Caesarea
The Caesarea outward from Folkestone. © Kenny Whyte
A one-time only visitor to Holyhead was the passenger steamer Caesarea. The ship was drydocked at the port in December 1979 ahead of what would be her final season in service.
Delievered to British Railways in November 1960, the ship was built at Cowes on the Isle of Wight for service between Weymouth and the Channel Islands. The Caesarea remained on the Weymouth station until 1976 when she was transferred to the Dover Strait to operate the busy rail-connected services to Boulogne and Calais.
The Caesarea's UK career came to an end at the close of the 1980 season. Operating a number of farewell sailings from Dover, Britain's last cross Channel passenger-only steamer stood down after a Folkestone-Boulogne round trip on 4th October. After destoring, she sailed around to Newhaven for layup pending sale. Before the year was out she was on her way to Hong Kong as the Aesarea for use as a floating hotel. As with all such ventures, she was not a success and was sold for breaking up in 1986.