MS ''Pride of Canterbury'' was a cross-channel

ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...

operated by

P&O Ferries P&O Ferries is a British shipping company that operates ferry, ferries from Scotland to Northern Ireland, and from England to Continental Europe (France, Belgium and the Netherlands). The company was created in 2002 through mergers and acquisi ...

between

Dover Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...

, United Kingdom and

Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a French port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Calais is the largest city in Pas-de-Calais. The population of the city proper is 67,544; that of the urban area is 144,6 ...

, France. She made her maiden voyage on 4 January 1992 as the European pathway. She was converted in 2003 to a pure passenger vessel. She retired from service on the 10 September 2023 before a brief lay up and a departure for Alaiga to be broken up for recycling

History

''Pride of Canterbury'' was the second of four 'European-class' freight ferries ordered for

P&O European Ferries P&O European Ferries (formerly Townsend Thoresen), a division of P&O Ferries, was a ferry company which operated in the English Channel from 1987 after the ''Herald of Free Enterprise'' disaster, when '' Townsend Thoresen'' was renamed ''P&O E ...

Zeebrugge Zeebrugge (; from , meaning "Bruges-on-Sea"; , ) is a village on the coast of Belgium and a subdivision of Bruges, for which it is the modern port. Zeebrugge serves as both the international port of Bruges-Zeebrugge and a seafront resort with ...

route. Between 1992 and 2002 she sailed between Dover and Zeebrugge for P&O European Ferries and later P&O Stena Line. She was converted in late 2002/early 2003 and re-entered service as ''Pride of Canterbury'' (replacing the ageing '' P&OSL Canterbury''), sailing from Dover to

. On 31 January 2008 she struck the wreck of Although it is unclear whether the wreck referred to in the MAIB report is that of the or a later vessel of the same name which also wrecked on the

Goodwin Sands Goodwin Sands is a sandbank at the southern end of the North Sea lying off the Deal, Kent, Deal coast in Kent, England. The area consists of a layer of approximately depth of fine sand resting on an Chalk, Upper Chalk platform belonging to ...

. while manoeuvring into The Downs off the

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

coast during heavy weather. The collision caused the loss of one of her

propeller A propeller (often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon a working flu ...

s and damaged the prop shaft and

gearbox A transmission (also called a gearbox) is a mechanical device invented by Louis Renault (who founded Renault) which uses a gear set—two or more gears working together—to change the speed, direction of rotation, or torque multiplication/r ...

. Although she was able to sail to Dover unaided, the ferry required assistance berthing. Following emergency repairs in Falmouth she returned to service operating with only one propeller. As a result, she was unable to operate in rough weather and was frequently laid up in Dover or sheltering off the Kent coast waiting for the wind to drop. The ferry was due to be drydocked at a European repair yard in November 2008 to be fitted with a new propeller with a view to being back in service for the Christmas 2008 period. The vessel reentered service again on the Dover to Calais route. On 29 September 2014 a fire broke out in the engine room at around 8am as it arrived into Calais. The fire was quickly extinguished by the ship's fire protection system. Nobody was injured and the ship disembarked all the passengers safely. The stricken ferry was taken to Arno Shipyard in Dunkerque for repairs; to make up for the missing ship, ''Pride of Burgundy''s services were increased from three to five. In early 2019, ''Pride of Canterbury'', like all P&O vessels on the Dover-to-Calais route, was flagged out to Cyprus, a measure explained by the company as motivated by tax advantages in view of

Brexit Brexit (, a portmanteau of "Britain" and "Exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU). Brexit officially took place at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February ...

. She is now registered in

Limassol Limassol, also known as Lemesos, is a city on the southern coast of Cyprus and capital of the Limassol district. Limassol is the second-largest urban area in Cyprus after Nicosia, with an urban population of 195,139 and a district population o ...

. On 21 March 2022, United Kingdom Transport Secretary

Grant Shapps Sir Grant Shapps (born 14 September 1968) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Defence from August 2023 to July 2024. Shapps previously served in various Cabinet of the United Kingdom, cabinet posts, including Chairman of ...

announced that he would require P&O Ferries to rename ''Pride of Canterbury'' and other ships on the fleet which carry British names if the company was found to have breached employment regulations following the summary dismissal without notice via

Zoom Zoom may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film * ''Zoom'' (2006 film), starring Tim Allen * ''Zoom'' (2015 film), a Canada-Brazil film by Pedro Morelli * ''Zoom'' (2016 Kannada film), a Kannada film * ''Zoom'' (2016 Sinhala film), a Sr ...

of 800 British seafarers who were to be replaced with cheaper overseas agency workers. On 24 March 2022, P&O Ferries CEO Peter Hebblethwaite confirmed that the management of the company illegally fired 800 British seafarers so it was expected that the ship would have to have its name changed as Shapps announced three days previously. She retired on 5 October 2023, with her final crossing from Dover to Calais, before travelling to Tilbury Docks. In January 2024, she departed for Aliağa, Turkey. She was beached on the 16 January where she will be broken up for recycling. She will be replaced by P&O Liberté''.''

Sister ships

As built, ''European Pathway'' was identical to ''European Seaway'' and ''European Highway''. The fourth 'European Class' freight ferry was converted to a multi-purpose vessel for the Dover-Calais route and named though she still retained a number of similarities. Following conversion to multi-purpose ship, ''Pride of Canterbury'' is nearly identical to ''Pride of Kent''. * * * (formerly ''European Highway'') ''Pride of Canterbury'' and ''Pride of Kent'' are commonly known as the 'Darwin Twins' or 'Darwins' after the project name given by P&O to the conversion of the ships.HHV Ferry - P&O's Darwins
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pride of Canterbury Ferries of the United Kingdom Ferries of France Connections across the English Channel 1991 ships Ships of P&O Ferries Maritime incidents in 2008 Maritime incidents in 2014