Beyond Sealink: A final sailing on the Horsa
In August 1970, the British Treasury approved the construction of a pair of new multi-purpose passenger car ferries for operation by British Rail from a new Folkestone car ferry terminal. Approval was also given by the Bank of England for the ships, which became the Hengist and Horsa, to be built in France. British Rail executives celebrated clearance of “the complete caboodle”, for this had been a somewhat tortuous process, with much political hand wringing and redrafting of the proposals.
One area which had come under particular scrutiny was what the future would hold for these ships upon the completion of the Channel Tunnel, then expected to be in 1978. Attention was therefore paid to both the estimated useful life of the vessels and their resale value come the opening of the tunnel. This was of particular importance for the business plan, for the the ships had to make an adequate return by 1978 to cover the difference between their construction cost and, it was presumed, the amount the ships would be sold for in that year.
BR/Sealink consulted J S Daniels at the Board of Trade for an independent evaluation and the Daniels memo noted that “it is important that the ships are not so specialised to a particular route and service that they cannot be readily adapted for use elsewhere”. The final business plan assumed a twenty year useful life, with a resale value of each ship in 1978 of £2.415m (compared to the £3.6m build cost). Correspondence with the Ministry of Transport reassured the minister’s team that the ships would find willing buyers and that “there was a continuous demand for this style of ship for numerous Scandinavian, German and Mediterranean routes on which they can be used” although “a need for similar ships will arise on the Heysham/Belfast route by 1981 and it could be more advantageous to transfer them”.
As it turned out, the key assumption upon which this entire section of the business plan was based turned out to be flawed. The 1970s Channel Tunnel project was cancelled, and so the ships sailed on. More than a decade later, when the tunnel was eventually authorised, the ships were nearing the ends of their Channel careers and were sold two years before it opened to Greek owners for good prices (when the Hengist was sold by her first Greek owners Agapitos to Ventouris Sea Lines in 1993, the price achieved was approx £7.5m). The ships proved more adaptable than J S Daniels could have possibly imagined, almost perfectly suited to Greek inter-island ferry operation in the 1990s. So on they sailed, well past the 20 year lifespan Sealink’s calculations had given them, into their third decades and then their fourth decades and fifth decades.
The Horsa passed in 1992 to Agoudimos Lines who placed her in service from Rafina to islands in the northern Cyclades – Andros, Tinos and Mykonos. For four years from late 1999 she fell under Hellas Ferries control as the Express Penelope, but she remained based at Rafina. For more than two decades the port was her home, and she usually sailed through the winter when most of her competitors retired for seasonal lay up. Agoudimos Lines got their ship back in 2004 but by late 2012 the company was in severe financial difficulty and the Penelope A entered a period of uncertainty, out of service. She was in operation around Easter 2013 and then again in late June that year before her crew went on strike over unpaid wages. A settlement of sorts was reached and the ship re-entered service for the summer peak on 23rd July.
27th August 2013 marked 15,000 days since the ship had entered service at Folkestone back in August 1972. Seven days later came the end, both sudden yet expected – she was again taken out of service by her crew, still largely unpaid. In between times, on 31st August 2013, I made what I knew would, in all likelihood, be a final crossing on this proud old veteran.
For the Penelope A (named after Penelope Agoudimos and locally pronounced, Penelope Alpha), this time there were to be no second chances. The crew settled down for the long haul, occupying their ship where she lay – in the port of Rafina, prominently at the bottom of the cliffs from the residence of the former Prime Minister. The crew, seemingly abandoned by the operator, ran out of food and power, their plight featured in national and international media. In January 2014 the last crew members left the ship and, eventually, the Rafina port authority paid for a tug to tow the Penelope A, dead ship, over to lay up in Elefsis bay where she has remained ever since.
Set out below are some images from that final crossing, four days before the end of the ship’s long career. It’s fair to say she had seen better days and, although it is not immediately obvious here, a lack of maintenance and long-term care was apparent. But the ship had lasted in operational service far longer than anyone could have imagined back when she and her sister were ordered in 1970, and it was an honour to be given the chance to sail on her for one final time in her Indian Summer, and to say goodbye.

Boarding in Rafina: from left to right, the sterns of the Ekaterini P, Blue Star Ithaki, Penelope A and Theologos P, all engaged in service to Andros, Tinos and Mykonos.

Theologos P of so-called 'Fast Ferries', whose crossing times are no speedier than the other conventional ships.

The Penelope A pulling away from Rafina, with the Superferry II (ex-Prince Laurent) on her berth awaiting departure.

Distinguished Class lounge, forward on what is now Deck 6. This was once the Mercia Bar with an adjacent coffee lounge.

The forward staircase, still decorated by the two-deck high work by Franta Belsky, albeit now missing its Horsa centrepiece.

The forward lounge on Deck 5. For many years in Greek service this retained most of the decor of its 1980s incarnation as the Venice Simplon Orient Express lounge, but was refitted in the mid-2000s.

Heading aft on either side are the two side lounges, still with their original seating which was manufactured by Burgess Furniture in Feltham, Middlesex.

Amidships between the two side lounges which it served was what was originally called the Tea Bar, intended by British Rail to be 'more modest in conception than the other bars in order to maintain a quiet atmosphere'.

Forward of the Tea Bar on the ship's centreline what was once the Duty Free shop is now an additional, windowless, area of seating. This has inherited some of the generic chairs (made by Primo in London) which were installed in the cafeteria upstairs during the late 1980s.

The aft lobby with two different reception desks. In the foreground left behind the current mirrored panel was originally the passport office, to the right the bureau de change and far left the Purser's desk.

Still retaining its original Burgess seating is the aft lounge, originally a non-smoking saloon. The area of the original discotheque, to the right of this image, has been absorbed into the lounge.

Moving back upstairs, this is the cafeteria, rarely used as such during the ship's second stint in Agoudimos service when it was only generally opened up on busy sailings as an additional seating area.

Concluding our tour of the interior accommodation this secondary Distinguished Class lounge, forward of the galley, was originally the ship's 48-seat restaurant.

Most of the ship's lifeboat davits retained their small installation plates detailing test date (in this case 3rd September 1971) and the ship's yard number, CF2 (Hengist being CF1 and later sister Senlac CF3).

One of the upper mezzanine sections of the vehicle deck - as built, this was designed to accommodate two cars side by side.

Between 1974 and 1985 the Prince Laurent was a Sealink fleetmate; for 20 years after 1993 the two ships operated in constant direct competition out of Rafina. The former 'Laurent', now the Superferry II, is seen approaching Tinos.

Superferry II backing onto her berth, the painted-over RMT monogram can still be seen, welded to her funnel.