MV ''Duc de Normandie'' was a passenger car ferry built in 1978 as the ''Prinses Beatrix''. She subsequently operated under the names ''Wisteria'', ''Vronskiy'' and ''Damla''.

History

She was built in 1978 as the ''Prinses Beatrix'' by Verolme Shipyard, in

Heusden Heusden () is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a city in the south of the Netherlands. It is located between the towns of Waalwijk and 's-Hertogenbosch. The municipality of Heusden, including Herpt, Heesbeen, Hedikhuizen, Do ...

, the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

and worked for

Stoomvaart Maatschappij Zeeland Stoomvaart Maatschappij Zeeland (known as SMZ or in English as Zeeland Steamship Company ) was a Dutch ferry operator that ran services from the Netherlands to the United Kingdom between 1875 and 1989.Haws (1993), p.197 History The Stoomvaart Ma ...

on its joint

Sealink Sealink was a ferry company based in Great Britain from 1970 to 1984, operating services to France, Belgium, the Netherlands, the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Wight and Ireland. Ports served by the company included: Dover, F ...

route between Hook of Holland and Harwich, Parkeston Quay. She was named and launched by

Princess Beatrix Beatrix (Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard, ; born 31 January 1938) is a member of the Dutch royal house who reigned as List of monarchs of the Netherlands, Queen of the Netherlands from 30 April 1980 until her abdication in 2013. Beatrix was born ...

on 14 January 1978.

Brittany Ferries Brittany Ferries is the trading name of the French shipping company, BAI Bretagne Angleterre Irlande S.A. founded in 1973 by Alexis Gourvennec, that operates a fleet of ferries and cruiseferries between France, England, Ireland, Spain and the ...

bought the vessel on 1 October 1985 and, after chartering the vessel for a year back to SMZ, renamed her ''Duc de Normandie'', operating between

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

and

Ouistreham Ouistreham () is a commune in the Calvados department in Normandy region in northwestern France. Ouistreham is a small port with fishing boats, leisure craft and a ferry harbour. It serves as the port of the city of Caen. The town borders t ...

from 5 June 1986. The ferry sailed alongside on its favoured route to

. On 10 July 2002, she was transferred to the

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

Roscoff Roscoff ( , ; ) is a commune in the Finistère département of Brittany in northwestern France. Roscoff is renowned for its picturesque architecture, labelled (small town of character) since 2009. Roscoff is also a traditional departure point ...

route, replacing the . She ended her Brittany Ferries career on this route, her final sailing being on 30 September 2004. Brittany Ferries sold her in 2005 to

TransEuropa Ferries TransEuropa Ferries was a freight and passenger ferry company operating between Ramsgate, Kent, UK and Ostend, West Flanders, Belgium from 1998 to 2013, with three or more ships. The company suspended operations on 18 April 2013, and on 2 ...

, operating between

Port of Ramsgate The Port of Ramsgate (also known as Port Ramsgate, Ramsgate Harbour, and Royal Harbour, Ramsgate) is a harbour situated in Ramsgate, south-east England, serving cross-Channel freight traffic and smaller working and pleasure craft. It is owned an ...

and

Ostend Ostend ( ; ; ; ) is a coastal city and municipality in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerke, Raversijde, Stene and Zandvoorde, and the city of Ostend proper – the la ...

under the name ''Wisteria''. In 2006 she was chartered to

Ferrimaroc FerriMaroc was a Moroccan ferry company which started services between Nador Port in Morocco and the Port of Almeria in Spain. Since 2010 the company has been part of the Spanish operator Acciona Trasmediterránea.The Ferry site oFerriMaroc visit ...

and Acciona Trasmeditarranea for use on their Almeria (Spain) to Nador (Morocco) route. The vessel sailed on the Nador-Almeria route until September 2013 under the name ''Vronskiy'', where it had operated till 2008 during the summer-season while Transeuropa Ferries operated it on the Oostend-Ramsgate route during the rest of the year. Until 2013 the owner of the ship was Wisteria Hawthorn Shipping but after TEF went bankrupt in April 2013 it was sold to Nizhniy Shipping, which renamed it ''Vronskiy'', although the existing charter to Acciona was continued. The ''Vronskiy'' then operated on the route Algeciras–Tanger except during the high-summer season when she operated the Nador-Almeria route.

In the media

''Prinses Beatrix'' is visible during the opening credits of the first series of the British

comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

Auf Wiedersehen, Pet ''Auf Wiedersehen, Pet'' () is a British comedy-drama television programme about seven British construction workers who leave the United Kingdom to search for employment overseas. In the first series, the men live and work on a building site ...

.''

References

External links

Photos
from shipphoto-keil-canal.de Ferries of the United Kingdom Ferries of France 1978 ships Transeuropa Ferries Ferries of the Netherlands {{ferry-stub