Old withdrawn international ferry routes.

[sprunt]

What was the journey time from Lerwick to Iceland? It's sad that we've lost all those ferries, I'd certainly prefer them to flying but that's a long old trip.

 

[Gloster]

What was the journey time from Lerwick to Iceland? It's sad that we've lost all those ferries, I'd certainly prefer them to flying but that's a long old trip.

Lerwick 02.00 Wed.
Seydisjordur 08.00 Thursday via Torshavn

Seydisfordur 12.00 Thursday
Lerwick 22.00 Monday via two night in Torshavn or a return trip Torshavn-Hanstholm

You have to get to and from Lerwick, where most of the Aberdeen ferries arrived at 08.00 and left at 12..00. Effectively it was leave Aberdeen Monday afternoon and back Wednesday morning the following week for an hour or so at Seydisfjordur. (Times are June 1992.) How much holiday have you got?

 

[Gag Halfrunt]

As an aside, that story is very funny... The crew on Ostend Spirit (previous Spirit of Calais) discovered they wouldn't get paid, TEF who ran the service were going bankrupt in a matter of days so the Master rang up P&O on the bridge phone, told them what was going on and the crew stole their own ship, turned the AIS off and snuck out and away to Tilbury where she was handed over to a P&O crew consisting of a Captain, Chief Officer and Chief Engineer plus a watch crew - from accounts on various websites at the time, Ostend Spirit's crew got quite the welcome for a spot of daring do

Nice story, but TEF had chartered the Ostend Spirit from P&O and she would have been returned anyway once TEF was declared bankrupt. Whatever P&O did to welcome the crew, it presumably wasn't in gratitude for returning a valuable ship, because she was scrapped in Turkey in November 2013.

Pride of Calais - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[MatthewHutton]

You have to get to and from Lerwick, where most of the Aberdeen ferries arrived at 08.00 and left at 12..00. Effectively it was leave Aberdeen Monday afternoon and back Wednesday morning the following week for an hour or so at Seydisfjordur. (Times are June 1992.) How much holiday have you got?

Oh Jesus it’s not a lot better than going via Denmark.

 

[Oxfordblues]

A colleague and I once went for a day trip arranged by Railfreight International from Dover Western Docks to Dunkerque on one of the train ferries. BR's agent in Dunkerque took us to lunch and it was a pleasant trip, except when we arrived back in Dover. HM Immigration were incandescent, accusing us of trying to smuggle ourselves into the country (the train-ferries were non-passenger). These days of course you'd just hop into a rubber dinghy!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 2 Dec 2025 ==

My mother once sailed from Preston Docks down the Ribble and across to Larne and back when there was a regular ferry. She didn't feel safe in Larne as it was the height os The Troubles.

 

[Cheshire Scot]

Withdrawn In 2006:
• Lerwick to Seythisfjorthur (Iceland)
• Lerwick to Torshavn (Faroe Islands)

To add to the several responses, on this Lerwick to Hantsholm was also provided (Lerwick being an intermediate call), or I think it may have been Bergen at some time?
There was also a short lived Lerwick to Bergen service using downtime in the Aberdeen ferry and there does seem to be some interest in a revival of this route.

Oddly they changed it from Lerwick to Scrabster two years before withdrawing from the UK entirely. My guess is that they were hoping that Scrabster would attract far more passengers than Lerwick as it is on the UK mainland and does not require another ferry to get there. I would have thought it would be popular as Iceland and the Faroe Islands get a lot of tourism and it would allow you to bring your own car.

Not a 'regular' ferry as such but for several years Smyril ran Christmas shopping trips from Torshavn to Aberdeen, admittedly for the Faroese market rather than UK.

 

[notverydeep]

Withdrawn In 2006:
• Lerwick to Seythisfjorthur (Iceland)
• Lerwick to Torshavn (Faroe Islands)

Withdrawn In 2008:
• Scrabster to Seythisfjorthur (Iceland)
• Scrabster to Torshavn (Faroe Islands)

Oddly they changed it from Lerwick to Scrabster two years before withdrawing from the UK entirely. My guess is that they were hoping that Scrabster would attract far more passengers than Lerwick as it is on the UK mainland and does not require another ferry to get there. I would have thought it would be popular as Iceland and the Faroe Islands get a lot of tourism and it would allow you to bring your own car.

Services from Lerwick continued into 2007. when I sailed to Tórshavn/ Seyðisfjörður there was some overlap as I travelled out from Lerwick in May, but returned to Scrabster in June that year. The loss of a UK call is a real pity for me. I would very much like to take my Children to Iceland and the Faroes, but as a non-flyer, the need to go via Denmark would roughly four days to a round trip. The link was seasonal, but seemed well used at both UK calls when I travelled. I think possibly the whole service was rationalised in 2008 with Norway losing its Bergen calls also...

