FAREWELL SENLAC
The end of the line.
By Andy Gilbert
Senlac when new in 1973
Andy Gilbert collection
Apollon, ex Senlac. 2010: At Aliaga for scrapping.
Kind permission of Selim San
It is with some sadness that I must report that I have just heard, from a fellow ferry enthusiast friend in Greece, that our much loved ferry Senlac has recently made her final voyage. She sailed from Salamis on 30th September, bound for the Turkish port of Aliaga to be broken up.
Delivered in 1973 as the third of a trio of sisterships - the others being Hengist and Horsa, based at Folkestone - Senlac was the last of the British car ferries to operate the Newhaven-Dieppe service in the British Rail/Sealink era and was something of a survivor. She served the route well through thick and thin, and I'm sure that many local people will have travelled across the channel on her. Many more Newhaveners will no doubt remember the crew sit-in and the successful 'Save Our Senlac' campaign of 1982. When the route was finally handed over to the French in 1985, she changed colours, crews and nationality but still ran here until she was determined to be too small and replaced with larger vessels such as the Versailles and Champs Elysees.
Like so many of her forerunners on the service, she then made the move to Greek waters and, with the usual sun deck extensions and modifications to the stern loading ramp, served her new owners well in those sunny climes under the names Express Apollon and Apollon. However, she latterly proved to be the least reliable of the three sisters and I'm not suprised to hear that she is the first to go.
Still, she had a good working life of over 37 years, rather longer than some of our previous Newhaven ships. Falaise lasted from 1946 to 1974 and Brighton (VI) from just 1950 to 1969.
So farewell Senlac, you leave behind many fond memories and stories