French owned Seagull Ferries operated a short lived freight ro/ro service between Le Havre and Southampton between 1972 and 1974 with the SAINT CRISTOPHE and SAINT GEORGE. Seagull Ferries operated twice daily between Le Havre and Southampton and used berth 49 in the port's Eastern Docks.

1974 was an important year for the Port of Southampton as a continental ferry port which saw upto 54 sailings a week during the peak summer months to France, Spain, Portugal and Morocco.

Routes and ferry companies included.

Southampton-Le Havre...Townsend Thoresen... VIKING I, VIKING II, VIKING III, VIKING IV.

Southampton-Le Havre...P&O Normandy Ferries...DRAGON, LEOPARD, PANTHER.

Southampton-Le Havre... Seagull Ferries... SAINT CRISTOPHE, SAINT GEORGE.

Southampton-Cherbourg... Townsend Thoresen...FREE ENTERPRISE II, VIKING I, VIKING II, VIKING III.

Southampton-San Sebastian (Pasajes)...P&O Southern Ferries... PANTHER.

Southampton-Bilbao... Swedish Lloyd... PATRICIA.

Southampton-Santander...Aznar Line...MONTE TOLEDO.

Southampton-Lisbon-Algerciras-Tangier...P&O Southern Ferries... EAGLE.

All of the companies at the time operated from the port's continental ferry terminal in the Princess Alexandra Dock now known as Ocean Village except for Seagull Ferries which operated from berth 49.

Townsend Thoresen used berth 7 for it's main operations along with berth 1 for the freight only ferry VIKING IV and berth 6 as a layover berth. It was not uncommon in the peak season for the FREE ENTERPRISE II to also use berth 49.

P&O Normandy Ferries and P&O Southern Ferries used berth 2.

Aznar Line and Swedish Lloyd used berth 3.


Linesman, your photos are always a pleasure especially those based around the Port of Southampton and in particular the former cross channel ferries. 👍