 

[Gloster]

The week for Smyril Line’s Norrona was: Torshavn (09.00 Monday) - Lerwick - Bergen - Lerwick - Torshavn - Seydisfjordur - Torshavn - Hanstholm - Torshavn (06.00 Monday). That was just for June, July and August 1992.

 

[Killingworth]

Here's the 1964 Bergen Line timetable for their ships Leda and Venus to Bergen, Haugesund and Stavanger from Newcastle, 4 sailings a week in summer.



And here's the Venus in Stavanger from the Leda

 

[EYFanatic]

Nice story, but TEF had chartered the Ostend Spirit from P&O and she would have been returned anyway once TEF was declared bankrupt. Whatever P&O did to welcome the crew, it presumably wasn't in gratitude for returning a valuable ship, because she was scrapped in Turkey in November 2013.

Pride of Calais - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I know TEF had chartered it but as I understand it, the ship was in danger of being arrested and detained by the local authorities so it was a case of casting off and getting over the other side before anybody had an idea.

P&O did have a serious look at returning it to service for themselves, but they decided that it was more cost effective to take her for scrapping - and what a run in she had for that with two goes at it. I have a great photo somewhere of her right out of the water to her midships area

 

[sheff1]

Don't think the shortlived Mostyn - Dublin ferry in the first decade of this century has been mentioned.

 

[Steddenm]

Holyhead to Dún Laoghaire?

 

[jupiter]

I’d dearly love to do Newcastle to Bergen with my car and was looking wistfully at the old timetable when it struck me, why did they run so many per week? Could you not run twice a week with the other days servicing other routes? At least there would then be a spread of coverage and some options.

 

[Killingworth]

I’d dearly love to do Newcastle to Bergen with my car and was looking wistfully at the old timetable when it struck me, why did they run so many per week? Could you not run twice a week with the other days servicing other routes? At least there would then be a spread of coverage and some options.

1964 was the first year I went to Norway and I made a number of later trips twice taking a car. By the 1970s there were 4 vessels leaving Newcastle for Norway each week in summer. One went to Oslo, the others to Bergen Haugusund and Stavanger on differing calling patterns.

The Venus and Jupiter became Black Prince and Black Watch in winter to cruise to Madeira and the Med. Bergen Line in summer Fred Olsen in winter. I think the old Venus was on winter cruising in the 1950s.

In summer they fit in a sailing to Rotterdam as well. All gone now.

 

[adc82140]

Weymouth- Jersey/Guernsey. Operations moved to Poole about 15 years ago.

Poole-Santander. Freight only, but withdrawn last Autumn I think.

 

[fandroid]

When I was regularly travelling to France and Spain in the 1970s from Reading, Southampton was the local port for the ferries. After Portsmouth opened its international port, Southampton packed it in. A great shame in my view, but it's not as if Southampton port has declined in any way since!

 

[mpthomson]

Are any of the Military Ferry routes gone as well?
I have been on the Marchwood - Antwerp run a few times. With an LSL. in 1980-82
Sir Galahad strikes a memory with me.

Round Table class Landing Ship Logistics LSL RFA - Royal Navy

round table class landing ship logistics lsl rfa royal navy fleet auxilary

www.seaforces.org

No regular runs now, but the MoD still operates 4 Ro-Ro ships under charter from Foreland (PFI build originally), the Point class which are used to transport kit on an as required basis. They're available for civvy hire when not being used for MOD purposes, but spend most of their time on MOD work.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I always thought that the drinking on the ferry on the way over was part of the experience. Perhaps it was a older generation thing that younger people did not carry on with.

Younger people do tend to drink less, and unless you were a passenger in someone else's vehicle it was only the longer crossings where you'd feel okay having a drink on the boat- though I appreciate that there was less consideration given to such things in the distant past.
Not sure if your post was in response to the mention of "booze cruises" but that term usually meant getting a ferry over to stock up on booze to drink back home, rather than drinking while on the boat itself. Those trips are still quite popular thanks to the lower taxes in France, but the load will now be split between Eurotunnel shuttles and the shorter ferry crossings.

Didn't there used to be a Plymouth to Roscoff ferry back in the day? Or does that still run?

 

[EYFanatic]

Didn't there used to be a Plymouth to Roscoff ferry back in the day? Or does that still run?

