END OF THE LINE FOR THE 'CHARTRES'

Final voyage to the breakers

By Andy Gilbert

My friend Mick Cutler reports that the former Newhaven-Dieppe ferry Chartres is making her way under the name Aqua Myth from Oman to Alang in India for scrapping. AIS satellite ship tracker data confirms this, sailing under her own power, but at only 11 knots.

Chartres was initially just an occasional visitor to the port, but later became running mate to our own Senlac. A reliable and popular vessel, she was almost lost in a violent storm in January 1990 - we have a page relating that story.

http://www.ournewhaven.org.uk/page/the_day_we_nearly_lost_the_chartres?path=0p69p87p70p

After that incident, she never returned to the route and, like so many of our ships, went on to have a very long career in the Mediterranean, under various names including Express Santorini.

http://www.ournewhaven.org.uk/page_id__1897.aspx

It's always sad to hear of a ship's demise, but Chartres had a very 'good innings', almost 50 years in fact!

This slightly blurry photo shows her in 1974, when she was almost brand new, paying a very early visit to Newhaven.