MV ''St Catherine'' is 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, Trailer (vehicle), trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their ...

car and passenger ferry. She served the

Wightlink Wightlink is a ferry company operating routes across The Solent between Hampshire and the Isle of Wight in the south of England. It operates Roll-on/roll-off, car ferries between Lymington and Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, Yarmouth, and Portsmouth a ...

crossing from

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 ...

Fishbourne, Isle of Wight Fishbourne is a village between Wootton, Isle of Wight, Wootton and Ryde, on the Isle of Wight. The name "Fishbourne" might mean "stream of fish" or "fish spring." It is positioned on the eastern bank of Wootton Creek, and includes the term ...

from 1983 to 2009. In 2010, she was sold to Delcomar and renamed ''GB Conte.''

History

''St Catherine'' was built by Robb Caledon Shipbuilders of

Leith Leith (; ) is a port area in the north of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith and is home to the Port of Leith. The earliest surviving historical references are in the royal charter authorising the construction of ...

at a cost of £5 million. When she entered service on 3 July 1983, she was the biggest ferry ever in the

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 ...

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...

fleet, and the first able to carry more than 100 cars. Local papers reported that she made the other Isle of Wight ferries looked like toys in comparison. ''St Catherine'' remained the largest ship in the fleet only until her sister, St Helen entered service later in 1983. In 2001 the ferry was used as a location for the Robbie Williams single “Road to Mandalay”. The video was filmed during a night crossing with no other passengers aboard. ''St Catherine'' was present at the International Fleet Review in 2005, representing Wightlink with a number of her sisters. She was later laid up at Hythe in Hampshire. In 2010 ''St Catherine'' was sold to Delcomar and sailed from Hythe to

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...

as ''GB Conte'' on 31 July 2010, with a crew of 11 on board. In March 2015, it was announced that sisters 'St Catherine' and 'St Helen' were being reunited, after spending five years apart, as ''St Helen'' had also been sold to Delcomar. She was renamed ''Anna Mur''.

Layout

''St Catherine'' was the first of the Isle of Wight ferries to use a Voith Schneider asymmetric three-

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 ...

layout with a bridge mounted forward. Two decks of passenger accommodation are provided above the car deck, with two bar areas and seating space. One of the fastest car ferries in the company at the time, she allowed Wightlink to provide a 35-minute crossing of the

Solent The Solent ( ) is a strait between the Isle of Wight and mainland Great Britain; the major historic ports of Southampton and Portsmouth lie inland of its shores. It is about long and varies in width between , although the Hurst Spit whi ...

. Two older ferries on the route were withdrawn from service, while another, Caedmon was transferred to join her sisters on the

Lymington Lymington is a port town on the west bank of the Lymington River on the Solent, in the New Forest (district), New Forest district of Hampshire, England. The town faces Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, to which there is a Roll-on/roll-off, car ferry s ...

to Yarmouth route.

Service

''St Catherine'' entered service with

in 1983; the company becoming

in 1991. She sailed between Portsmouth, on the English mainland and Fishbourne, Isle of Wight until 2009. ''GB Conte'' and ''Anna Mur'' currently sail between the

Isola di San Pietro San Pietro Island (Italian: ''Isola di San Pietro'', Ligurian Tabarchino: ''Uiza de San Pé'', Sardinian: ''Isula 'e Sàntu Pèdru'') is an island approximately off the South western Coast of Sardinia, Italy, facing the Sulcis peninsula. W ...

and Portovesme; an approximately 40-minute service with a frequency of 17 ferries a day in each direction during the summer season.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:St Catherine Ferries of England Ferries of Italy Ferry transport on the Isle of Wight Ships built in Leith 1983 ships