British Rail Seaspeed

The prototype SR.N4, now named Princess Margaret, entered commercial service for Seaspeed on the 26 mile route between Dover Eastern Docks and Boulogne at 10.25 on 1st August following two days of press and VIP trips. This route was chosen so that customers could easily be switched to British Rail's ship ferry service if anything went wrong. Officially named by HRH The Princess Margaret on the previous day - both she and Lord Snowdon crossed to Boulogne and back. Three days later the craft was out of service with a damaged skirt and a small oil leak. It returned to service on 8th August although the two month trial period was marked by a lack of reliability.

From 15th August to 30th September six daily return flights were advertised, the first leaving Dover at 08.20 and then every two hours. Wednesday was half-day - with three round trips followed by a period of maintenance. Fares were £3.10s.0d (£3.50) single with a day excursion for £3.00.

Even the moderate wave conditions to which the Board of Trade's initial licence limited the SR.N4 played havoc with the 2.5 metre skirt. It emerged later that a chain linking the inner flaps of the segmented skirt for extra strength was not up to the actual stresses received and when it broke, the loose ends slashed the skirt fabric to ribbons. Changing skirt sections was a lengthy operation and Seaspeed only had maintenance facilities at Dover and no craft in reserve. During November, the Princess Margaret was withdrawn and returned to Cowes for the fitting of the new MkII skirt which had been developed, as well as some fairly substantial alterations in certain specifications.

During March 1969, Seaspeed's The Princess Margaret paid a visit to the Pool of London and the new £600,000 Calais Hoverport was opened on the 1st April. The second Seaspeed SR.N4, The Princess Anne, started operations at Dover on the 8th August. The craft was officially named by HRH Princess Anne at Dover on 21st October. The twin Dover craft now achieved 95% reliability. A Seaspeed SR.N4 crossed from Dover to Ostend (the first visit of such a craft to Belgium) on 5th October on charter to the Murat Temple Shrine of Indianapolis, USA and the craft was opened for inspection to members of the public.

On 29th October a propeller flew from one of the Hoverlloyd's Ramsgate craft causing some £50,000 of damage to Pegwell Bay Hoverport. Both craft were grounded, as were Seaspeed's at Dover, for investigation, although Seaspeed resumed services 48 hours later. One of their craft went on charter to the Ministry of Technology for 5 weeks.

During the winter period, 1st October to 1st June 1971, Seaspeed ran daily flights to Calais in addition to Boulogne. Up to the end of September, 310,000 passengers and 45,000 cars were carried. Both Seaspeed SR.N6 craft on the Southampton - Cowes route were stretched by 10ft during the winter of 1971-72 becoming the Mk IS craft Sea Hawk and the Sea Eagle - now capable of carrying 58 passengers.

On the cross-Channel service, Seaspeed were operating 78 weekly flights from Dover to Boulogne while Hoverlloyd operated 88 flights from Pegwell Bay to Calais. British Railways board looked into merging Seaspeed with the British Rail shipping division (later named Sealink).

Vosper Thornycroft's VT1 craft 001 underwent sea trials from Dover from 18th April but nine days later it was towed back in to the harbour by a tug following engine failure.

Seaspeed looked at a charter for relief services during the summer, and their Dover to Calais route, operated experimentally in 1970, resumed on a year-round basis on 1st October. It was announced that the company were only planning a further 4 or 5 years life for the two SR.N4 craft.

On the evening of 17th October, The Princess Margaret was holed in rough seas. Some 30ft of skirt was damaged and the craft was off service for 12 days. On Christmas Eve, The Princess Anne made a special trip to the Varne Light Vessel, off Dover, with gifts in recognition of weather reports given to Seaspeed craft.

In 1975 Seaspeed's SR.N6, Sea Hawk (usually on the Cowes to Southampton service) was chartered by the Royal & Ancient Golf Club to operate a service between Carnoustie and St. Andrews, Fife for the duration of the Open Golf Championship. This was repeated in 1978.

