Category: Blast from the past

29 April 2012 marks 40 years to the day since the launch of Sealink’s Hengist and Horsa, the purpose-built ferries delivered in the summer of 1972 by the naval shipyard…

On May 18 1966 Stanley Raymond, Chairman of the British Railways Board, held a press conference at Harwich Parkeston Quay where he announced a massive investment plan including a complete…

The Appia of 1961 was the first car ferry of the Italian state-controlled operator Adriatica. She joined the equally new Greek (Hellenic Mediterranean Lines)-owned Egnatia on a ground-breaking joint service…

The Stranraer-Larne route was always at the forefront of the story of car ferries around the British Isles, with the very first drive on/drive off ship to serve open waters…

Most of the ships coming under the category on this blog of ‘the pioneer car ferries’ date back to the 1960s. Although this is 30+ years after the appearance of…

Hull-based North Sea Ferries are my “local” ferry operator, yet childhood holidays never involved a crossing with them. This is slightly curious – I wonder why we would have ignored…

She served for so briefly and it seems so long ago now that (P&O) Southern Ferries’ Eagle of 1971 has almost been forgotten when reviewing the history of the British…

Changing for the Better – Full Speed Ahead.

Having looked at the Viking I (the first drive-through ferry to serve Britain) and the Norwind/Norwave (essentially the first ‘ro-paxes’), our attention now turns to Townsend’s Free Enterprise of 1962….

Continuing our look at Britain’s pioneering 1960s car ferries, in this ‘Blast from the past’, attention falls on the B&I Line and their new ‘Motorway’ service between Liverpool and Dublin,…