News of the old Ionic Ferry (II)

During one of his recent trips into Southern Europe, ferry correspondent Richard Seville found the burned out hulk of the Millennium Express II lying in a shipyard between Elefsis Town and Petrola, Greece. The Millennium Express II in one of her former guises was the Larne to Cairnryan ferry Ionic Ferry (II).

The ship suffered a major fire in the Ionian Sea south of the Strofades Islands, west of the Peloponese peninsula in the early hours of the 2nd of March 2002. She was on a positioning run from Piraeus to Albania to take up a new service across the Adriatic Sea to Italy. The fire started in the engine room and quickly spread to the rest of the ship. No passengers or cargo were on board and all the 22 crewmembers were rescued by the Greek coastguard while fire fighting tugboats eventually managed to put the blaze out after several days.

The ship finally ended up being towed to her current location near Elefsis Town and there she has laid now for several months. No repairs have been carried out and it is highly unlikely that the work required to restore her to service ever will. Next stop for the Millennium Express II looks likely to be the breakers yard.

The Millennium Express II (3rd from the left) laid up in the company of (left to right) Santorini Sky, Hermes V, [Millenium Express II] and Georgios Express. Just out of shot is the Illyria while the sister ship of the Millennium Express II, Talya I (ex Leopard) is laid up near by. The former Leopard is due to start service again soon for the summer. Photo: Richard Seville.

The Millennium Express II started out life as the Dragon in 1967 sailing from Southampton to Le Havre (and Rosslare to Le Havre summer only in the early 1970's) for Normandy Ferries which later become known as P&O Ferries. Her service later transferred to Portsmouth and in 1984 P&O sold Normandy Ferries to Townsend Thoresen. The Dragon later appeared in the usual Townsend Thoresen orange hull with green funnel. During her first year at Portsmouth for Townsend Thoresen she carried a small TT logo painted in white right forward on her bow. This small detail later became forgotten in the mists of time until Richard Seville noticed it still on the Millenium Express II under several layers of hull paint during his recent trip to Greece. After exhaustive detective work Richard managed to track down a photo of the Dragon with this logo on her bow in the Ferry Publications book Ferries of Portsmouth.

The Dragon pictured in her Townsend Thoresen colours and minus the white TT bow logo. This symbol only appeared for one season and Richard reckons it was an embellishment added by the crew after P&O was taken over by Townsend Thoresen. See further pictures of the Dragon at faktaomfartyg and Simplon Postcards. Photo: Dougie McIntyre's Collection.

For the summer season of 1986 the Dragon was transferred to the Larne to Cairnryan route. She underwent an extensive refit at Glasgow prior to entering service to make her more suitable for the shorter route, including the removal of cabins at the after end to allow more space on the poop deck for freight. She emerged from refit as the Ionic Ferry (II) perpetuating the name of the pioneer ship on the Larne to Cairnryan route. She took up service at Larne on the 10th of July 1986 replacing the Free Enterprise IV . Her previously mentioned Townsend Thoresen bow emblem by now was painted over with the same colour as the hull paint.

She ran aground at Larne on the 3rd of June 1987 when trying to navigate stern first into Larne after her early morning sailing ex Cairnryan. She drifted outside of the approach channel and before her captain could correct course her stern rode up onto the beach just beside the Chaine Memorial tower. She lay there until three tugs managed to haul her off the beach, but coming only 3 months after the Herald of Free Enterprise disaster the whole incident came in for intense media scrutiny.

With the take over of Townsend Thoresen by the P&O group and the subsequent dropping of that trade name in the wake of the Herald tragedy, the Ionic Ferry appeared once again in P&O colours. The rest of her time at Larne was relatively unremarkable but she did leave her mark on the port when she clipped number 5 buoy while turning in the harbour. This marker is built on piles driven into the sea bed and for several years after the Ionic Ferry hit it the structure was rather lopsided. Every time I see it I am always reminded of the Ionic Ferry.

Below is a magnificent image of the Ionic Ferry leaving Larne in P&O colours. With her fine lines she was without question one of the most attractive ships ever to grace Larne and in my humble opinion she was destined to become a private yacht for an oil sheik or some other tycoon with an interest in the sea. Sadly it appears this will not now happen.

Ionic Ferry leaving Larne on another routine sailing to Cairnryan in 1991. Photo: William Agnew