May 2016 will mark 40 years since Townsend Thoresen took delivery of the Viking Viscount, the last of their ‘Super Viking’ quartet for Southampton and Felixstowe service. We have looked in the past at two of her sisters, the Viking Venturer and Viking Voyager but today the ‘Viscount’ is the last survivor. After passing to TT’s successor P&O European Ferries in 1987 she ended her English Channel days more than two decades ago but continues operating in Greece as the Vitsentzos Kornaros for her only subsequent operator, Lane Lines.
![The bar areas, forward and to port, on the Super Vikings were certainly the funkiest spots on any Townsend Thoresen ferry - if not quite the equal of contemporary ships like the St Edmund or Tor Britannia. The aft restaurant was also pleasant but the rest of the ships' accommodation including the Food Fayre self-service cafeteria was largely unremarkable. [/caption]](http://hhvferry.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/img883-400x400.jpg)
The images below are from a voyage in September 2013 on the ship’s regular operation between Kissamos on Crete to Piraeus via the islands of Kythira and its tiny neighbour Antikythera. The ship provides a direct link to the port of Athens for these half-forgotten corners of the Aegean, but it is a somewhat controversial one. The Vitsentzos Kornaros is heavily subsidised – in 2013 at a cost of almost Euro200 per passenger carried making this the most expensive ferry operation that the Greek government supports. The majority of travellers to these islands take the shorter ferry from Neapolis, over 4 hours driving to the south west of Athens, and in late 2013 government tried to withdraw the subsidy which would have seen the Piraeus link cease. An outcry followed and eventually agreement was reached which would see the Vitsentzos Kornaros continue (her scheduled retirement and replacement as outlined in the earlier 2009 contract between Lane and the government appears to have been brushed under the carpet).
It is not really expected that many passengers will sail direct from Kissamos to Piraeus (direct sailings from Chania, 30 minutes away from Kissamos, leave much later and tend to arrive earlier) so most are heading to or from Kythira and Anthikythera. But the salvation of the route was fortunate not just for islanders but also for travellers seeking a sail on a vintage ferry operating one of the most fascinating routes anywhere in Europe.
Well, that was fun and fascinating – thank you.
My favourite ship ever !!!
I took her a lot of time when i was young in the Cherbourg Portsmouth route. Her name was Viking Viscount, then Pride of Winchester.
I remember boarding this ship when it was operated by Townsend Thoresen and named Viking Viscount. This would be twice a week going over from Portsmouth to Cherbourg to run down to Spain and run back to cherbourg and over to Portsmouth. They were good days and the Townsend crew were very good to us. We had our own HGV Drivers lounge and we were well looked after. It was a sad day in 1987 when P & O took over as many of the original crew had been replaced with P&O staff. They were good but the TT crew were a happy team and fitted in with us as equals. It was sad when I saw the ship arrive in Doom Blue as the bright orange stood out as did the French ferries.
P&0 and DFDS are not a patch on the crews in the early days of European Ferries. The sad days did come with the terrible loss of people in 1987 where nearly 200 people were lost leaving Zeebrugge. I had travelled on this ship a number of times without any problems. I was shocked when I heard the news and to this day still think of those poor people and their families including a couple of friends.