Goodbye Old Friend

While browsing Shipspotting.com earlier I was sad but not entirely surprised to see an old friend has gone to the breakers; a recent photo shows what's left of her at Aliaga in Turkey (the photo is sad for another reason, there are some reefers there way before their time). The Anthi Marina began life as Spirit of Free Enterprise in 1979, became Pride of Kent (I) after the Zeebrugge ferry disaster which wrecked her sister ship Herald of Free Enterprise, and went through further names, variations on 'Kent' - P&OSL Kent and P.O. Kent. She was lengthened in 1991, a process which completely ruined the ship and further ruination was visited on the poor thing when sold, in 2004, to a Greek ferry company which stuck a new bow on her.

I dug out some old photos I took of her in August 1990 at Dover and in 2002 and 2003 leaving Calais.

I was fond of this ship and her other sister (I never knew the Herald, as that came to grief before I ever visited Dover) so I am sorry that she has gone. Now, of the three original ships, there is only Oleander - Pride of Free Enterprise - left and I wonder how long she has until she, too, leaves us?

And here's a really old photo, from May 1988 (I think), of the ship in the Channel, taken from Pride of Dover. This was one of the last photos I took with a really crap old 35mm compact camera I had. This had a poor-quality fixed plastic 38mm lens and wasn't really fit for purpose but it was better than nothing.

If you click here and scroll down, there are some - rather horrific - pictures of her at the scrap yard in Turkey. It looks as if a fire had broken out as she was cut up.