Week-End Cruises with LNER in the 1930’s

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WEEK-END CRUISES TO THE CONTINENT

LNER

WITH

1932 -1939

The history of pleasure cruises goes back to 22 January 1891. On that day, the steamship Augusta Victoria of the shipping company HAPAG left Cuxhafen in Germany on a pleasure cruise to the Mediterranean. That cruise went into the history books as the very first cruise. Other shipping companies also saw the potential of pleasure cruises shortly afterwards. Several shipping companies that until then had only focused on scheduled services between Europe and the Americas, or ferry services within Europe, started using ships for cruises in the 1930s. LNER was one of these companies but it did not only visit Antwerp for pleasure trips.

Via Train and Ship to Belgium with LNER

LNER, in full 'London & North Eastern Railway', used to be a regular visitor to the city of Antwerp. Although the name does not immediately make you think of shipping, the British company had a considerable fleet of ships in addition to their trains. LNER saw the light of day on 1 January 1923 as one of the "Big Four". That name was given to the four major railway companies created by the British Railway Act of 1921. The purpose of the Act was to merge the 120 British railway companies in order to reduce their financial losses. When it was founded in 1923, LNER also acquired the ferry route between Harwich and Antwerp. That route was established in August 1864 and had until then always been owned by the 'Great Eastern Railway' or GER for short. At the start, one crossing was scheduled every week, but in 1879 that number was increased to three per week (Monday, Wednesday and Friday) and from 1882 there were daily sailings, except on Sundays.

Original LNER poster for Harwich-Antwerp ferry route

The ships had their berth in Antwerp at Hangar 9 on the D'Herbouville Quay, now located next to the Kennedy Tunnel. The terminal building for the route was opened there in 1921. The ferries had a direct rail connection, with trains running up onto the quay itself so that passengers could transfer directly. The station 'Antwerpen-Zuid-Kaai' opened there on 19 May 1884 and remained open to passengers until 19 November 1939.*

LNER-Terminal D’Herbouville Quay

©Stadsarchief Antwerpen 2004#2836

'Antwerpen-Zuid-Kaai' was mainly used for passengers from the Harwich boats, but until World War I, ferries from the Great Central Railway (GCR), to Grimsby and elsewhere, also used the station.* Passengers could travel on from the ship directly by train. There was also a similar arrangement on the other side of The Channel, in Harwich, with connections to the London North Eastern Railway's train services.

©AS.1992.040.017 Collectie Stad Antwerpen, MAS

Week-End Cruises to the Continent with SS Vienna

Over the years, there was an increasing demand from LNER-passengers to organise short pleasure cruises. In 1932, LNER gave in to the demand with a series of 'Week-End Cruises to the Continent' with Harwich as the departure and arrival port. The cruises always left on Friday evening around 20:00h and arrival was on Monday morning around 06:00h, followed by a direct train connection to Liverpool. The ship that was chosen for all cruises was the SS Vienna. In July 1929, it was handed over to LNER by the John Brown & Co Ltd shipyard in Clydebank, near Glasgow, Scotland, as the first of three new luxury sister ships. SS Prague followed in February 1930 and in April 1930, SS Amsterdam was the last of the series to be acquired by the shipping company. The ships all had the same dimensions: 106.9 metres long, 15.27 metres wide and a draft of 7.92 metres. The three sister ships were initially built for scheduled service to the Netherlands, but SS Vienna was the only one that was also planned for short cruises. For those cruises, the promenade deck was soon extended to create more lounge space for the passengers.

Cruise Brochure LNER - Week-End Cruises - Exact Year Unknown

©Mike Ashworth Collection

Original LNER poster presents their three new luxury ships

Unfortunately, the information available on the weekend cruises is rather limited, but by searching in archives we can still paint a reasonably accurate picture. LNER planned a series of cruises every year between 1932 and 1939, which included visits to the city of Antwerp. Over the years, the destinations became more varied, so Antwerp was no longer visited during every cruise. Only for the years 1934 and 1935 no sources were found to confirm LNER cruises in Antwerp, but most probably they did take place. Thanks to cruise brochures from LNER, we also know the itineraries of some cruises. Two of these cruise brochures were fully scanned for us in high quality and belong to the Collection of Mike Ashworth. Many thanks for that! The brochures were also illustrated for several years with drawings of Antwerp and the Belgian coast, among other places. In turn, the cover of the 1939 brochure shows an old photo of Antwerp's Grote Markt. Besides Antwerp, the ports of Zeebrugge, Vlissingen, Hoek Van Holland, Amsterdam, Rouen, Le Havre and Hamburg were also visited. The cruises were almost always 3 nights long, but at least in the later years there seems to have been one 4-night cruise every year that did not return to Harwich until Tuesday morning. In 1937, the 4-Night voyage was the Harwich-Hamburg-Harwich cruise, and in 1939 the route visited Harwich- Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp-Harwich.

