Anderida
The Anderida laid up at Dover. © Ken Larwood
The fourth of a fleet of ships ordered by Stena Line, this vessel was sold to British Rail while still under construction at the Trosvik Verksted yard in Brevik, Norway. Completed as the Anderida for the Dover - Dunkerque train ferry service she entered service on that route on 28th August 1972.
Despite being a Dover ship, the Anderida was an Irish Sea regular, serving at Stranraer, Heysham and also at Holyhead, for the first time at the latter from 1st May 1976. In May 1977 she was transferred to Fishguard and remained there until the arrival of the chartered Stena Normandica in 1979.
Having returned to Dover, she became surplus to requirements in December 1980 and was laid up in the Wellington Dock pending sale. There she joined her Stranraer-based sister Ulidia, herself redundant following the introduction of the new Galloway Princess. The Anderida was eventually sold in October 1981 to Greek owners as the Truck Trader.
The Sealink laid up at Wellington, New Zealand. © Emmanuel Makarios.
There then followed a varied career, taking her as far as New Zealand, where she operated as the Sealink between Wellington and Picton. She didn't last very long on the Picton run as in those days the Tranz Rail ferries were all powerful, running off any competition on the Cook Strait. Not before long she found herself sold again, to Canadian operator CTMA in 1987 for service between Montreal and Cap-aux-Meules.