European Gateway

European Gateway

Scanned Imaged from a 1983 Photograph taken with an Olympus OM1N.

This is the freight ferry ‘European Gateway’ which Sank after a collision in the North Sea, just a couple of miles from the port of Felixstowe, Suffolk, en route to Zeebrugge, Belgium.
Not to be confused with the Herald of Free Enterprise disaster in March 1987, which was also a Townsend Thoresn ship.

I took this during a sail along the coast in February 1983, and as you can see, the Ship has been uprighted, and I took this during the one circuit of the stricken ferry, clearly showing the plates welded onto the port side so to enable the ship to be pulled into an upright position.
I have added 4 more pictures in a Journal that I hope you have time to look at.

For a more detailed account of the disaster and rescue, Click Here, where you will be taken to the Harwich (Essex) Lifeboat Station.

More about the Ferry follows.

‘European Gateway was built 1975 by Schichau Unterweser AG, Bremerhaven, for the Townsend-Thoresen service between Felixstowe and Europort. During the summer of 1980, she operated between Cairnryan-Larne. European Gateway then returned to Felixstowe service until 1982 when she was involved in a collision with the Speedlink Vanguard off Felixstowe. She sank with the loss of six lives. After salvage, she was rebuilt and entered service as the Flavia between Ancona-Igoumenitsa-Patras in 1984. In 1988 she was sold to GT-Link, entering service as the Travemünde Link between Gedser-Travemünde. In 1992, registered ownership passed to Europa Linien, and she was renamed Rostock Link when the German port changed to Rostock. In 1996, ownership of Europa Linien passed to DSB (later Scandlines). In 1999 Rostock Link was chartered to Mols Linien for their Århus-Kalundborg route under the marketing name Kalundborg Link. In 2000 she was sold to Agoudimos Lines, and was renamed Penelope A for a route Igoumenitsa-Brindisi.’ (Simplonpc)

‘Text’ above taken from:
Simplonpc.(no date) Townsend-Thoreson Ferries Postcards. European Gateway. [online] Available from: http://www.simplonpc.co.uk/Townsend-Thoresen2.html [Accessed April 2009]

Thank you for looking.

Profits made from any sales of this picture, will be donated to the RNLI.

European Gateway belongs to the following groups:

Film Photography and Naval Architecture Available for sale as

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