It is not unknown for ships to change their names especially ferries which are subject to changing company naming policies and are often sold or chartered to different companies who impose their own naming policies.  One ferry that has been in service at Larne since 1993 has served the port under an amazing 4 different names during that short space of time.  On this page the complicated history of the European Mariner will be unravelled.

Merchant Valiant 1993 - 1995

The vessel's first visit to Larne was in 1993 when Pandoro brought her in on charter from her then owners Merchant Ferries.  Under the name Merchant Valiant the ship had been operating Merchant Ferries' Warrenpoint - Heysham service since 1990 but was now surplus to requirements after Merchant Ferries upgraded their Heysham service with 2 larger vessels. 

On the Larne - Ardrossan route Pandoro had seen traffic grow and the capacity of the Belard was becoming stretched.  The slightly larger Merchant Valiant as seen as an ideal replacement for the Belard and she was taken on charter by Pandoro in November 1993.  Her first few weeks in service she carried her original Merchant Ferries livery of black hull and white funnel but very soon the white funnel was replaced with the P&O blue and flag logo, but the black hull remained.

Merchant Valiant pictured in her Merchant Ferries livery while engaged on the Warrenpoint - Heysham service.  She is pictured here on the 19th of August 1990 in Carlingford Lough outbound from Warrenpoint with the Mourne Mountains in the background.  Photo: Aubrey Dale.

Lion 1995 - 1998

After performing well on the route during her charter spell Pandoro bought the Merchant Valiant outright in the spring of 1995 having previously sold the Belard to the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company.  Over the summer of 1995 the ship was extensively refitted with the main work being the fitting of a internal ramp to the upper vehicle deck in place of the lift.  The bow thrusters, rudders and engines also received upgrades to help with manoeuvring in Ardrossan harbour.  During her refit the Belard returned to Larne on charter to cover the Ardrossan service.

The ship returned to the Larne - Ardrossan route freshly painted in full Pandoro colours and renamed Lion.  This name revived the name of the last passenger car ferry on the Ardrossan route and brought her in line with the rest of the fleet which all carried animal names.

At the time of the Merchant Valiant's introduction the Larne - Ardrossan route in 1993 there was only one round trip per day but in view of the slightly faster speed of the Lion over the Belard on Tuesdays and Thursdays an extra daylight round sailing was operated departing Larne at 0830 and returning again from Ardrossan at 1815, in addition to the usual 1930 departure (retarded to 2030 on Tuesday and Thursday when doing the double runs) from Larne.

The Lion entering Larne harbour on the 21st of April 1996 inbound from Ardrossan at 1800hrs on the daylight sailing.  Photo: Aubrey Dale

European Highlander 1998 - 2001

By January 1998 the Lion was once again getting a new name painted on her hull.  All of P&O's interests in the Irish Sea had just recently brought under one roof at a new head quarters in Fleetwood.  Pandoro, operators of Larne - Fleetwood, Larne - Ardrossan, Dublin - Liverpool and Rosslare - Cherbourg routes and P&O European Ferries operators of Larne - Cairnryan were all now branded P&O Irish Sea.  In the wake of the restructuring the P&O European Ferries' naming policy for the freight vessels was adopted.  This saw all the animal names of the former Pandoro fleet being dropped in favour of names with a European prefix.  Being on the Scottish route to Ardrossan the Lion was renamed European Highlander (I).

Despite a change in name little changed about her service until 1999 when the Ardrossan route was upgraded to a two ship service.  One of the Cairnryan freight vessels European Trader or European Endeavour they rotated each day was used on a daylight round sailing to Ardrossan Monday - Friday loading main deck cargo only (there being no internal ramp in these ships or a double deck ramp in Ardrossan).  European Highlander (I) meanwhile was used on a Larne - Cairnryan sailing returning to Larne at 1700 to load for her 1900 sailing to Ardrossan.  This complicated scheduling was not repeated in subsequent years and the service dropped back to one round sailing per day with 2 on Tuesdays and Thursdays, although at busy times extra sailings were operated on the other days as needed.

European Highlander (I) approaching Larne from Ardrossan on the 7th of May 2000.  Photo: Aubrey Dale

European Mariner 2001 - present

Down through the years Ardrossan had a well known reputation as a small and difficult harbour to navigate, especially in bad weather.  All the vessels that served on the route in past years usually had to be refitted with more powerful bow thrusters and more effective rudders to keep delays to a minimum, but it was not uncommon in the winter for many hours or even days to be spent on 'Arran Patrol' waiting for winds to ease to allow safe passage into Ardrossan.  Added to the length restriction in the harbour precluding anything larger than the European Highlander (I) into the port P&O began looking for an alternative Scottish base for the route.  A new port at Port Glasgow further up the River Clyde was looked at but was rejected in favour of Troon. 

The port of Troon had seen a rejuvenation in recent years with Seacat transferring all its Belfast - Stranraer sailings into the port from the summer of 1999 after having switched some to the Ayrshire port from the previous April.  In November 1999 P&O confirmed it would shift its Scottish freight service from Ardrossan to Troon, giving the port a further boost.  To accommodate the freight service a new berth was built for P&O and all was ready for the summer of 2001. 

The European Highlander (I) meanwhile was renamed European Mariner on the 23rd of June 2001 as her old name was required for the new Larne - Cairnryan conventional ferry then building in Japan.  She first carried out trials at the new berth in Troon on the same day she was renamed, while her first sailing with cargo on the new Larne - Troon route followed on the 30th of June.

European Mariner arriving at Larne light ship on the 4th of June 2002.  Photo: Aubrey Dale

P&O finally got their wish to put a larger vessel on the service from the following year when the European Navigator replaced the European Mariner on the Troon service from January 2002.  For the 2002 season the European Mariner spent most of it on a series of charters which earned her the title of P&O's most travelled vessel.  She was earmarked in the summer to run trailers overnight into Cairnryan after the introduction of the European Highlander (II) on the service but in the end she wasn't needed for this and spent the year visiting many different ports on various charters, the full details of which are reproduced below.

With a year spent evaluating the European Navigator on the Troon service it was deemed that the larger vessel wasn't needed after all and the Navigator was replaced in January 2003 by the European Mariner.  The European Mariner's schedule now sees her operate from Larne's Curran Quay at 1900 Sunday to Friday with a return sailing from Troon arriving back in Larne at 0645 Monday - Saturday.  This leisurely schedule also gives her the name of the ship that never sails as most days she can been seen laid up on Curran Quay between sailings, indeed in winter it is rare to actually see her during daylight hours actually sailing.  At weekends she can be found laid up on Chaine Quay in Larne during the winter months when the Superstar Express is away while in the summer she spends her weekends anchored off the County Antrim coast.

European Mariner departing Larne for Troon with the 1900hrs service on the 18th of April 2004.  Photo: Larne Ferry Web

Links:

European Mariner on LFW

European Mariner on faktaomfartyg

Updated: 21/01/06

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