TUXEDO ROYALE Sinking
TUXEDO ROYALE in 2004, photo © Chris Allen
A former ferry that last served as a floating nightclub is sinking at her Middlesbrough berth in North Yorkshire on the River Tees.
Over the weekend, the ship began to settle by the stern and has been observed to be sinking lower in the water each day.
The TUXEDO ROYALE was built as the British Rail ferry DOVER in 1965, operating in the English Channel and Irish Sea. She was rebuilt in 1977 as EARL SIWARD but then sold to Sol Lines as SOL EXPRESS in 1981. In 1986, the ship returned to the UK for conversion at Tyneside to the nightclub TUXEDO ROYALE. The TUXEDO ROYALE arrived at Middlesbrough Dock from Tyneside in March of 2000 and has since been docked near the Riverside Stadium.
With thanks to Hans Hoffman and Leo Hubrecht.
UPDATE: I located a booster video about the vessel on YouTube:
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Wasn’t she supposed to be brought to Dover for conversion as torist attraction? Sh…oot…another nice oldie lost to mankind.
She looks great in the video
I have followed several ships, be they old cruise ships, or ferries, or glorified scows, all eventually meeting, the inevitable end, the old scrapper.
It seems the cheapest, and quickest way to make money for new owners is to convert them to casino use, enslave them without much thought to their (ships) care, and when done, get rid of them. A major, well known ship, would NOT drag me in to use the casino, or eat the crap served as mere fodder for the losers that haunt such facilities.
I suppose a brief, neglected use as casino only serves to extend an unwanted vessels life, only to secure the original. ultimate fate, while serving no purpose for us, lovers of ships in their puposeful built selves.
Yes, the TUXEDO ROYALE does indeed look to be very nice, and seems to have been well maintained. She may be one of the lucky ones, a casino venture owned by a caring concern. Maybe this ship can be salvaged, as she seems to be fairly classy.
Fantastic Old Girl I was lucky enought to work on her out of Folkestone
Hopefully she will come back to Dover one Day
She is done for. A real shame since she was probably the last turbine ferry in British waters. No money here in the UK to restore her, nor the will to preserve maritime history of this sort. She will go the way of the Caledonian Princess, one of Denny’s last ferries that was scrapped in Turkey in 2008. My old man worked on a near sister of the Caledonian Princess, the GMV Aramoana, and she was a great old girl to sail on as a kid across the wild Cook Strait.
Well today’s the day-just leaving for Middlesborough for a top level meeting to discuss the future of ‘Dover’ with the civic and maritime powers that be. In a way her sinking has focussed the minds of all the players involved here,bringing at least some brilliant publicity. Will be also meeting up with our Teeside local representative for the first time to expound on the rescue and future of this iconic vessel. I’ll be keeping you posted.