Another image of " Wisteria ", formerly " Prinses Beatrix " of SMZ, and " Duke De Normandie " of Brittany Ferries. NMP.
Brittany Ferries " Duke De Normandie ", at 7 a.m. in the morning, stern on at the double deck linkspan
at Sword Beach, Ouistreham in 1994. I took this picture from the outer deck of " Normandie Shipper "
as I arrived on the overnight sailing from Portsmouth with Truckline. Twelve hours later, I was back
here, waiting to return to Portsmouth on the overnight sailing aboard " Normandie ".
Twentyfive years later, the same vessel is now " Vronskiy " with Transmediterranea, operating from
Motril, Algeciras, and Almeria, on the south coast of Spain. NMP.
Ray Smyth.
P & O Ferries " Pride Of Hampshire " arriving at Portsmouth on an overnight sailing from Cherbourg.
Ray.
Ray Smyth:
P & O Ferries " Pride Of Hampshire " arriving at Portsmouth on an overnight sailing from Cherbourg.Ray.
What a rust tug that was
" Vronskiy " of Trasmediterranea alongside at the docks in Almeria City, in Almeria province, South-East Spain.
I sailed on this vessel many times between Portsmouth and Ouistreham ( Caen ) when it was " Duke De Normandie "
with Brittany Ferries, also once from Plymouth to Santander in 1992 when " Bretagne " was at Brest in Brittany on
its annual refit and major service. This vessel was new in 1978, named " Prinses Beatrix " and entered service with
Sealink SMZ on their regular service between Harwich and Hook Of Holland. NMP.
Ray.
Do any of you remember the Harwich to Bremerhaven ferry in the 70s, you had to reverse up a winding ramp on your blind side, at the bottom of the ramp a docker would ask you to wind your passenger window down, he would stand on the step and hang onto the wing mirror and firmly say, do exactly as i say and nothing else, he would give instructions and if you obeyed he would reverse you up the ramp and into the hold in one go, they were brilliant.
Steve
I vaguely remember Prinz Line ferry from maybe Harwich to Hamburg being used for middle east trips running behind iron curtain onto a truck train.
I also remember RIF Line from Ipswich to Rotterdam(Waalhaven?).
I’m sure both were German crewed.
Ray Smyth:
" Vronskiy " of Trasmediterranea alongside at the docks in Almeria City, in Almeria province, South-East Spain.
I sailed on this vessel many times between Portsmouth and Ouistreham ( Caen ) when it was " Duke De Normandie "
with Brittany Ferries, also once from Plymouth to Santander in 1992 when " Bretagne " was at Brest in Brittany on
its annual refit and major service. This vessel was new in 1978, named " Prinses Beatrix " and entered service with
Sealink SMZ on their regular service between Harwich and Hook Of Holland. NMP.Ray.
Good to see that at least one of the ferries I half lived on in the 70’s and 80’s is still sailing, sailed on her many times from Harwich to Hook and also a few time on her with Brittany Ferries. I also did many crossings on the above mentioned
Pride of Hampshire from when she was, if my memory serves me well, Viking Voyager. I suppose it is just a reminder of the passage of time, that most of the ferries I sailed on have ended their days beached at places such as Alang.
Peter
Peter Coaker:
I suppose it is just a reminder of the passage of time, that most of the ferries I sailed on have ended their days beached at places such as Alang.Peter
Look on the bright side at least 3 of mine ( Juliana, Herald, Boccaccio ) met a catastrophic fate. 
Another picture of " Vronskiy " of Transmediterrania Ferries which has spent time on the route from
the port of Almeria in Southeast Spain to Melilla, a small autonomous region of Spain on the coast
of North Africa, surrounded by Morocco. I sailed on this ship many times when it was on its regular
route from Portsmouth to Ouistreham ( Caen ) when it was " Duke De Normandie " and also once
from Plymouth to Santander when it was covering the trip to and from Spain whilst the regular
vessel. Brittany Ferries " Bretagne " was away on its annual refit at Brest, early in 1992. NMP.
Ray.
Brittany’s Galicia has arrived Plymouth. 5,000 more tons and 40 m longer than the MSM, can’t see her as a Ouistreham boat.
plymouthherald.co.uk/news/p … ia-4604204
In 1983, I watched a 12 episode series called " Auf Weidersehen Pet " on ITV. The opening scenes were the 3 Geordies,
Dennis, Oz, and Neville, on the deck of a Sealink SMZ ferry sailing between Harwich and Hook Of Holland. There was
also a brief glimpse of Sealinks " Prinses Beatrix ". In 1986, this vessel was acquired by Brittany Ferries for the route
between Portsmouth and Ouisterham ( Caen ) and renamed " Duke De Normandie ". The first time that I sailed on this
vessel was early in 1992 when it was on the Plymouth to Santander route for a few weeks, covering for " Bretagne "
which was at Brest in Brittany, having its annual refit and maritime MOT. I sailed on " Duke De Normandie several times
during the next 15 years on its regular route, between Portsmouth and Ouistreham ( Caen ). From about 2004, it left
Brittany Ferries and moved to several routes from the South coast of Spain, It was renamed " Wisteria " and in later days
was renamed again to become " Vronskiy ", and was still in service in 2020. Recently. DEANB mentioned sailing across
the Channel from Portsmouth to Ouistreham ( Caen ), so I expect he will have sailed on this fine ship. Click on some
of the pictures for full image. NMPs.
Ray Smyth.
dieseldave:
ERF-NGC-European:
I seem to remember collecting and returning unaccompanied trailers to Schiaffino vessels in Ramsgate docks in the mid-'80s. RoIn 1982/3, I remember using a Schiaffino out of Oostende once because none of the other carriers would carry the nasty chemicals I was carrying.
