Folkestone Harbour Shipping Companies

There may be visions of Folkestone Harbour being a new up-market marina but its almost sole historic purpose has been as a ferry port for mainly railway ferries.   Ship enthusiasts normally track individual ships but here the focus is on the port so it seems logical to track the companies that have used the port for berthing its ships, normally in association with boat trains to and from London.   Originally ships were what is now known as “Classic” carrying only passengers (and sometimes with loaded cargo) and for Folkestone it was the case up to the summer of 1970, when the British Railways Board, owners of the port and operators of the ships which used it, placed an order for a pair of new ships with the naval dockyard in Brest, France. The ships were to be specifically built with Folkestone’s limited water depth in mind, and would be car ferries. The ships, delivered in the summer of 1972, received the names Hengist and Horsa.   These car ferries were the ones most remembered – and are both still operating in the Mediterranean.   Also using Folkestone for a short time were SeaCats operated by Hoverspeed but they quickly disappeared to Dover and the harbour was effectively without further use – with the current exception of the Border Control vessel Anglian Monarch.

Ship operators are shown in the order in which they started to use Folkestone: -

New Commercial Steam Packet Company
Nominally independent of the South Eastern Railway due to legal restrictions.   The company operated the World's first rail/sea service from 1843 to the removal of the legal restrictions in 1845

Vessel	Built	Years serving Folkestone	Tons
City of Boulogne	????	Folkestone – Boulogne.	190
Emerald	????	Folkestone – Boulogne.	???
Sir William Wallace	????	Folkestone – Boulogne.	???

South Eastern & Continental Steam Packet Company
Nominally independent of the railway, it operated from 1845 until 1854 when it became part of the South Eastern Railway Company some ships being transferred and also listed under that company

Vessel	Built	Years serving Folkestone	Tons
Lord Warden	1847	Folkestone – Boulogne and Oostende.	308
Prince Ernest	1846	Folkestone – Boulogne.	248
Princess Clementine	1846	Folkestone – Oostende.	288
Princess Helena	1847	Folkestone – Boulogne and Oostende.	302
Princess Mary	1844	Folkestone – Oostende.	192
Princess Maud	1844	Folkestone – Oostende.	187
Queen of the Belgians	1844	Folkestone – Boulogne and Oostende.	207

South Eastern Railway Company
Started operations in 1854 and then merged into the South Eastern & Chatham Railway Company joint fleet in 1899.

Vessel	Built	Years serving Folkestone	Tons
Albert Edward	1862	Folkestone – Boulogne until wrecked off Cap Gris Nez in 1893.	365
Albert Victor	1880	Folkestone – Boulogne until scrapped in 1899.	814
Alexandra	1864	Folkestone – Boulogne until sold in 1889.	203
Boulogne	1878	Folkestone – Boulogne.	407
Duchess of Edinburgh	1880	Folkestone – Boulogne until sold in 1882.	812
Duchess of York	1895	Folkestone - Boulogne.	996
Eugenie	1862	Folkestone – Boulogne until sold in 1863.	428
Folkestone	1878	Folkestone – Boulogne.	398
Lord Warden	1847	Folkestone – Boulogne and Oostende until scrapped in 1881.	308
Louise Dagmar	1880	Folkestone – Boulogne until scrapped in 1899.	818
Mabel Grace	1899	Folkestone - Boulogne.	1,289
Mary Beatrice	1882	Folkestone - Boulogne.	803
Napoleon III	1865	Folkestone – Boulogne until scrapped in 1890.	345
Prince Ernest	1846	Folkestone – Boulogne until scrapped in 1886.	248
Princess Clementine	1846	Folkestone – Oostende until scrapped in 1884.	288
Princess Helena	1847	Folkestone – Boulogne and Oostende until scrapped in 1881.	302
Princess Mary	1844	Folkestone – Oostende until sold in 1874.	192
Princess Maud	1844	Folkestone – Oostende until scrapped in 1886.	187
Princess of Wales	1898	Folkestone – Boulogne.	1,009
Queen of the Belgians	1844	Folkestone – Boulogne and Oostende until scrapped in 1881.	207
Victoria	1861	Folkestone-Boulogne until scrapped in 1895.	359

South Eastern & Chatham Railway Company
The South Eastern & Chatham Railway Company was formed in 1899 by the merger of the London, Dover & Chatham Railway and the South Eastern Railway until 1923 when they became part of Southern Railway.

