Notes from the Larne Ferry Web Archive

It was all change at Larne 1 year ago after the brand new ferry European Highlander took up service on the Larne to Cairnryan route. The new vessel commenced service on the 3rd of July with the 0800 hours service from Larne after extra crew familiarisation trials delayed her expected start date of 1st of July. This allowed near sister ship European Causeway to retire to Harland and Wolff ship yard in Belfast for annual overhaul.

The new European Highlander continued operating with the European Endeavour, European Pathfinder and the fast ferry Superstar Express until the return of the European Causeway from dry dock on the 17th of July. A new conventional ferry schedule commenced that evening with the European Causeway's 2359 departure.

Arrive Larne	Notes	Depart Larne	Notes
0145	Not Sun arr 0045 Mon	0415	Not Sun
0600	Not Sun	0730	Daily
0915	Daily	1030	dep 1200 Sun
1215	Not Sun	1330	Not Sun
1515	Daily	1630	Daily
1815	Daily	2000	Daily
2145	Daily	2359	Not Sat dep 2259 Sun

Meanwhile the European Endeavour and European Pathfinder were retired from service once they returned to Larne in the early hours of the 18th of July after completing their final round trips. The European Pathfinder left Larne after de-storing on the 19th of July at 0500 while the European Endeavour left for good on the 20th of July. The European Endeavour was sold to Trans Europa Ferries immediately but the European Pathfinder, which was running from the 12th of June on only one engine, went to lay up in Liverpool and eventually joined the European Endeavour at Trans Europa Ferries a few months later.

July 2002 saw the withdrawal from service at Larne of the European Endeavour (left) and European Pathfinder (right). Both were sold to Trans Europa Ferries. Left photo: European Endeavour at Larne, 19th May 2002 Photo: LFW. Right photo: European Pathfinder departing McKean Quay April 2002. Photo: Joe McKay.

After operating for more or less from 1988 to 1994 without any changes the Larne to Fleetwood route had a major shake up with the return of the freight ro-ro ferry Bison to the link. The Bison had inaugurated the route way back in 1975 but was transferred to the Dublin to Liverpool route on charter to B&I Line in 1988. Back in 1988 the Bison was replaced by the Viking Trader from the former Townsend Thoresen fleet at Portsmouth.

On her withdrawal from Dublin, the Bison underwent major conversion work which included the fitting of sponsons to the side of her hull, all carried out under the watchful eye of her bosun, Jimmy Dowey. This work brought the ferry up to full SOLAS 90 standards. Her upper freight deck at the stern was widened in the operation enabling her to carry an extra lane of traffic and in addition, her mooring winches at the stern were moved to allow her to unload both freight decks over the double decked ramps at Larne. She returned to Larne in July 1994 under the command of Captain John McCann, replacing the Viking Trader.

The Bison arriving at Larne in 1994 fresh from her conversion. Photo: William Agnew

All was not well with the ship after the conversion. The Bison now had a very quick and violent rolling motion in even moderate seas; a common occurrence on the Fleetwood route. Lorries were being ripped from their lashings and overturning on the vehicle decks while her sister ship, the unmodified Puma was coming through the same weather with no problems. After spending a whole winter doing their best with overturned lorries P&O decided to right the problem by building a third trailer deck onto the vessel at the stern and the Bison went in for conversion once again the following July, 1995. The additional weight of the steel work seemed to cure her sea keeping problems and today she serves the route as European Pioneer.

European Pioneer (ex Bison) entering Larne on the 31st of January 2003. Photo: LFW

The second new ship for Sealink's Larne - Stranraer service in as many months entered service fresh from her builders on Wednesday the 7th of July 1971. The new Ailsa Princess had been built by the Italian shipyard of Brenda in Venice and was almost an identical sister of the Antrim Princess, introduced on the Larne - Stranraer route in 1968.

The Ailsa Princess in Loch Ryan in 1971. Photo: Larne Ferry Web Collection

The Ailsa Princess had accommodation for 400 first class passengers and 800 second class concentrated on the shelter deck. The first class bar, restaurant and lounges were at the forward end while second class passengers had a cafeteria, bar and lounge aft. Cabins were provided below the car deck with berths for 69 and aft of this there was a reclining seat lounge for 100 passengers. Outside deck space and seating was provided on the boat deck aft and along port and starboard companionways at the lifeboats. The Antrim was broadly similar although the older ship had a slightly different lay out of public rooms and lacked the reclining seat lounge below the car decks, instead this area was fitted out as cattle pens.

Externally, one artistic touch insisted on by her Italian builders was the extension of the horizontal lines of the British Railways logo right round the funnel; a design that made the Ailsa Princess unique to the fleet. Also different was the positioning of the mainmast on both ships; on the Ailsa Princess the mast was separate from the funnel but immediately forward of it while the Antrim Princess' main mast was part of the funnel itself.

Differences between the ships also extended to the car decks; the Ailsa Princess was fitted with gallery decks that extended to the full width of the side alleys either side of the central engine casing. This boosted her car capacity to 200 over the Antrim's 150. These decks lowered in sections from the deck head above and several different combinations of sections could be lowered depending on the car/lorry mix to be carried. On the Antrim Princess the gallery decks were hinged from the side and in their stowed position gave problems for high trailers in the wing lanes as the top ends stood out slightly proud of the side of the ship.

Freight capacity with the gallery decks stowed was the same on both ships: A maximum of 21x15 metre lorries could be carried in four lanes with a height restriction of 14ft 3in (4.35m). The two wing lanes could take 5x15m lorries (or 6x12m trailers) as could one inside lane while the other inside lane could take 6x15m lorries and usually was the running lane. For cars, both vessels could accommodate 6 lanes (3 either side of the casing but it was a hideously tight squeeze). In the summer often the last cars on board had to bounced round sideways to allow the stern door to close in Larne.

The Ailsa Princess unloading cars through her bow door at Stranraer. Photo: Larne Ferry Web Collection

The ship was owned by Carpass Shipping, an 80/20 joint venture between Great Universal Stores and British Railways set up to allow certain tax and interest rate advantages to be realised by both parties. The ship was chartered to British Railways at a daily rate of £1150 and she became the first Stranraer Princess not to carry Stranraer as her port of registry, instead she was registered in London. Her first Stranraer master was Ballygally man, the late Captain Eric Pollock.

She served at Larne until the summer of 1982 but later returned for various spells to cover dry docking of the ships in the Larne based fleet. She was sold to Greece in 1989 and still serves there as the Express Adonis.