MV ''St Helen'' was a vehicle and passenger ferry operated by

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 ...

on its route 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 ...

to Fishbourne on the

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 ...

. Due to her age, she was sold and was removed from service on 26 March 2015. She now operates in

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 ...

with the name ''Anna Mur'', operated by Delcomar, together with her sister ship ''GB Conte'', the former .

History

''St Helen'' was built by Robb Caledon Shipbuilders; the last ship to be launched from their Leith Shipyard. She entered service with

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 ...

on 28 November 1983 shortly after her sister ''St Catherine'', She was positioned on the Portsmouth to Fishbourne route, the route she has taken through her life and was the largest Isle of Wight ferry until 1990 when was introduced measuring 26 gt more. This was a record held until 2001 when entered service.

Deck collapse incident

The ''St Helen'' generated unwelcome headlines late on Friday 18 July 2014 at the Fishbourne ferry terminal, when a section of the mezzanine car deck with nine cars on board dropped about on to the deck below while being lowered. Three passengers and a crew member were injured and transferred to St Mary's Hospital in Newport. The

Marine Accident Investigation Branch The Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) is a UK government organisation, authorised to investigate all maritime accidents in UK waters and accidents involving UK registered ships worldwide. Investigations are limited to establishing ca ...

carried out an investigation. The ship had just arrived on the 21:30 sailing from Portsmouth with 181 passengers and 11 crew on board. The next sailing, operated by ''St Clare'', had to wait 90 minutes before being able to dock. After the incident the ''St Helen'' was taken out of service for several weeks while Wightlink engineers removed the mezzanine deck leaving her sister ships ''St Clare'', and ''St Faith'' to run the service.

Sale to Delcomar

After withdrawal from service, the ship was moored at Hythe, but in March 2015 it was reported that Delcomar, a company based in Sardinia, had purchased ''St Helen'' for an undisclosed sum. She joined her sister vessel ''St Catherine'' (now ''GB Conte''), which was sold to the same company in July 2010. Both ferries currently sail between the Isola di San Pietro and Portovesme; an approximately 40-minute service with a frequency of 17 ferries a day in each direction during the summer season. ''St Helen'' has been renamed ''Anna Mur''.

References

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