Vessel	Built	Years serving Folkestone	Tons
Biarritz	1914	Folkestone – Boulogne and Calais. (Saw Royal Navy service 1915 – 1918)	2,495
Boulogne	1878	Folkestone – Boulogne until sold in 1903.	407
Duchess of York	1895	Folkestone – Boulogne until scrapped in 1904.	996
Empress	1907	Folkestone – Boulogne and Calais until sold in 1923. (Saw Royal Navy service 1914 - 1918).	1,689
Engadine	1911	Folkestone – Boulogne. (Saw Royal navy service 1914 – 1920)	1,676
Folkestone	1878	Folkestone – Boulogne until scrapped in 1903.	398
Mabel Grace	1899	Folkestone - Boulogne, 1909 scrapped.	1,289
Maid of Orleans	1918	Folkestone – Boulogne and Calais.	2,384
Mary Beatrice	1882	Folkestone – Boulogne until scrapped in 1900.	803
Onward	1905	Folkestone – Boulogne until 1918 sank after fire at Folkestone.	1,671
Princess of Wales	1898	Folkestone – Boulogne until sold in 1910.	1,009
The Queen	1903	Folkestone – Boulogne and Calais until captured and sunk by German destroyer in 1916.	1,676

Zeeland Steamship Company
Dutch company formed in 1875 moved its UK port from Sheerness to Folkestone between 1911 and 1914 when it moved again to Gravesend.

Vessel	Built	Years serving Folkestone	Tons
Mecklenburg	1909	Folkestone – Vlissingen.	2,885
Oranje Nassau	1909	Folkestone – Vlissingen.	2,885
Prinses Juliana	1909	Folkestone – Vlissingen.	2,885

Southern Railway
Created in 1923 by the merger of the three railways operating south of London and operating until nationalisation in 1948.

Vessel	Built	Years serving Folkestone	Tons
Biarritz	1914	Folkestone – Boulogne and Calais.	2,495
Canterbury	1929	Folkestone – Boulogne and Calais.	2,912
Engadine	1911	Folkestone – Boulogne until sold in 1933.	1,676
Isle of Thanet	1925	Folkestone – Boulogne and Calais.	2,701

Societe Anonyme de Navigation Angleterre-Lorraine-Alsace (ALA)
The Societe Anonyme de Navigation Angleterre-Lorraine-Alsace was founded in 1926. In 1928 management was taken over by Southern Railway. The Folkestone to Dunkirk route was closed in 1936.

Vessel	Built	Years serving Folkestone	Tons
Alsacien	1909	Folkestone – Dunkerque.	2,052
Flamand	1904	Folkestone – Dunkerque.	2,086
Lorrain	1908	Folkestone - Dunkerque until scrapped in 1932.	1,559
Picard	1909	Folkestone - Dunkerque until sold in 1936.	2,052

General Steam Navigation Co Ltd
This company operated its ferry under military requirements for the return of troops after World War II.

Vessel	Built	Years serving Folkestone	Tons
Royal Daffodil	1939	Folkestone - Calais (during 1946)	2,060

Isle of Man Steam Packet Company

This company operated its ferries under military requirements for World War II and the return of troops thereafter.

Vessel	Built	Years serving Folkestone	Tons
Ben-my-Chree	1927	Folkestone - Calais and Dunkerque (1939 - 1940).	1,641
Victoria	1907	Folkestone - Calais and Dunkerque (1945 - 1947).	1,641

London Midland and Scottish Railway
This company operated its ferry under military requirements in World War II only

Vessel	Built	Years serving Folkestone	Tons
Princess Maud	1933	Folkestone - Boulogne and Calais (relief to Canterbury 1945).	2,886

British Railways 
In 1948 the railways were nationalised into British Railways until the shipping division was privatised in 1979.

Vessel	Built	Years serving Folkestone	Tons
Biarritz	1914	Folkestone – Boulogne and Calais until scrapped in 1949.	2,495
Caesarea	1960	Folkestone – Boulogne and Calais.	4,174
Canterbury	1929	Folkestone – Boulogne and Calais until scrapped in 1965.	2,912
Isle of Thanet	1925	Folkestone – Boulogne and Calais until scrapped in 1964.	2,701
Lord Warden	1952	Folkestone – Boulogne until sold in 1979.	3,333
Maid of Orleans	1949	Folkestone – Boulogne until scrapped in 1975.	3,776
Vortigern	1969	Folkestone - Boulogne.	4,371

Societe Nationale de Chemins de Fer Francais (SNCF)
SNCF (French State Railways) operated services to Folkestone from 1951 until 1967.

Vessel	Built	Years serving Folkestone	Tons
Cote d'Azur	1951	Folkestone - Calais.	4,037

Sealink, Sealink British Ferries and Stena Line
A privatised Sealink took over the ships of British Rail in 1979 until being sold to Sea Containers Limited in 1984.

Vessel	Built	Years serving Folkestone	Tons
Hengist	1972	Folkestone - Boulogne and Oostende until sold in 1991.	5,590
Horsa	1972	Folkestone - Boulogne and Oostende until sold in 1992.	5,590
St. Anselm	1980	Folkestone – Boulogne in 1992.	7,405

Hoverspeed
The Sea Containers hovercraft company, inherited from British Railways, operated Seacats from Folkestone to Boulogne.

Vessel		Built	Years serving Folkestone	Tons
Seacat Calais	1990		Folkestone – Boulogne in 1993.	3,003
Hoverspeed Boulogne	1991		Folkestone – Boulogne in 1992 - 1994.	3,003
Hoverspeed Great Britain	1990		Folkestone - Boulogne in 1994 - 1997.	3,003
Hoverspeed France	1990		Folkestone - Boulogne in 1992 - 1993.	3,003