I’d tried both Calais and Zeebrugge, but both asked me to vacate their port!!
When I presented my DGN to the nice man at Schiaffino, he wondered what all the fuss was about.
I remember that we docked at Western Docks, Dover.
IIRC, Ramsgate was Sally Line to Dunkirk, which offered the best buffet in those days and the opportunity to use the ‘Corridor.’
It’s amazing what memories some of these posts rekindle. 
I must of used the Schiaffino (a.k.a. The Paraffino) at least three times in the 80’s, the main topic of conversation at the dining table was always “is it Steak or is it Horsemeat”. It seemed more than a coincidence that Shergar had just gone missing. 
I truly believe that it was Horsemeat which was often served in Belgium restaurants in the seventies and as it was always served in a thick sauce then you couldn’t really tell the difference.
I remember waiting at the East German border once going into Poland along with a West German driver who had a horse box and while trying out my best Pigeon German I asked him " is das Rennen Pferds (Race Horses). He replied, Nein Essen Pferds, (eating horses).
The best part about the meal on the ship was that it came with copious amounts of free red wine which was basically Plonk, the bottles didn’t even have a label on them and the same bottles were quickly refilled.
The trip that really sticks out in my mind was when we had loaded once in Oostende, the ship had closed its doors, the engines had already started up and the all the drivers were stood on the top deck waiting for the ship to pull away.
I.I.R.C. you had to go through a set of lock gates and we were stopped there for about five minutes when one of the crew started to do a head count. You could tell that something was wrong the way the crew were all flapping about. Now I seem to think that there were only twelve drivers allowed because of insurance polices, the rest were unaccompanied trailers and on this day there were only about eight drivers on board. Sometimes you could park on the ship and then be told to come back before 5 p.m. when the ship sailed but on this occasion we were one driver missing.
Suddenly, the agents little Citroen 2 c.v. van came screeching up and stopped on the quayside, there was a lot of shouting going on and then we all watched as the crew lifted a thirty foot ladder over the side. A young English lad who looked in his late twenties got out of the van and started climbing up the ladder onto the deck of the ship. By now all the drivers had moved closer to see what was going on and by the time that this young lad had got to the top of the ladder he looked ashen faced.
As he climbed over the deck rail he asked “is Jeremy Beadle about”, and for all the younger Trucknet members that was a popular television programme at the time. It turned out that it was the lads first trip abroad and he had left his watch on U.K. time.
Now for nearly forty years I always thought that the steel ladder that this lad climbed up was attached to the side of the ship but as you look at this photo of the Schiaffino you can see what looks like a ladder laying on it’s side.
I also remember that on two occasions we actually went into Dover Eastern Docks.
Do you remember seeing the Hover Lloyd Hovercraft going out of Pegwell Bay just down the road from Ramsgate in the seventies. I only went on it once from Ramsgate to Calais in 1975. They were really noisy things on the outside but inside they were fairly quite and I can remember the captain saying "our flying time to Calais today will be thirty five minutes.
Hovercraft still running regularly Pompey to IoW.
greatbritishlife.co.uk/peop … ft-7280592
No vehicles on board though.
I recall catching a Schiaffino vessel from Dover East back in the day but I can’t recall the destination.Perhaps Oostende.
I also recall red wine being served on the “Dorset” between Poole and Cherbourg.Best anaesthetic in a bottle.A surgeon could remove a leg after two glasses and you wouldn’t feel a thing.
Made a couple of trips on hovercraft.Horrible noisy things.
Once on hydrofoil from Ramsgate to Oostende.Bit bouncy.Only me and a woman next to me weren’t yawning into a paper bag on the crossing.Not pleasant.
ChrisArbon:
Hi Dean. I think the old factory at Namu might have been a cannery. There are plenty of salmon in those waters and canning used to be the main way of food preservation before freezing. The Inside Passage is one of the all time greatest places for picturesque scenery in the World and Port Hardy to Prince Rupert is just part of it. A lot of cruise ships take the Inside Passage all the way from Seattle to Skagway in Alaska. Port Hardy to Prince Rupert takes about 18 hours. When I took the trip it was June 21st and the longest day so I did it all in daylight but it was raining for about 90% of the time and that rather spoilt it. The World Cup in Brazil was going on at the time and I can remember getting so ■■■■■■ off trying to get photographs of orcas while getting soaking wet that I went inside and watched a couple of quarter-finals.Just the other month, I applied for a Summer season job as a tour bus driver based In Whitehorse. The job entailed; picking up cruise ship passengers at Skagway and taking them round the sites of the Yukon. Since the coronavirus pandemic the whole thing got cancelled but part of the payment was a free cruise with the Holland America Line. Although I get seasick pretty easily, I rather fancied doing the whole Inside Passage.
Hi Chris, it sounds like you really missed out on that Whitehorse job but that Inside Passage trip really should be on you bucket list. 
Funnily enough we sailed on the Holland America Nieuw Amsterdam from Vancouver to Skagway on the 21st of June 2017 so it was three years after your trip. Yes, I know what you mean about how difficult it is to take photos of pods of Orcas they really are camera shy.
Click on the photos to enlarge them.
I saw this ferry heading towards Ketchikan but I can’t remember the name of the town that it was leaving from as there was so much to see and do on the trip.
If you get to Skagway then a trip on the White Pass and Yukon Railway is a must do experience, how those men built that railway in the 1800’s with out todays technology was amazing and if you have an hour to spend then make yourself a nice cup of tea, open a packet of biscuits and have a look at these two video’s.
youtube.com/watch?v=VyLGlZTYOCo
youtube.com/watch?v=HxFJgI3I89M
These were taken at about 11 p.m. at night.
