TOWNSEND TH ORESEN INVESTMENT
The Townsend Ferries company, formed by retired Army Captain Stuart Townsend as far back as 1928, became an English Channel ferry force, going public in 1956, with Nott Industries taking control the following year.
The company then purchased share capital of Thoresen Car Ferries, the Norwegian company which had built up a four-ship fleet serving Le Havre and Cherbourg from Southampton.
In the mid-1970s Townsend placed a substantial order with Denmark’s Aalborg Yard for a quartet of 6,387gt triple-screw ferries taking 1,200 passengers and , made her maiden sailing from Southampton on 22 January 1975, with following in May 1976 to open a new route between Felixstowe and Zeebrugge. She went to Southampton in January 1976, when her place on the North Sea route was taken by newlycompleted The build programme was completed with the delivery of in May 1976.
