Associated Pages:-
- Hellenic
Maritime Lines (HML)
- Ferry
Postcards
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Ship Postcards
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Liner Postcards
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Postcards - Recent Updates
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British Railways - Sealink
Page
8: Harwich Services
Essex Ferry (1) - Essex
Ferry II
(BR:
1949-1957)
- Essex Ferry was built in 1919 by Armstrong
Whitworth & Co as Train Ferry No 1 for the wartime
train ferry services from Richborough and Southampton to Dunkirk.
There were three ships, Train Ferry No.1, Train Ferry
No.2 and Train Ferry No.3, henceforth referred to
as TF1, TF2 and TF3. After the war they lay idle
until bought by the Great Eastern Train Ferry Company in 1924
to open a Harwich-Dunkirk trains ferry service (despite the title,
the Great Eastern Railway had been taken over by the LNER in
1923). The service was taken over fully by the LNER in in 1932.
During WW2, the three ships were requisitioned by the Royal Navy,
TF2 was lost off Saint-Valéry en Caux June 13th
1940. In 1940 TF1 and TF3 were renamed HMS Princess
Iris and HMS Daffodil, after the ex-Mersey ferries
used in the famous WW1 Zeebrugge raid.
-
- In 1941 HMS Princess
Iris and HMS Daffodil were converted into Landing
Craft Carriers. Both ships were modified with their twin funnels
trunked into one, slightly improving their ungainly appearance.
HMS Daffodil (ex-TF3) was lost off Dieppe on March
18th 1945, leaving only HMS Princess Iris (ex-TF1)
to survive the war. She returned to civilian use in 1946, and
was renamed Essex Ferry (1), running three return trips
a week to Zeebrugge. She was joined by new ferries Norfolk Ferry and
Suffolk Ferry in 1951.
Essex
Ferry (2) joined
them in 1957, and Essex Ferry (1) was briefly renamed
Essex Ferry II before being broken up in Grays.
-
- There are a lot of conflicting
details of these ferries in published works. Some sources, including
H.T.Lenton, list TF2, not TF3, as becoming HMS
Daffodil. Other sources suggest that HMS Princess Iris
was briefly named HMS Iris, or that HMS Daffodil was
later renamed HMS Princess Daffodil.
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- Photograph
of Essex Ferry (1) at Harwich
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Click to open larger image in new window
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- Photograph
of Essex Ferry II at Harwich
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Click to open larger image in new window
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- Amsterdam
- (BR/Sealink:
1950-1969)
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- Norfolk Ferry
- (BR/Sealink:
1951-1981)
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- Suffolk Ferry
- (BR/Sealink:
1951-1981)
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- Essex Ferry (2)
- (BR/Sealink:
1957-1981)
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- Photograph
of Essex Ferry in BR service
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Click to open larger image in new window
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- Photograph
of Essex Ferry in Sealink service
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Click to open larger image in new window
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- Photograph
of Essex Ferry in Sealink service
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Click to open larger image in new window
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- Avalon
- (BR/Sealink:
1963-1980)
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- British
Railways postcard of Avalon.
- Publisher:
J.Arthur Dixon
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- Photographic
postcard of Avalon in British Railways service.
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- British
Rail postcard of Avalon.
- Publisher:
J.Arthur Dixon
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- Photographic
postcard of Avalon in British Rail service.
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- Sealink
postcard of Avalon as a car ferry at Fishguard.
- Publisher:
J.Arthur Dixon
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- Photographic
postcard of Avalon in Sealink service.
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- Cambridge Ferry
- (BR/Sealink:
1963-1984)
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- Photograph
of Cambridge Ferry in British Railways service.
- Photo:
© Max Wilkinson
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Click to open larger
image in new window
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- Photograph
of Cambridge Ferry in Sealink service.
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- St George
- Sealink:
1968-1984
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- St George was built by Swan & Hunter
Tyneside Shipbuilders in 1968. She entered service with British
Railways between Harwich and Hook of Holland, remaining on this
route until withdrawn in 1983. St George was sold the
following year to a Cypriot company Psatha Navigation, and entered
service as Patra Express for Ventouris Lines between Greece
and Italy. There were plans to use her on a new venture between
Poole and Bilbao in 1990, but instead she was renamed Scandinavian
Sky II and rebuilt in Immingham for use as a cruise ship.
