The ferry nostalgia thread

[Seashore]

8 hours ago, hhvferry said:

The perfectly loaded car deck - an export load on one of the early ASN ships in the 1950s.

Looks almost as tightly packed as Bretagne’s deck 5. I say almost, it looks like you could still get your car door open and you won’t scrape your head on the low roof.

I’m assuming that was one of their LSTs? It looks like they’ll all have to be reversed off via the bow door.

[hhvferry]

1 hour ago, Seashore said:

Looks almost as tightly packed as Bretagne’s deck 5. I say almost, it looks like you could still get your car door open and you won’t scrape your head on the low roof.

I’m assuming that was one of their LSTs? It looks like they’ll all have to be reversed off via the bow door.

Yes, it's one of the LSTs; I assume they are cars for export although not clued up enough to know what model they are.

[LHCity]

NORMANNIA :

Edited May 17, 2020 by LHCity

[jonno]

On 16/05/2020 at 23:47, hhvferry said:

Yes, it's one of the LSTs; I assume they are cars for export although not clued up enough to know what model they are.

Just guessing and going by grille design I think the model is the Ford Pilot. Used as Police cars from the '40's to early '60's.

[Millsy]

Morris 8 Series E I think. The Pilot had a flat top to the grille.

Edited May 18, 2020 by Millsy

[JohnMustow]

3 hours ago, Millsy said:

Morris 8 Series E I think. The Pilot had a flat top to the grille.

 

3 hours ago, Millsy said:

Morris 8 Series E I think. The Pilot had a flat top to the grille.

That was my best guess but I also considered a Standard model but the grill is definitely Morris style.

[Guest]

On 06/05/2020 at 23:32, Seashore said:

Sally Line were cool. They used to give you free Nautical Miles for the sake of it and they pretty much paid for the crossing. Then they’d give you more Nautical Miles just for booking a free crossing. Did anyone ever pay?

Of course they made their money from duty free, I remember both Sally Star and Sally Sky having massive duty free shops compared with most of the Dover ships, end of duty free probably killed it.

I’m sure still got about 6m Nautical Miles left to redeem!!

I only ever paid £1 for a footy crossing, and boy did we make the most of that. I can't begin to guess how many times we went across. Definitely a style of crossing well missed on the short sea routes.

[Millsy]

4 hours ago, JohnMustow said:

 

That was my best guess but I also considered a Standard model but the grill is definitely Morris style.

Comparison shots. The Pilot is an 1951 ex Blackpool police car with many factory fitted extras. Those who bemoan the identikit nature of modern cars will find food for thought about the past in these two examples. A good number of Pilots were turned into pick-ups using Dagenham supplied cab and chassis. I have been searching for a pic of a rather more jaunty Morris in two tone and found that I had not catalogued the cars for too long as I seldom wrote about them.

Edited May 18, 2020 by Millsy

[neilcvx]

https://www.facebook.com/104021891157233/posts/159428475616574/

If you are on Facebook there are some gems on this page.

[Hinkley]

Le Havre map of harbour. 1973 brochure.

[Stena Galloway]

Hi folks, regular reader on the forum. Just found this in youtube if anybody is interested.

[hhvferry]

28 minutes ago, Stena Galloway said:

Hi folks, regular reader on the forum. Just found this in youtube if anybody is interested.

Excellent.

According to Dover Ferry Photos, the Buffalo which is seen lying on the eastern arm at Dover operated for Normandy Ferries to Boulogne from 5th to 26th January 1980 so that's the date range (I guess it may also explain the Christmassy-style jumper the presenter is wearing although that might just have been a fashion choice).

[hhvferry]

I don't think she's entirely off-topic as she had a little car deck, so here are some images of the QE2 in as-built condition, looking suitably space age for 1969 and, almost, the coolest thing afloat at that time. She's the only Cunard ship I ever had any interest in sailing in as almost everything before and after were horrors of bad taste (although a trip on the Adventurer/Ambassador/Countess/Princess may have been fun as they were essentially scaled-up car ferries). Sadly the QE2 was stripped of most of her cool interiors in the '80s and '90s and when I did manage a short cruise on her, near the end, except for a handful of areas she was little more than a floating mid-market hotel with decor to match.

Best to remember her as she was when built - the Swinging 60s afloat.

 

[rileyman]

Very interesting. The first two pictures brought to mind the bar and dance floor of Pont Aven !!!!

[Seashore]

I thought I was looking at holiday snaps from last year on Celebrity Edge, except the swimming pool is full Americans just standing in it drinking.

[Hinkley]

BF 1993 schedule.

[elaine80]

On 24/05/2020 at 12:01, Stena Galloway said:

Hi folks, regular reader on the forum. Just found this in youtube if anybody is interested.

Yikes, it mentions the introduction of Herald of Free Enterprise.

[Trun]

And it shows movement with the doors open...

[hhvferry]

The Quiberon, prior to her her mid-life BF refit, was quite a funky ship.

Edited May 26, 2020 by hhvferry

[Gareth]

On 25/05/2020 at 22:32, elaine80 said:

Yikes, it mentions the introduction of Herald of Free Enterprise.

Given that it is a programme primarily about the cluster of new builds for Sealink and TT around 1980 for the Dover-Calais route, that is hardly surprising?

[Gareth]

23 hours ago, Trun said:

And it shows movement with the doors open...

....which, in harbour, was completely normal practice for all ferries with bow doors until the visor went out of fashion in favour of the clam doors we usually see today.  It was, in the main, inevitable, as it was usually not possible to open and close the bow doors while the ship was on the berth.

[quibby]

15 hours ago, hhvferry said:

The Quiberon, prior to her her mid-life BF refit, was quite a funky ship.

The de luxe cabins definitely looked better than they did post-refit! The bar looks quite atmospheric as well. Love the chairs in the self service too. Seems like the 1990 refit improved some areas but also removed some of the charm. This twitter post from BF shows some pretty amazing walls in the information hall:

[Guest]

Unfortunately the Quiberon was the only ship in the fleet at the time (1990s) which was guaranteed to make my kids seasick - Val de Loire, Bretagne, even Barfleur were all no problem.  I never figured out why she had this affect!

[The Ferry Man]

8 hours ago, Gareth said:

....which, in harbour, was completely normal practice for all ferries with bow doors until the visor went out of fashion in favour of the clam doors we usually see today.  It was, in the main, inevitable, as it was usually not possible to open and close the bow doors while the ship was on the berth.

And was still happening into the 2000s with the Seafrance Renoir/Manet, and still with the Cote d'Albatre/Seven Sisters. At slow speeds in confined waters it is fine, you won't get the bow wave that you would going at higher speeds in open water.

[hhvferry]

35 minutes ago, The Ferry Man said:

And was still happening into the 2000s with the Seafrance Renoir/Manet, and still with the Cote d'Albatre/Seven Sisters. At slow speeds in confined waters it is fine, you won't get the bow wave that you would going at higher speeds in open water.

The main thing is that the bow visor isn't the watertight door - that's behind the visor and is (was) closed before they leave the berth, certainly post 1987.