In 1976 Government approval was given for the stretching of Seaspeed's twin SR.N4 craft - GH-2006 The Princess Margaret and GH-2007 The Princess Anne to Mk III status, the first craft due to be ready for the summer of 1977. Lengthening by 55ft increased passenger capacity from 254 to 424 and cars from 30 to 54. With the four Rolls-Royce Marine Proteus gas-turbines being uprated to 3,800 shp, larger propellers with a diameter of 21ft (6.4m) were fitted and weight was increased from 190 to 265 tons. The skirt was also deepened to 7.5 metres enabling the craft to cope with 4 metre waves in gale force 9 conditions. The stretched twins and the two new French N500 hovercraft (then under construction near Bordeaux) required a new hoverport within Dover Harbour.

The last of Seaspeed's Isle of Wight services (that from Cowes to Southampton) was transferred to the ownership of Solent Seaspeed (a subsidiary of Hovertravel Ltd and the British Hovercraft Corporation) on 1st May. The first of the three Seaspeed Isle of Wight routes to open was the last to close.

In 1977 GH-2007 The Princess Anne entered British Hovercraft Corporation's East Cowes yard on 21st February for stretching, the work costing some £6 million.

In 1978 The new Dover Hoverport at the Western Docks was 'topped-out' on 24th February and ready for service on 4th July, the cost having risen from £8 million to £14 million. The stretched SR.N4 (now designated Mk III or Super 4), The Princess Anne was re-launched at Cowes on 6th April. On 22nd April, the craft visited the Naval Hovercraft Trials Unit at HMS Daedalus, Lee-on-Solent where it was visited by Lord Louis Mountbatten who paid 10p for the first 'Super 4' passenger flight ! The craft eventually arrived at Dover from Cowes on 26th April but manning problems delayed its re-entry into service. During early July the craft ran a publicity flight to Ostend. On 15th September, The Princess Anne was hit by huge waves off the French coast and was beached at Wissant where inspection revealed 130ft of skirt carried away. The craft was carefully flown back to it's maintenance base at Dover for repairs. The Princess Margaret departed Dover on 18th September for stretching at Cowes but turned back to Dover due to rough seas; a successful flight being made to Cowes on the following day. The Duke of Kent officially opened Dover's new Hoverport on 23rd October.

In 1979 Seaspeed were scheduled to operate 11 daily trips to Boulogne and 8 to Calais during the summer period. The newly stretched SR.N4 Mk III, The Princess Margaret, was launched at Cowes on 23rd April and arrived back at Dover on 1st May taking a visit to the Pool of London en-route. Boulogne's new Hoverport was opened on 24th July.

Talks of a merger between Hoverlloyd and Seaspeed were again resurrected as Hoverlloyd's owners announced in September that its four hovercraft were for sale. The British Railways board described the talk of merger as 'pure speculation'. Civil Aviation Authority ruling was changed to allow the SR.N4s to operate in up to 50 knot winds with waves of up to 3.5 metres height (previously 35 knots and 2.5 metre waves), the result of which was that fewer services were lost due to poor weather conditions.

In 1980 The Princess Margaret was hit by a large wave on 11th October and her superstructure received damage. As a consequence, her refit was brought forward. Seaspeed carried 1.3 million passengers (200,000 more than in 1979) but still lost £2.8 million. The company told Kent County Council that it would stay in operation until at least summer 1982, however all hope of a direct rail link in to the new Dover Hoverport was now abandoned; the link being one of the main reasons for building the Hoverport in that position.

In 1981 Seaspeed's summer timetable showed an hourly service to Calais with a two hourly service to Boulogne - the first time that Calais had received more flights from Dover.

The Hoverlloyd and Seaspeed merger was again discussed as £1 million each year could be saved by setting up a joint engineering and maintenance base and without a merger, all cross Channel hovercraft operations were in danger of closing down. The Monopolies Commission reported that it could see no realistic alternative to the closure of British Rail Hovercraft if losses on the scale of those recorded in the past continued. Hoverlloyd's owners, Bronstroms Rederi AB, announced that if a merger did not take place then they would close their operations as soon as possible. Although Hoverlloyd made money for its owners, Bronstroms faced financial problems from other subsidiary companies and Seaspeed made hefty losses in the period 1977-80.

