A visit to the Stena Caledonia in dry dock

Once a year every ferry has to go for its annual survey to renew safety certificates, repair or replace old or worn parts of machinery, replace worn out fixtures and fittings and lastly the most obvious to the interested onlooker that all important coat of paint to keep her looking nice and clean during another year of hard work.

No longer sailing from the port of Larne but still with many fans in her old home port, the Stena Caledonia, entered dry dock for her overhaul and survey on the 26th of April at Harland and Wolff's Belfast dry dock. Thanks to the vessel's senior master Larne Ferry Web joined her in the dock for a look around on the 28th of April. She returned to service on the 9th of May with the 2000hrs service to Stranraer.


High and dry in the dock with the bow visor open and the anchor chains laid out on the dock floor.	The bow arrangements and the whale catcher, which is very unobtrusive compared to some other ferries.

A bow on view showing her lines	Bow thrusters from the starboard side

Starboard side stabiliser in grey primer	Starboard propeller with some of the variable pitch blades removed

These two views show the stern sponsons added in 2001 to comply with new stability regulations brought in during the late 1990's. Not only were the saint class vessels highly versatile this shows they were quite adaptable too. The sponsons added along with the bulbous bow which replaced the bow rudder in 1999 have done little to change the Caledonia's already first class manoeuvrability. Excellent manoeuvrability, especially in bad weather, was trait all 4 ships in the class enjoyed and was one that the vessels of their competitors more often than not lacked

Ever wondered how to remove the tail shaft from a ferry? It wasn't the first thing that sprung to my mind either, but during the visit to see the Stena Caledonia in dry dock I was to witness to quite a spectacle as the port side tail shaft was taken out.


In these three pictures the port side tail shaft is being pulled out of the shaft tunnel by chain blocks fastened to a pulley hooked onto the ships underbelly.
	Left and above: Sister ship St Anselm (later to serve on Larne - Stranraer as Stena Cambria) had a similar procedure carried out in November 1982 at Ziegler's in Dunkirk where it was recorded on film and carefully filed away by Roy Thornton. St Anselm was off service between the 2nd of November and the 9th with engine trouble. On this occasion all her shaft tunnels were fitted with sacrificial zinc anodes to combat the corrosion between the stainless steel shaft and the mild steel throat of the shaft tunnel. Photos: Roy Thornton Collection

The bow thrust tunnel was similarly treated and the picture to the right shows her aft bow thrust tunnel from the port side with the zinc anodes in place (they are the silvery metal pieces on the red painted hull arranged in a ring around the outside thruster tunnel. The picture below shows the St Anselm back in Belfast in what looks like the Thompson dry dock, which hasn't been used for a number of years now. Possibly during the time of the extension of her passenger accommodation in 1983. Photos: Roy Thornton Collection click to enlarge.

The Saint class ferries have been a feature of the ferry scene around Britain and even more so in the Irish Sea since their creation over the years 1979 - 1981 at Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast. Given the fact the 4 ships of the class were all built on meagre public funds for the nationalised shipping company Sealink their designers achieved much within the many constraints that they had to work with.

Focussing in on the past ferry scene at Larne the Saint class, beginning in May 1980 with the lead ship Galloway Princess, Larne has had the honour of all 4 vessels to sail from the port at various times. Now there is one left in local waters, the final member of the class, built as yard number 1717 and named St David she now sails as Stena Caledonia between Stranraer and Belfast. The other ships are still serving their new owners well the following table looks briefly at their current status and their service on the North Channel routes between Stranraer and Larne up to Nov 1995 and Stranraer and Belfast from Nov 1995:

Galloway Princess Yard Number 1713	St Anselm Yard Number 1715

Served North Channel from May 1980 - Feb 2002 (from Feb 1991 named Stena Galloway) Now serves Algericras (Spain) - Tangiers (Morocco) as Le Rif http://www.faktaomfartyg.com/galloway_princess_1980.htm	Served North Channel for brief spells in 1991, 1992, 1995 & 1997 as Stena Cambria (pictured above at Larne under that name in March 1991) Now serves Barcelona - Ibiza as Isla de Botafoc http://www.faktaomfartyg.com/st_anselm_1980.htm

St Christopher Yard Number 1716	St David Yard Number 1717
Served North Channel as Stena Antrim Apr 1991 - July 1996 Now serves Algericras - Tangier as Ibn Batouta http://www.faktaomfartyg.com/st_christopher_1981.htm	Serving North Channel from Jan 1986 - present and long may she continue! From Feb 1991 sailing as Stena Caledonia http://www.faktaomfartyg.com/st_david_1981.htm