Will Princess Selandia, an old lady of the seas, be saved?

[pete cain]

Hello All, We've been away for nearly 4 weeks touring Yurp,arriving home today, so have been out of the loop as it were.
 However, we returned home to good news---- Princess Selandia (see links) sailed away from Barrow yesterday for her home in Denmark.
  She has been laid up for, I don't know how long in Barrow , slowly rusting away (sound familiar?). awaiting the construction of a swish marina , which despite of the flourishing economy(in the south )hasn't happened here in the north. She served as a successful nightclub & restaurant venue for a number of years after arriving in Barrow following her withdrawal from service as  train/car ferry ,when all those big bridges were built between Denmark Sweden & wherever else. I'm so happy that another old lady has survived the 'torch', & is headed for better things . There might be a sting in the tail here, I havn't done much research,bit tired & all that, but it goes to show , that there's always hope...........................


    https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=princess+selandia&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&gws_rd=cr&ei=lAOoVc6bE4L4UMaJn9gG

[Roy Warrender]

She is being towed by the tug Westsund presently in the English Channel

http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/220124000/vessel:WESTSUND/_:60be68a286aa22308145a7132f6f28dc

[June Ingram]

Welcome back to you, Mrs. Pete, and Jim and I hope you had a wonderful holiday.  Thanks, Pete, for the good news - there is hope in these things after all !  Let us hope she finds a new life that she deserves and continues on with a new and exciting life.

Thanks, Roy, for the update on where she is currently.

 

[Lynda Bradford]

We received an email from Leon Beesemer who has an interest in the Princess Selandia and was looking for more information.  Leon does not want to join the forum but if you can add any more information to this topic that would be useful.

It was interesting to read of Leon's concerns for the ship.

When trying to register into the QE2Story forum, I found this e-mail address. I’m not so much interested in joining a forum in the first place, but actually I would like to ask Pete Cain about his topic on Princess Selandia.

I am very interested in ferries (working on a fjord ferry in Norway) and know about the Dronning Ingrid / Sjælland / Princess Selandia as long as I can remember. In my opinion this ferry represents a great historic value, being the last surviving one of the classic Storebælt series. Furthermore, I think we can all agree in that she is of an extremely fine design.

I tried to get contact with some preservation people in Denmark, but I don’t get any response at all. It seems that nobody there is interested in this ship.

There is great reason for concern, as the current owner is Orla Rasmussen. Mr. Rasmussen has a company in Frederikshavn; Jatob ApS., which is nothing else than a scrapyard. Thus, the fact that the tug Westsund (which is towing the Princess Selandia) is stated to have Frederikshavn as its destination, does not promise much good…

In an attempt to find out all about the ship’s fate, I came across the website of NWE Mail. The former owner of the ship, Rick Lucas, has expressed more than once his confidence that the ship will be preserved in Copenhagen. When the ship left Barrow, he was a little bit worried that she would be scrapped after all, but then this remarkable statement came:

«there were plans to preserve another ferry» (presumably Broen?), «but with Dronning Ingrid returning home, it was decided to scrap the first one and replace it with Dronning Ingrid». It was also decided!

I would welcome this as I believe that Dronning Ingrid is of a far greater value than Broen, but... these optimistic sounds come only from Mr. Lucas in the NWE Mail. I am searching and searching, but can’t find any source on the net confirming this.

My great hope is that Pete has found something substantial on this theme, (other than NWE…) and I would be very thankfull if he wants to share this with me.

 

[pete cain]

Lynda, I'm sorry to report , that I can only refer to the news paper article , I have no other information, being away for nearly a month & then finding her 'gone' on my return, didn't give me any time for delving around, I said there might be a sting in the tail, not to the extent that Leon suggests. I can only hope that he updates us if he gets any further info.
 I might try & talk to mr Lucas he lives just up the road,

[Roy Warrender]

Hi found this website  it seems the town council have just agreed to pay for mooring of the m/f Broen for two years

http://en.nyborgslot.dk/about-the-museum/news/%E2%80%9Cbroen%E2%80%9D-before-the-bridge/

[pete cain]

 I have received an email from Leon, who obviously searches the web for any information on his ship, well done him, he enclosed a link
 to Doverforum .com which captured her being towed through the Channel. Page down about half way & there she is, maybe not pretty- but certainly proud & looking perky, her name Sjaelland clearly visible.


http://www.doverforum.com/sea-news/

[Roy Warrender]

Nice Pictures Hopefully she has a future, no reply from the museum so far

I was just wondering when a vessel is being towed it must have a crew aboard for steering, this would mean the steering gear would be working
I am assuming the Princess Selandia has working Generators, just thinking of the QE2 does she Have Generators that could be started
Another question with only one tug at the front how do they stop forward motion in an emergency situation

[Lynda Bradford]

Thanks Pete and Roy for the information.  Looking forward to hearing more

[Roy Warrender]

Hi
Princess Selandia arrived Fredrikshaven this morning  22/7/2015
looking at the  arrival  plot on marine traffic she may now be docked near Pier 6 near to what I assume are a couple of floating Dry Docks
the Tug Westsund Carried on to Pier 4

Still no reply from the Museum

[pete cain]

Link kindly supplied by Leon of her arrival this morning ,it seems like she's home but to an uncertain future!

   

[Isabelle Prondzynski]

Thank you both for the video.

Fine looking ship. Do you know something about her past?

[Lynda Bradford]

Received this message from Leon, which is bad news for the ship if she is at this scrapyard. 

Hello Lynda and Pete,
 
I am sorry to tell you that Princess Selandia has just arrived at Jatob, Orla Rasmussen's scrapyard at Frederikshavn. If you check www.marinetraffic.com now, you will find Westsund and the local tug Svava a little north of the port entrance. It seems that all those optimistic reports in NWE mail were complete nonsense.
 
best regards,

[Lynda Bradford]

Leon also sent a link to this you tube video and newspaper link before he knew she was at the scrapyard:

He also sent a link to an article in a North Denmark newspaper and this is what Leon had to say:

This article is to be found at www.nordjyske.dk, the regional news in North Denmark. I have sent them a warning a few days ago, maybe that has helped a bit...
 
There is still a little bit of hope that the ship might be saved, although no specific group or initiative seems to exist yet. At Skibsbevaringsfonden, a ship preserving fund, they are fully aware of the value of the ship. However, they do not have the money available for preserving such a large vessel.

[June Ingram]

Thank you, Lynda, for this information.  Let us hope that she is saved.  It is such a shame to think of losing another fine old ship !