TSS ''Dover'', (later the ''Earl Siward'', ''Sol Express'' and now the ''Tuxedo Royale''), was a British ferry. Built in 1965 as a

roll-on/roll-off Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels or using ...

(RORO) ferry, she spent much of her later life as one of the permanently moored

Tuxedo floating nightclubs The ''Tuxedo Princess'' (ex- TSS ''Caledonian Princess'') and ''Tuxedo Royale'' (ex- TSS ''Dover'') were two former car ferries used as permanently moored floating nightclubs in the United Kingdom from the 1980s to the 2000s. Both ships saw use ...

before being laid up, latterly on the River Tees in

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

. TSS ''Dover'' was built on the River Tyne in England by

Swan Hunter Swan Hunter, formerly known as Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson, is a shipbuilding design, engineering, and management company, based in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, England. At its apex, the company represented the combined forces of three powe ...

Wallsend Wallsend is a town in North Tyneside, England, at the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall. It has a population of 43,842 and lies east of Newcastle upon Tyne. History Roman Wallsend In Roman times, this was the site of the fort of Segedunum. This f ...

Tyne and Wear Tyne and Wear () is a metropolitan county in North East England, situated around the mouths of the rivers Tyne and Wear. It was created in 1974, by the Local Government Act 1972, along with five metropolitan boroughs of Gateshead, Newc ...

. She was launched on 17 March 1965 and completed by June 1965. In 1977 she was renamed ''Earl Siward'', and again in 1982 as the ''Sol Express''. In 1993 she became the nightclub the ''Tuxedo Royale''. Entered the National Historic ships register in 2016 and spent a period waiting to be restored by the Tuxedo Royale Restoration project. On 1 June 2017 ''Tuxedo Royale'' was badly damaged by fire. On 18 January 2018 Able UK announced that seven years after the owners went into administration, and with the lack of "any credible plans to move and restore the ship" the dismantling had begun.

References

External links

The project website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dover 1965 ships Ferries of the United Kingdom Ships built by Swan Hunter Ships of British Rail Steamships of the United Kingdom Ships built on the River Tyne