She entered service for
SeaEscape from Fort Lauderdale to Freeport
in August 1990, having been renamed again as Scandinavian
Dawn. Owners
were registered as MSJ Shipping. In 1996 she was renamed Discovery
Dawn still operating for the
SeaEscape banner - follow the link for the eventful history
of this company. In 1998 she was operating for New SeaEscape
as the Island Dawn, reverting to Discovery Dawn the following
year, operating from Port Isabel, Texas. Registered owners changed
to Discovery Dawn Ltd Partnership, of Nassau. In 2000, Discovery
Dawn was chartered to Viva Gaming and Resorts as the
Texas
Treasure, for casino cruises from Corpus Christi and Port
Aransas in Texas.
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- Sealink
postcard of St George.
- Publisher:
J.Arthur Dixon
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- Sealink
postcard of St George.
- Later
version of the card above - Publisher: J.Arthur Dixon
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- Photograph
of St George arriving at Harwich.
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 1979
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- Photograph
of St George arriving at Harwich.
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 1979
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- Photograph
of St George arriving at Harwich.
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 1979
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- Photograph
of St George arriving at Harwich.
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 1979.
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- St Edmund
- Sealink:
1974-1983
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- St Edmund was built in 1974 by Cammell Laird
Shipbuilders, Birkenhead, on the River Mersey. She entered service
for Sealink between harwich and the Hook of Holland in January
1975. In 1982 St Edmund was requisitioned for use as a
troop transport in the Falklands campaign. She was retained after
the end of the war, and bought by the Ministry of Defence in
1983, being renamed Keren. trooping duites finished, Keren
was sold to Cenargo in 1986, adopting the name Scirocco.
During the summer of 1986 Scirocco was chartered to Tirrenia
for service between Genoa and Sardinia. Mediterranean charters
followed to Comanav, Trasmed and Cotunav through 1987-1988, when
she was chartered to British Channel Island Ferries. She re-entered service as the
Rozel in in February 1989 from Poole
to the Channel Islands. The charter ended in January 1992, and
she reverted to the name Scirocco. Further Mediterranean
charters followed to Trasmed, FerriMaroc, Comanav and Cotunav,
until sale in 2004 to El Salam Maritim, Cairo, who renamed her
Santa Catherine I. Further charters to Comanav and Algerie
Ferries foloowed, plus pilgrim traffic to from Suez.
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- Sealink
postcard of St Edmund.
- Publisher:
J.Arthur Dixon
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- Photograph
of St Edmund off Felixstowe.
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 1979.
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- Photograph
of St Edmund off Felixstowe.
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 1979.
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- St Nicholas
- Sealink:
1983-1990
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- St Nicholas was built in 1981 by Götaverken
Arendal AbRederi Ab for Göteborg-Frederikshavn Linjen (Sessan Linjen) as the Prinsessan Birgitta.
She entered service on the Göteborg-Frederikshavn route.
In 1983 she was chartered to Sealink as the St Nicholas,
for their Harwich-Hook of Holland service. In 1990, Sealink was
acquired by Stena Line Ab. In 1991, St Nicholas was renamed
Stena Normandy, in preparation for moving to the Southampton-Cherbourg
route later that year. This route closed in 1996. In 1997 she
was chartered to Tallink for Tallinn-Helsinki services
as the Normandy. In 1997 she was chartered to Irish Ferries as Normandy for use on
their France-Ireland routes. She was purchased by Irish Ferries'
parent company Irish Continental Line in 1999.
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- Complete
history of St Nicholas
-
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- Sealink
postcard of St Nicholas.
- Publisher:
J.Arthur Dixon
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- Postcard
of St Nicholas leaving Harwich on her way to the Hook
of Holland.
- Local
ferry Brightlingsea is arriving from Felixstowe
in the foreground.
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- St
Nicholas
leaving Harwich in 1983.
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle.
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- St
Nicholas
leaving Harwich in 1986.
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle.
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- St
Nicholas
leaving Harwich in 1986.
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle.
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