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| CANADA, SUMMER 2006 Part One continued: Leif Ericson Port aux Basques – North Sydney Text and all pictures © matt@hhvferry.com except where stated |
| On this side of the strait it was a mostly sunny day until about ten miles north of Port-aux-Basques when we were suddenly enveloped in a bank of fog which stayed with us all the way into town. Checking into our bed and breakfast that evening, the landlady somewhat grimly explained that geography had dealt Port-aux-Basques a poor hand and a combination of factors conspired to give it a drizzly grey microclimate all of its own and that it was all too common for it to be perfectly clear just a few minutes up the highway. A quick call into the terminal to double-check the sailing arrangements for the next day saw a reminder that today was Canada Day and it was appropriately decorated with flags and a table with complimentary Canadian flag pin badges and cake. We watched the Atlantic Freighter disappear into the murk before making our way to dinner ahead of a relatively early night.
Somewhat bleary-eyed the next morning we drove around from the B&B to check into the 0900 sailing of the Leif Ericson at the Marine Atlantic terminal. Here a splendid builder’s model of this ship can be found, repainted into Marine Atlantic livery but still bearing a plaque noting her name as Stena Challenger; this is very possibly the same model seen in a picture on Micke’s site by Sören Lund Hviid (http://www.faktaomfartyg.com/stena_challenger_mod_1.htm). A cup of coffee later and it slowly dawned that there was something rather amiss about Port-aux-Basques this morning: the sun was making an appearance. By the time the Joseph and Clara Smallwood had cleared the berth on her 0730 departure, it was positively glorious, providing a splendid backdrop to pictures of the departing ship as well as the approaching Leif Ericson. [continued below] |
| Top: The Leif Ericson arriving at Port aux Basques. |
| Above & below: Two views on the upper freight deck with its open area aft (below). |
| Above: The foggy departure of the Atlantic Freighter. |
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| Boarding and departure of the Leif Ericson was prompt and it was clear that our 0900 departure was something of a sweeping-up exercise for those who had missed, were unaccommodated on or otherwise just didn’t fancy the one an hour and a half earlier; a few weeks later and this sailing would presumably have been pretty much full, but this early in the season she was not particularly busy for the return crossing to North Sydney. The Leif Ericson could lay claim to being the last brand new conventional ferry ever to enter service for Sealink when she was delivered as the Stena Challenger in 1991(if one overlooks the less clear-cut claims of her sister Stena Traveller which was chartered the following year). This pair of freighters, although they would be called ro-paxes nowadays, had been ordered by Stena prior to the takeover of Sealink being completed and it was during building that the first was allocated to the new subsidiary’s Dover-Calais run, being completed with an additional accommodation block on the main passenger deck where the Stena Traveller latterly had more cabins and reclining seat lounges. In 1996 the ‘Challenger’ was moved to the Holyhead-Dublin Port freight route which had been established by her sister and there she stayed until in May 2000 when Stena confirmed a sale had been agreed to Marine Atlantic with delivery a year later.
Since coming to Canada, the ship has been employed almost exclusively on the North Sydney to Port-aux-Basques run. Marine Atlantic have modified the interior layout somewhat for her current role but she is still instantly recognisable as the Stena Challenger and also remains essentially identical in styling to the Stena Hibernia/Express Aphrodite which was completely rebuilt in the same year the ‘Challenger’ entered service, right down to the décor given to the final outing of Sealink’s ‘Pantry’ self-service restaurant brand plus another of those plaques celebrating the ship’s inauguration into service, unveiled on this occasion by Dan Sten Olsson on July 8, 1991. Marine Atlantic themselves certainly don’t treat the ship either as an outsider or merely a back-up to the two purpose-built passenger ships. There is instead a full range of Leif Ericson merchandise from simple pens and pencils to leisurewear and some rather good ship-branded wine in the cafeteria. The primary passenger spaces remain concentrated in the superstructure block forward of amidships on Deck 5. The bulk of the facilities, in the aft end of this block, are open plan and branch off a central mini ‘piazza’ with the old Duty Free shop forward to port, the Pantry’s walk-through servery area ahead and associated seating on the starboard side. At the aft end centrally the bar remains, still referred to as ‘Stingers’ in Marine Atlantic literature, although the open seating areas adjacent to port and starboard have been replaced with reclining seats leaving just a small space in the middle directly associated with the bar itself. Forward, overlooking the forecastle, what was once the ro-ro lounge and restaurant has been given over to more reclining seats, as has the small lounge just aft on the port side. Over to starboard another seating lounge has instead become an area of open-plan couchettes, similar to the similar spaces found on the Caribou. Crew messes, and passenger and crew cabins are located on 6 Deck above. [text continued on next page] |
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| Above: In contrast, the following morning the Joseph and Clara Smallwood left Port aux Basques for North Sydney in glorious sunshine. |
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| Above: The model of the Leif Ericson in the Port aux Basques terminal. |
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| Click above for a Stena Challenger GA plan (1991, left) and a Leif Ericson deckplan (2006, right) |
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| Above: The ship's bell, located at the forward end of the upper vehicle deck. |
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| Above: The plaque commemorating the occasion in Dover in 1991 when the ship was named in a joint ceremony with fellow newcomer Stena Invicta. |
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| Above: At the aft end of the passenger block on Deck 5 is the bar area - under Stena this latterly assumed the company's generic Stingers brand and, although no reference to the name can be found on board, it is still referred to as such in Marine Atlantic literature. |
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| Above & below: On either side of Stingers, the previous open-plan lounge seating has been replaced by reclining seats. |
| Above: Looking forward on the port side to the Pantry cafeteria seating area. |
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| Above & below: The central orientation point on the main passenger space is this small 'piazza' off which the entrance to the Pantry's servery area can be seen with the closed doors of the shop (below) visible on the port side. |
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