CALEDONIAN PRINCESS ferry
Posted: Thu May 03, 2012 9:42 pm
Built as a ferry under yard No 1501 by Wm. Denny & Bros, Dumbarton for the Caledonian Steam Packet Co., Stranraer, U.K.
05 April 1961 launched as the CALADONIAN PRINCESS.
Tonnage 3,630 grt, 1,306 net, 688 dwt., dim.107.6 x 16.8 x 5.33m., length bpp. 101.1 m.
Powered by two geared Pamatrada steam turbines, manufactured by builders,11.500 shp, twin screws, speed 20.5 knots.
Twin rudders and bow rudder. Bow thruster.
Passenger accommodation for 400 first, 1,000 second class, berths for 82 first and 94 second class passengers.
104 cars and 70 cattle.
Crew 77.
23 September 1961 trials, after trials she returned to builder for some engine problems.
24 November 1961 delivered to owners.
She was built for the Irish Services between Stranraer and Larne.
01 January 1967 Transferred to the British Railways Board, managed by the Caledonian Steam Packet Co.
28 May 1968 in the service between Holyhead to Dun Laoghaire, in this service she made three round trips a day.
Eventually receiving the large white letter Sealink branding across the full height of her hull. Caledonian Princess was the first stern-loading car ferry to sail into Douglas, Isle of Man, when she visited on charter from Stranraer on 26 June 1968
May 1970 again in the Stranraer to Larne service.
During the summer 1972 in the service across the English Channel from Newhaven to Dieppe, then again in the Stranraer to Larne service.
1975 Transferred to the Weymouth- Channel Islands service.
1979 Transferred to Sealink U.K. Ltd.
1981 Refitted in Avonmouth and from May that year based at Dover.
11 October 1981 laid up in Newhaven for 18 months.
14 December 1982 sold to Riverzest Ltd (Michael Quadrini Group) for use as an entertainment and leisure centre to be moored at Quayside, Gateshead. She underwent a £800,000 conversion from her former role as a Sealink ferry
27 February 1983 towed to the Tyne by the tug PULLWELL DELTA and renamed in TUXEDO PRINCESS.
29 November 1984 damaged by fire and smoke but she was repaired. And re-opened as a floating nightclub/disco the same year.
July 1988 towed to Glasgow and operated as a floating nightclub.
Around 1996 Renamed in CALEDONIAN PRINCESS.
15 May 1998 towed from Glasgow to the New Castle, River Tyne.
She was in 200? Again renamed TUXEDO PRINCESS
.
In April 2008, it was reported the ship would undergo a £1.5m refit, for further life as a floating nightclub in Northern Ireland. By the time she was being towed away from the Tyne, it was reported she was to see use as an entertainment venue in Piraeus, near Athens.
Removal from the Tyne
In 2007, owners Absolute Leisure sold TUXEDO PRINCESS to foreign investors. She was renamed PRINCE in 2008 and moved from the Tyne to Greece. Towed from her mooring on 27 July 2008, she was guided slowly down the Tyne at low tide by two tugs. She passed under the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, which had been designed to accommodate this move when installed in November 2000. Due to fog at the coast, she was moored overnight at Northumbria Quay, North Shields and left the next day, with an ocean-going tug towing her to Greece.
Scrapping
In October 2008, the Evening Chronicle reported an investigation by Ships Monthly magazine which found that plans to convert her into a casino and restaurant had been shelved. She was likely to be scrapped, probably at a ship-breaker's yard in Turkey, as the only economically viable option for the owners, in the face of the high cost of conversion, the Europe wide credit crisis and the high scrap value of steel.
The ship was broken up for scrap in Aliağa, Turkey, with the Miramar ship index citing a date of 23 August 2008. In early 2009, Ships Monthly ran a photo essay showing PRINCE being scrapped in Turkey, fittingly in the same yard as former Royal Navy destroyer HMS NEWCASTLE.