It does indeed still run

 

[Brightonboy]

There was a short-lived hydrofoil service from Brighton to Dieppe and I don't see mention of the hovercraft services between Dover and, iirc, Calais

 

[61653 HTAFC]

It does indeed still run

Thanks. Thought it might have been culled in the post-Brexit rationalisations.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

There was a short-lived hydrofoil service from Brighton to Dieppe

That was actually an experimental sidewall hovercraft which differed from other sidewall hovercraft in that it had catamaran style hulls instead of the more usual vertical panel like sidewalls. Named the Agnes 200, it was a French Navy vessel ( which still exists; it's been laid up at Cherbourg for a number of years now ) it was used for a period of two months to evaluate the potential for the technology to be used on passenger ferries.

I was granted permission to not only visit the bridge at sea during the crossing I made on it - a straight out and back day trip from Brighton on 22nd August 1992 - but also to take photographs on the bridge. See below. The first two pictures show the shape of the hulls and the forward section of the flexible skirt, which was made of the standard hovercraft skirt neoprene material. For obvious reasons my bridge pictures don't show a lot of the equipment up there, but do give a good idea of the very well laid out design of the bridge.

The crossing time was two hours each way and the craft rode very well - certainly a lot better than the conventional catamaran ferries do.

 

[Steddenm]

That was actually an experimental sidewall hovercraft which differed from other sidewall hovercraft in that it had catamaran style hulls instead of the more usual vertical panel like sidewalls. Named the Agnes 200, it was a French Navy vessel ( which still exists; it's been laid up at Cherbourg for a number of years now ) it was used for a period of two months to evaluate the potential for the technology to be used on passenger ferries.

I was granted permission to not only visit the bridge at sea during the crossing I made on it - a straight out and back day trip from Brighton on 22nd August 1992 - but also to take photographs on the bridge. See below. The first two pictures show the shape of the hulls and the forward section of the flexible skirt, which was made of the standard hovercraft skirt neoprene material. For obvious reasons my bridge pictures don't show a lot of the equipment up there, but do give a good idea of the very well laid out design of the bridge.

The crossing time was two hours each way and the craft rode very well - certainly a lot better than the conventional catamaran ferries do.
View attachment 193814View attachment 193815View attachment 193816View attachment 193817

Where in Brighton did it depart from?

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Where in Brighton did it depart from?

It went from the marina. They set up a temporary terminal on one of the pontoons at the west side. In the first picture that tent style covered way on the far left was the boarding route.

 

[Steddenm]

It went from the marina. They set up a temporary terminal on one of the pontoons at the west side.

Ah I see now from the pictures. Wasn't sure if the Marina was built by 1992.

 

[Flying Snail]

There was a short-lived hydrofoil service from Brighton to Dieppe and I don't see mention of the hovercraft services between Dover and, iirc, Calais

Speaking of hydrofoils, B&I Line ran a new Boeing 929 Jetfoil between Dublin and Liverpool in 1980, it was not a success and was withdrawn after 2 years. Amazingly the ship is still in use in Japan where there are a few operators of these craft still running.

 

[Gag Halfrunt]

That must be the Cu Na Mara.

GTS (15) Ginga (Ex Cu Na Mara) – Past and Present

GTS Ginga Ex Cu Na Mara British & Irish Steam Packet Co. (B&I Line) Aluminium 929-115 series Jetfoil high speed passenger ferry built in 1980 by Boeing Jetfoil Industries, Seattle, Washington, U.S.A. (Yard No 15) for Boeing Marine Systems, Seattle, USA. Technical Data Length: 30.10 m (overall)...

www.doverferryphotosforums.co.uk

 

[canary fan]

I remember taking a Fred Olsen Line ferry from Harwich to Oslo. This would have been , I think, in the mid to late 1980s

 

[Brightonboy]

That was actually an experimental sidewall hovercraft which differed from other sidewall hovercraft in that it had catamaran style hulls instead of the more usual vertical panel like sidewalls. Named the Agnes 200, it was a French Navy vessel ( which still exists; it's been laid up at Cherbourg for a number of years now ) it was used for a period of two months to evaluate the potential for the technology to be used on passenger ferries.

I was granted permission to not only visit the bridge at sea during the crossing I made on it - a straight out and back day trip from Brighton on 22nd August 1992 - but also to take photographs on the bridge. See below. The first two pictures show the shape of the hulls and the forward section of the flexible skirt, which was made of the standard hovercraft skirt neoprene material. For obvious reasons my bridge pictures don't show a lot of the equipment up there, but do give a good idea of the very well laid out design of the bridge.

The crossing time was two hours each way and the craft rode very well - certainly a lot better than the conventional catamaran ferries do.
View attachment 193814

That's not the one that I was thinking of - my suggestion was this vessel 'Normandy Princess' seen in Brighton Marina in 1981.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

That's not the one that I was thinking of - my suggestion was this vessel 'Normandy Princess' seen in Brighton Marina in 1981.

Ooh... blimey... how did I miss that?! If I'd heard about it at the time I would have given it a ride...