The Princess Margaret was off service after hitting the Prince of Wales' Pier in thick fog on 23rd January. With The Princess Anne refitting, Seaspeed chartered the Swift and then the Sir Christopher from Hoverlloyd before The Princess Anne returned on 23rd February. The go-ahead for the merger of Hoverlloyd and Seaspeed was given during the summer and Hoverspeed was formed in October.

British Rail Hoverspeed:

Hoverspeed was officially 'launched' on 25th October and until March 1982, six daily return flights were made each to both Calais and Boulogne from Dover. Sir Christopher was the first craft painted in the new red, white and blue livery. After lengthy negotiations, SNCF took a 10% share in Hoverspeed.

In 1982 Hoverspeed carried 2.5 million passengers and 400,000 cars in the first six months - the same number as the two concerns in 1981 but with 35% fewer flights and with 250 less staff. By the year's end, the company had a 21% market share of cross-Channel traffic. Plans were announced to extend the former Hoverlloyd SR.N4s to Mk III configuration.

On 31st August, the Swift received a tear in her skirt and beached nearly a mile west of Calais. Passengers and cars were offloaded on to beach where they were picked up by the Sure, demonstrating the versatility of the craft. Ramsgate Hoverport was closed to cross-Channel traffic in September and became the Hoverspeed maintenance base.

In 1983 A 25% cut in services was planned. The first full year of joint operation broke even - not the hoped-for $4 million profit. In a statement it was announced that in order to further reduce costs, Ramsgate was to close completely and the Swift and Sure were to be offered for sale.

Privatisation:

In 1984 On 16th February, Hoverspeed was sold to its Directors for a nominal sum by the British Railways Board and Bronstroms of Sweden and a £3.2 million loss was turned in to a £194,000 pre-tax profit within two years. On 25th July, Commander Peter Lamb, the Captain of the first SR.N1 hovercraft flight across the Channel, attended the 25th Anniversary celebrations of the first crossing as a guest of Hoverspeed.

In 1985 On 30th March, cross Channel hovercraft had their darkest day when The Princess Margaret was blown in to the Southern Breakwater at Dover when passing through the western entrance inward bound from Calais. Four passengers were tragically lost from the rear-starboard cabin and severe damage to the craft was sustained.

It was announced in October that Hoverspeed were considering the use of Boeing Jetfoils (in use on the Dover - Ostend service by the Belgian Marine Administration since 1981) on the Dover to Boulogne link.

In 1986 In June, Hoverspeed was sold for £5 million to Sea Containers of Bermuda, the owners of Sealink British Ferries, Orient Express etc and the craft had 'British Ferries' incorporated in to their livery. Sea Containers President, Mr James Sherwood, said that he was 'not hopeful' the hovercraft would continue in service. Immediate plans were put forward to convert one or two of the Mk II hovercraft to passenger only format taking between 500 - 600 mainly railway foot passengers between Folkestone and Boulogne. Hoverspeed were looking at the introduction of wave-piercing catamarans to replace the hovercraft, with tank testing being carried out in Vienna.

In January 1990 Sea Containers sold Sealink to the Swedish Stena Line. Neither Hoverspeed nor Wightlink (formerly Sealink Isle of Wight services) were included in the sale.

In 1991 Hoverspeed announced their intention that the hovercraft would be phased out at the end of the summer season and that four SeaCats would operate their crossings in 1992. The hovercraft were becoming increasingly expensive to run and their giant propellers were no longer made.

All five SR.N4 craft continued to operate until the end of the season on 10th October after which time the three Mk II craft were withdrawn ready for an expected sale to a buyer in Indonesia. Both remaining Mk III craft underwent refurbishment to their passenger accommodations and received a modified livery to reflect that of the SeaCats. Passenger certificates were reduced from 425 to 390. The most recent of the Mk II craft, The Prince of Wales, was kept in reserve while the older two craft, the Swift and Sir Christopher were offered for sale for approximately £1 million each.