Jersey 1982 10p sgD42, scottJ42
Source: Wikipedia. Watercraft Philately 47:08 Marine News. Britain’s Railway Steamers, Scottish & Irish Companies by Duncan Haws.
Peter Crichton
05 April 1961 launched as the CALADONIAN PRINCESS.
Tonnage 3,630 grt, 1,306 net, 688 dwt., dim.107.6 x 16.8 x 5.33m., length bpp. 101.1 m.
Powered by two geared Pamatrada steam turbines, manufactured by builders,11.500 shp, twin screws, speed 20.5 knots.
Twin rudders and bow rudder. Bow thruster.
Passenger accommodation for 400 first, 1,000 second class, berths for 82 first and 94 second class passengers.
104 cars and 70 cattle.
Crew 77.
23 September 1961 trials, after trials she returned to builder for some engine problems.
24 November 1961 delivered to owners.
She was built for the Irish Services between Stranraer and Larne.
01 January 1967 Transferred to the British Railways Board, managed by the Caledonian Steam Packet Co.
28 May 1968 in the service between Holyhead to Dun Laoghaire, in this service she made three round trips a day.
Eventually receiving the large white letter Sealink branding across the full height of her hull. Caledonian Princess was the first stern-loading car ferry to sail into Douglas, Isle of Man, when she visited on charter from Stranraer on 26 June 1968
May 1970 again in the Stranraer to Larne service.
During the summer 1972 in the service across the English Channel from Newhaven to Dieppe, then again in the Stranraer to Larne service.
1975 Transferred to the Weymouth- Channel Islands service.
1979 Transferred to Sealink U.K. Ltd.
1981 Refitted in Avonmouth and from May that year based at Dover.
11 October 1981 laid up in Newhaven for 18 months.
14 December 1982 sold to Riverzest Ltd (Michael Quadrini Group) for use as an entertainment and leisure centre to be moored at Quayside, Gateshead. She underwent a £800,000 conversion from her former role as a Sealink ferry
27 February 1983 towed to the Tyne by the tug PULLWELL DELTA and renamed in TUXEDO PRINCESS.
29 November 1984 damaged by fire and smoke but she was repaired. And re-opened as a floating nightclub/disco the same year.
July 1988 towed to Glasgow and operated as a floating nightclub.
Around 1996 Renamed in CALEDONIAN PRINCESS.
15 May 1998 towed from Glasgow to the New Castle, River Tyne.
She was in 200? Again renamed TUXEDO PRINCESS
.
In April 2008, it was reported the ship would undergo a £1.5m refit, for further life as a floating nightclub in Northern Ireland. By the time she was being towed away from the Tyne, it was reported she was to see use as an entertainment venue in Piraeus, near Athens.
Removal from the Tyne
In 2007, owners Absolute Leisure sold TUXEDO PRINCESS to foreign investors. She was renamed PRINCE in 2008 and moved from the Tyne to Greece. Towed from her mooring on 27 July 2008, she was guided slowly down the Tyne at low tide by two tugs. She passed under the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, which had been designed to accommodate this move when installed in November 2000. Due to fog at the coast, she was moored overnight at Northumbria Quay, North Shields and left the next day, with an ocean-going tug towing her to Greece.
Scrapping
In October 2008, the Evening Chronicle reported an investigation by Ships Monthly magazine which found that plans to convert her into a casino and restaurant had been shelved. She was likely to be scrapped, probably at a ship-breaker's yard in Turkey, as the only economically viable option for the owners, in the face of the high cost of conversion, the Europe wide credit crisis and the high scrap value of steel.
The ship was broken up for scrap in Aliağa, Turkey, with the Miramar ship index citing a date of 23 August 2008. In early 2009, Ships Monthly ran a photo essay showing PRINCE being scrapped in Turkey, fittingly in the same yard as former Royal Navy destroyer HMS NEWCASTLE.
Jersey 1982 10p sgD42, scottJ42
Source: Wikipedia. Watercraft Philately 47:08 Marine News. Britain’s Railway Steamers, Scottish & Irish Companies by Duncan Haws.
Peter Crichton