| Despite the title of this
page, I haven't turned into Alan Titchmarsh and Larne Ferry Web will in no
way give you tips on how to get the best from your garden (in fact Larne
Ferry Web's own garden looks pretty much the same as the jungle in the recent TV
show "I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here" so I'm the last person in the
world you would want gardening tips from.) Instead this page is about a former Larne ferry that has recently been rejuvenated beyond belief. Looking almost like new the ferry that served Larne first briefly as Panther and then more recently as European Pathfinder has taken a step back from the abyss that would have in all probability led to scrapping on Aliaga beach. Having spent from October 2002 refitting at Ostend under the watchful eye of her new owners, Trans Europa Ferries, the ex European Pathfinder sailed on her first commercial voyage for her new owners with the 1000 hours departure from Ostend to Ramsgate on Wednesday the 11th of February 2004 under her new name Begonia.
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| The former European Pathfinder pictured entering Ramsgate harbour as Begonia on Thursday 12th February 2004, her second day in commercial service for her new owners Trans Europa Ferries. Photo: Nigel Thornton |
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As the above photo shows the Begonia has blossomed nicely since transferring to Trans Europa Ferries. Well known in recent times for bringing old ferries into useful service again with a meticulous makeover Trans Europa Ferries have done a fabulous job on Begonia. As well documented on Larne Ferry Web the demise of the trouble stricken European Pathfinder from Larne service in July 2002 was a sad affair. As a member of the pioneer European class freight ships built for Townsend Thoresen this class had distinguished themselves by being the first ships in service around the British isles offering drive through facilities for freight traffic on both their vehicle decks. Built as the European Clearway in 1976, what eventually became the European Pathfinder was the third in the class of 4 ships and was the final member of the standard build ships, the 4th ship in the class which became the European Endeavour was built to Townsend Thoresen's own spec. All 4 members of the class served Larne with distinction. |
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In service at Dover for Townsend Thoresen the European Clearway pictured early in her career operated the Dover - Zeebrugge route from when she was built until her transfer to Portsmouth in 1992. On TT's take over by P&O the ship was the first at Dover to receive the new P&O colours in 1987.
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The other Pandoro ships at the time were all named after animals so the European Clearway became the Panther in 1996. Here she is on passage in the English Channel as the Panther. Photo: Steven Brown Collection |
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After returning to Rosslare a severe fire onboard in almost resulted in the loss of the ship. The Panther was 35 miles out from Rosslare on passage to Cherbourg on the 26th of November 1997 when the fire was discovered in the early hours of the morning. The blaze broke out in one of the lorries stowed on the vehicle deck and was so intense that it burned out six lorries surrounding the vehicle at the focal point of the fire. The crew managed to contain the fire and eventually put it out while the ship returned to Rosslare at 0300. There were worries at the time that the heat of the fire had damaged the ship's structure but after repairs at Liverpool the ship returned to service. Top left: Panther at
Rosslare showing the smoke damage on the side of her superstructure
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| She was renamed once again after
P&O reverted to a policy of naming their freight vessels with the prefix
European... the Panther became European Pathfinder
from January 1998. Why European Clearway wasn't adopted again
I'll never know? Here she is offloading over the bow at Rosslare's
number two berth. While in service around the British Isles over the
years for Townsend Thoresen or P&O the 'Pathfinder was the only
member of her class capable of off loading at a single level ramp.
She was fitted with an internal lift when she moved to Pandoro service at
Rosslare in 1993. All the other three vessels had no way of
transferring loads from top deck to bottom vehicle deck. This made
particularly the European Trader and European Endeavour a
bit less flexible when they both moved to the Irish Sea later in their
careers. Those two ships were confined more or less to the Larne -
Cairnryan route where double deck ramps were available. They did
feature on other routes like Larne - Ardrossan but could only load their
main decks. The European Pathfinder by virtue of her internal
lift could serve all P&O Irish Sea routes and be loaded to capacity in all
of them. Photo: Brian Chambers
Rosslare
Europort News
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Transfer to Larne in April 2001 for the Cairnryan route in place of sister ship European Trader which was sold in preference to the European Pathfinder as she had a greater value. The European Pathfinder is pictured at McKean Quay Larne loading for Cairnryan. Prior to taking up service at Larne she was at Harland and Wolff for a short while to have an upper deck 'whalecatcher' added to her stern catch the ramp fingers at Larne. Her bottom deck door had been modified for use at Cherbourg causing her to sit a bit further off the ramp than her sister ships hence the need for a longer landing platform for the upper deck ramp to drop on to. The European Pathfinder sadly had become a shadow of her former self in the last few months of service at Larne. Tired and in sore need of a paint job the euro-blue paint on the hull was patched up here and there to cover the worst of the rust. When her port main engine expired in June 2002 and her hard working engineers couldn't fix it with the resources they had the ship limped on operating at 10 knots on one engine only. She completed her last sailing on the 18th of July with the 0130 sailing from Cairnryan. She left Larne on the 19th of July at 0500 to await sale but with only one operating engine it was a long wait before a would be buyer would risk buying her, even if it was a much reduced price. Photo: Aubrey Dale |
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After languishing in Liverpool for months a flurry of activity surrounding the sale of the ship occurred all at once. First she was sold in October 2002 to Greek owners and renamed Regina I. This fell through as the buyers couldn't raise the money and they sold her straight away to Trans Europa Ferries. She was renamed again to Begonia and left Liverpool still very much like the European Pathfinder only with her old name and P&O markings painted out in December 2002. She headed to Ostend where slowly but surely she was transformed into a fully functioning ship once more. The broken engine was repaired, the paintwork stripped and re-done, a nasty vermin infestation picked up in Liverpool was eradicated, she had spent from December 2002 to January 2004 undergoing the thorough refit. The final step in her glorious path back into commercial service was completed when she sailed for the first time for Ramsgate on Wednesday the 11th of February 2004. Pictured below in her new found magnificence the Begonia does her turns on the 'catwalk' that is the Ramsgate harbour turning circle. The white with red trim looks splendid on her, she has kept her stern whalecatcher that was added for use in Larne (everyone else calls it a cowcatcher but my twisted humour says its a whalecatcher because where will you catch cows at sea?) You'll also note in the port side views that she has additional cabin accommodation added over the side promenade deck. All photos taken on Thursday 12th February 2004 by Nigel Thornton. Click on images to enalrge. |
After
being removed from the Portsmouth - Le Havre freight route in November 1993 the
European Clearway moved to the new Rosslare - Cherbourg route
established under P&O's Irish Sea freight subsidiary Pandoro.
Pandoro also operated the Dublin - Liverpool and Larne - Fleetwood routes.
The
ship first paid a visit to Larne for 3 days from the 8th to the 11th of
November 1997 to cover the Ardrossan route vessel Lion which was
off service undergoing tests of a new marine evacuation system.
