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| SeaCat Tasmania |
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The third of Sea Containers' InCat built SeaCats, the SeaCat Tasmania followed the Hoverspeed Great Britain and Hoverspeed France (later SeaCat Isle of Man) into service. Whereas her sisters all headed north to service in Europe however, SeaCat Tasmania stayed locally, and was deployed on a George Town (Tasmania)-Port Welshpool (Victoria) service for SeaCon spin-off Tasmanian Ferry Services. This ceased in 1993, although in-between times the vessel had made a first visit to British waters, operating Summer services from Dover and Folkestone in 1992. This was repeated in the Summer of 1993, for which she became SeaCat Calais.
The continued operation of Hoverspeed's two elderly hovercraft, The Princess Anne and The Princess Margaret enabled SeaCon to make SeaCat Calais available for sale or charter, and so she was despatched in 1994 on a five-year charter to Ferry Linas Argentinas and named Atlantic II. Returning from this exile in 1999, the ship was put into operation again on Hoverspeed's mainline Dover-Calais service, without being renamed.
Next up for this widely-travelled vessel was a two-year stint as Croazia Jet on a SeaCon joint venture with SNAV, providing a link between Split in Croatia with Ancona (Italy). For 2002, she returned to the UK and once again was put into service on the Dover-Calais service, assuming the name SeaCat France. After an extended period laid up in Birkenhead, the ship was brought back to Dover once again for a brief 2004 Summer season. She was next required for use by Emeraude Ferries on a brief charter under the guise of Emeraude France. In this service, she replaced sister Hoverspeed Great Britain but the charter was ended after just two months in April 2005, the ship returning to lay-up. |
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| BELOW: Cut-away of the SeaCat Tasmania as she was when first entering service on her Bass Strait service in late 1990. (Click on the image for a larger version). |
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| BELOW: Up-close on the Atlantic II: a series of shots of the vessel, laid-up for the winter of 1999/2000 on the outside of the Prince of Wales pier at Dover's Western Docks. |
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BELOW: Contrasting views of the same ship in the same place:
Left: As Atlantic II the ship is seen in the old blue-hulled livery, arriving at Calais from Dover on Friday 13th, August 1999.
Right: SeaCat France appeared for the 2002 season in the now standard white-hull Hoverspeed livery. |
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BELOW LEFT: A stern view of Atlantic II at Dover.
BELOW RIGHT: SeaCat France in the Summer of 2002, soon after leaving Calais for Dover. |
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| BELOW: For the 2002 season, Hoverspeed rid themselves of the troublesome monohull SuperSeaCats which had been the mainstay of operations in 2001. Instead, three of the older InCats returned: along with SeaCat France were English Channel veteran Hoverspeed Great Britain and SeaCat Danmark, along with the Diamant. This early morning scene from that Summer shows the three older SeaCats at Dover, two of them at lay-by on the Prince of Wales Pier. SeaCat France is on the far right. |
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| BELOW: Inside 'the cattery' at A&P Birkenhead in December 2003 - fast craft lay up season. This view shows the Hoverspeed Great Britain (left) and SeaCat France, beneath the bows of the Stena Lynx III (at that time bearing the name Elite) and P&O's Superstar Express. |
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| e-mail: matt@hhvferry.com |
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