The hovercraft was invented
by British engineer Christopher Cockerell (later Sir
Christopher). He produced his first working model in
1956 and three years later his first full size test
craft was produced by Saunders Roe. On 25 July 1959
the, Cockerell designed, Saunders Roe Nautical One (SRN1),
successfully completed the first cross Channel hovercraft
crossing from Calais to Dover, exactly fifty years after
Bleriot’s first Channel
flight.
The first regular passenger service
from Dover started on 1 August 1968 when the Dover to
Boulogne service was inaugurated by the SRN4 hovercraft
“Princess Margaret”. The craft was owned by Seaspeed,
the hovercraft operating subsidiary of British Railways,
and ran from the new hoverport built at the Eastern
Docks. In August 1969 a second SRN4 was delivered
and the “Princess Anne” opened a second route from Dover
to Calais.
By the mid 1970s increased traffic
meant that there was a need for increased capacity on
the hovercraft. This problem was solved by stretching
the SRN4 hovercraft and turning them into SRN4 Mk3 craft,
wich increased their capacity to 424 passengers and
54 cars. The enlarged “Princess Anne” re-entered service
in 1978 after which the “Princess Margaret” was also
altered. Also in 1978, on 4 July, the new hoverport
was opened alongside the Prince
of Wales Pier at the
western end of the harbour. The SRN4 Mk3 craft made
the journey from Dover to Calais in 35 minutes. The
fastest ever crossing being recorded by the “Princess
Anne” in September 1995 taking only 22 minutes to cross
the Channel.
From July 1978 the SNCF (French Railways)
owned Sedam N500 hovercraft the “Jean Bertin”, was operating
with Seaspeed across the Channel. Sedam’s development
programme had been dealt a crippling blow in May 1977
when the first N500 craft was destroyed by fire. The
second craft, the “Jean Bertin”, was unreliable and
it was withdrawn for modifications in September 1981.
It returned in March 1983 to the routes of the newly
formed Hoverspeed company but in July the craft was
dealt its final blow when Hoverspeed refused to accept
it into their fleet.
Hoverspeed was formed in October 1981
by the merger of Seaspeed and Hoverlloyd, the Pegwell
Bay based company also operating cross Channel hovercraft.
Hoverlloyd had started their service from Pegwell Bay
to Calais in 1966. By the Early 1980s neither company
was making an adequate return on investments so the
two companies merged to form Hoverspeed based at Dover.
In 2000 Hoverspeed decided to end hovercraft
operation. The abolition of duty-free sales in June
1999 had resulted in a significant drop in passenger
numbers. To continue on the old basis winter fares would
have had to increase dramatically to recover the lost
duty-free profits but higher fares would result in a
further reduction in passenger numbers. The hovercraft
were replaced by seacats, which
could carry nearly twice as many cars and passengers
although with a slower crossing time to Calais of 45
minutes. The last hovercraft crossing was on Sunday
1 October 2000 and the seacats took over the service
the following day.
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1 OCTOBER 2000
Pictures taken
on the hovercraft's last day of service
'Princess Anne' waiting at the hoverport.
Engines started and skirt inflated she starts to turn
towards the sea.
On the water.
Next stop Calais!
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