In 1992 Both Mk III craft were reintroduced during April. The three Mk II craft were still up for sale, the Indonesian deal having fallen through. The surprise charter of SeaCat Hoverspeed Great Britain to Argentina brought The Princess Anne back on winter service in October.

In 1993 The Princess Anne offered six flights a day to Calais over the winter period. The Princess Margaret rejoined her sister on 1st April for the summer season, after further refurbishment which included the provision of 'Blue Riband' areas, doubling the flights to twelve per day.

On 2nd April, the spare (and youngest) Mk II craft, the 1977 built The Prince of Wales was gutted after an electrical fire destroyed her port cabin; the craft was later broken up on the Dover pad and used for spares for the remaining craft. A year round hovercraft service continued to Calais, the Boulogne service having now been discontinued and the Boulogne Hoverport closed.

In 1994 Both Mk III hovercraft continued in service beyond the official opening of the Channel Tunnel in May, their 35 minute crossings still being the fastest way to France.

A departure from the Hoverspeed fleet at this time was the redundant SR.N4 Mk II Swift which was towed from Dover to RNAS Lee-on-Solent near Gosport on 25th June. It was hoped that the Swift would become the centrepiece of the new Hovercraft Museum which was due to open some time after 1996. The £1 million craft was donated to the museum trustees through the generosity of Hoverspeed.

In 1995 The Princess Anne set a new cross-Channel record of just 22 minutes on its 10.00 flight of 14th September. Her Master, Captain Nick Dunn said, "The conditions were just right, calm seas, excellent visibility and not much traffic in the shipping lanes. I just opened up the throttles and the craft's four Rolls Royce turbines did the rest." The craft had undergone some preparation for the attempt and the load that day was light. Nick Dunn told me that the run was made on the return flight to Dover, after having parked The Princess Anne facing the sea at Calais. All that had to be done was to lift off and push the throttles to full power, heading in a straight line for Dover. I was told that that usual speed limits within the harbour at Dover were waived on that occasion, and the craft was brought towards the pad at full power. As the tide was out, the slope of the ramp to the pad was used to brake the craft together with a generous amount of reverse pitch on the propellers. The craft was then unceremoniously dumped on the pad to make the record time. The previous record, of 24 minutes, was held by the Mk II craft Swift which is still preserved at the naval premises in Lee on Solent ready for use by the Hovercraft Museum.

In 1996 in yet another livery change, the Mk III craft continued to provide a year-round service while the SeaCats proved less than reliable. Hoverspeed secured a deal with Rolls Royce for the supply of engine parts which will likely keep the two Mk III craft in service beyond 2000.

In 1998 The remaining two Mk III craft still provided a reliable year-round service. Early in the year, first The Princess Margaret and then The Princess Anne were each taken out of service for their annual refit, the other craft maintaining services with six return flights each day. Each craft was stripped right down to basics for deep structural maintenance which included stripping paint off the structure, removal of elements such as rudders, pylons and doors, engine & propeller overhaul and re-fitting, control cabin equipment upgrades and a complete re-paint. This was one of the most intensive overhauls the craft have had since being stretched to Mk III status in the late 70s and the craft have now been proclaimed to be 'as good as new'.

On the 21 February, at Dover it was apparent that Sir Christopher was entering her final few months on the Dover pad. She had been stripped of all her useful fittings including cockpit equipment, doors and even windows etc which could usefully be used on the Mk III craft, and the remainder of the structure was being progressively cut up and binned. She was still painted in the current Hoverspeed livery on her port side which faces the pad, but her starboard side was looking very sorry indeed. Her skirt had been cut off about 12 inches down from it's attachment to the hull, just leaving the fixings and a strip of rubber to show where it was.

