Thursday, December 06, 2012

Final Voyage of the Pride of Dover - update

Further to my last post about the Pride of Dover, it appears that she is now indeed on her final voyage to Turkish shipbreakers after all.

She spent several days sheltering in Lyme Bay waiting for a weather window to safely cross the Bay of Biscay.

Any seafarer will tell you that the Bay of Biscay should be treated with utmost respect - especially at this time of year.

The latest report (at around 6 AM this morning) was that she was passing Brest at around 5 knots heading for Tuzla, Turkey.

UPDATE - The Pride of Dover arrived at Aliaga, Turkey on 27th December 2012.

Share |
Posted by Lights 2 Flag at 16:44
Labels:

3 comments:

  1. Hels6 December 2012 at 23:45

    Joe and I crossed to Dover for the first time in 1972. We loved the experience.

    It seems you hit the nail on the head, alas. The ferry's engines were in a very poor state which is why she was destroyed and sold for scrap in Turkey! What a terrible shame. It would have been far cheaper to install new engines and paint the old girl than build a new ferry from scratch.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glen / Kent Today and Yesterday7 December 2012 at 12:16

      Hi Hels, two new (bigger) ferries recently entered service for P+O on the Dover to Calais run - the Spirit of Britain and Spirit of France.

      Normally ferries no longer required on the Channel find their way to new owners in Greece or Italy.

      Due to the current economic situation in Southern Europe the Greek/Italian ferry operators are not in a position to replace their fleets at present which is why a ship like the Pride of Dover has ended up heading for the breakers.

      Glen

      Delete
  2. Edwin9 December 2012 at 21:45

    Grandmother/Eggs but here goes.

    http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/

    and how about a VHF reciver on marine channels?

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)