Cruise Brochure 1937 LNER - ©Mike Ashworth Collection

Week-End Cruises - Brochure 1937

Week-End Cruises - Cover 1939

©Mike Ashworth Collection

Week-End Cruises - Brochure (Year Unknown)

SS Vienna to the Rescue after Collision on River Scheldt

©Delpher - Newspaper De Sumatra Post 05-08-1932

SS Malines on the sandbank near Terneuzen

In 1932, the first year of Week-End Cruises, SS Vienna sailed up the Scheldt towards Antwerp on July 9th around 06:30h during one of her cruises. Sailing up the river, however, was interrupted at Terneuzen. There, at 05:30h, a collision had occurred in dense fog between the German tanker Hanseat and SS Malines, another ship from the LNER fleet operating the Harwich-Antwerp ferry service. Due to the dense fog, the captain of SS Malines had decided to anchor off Terneuzen. According to a passenger who was walking around the upper deck early in the morning, the ship had only just stopped moving when the collision happened.

©Delpher - Newspaper Rotterdamsch nieuwsblad 12-07-1932

SS Malines on the sandbank near Terneuzen

SS Malines was struck with a violent jolt amidships on the starboard side by the tanker, causing extensive damage to the hull and even the upper deck. A two-metre wide hole from the upper deck to below the waterline was reported. The cabins behind the struck area were completely destroyed, but miraculously no passenger injuries were reported. However, some crew members in the engine room were slightly hurt on their arms. As water was also entering the engine room, it was decided almost immediately to sail the ship onto a nearby sandbank to prevent it from sinking. Due to the high tide at the time, that manoeuvre went off without a hitch. The ship was eventually grounded on the sandbank at the Eendragtpolder, about 5km upstream of Terneuzen. For the Hanseat, the situation was less critical as she still sailed on to Antwerp with minor damage to her bow. Miraculously, SS Vienna was just entering the estuary of the Scheldt when the collision happened and received the SOS call shortly afterwards. The ship was on scene after about an hour, together with the Towage and Salvage Union's tugs Goliath, Raymond and Sirius. With the help of the tugs, the 131 passengers from SS Malines along with their luggage were transferred to SS Vienna. SS Vienna then sailed on to Antwerp, where the passengers disembarked at Hangar 9, the usual quay for the Harwich ships, a little before 12:00h.

09/07/1932

At low tide SS Malines stood almost completely out of the water on the sandbank. Fortunately, this did not cause any stability problems. This unique situation was also photographed and several pictures appeared in Dutch newspapers over the next few days. Some emergency repairs were carried out on the sandbank and the same evening around 19:30 the ship was refloated with the help of 8 tugboats: Goliath, Vulcain, Max, Raymond, Sirius, Orion, Charles and Tenace.

©Delpher - Newspaper Algemeen Handelsblad 11-07-1932

Hole in the hull of SS Malines

The engine room had been underwater all day after the accident, rendering the machinery inoperable. SS Malines was consequently towed to Antwerp by the tugs Vulcain, Charles, Orion and Max. During the transport, the salvage vessel 'Saviour I' remained alongside to continue pumping water out of the hull of SS Malines. Around 03:00h in the morning, the ship finally arrived in Antwerp where it was immediately taken to the shipyard.

Tug Raymond by SS Malines

©Delpher - Newspaper De Grondwet 13-07-1932

*Source: Studie over het vroegere station Antwerpen-Zuid, de verdwenen en de niet-gerealiseerde spoorlijnen ten zuiden van Antwerpen – Paul Jacops & Jef Van Olmen. Versie 2024-09-02.

Carefree Cruising until World War II?

After the rescue mission of SS Vienna in 1932, we do not find any news articles that the ship experienced any more such situations. The cruises following probably proceeded without much concern. However, the call at Antwerp on 30 July 1933 did have to be cancelled. SS Vienna had visited Ghent the previous day via the Ghent-Terneuzen Canal. The English ferry SS Otto, which was also part of the LNER fleet and sailed the liner service from Hull, threw a spanner in the works when the ship rammed the lock at Terneuzen. SS Vienna was blocked in Ghent and as a result and passengers had to continue their journey by train. Cruises continued for the next few years. Even in 1939, another brochure was issued with 12 cruises between 23 June and 11 September. How many of these cruises actually took place does remain a question. Indeed, on 3 September 1939, World War II started for The United Kingdom after Germany invaded Poland.

©AS-G1AR, Museumcollecties MAS

Hangar 9 at the D’Herbouville Quay in 1948

SS Vienna during a crossing. Location unknown - Copyright unknown

The war also marked the immediate end of the ferry service between Harwich and Antwerp. SS Vienna, like several LNER ships, was requisitioned by the Royal Navy and served as a troop transporter. Even after the war, the ship continued to be used as a troop transporter by the British Ministry of Transport. This stayed the purpose of SS Vienna until she was decommissioned. On 4 September 1960, the ship was towed into the port of Ghent, where she was scrapped.** In late 1946, the connection between Harwich and Antwerp did restart but cruises were out of the question. As early as 1950, passenger transport on the line was discontinued. The reason given was the poor economic situation. However, there remained a freight connection that could still take a few passengers on the trip across The Channel.

** Source: LNER.info - Compiled by George Robinson

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