On 14th April, Sir Christopher was noticeable by her absence. All that remained were the bow ramp and rear doors, as well as a number of propeller pylons and lift fans stacked up at the side of the pad. At the side of the maintenance building, there was a heap of small items salvaged from the craft, including doors, hatches, seats , propeller shafts etc; basically anything that might be of some use on the Mk III craft sometime in the future. However the Hovercraft Society report that some sections of the craft have been saved and donated to various individuals and museums. Various components are also donated to the Hovercraft Museum to help with the restoration of Swift. These spares are now sorted and laid out a little more neatly, being made ready for use on the Mk III craft.

On 24th & 25th June, The Princess Anne took a full load of enthusiasts to the Goodwin Sands, exposed at low tide in the Channel, together with a number of light hovercraft.

This was an important year for The Princess Margaret, with her 30th birthday on 1st August. In July, a number of guests were invited by Hoverspeed to partake in Anniversary celebrations at Dover. The Princess Margaret was taken out of service and parked on the pad. She was thoroughly cleaned and her car deck was laid out with dining tables and elaborate decorations and lighting. A sumptuous meal was served to guests followed by after dinner talks by some of the people who have made hovercraft history at Dover.

In late October, The Princess Margaret was again the victim of freak weather when she was damaged by a large wave while about 10 minutes out of Dover on her way to Calais. The craft's Captain, Nick Rose, was apparently taking things very carefully in heavy seas when, while at reduced speed on full cushion, the craft mounted the crest of a large wave which had a big trough the other side of it. Air was lost from the cushion and the 30 year old craft settled in to the trough, only to be hit by the following wave. This impacted on the starboard superstructure between the anchor and 'cow catcher' bars (which are designed to stop the skirt from coming up and hitting the superstructure in such conditions). The wave and skirt caused some damage to the cabin wall, breaking two windows in the process, although there were no injuries to passengers or crew.

After settling the craft on the water to carry out some checks, Captain Rose returned The Princess Margaret to Dover where Hoverspeed's maintenance facilities are based. Apparently within three hours of the craft's arrival, an area on the pad was cleared and the damaged area was shrouded in scaffolding. Repairs to the superstructure were completed in record time by Hoverspeed engineers, and the craft was quickly back in service on the Dover to Calais route, there having been no further damage sustained. Hoverspeed engineers are also considering pre-fabricating some forward cabin sections ready for even quicker repairs to be carried out should this sort of incident occur again.

Over the following weekend in extreme gale force winds and high seas, Hoverspeed were heroes of the day when all Ferry & Channel Tunnel Train services to France were cancelled due to the weather. Part way through the day, when the winds had died down a little, it was decided to run one service to Calais with The Princess Anne to repatriate a number of stranded French travellers. The craft made the crossing in very quick time due to following winds, and was then herself stranded in Calais for the night, unable to make the return crossing to Dover in to the wind.

In 1999 The Princess Anne had now completed her winter maintenance period and she had been totally stripped and rebuilt inside and out. Like her sister before her, The Princess Margaret was now completely covered in scaffolding to allow engineers access to all areas. The rudders and propeller pylons had been removed, as have the engines and lift fans. She was stripped down to her aluminium skin - the first time this had been done since stretching from Mk 1 to Mk 3 standard. A number of holes were cut in her superstructure and panels removed from her decks in order to gain access to certain areas, and to cure small leaks that had appeared. New panels have now been fitted to replace these areas, and the whole craft was freshly painted in the new Hoverspeed corporate livery. Sea trials were scheduled for week commencing 24th May, with the craft re-entering service on 28th.  The SR.N4s were retired by Hoverspeed on the 1st October 2000 and replaced by Seacat catamarans. In 2005 Sea Containers discontinued the Hoverspeed ferry service.

The Finale:

After years of losses due to strong competition and the Channel Tunnel link, Hoverspeed announced that they would cease operations on the Dover-Calais route, ending over 40 years of service. The last ferry run was on the 7th November 2005. Although the company ended Hovercraft service, they still retained ownership of the remaining two SR.N4 until 2006 when they were sold to a super yacht owner with the intention of using the hovercraft engines as spares for his own Proteus-powered boat. The two SR.N4 craft currently remain laid up at the Hovercraft Museum in HMS Daedalus, Lee on Solent.