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ST. SUNNIVA (CONVERSION)

Shipbuildervessel built by Hall, Russell & Company, Limited (Aberdeen, Scotland, 1864 - 1992)

Date1987

Object NameFERRY

MediumSTEEL

ClassificationsShip

Dimensionslength 94' x breadth 18' x depth 11'
tonnage 4211 ton

Object numberABDSHIP002685

Keywords

Aberdeen Built Ships

About MeYard: Hall, Russell & Co.
Yard Number: 997
Official Number: 388170
Names: DJURSLAND* (1972); LASSE II (1974); NF PANTHER (1979); ST. SUNNIVA (1987); FAYE (2002)

Fate: Arrived Alang, India for scrapping, 26 February 2005.

Propulsion: Motor
Description: RoRo Cargo Ferry, bow door/ramp and stern door/ramp

Owners:
1972: Jydsk Faergefart.
1974: Juelsminde Kalunborg Line.
1979: P&O Ferries (Normandy Ferries),
1985: Townsend Thoresen.
1986: P&O Ferries (Scottish Ferries).
10/2002: Al Thuraya Marine Services LLC, Dubai.

General History:

28/06/1972: Launched.
30/10/1972: Delivered to owners.
03/11/1972: Entered service.
27/01/1980: Delivered to P&O after rebuild by Caillard S.A., Le Havre. Operating Dover - Boulogne service.
06/1986: Retired and laid up at Chatham.

ST. SUNNIVA (conversion 1987) additional material by Finlay McKichan
In 1986 P. & O. Ferries, which had bought the North services from Coast Lines in 1971, decided to extend its Aberdeen-Lerwick passenger and vehicle service to offer sailings in each direction six days per week, for which purpose a second ro-ro ferry was required to join ST. CLAIR. The chairman of the company subsequently reported that between 200 and 300 vessels were checked out for one which could use the Stromness linkspan (as a weekly call there was planned). There were only two, both of which P&O had just sold. They were able to buy back PANTHER. There was no government subsidy to purchase her. Hall Russell won the £6 million conversion contract without subsidy against German competition. On completion, she was handed over to the owners on 17 March 1987, still named PANTHER. She was capable of carrying 400 passengers and 250 cars. A notable innovation was that each cabin had its own shower and toilet. She carried out two days of sea trials, her new engines enabling her to reach an average speed on 19.3 knots. Great secrecy was exercised over her new name, ST. SUNNIVA, which was announced at a ceremony on 27 March. That evening she set out on her maiden voyage to Lerwick, carrying 170 VIP guests, including the P & O Chairman and his family and the Lord Provost of Aberdeen. In hurricane forces winds in the early hours two freak waves hit the bridge, broke one of its windows and swamped the radio and radar equipment. She turned back to Aberdeen, arriving at about 11.30am on the 28th. The company’s local manager had to publicly dismiss suggestions that the name ST. SUNNIVA was unlucky, the two previous ships of the name having been lost. After repair, she finally reached Lerwick on 31 March, being escorted in by the two pilot boats and the lifeboat dressed overall.

ST. SUNNIVA’s schedule involved sailing on alternate evenings from Aberdeen and Lerwick. Her Friday sailing southbound was intended to leave Lerwick at mid-day, calling at Stromness later in the day, returning from Aberdeen Saturday noon via Stromness. At the end of her first season her Saturday departure from Aberdeen was moved to the evening to avoid docking at the Stromness ro-ro berth in darkness and potentially bad weather. This restored the direct Aberdeen - Orkney link, which had been in abeyance since the withdrawal of ST. NINIAN in 1971. Between April and December 1987 she carried 7,760 passengers and 770 cars between Aberdeen and Stromness (and return).

In 1988 a cruise was offered on ST. SUNNIVA from Aberdeen via Orkney and the West Coast to Glasgow for the opening of the Glasgow Garden Festival, claimed to be Britain’s biggest event of the year. On the outward journey she left Aberdeen at midday on 26 April and late evening the same day from Stromness to arrive Glasgow early 28 April. The return sailing was intended to be from Glasgow 3 May to arrive Stromness early morning 5 May and Lerwick late afternoon that day.
She berthed in Glasgow at Plantation Quay and during her stay was visited by over 20,000 people to see the exhibitions aboard of Orkney and Shetland produce and tourism. The organisers expressed appreciation for the co-operation of the crew, including a splendid lunch for travel trade representatives. This was despite the fact that the ship had been affected by a national seamen’s strike. The crew also agreed to continue to look after the 137 passengers, but voted unanimously not to sail her. 80 passengers from Orkney and Shetland were flown home by chartered plane on 3 May. The crew were taken home by coach on 6 May and dismissed, but subsequently reinstated. The vessel finally sailed from Glasgow for Orkney and Shetland on 14 May.

On 3 July 1989 Occidental Oil chartered ST. SUNNIVA to mark the first anniversary of the Piper Alpha disaster by taking to the site 120 miles north of Aberdeen the families of 30 men whose bodies had not been recovered. Floral tributes from families, friends and fellow workers were scattered on the sea. P & O donated the charter fee and the crew their overtime payments (a sum totalling £8000) to the Burns Unit at ARI, where many of the casualties had been treated.

In early 1988 ST. SUNNIVA entered a refit sequence which was to become regular procedure. First she underwent her own survey, then replaced ST. OLA on the Pentland Firth route, then St. Clair on the Lerwick one. Calls at Stromness on the Aberdeen-Lerwick service were suspended during this period. Between June and August 1989 additional calls were made at Stromness by St. Sunniva- on the Northbound Tuesday and Southbound Wednesday sailings.

On 10 March 1989, while berthed at Aberdeen preparing to sail, ST. SUNNIVA was rammed by the fishery protection vessel LINDISFARNE. She suffered two holes midships about 12 ft. above the waterline. These were repaired by Hall Russell overnight to enable her to sail the following day.

ST. SUNNIVA was operated by P&O Scottish Ferries on services between Aberdeen, Orkney and Shetland until September 2002, when NorthLink Ferries took over the routes and introduced their own newly-built vessels.

Sources:-
A.W. McRobb, The North Boats, pp. 61, 63. Press and Journal, 15/01, 12, 17, 28, 30/03, 01/04, 23/09, 05/10, 25/11/1987, 06/04, 03, 07, 13/05/1988, 13/03, 05, 15/09/1989; Shetland Times, 05 and 25 /09/1986, 20, 28/03, 01, 03/04/1987, 18/03, 06/05, 21/12/1988, 17/03/1989; Orcadian, 17/03, 29/10/1987, 21/01, 17/03, 07, 21/04/1988; Evening Express, 27/03/1987, 06/05/1988; Daily Record, 03/05/1988; Scotsman, 05/04, 04/07/1989; Caithness Courier, 02/08/1989. (Newspaper refs from BNA, downloaded 15/08/2022, and from A.W. McRobb cutting scrapbooks).

Notes:
*This vessel was rebuilt at Hall, Russell, it was originally built by Built by Helsingor, Skibsvaerft, Demark, as DJURSLAND.
2 Vee Oil 4SA 12 cylinder (280x300 mm), producing 9,462 bhp (6,960kW) by Stork Werkspoor Diesels
1 x 588kW generator and 3 500kW
2 controllable pitch propellers