The Caesarea was launched at the Cowes yard of shipbuilders Samuel White and Co Ltd in January 1960 by Lady Coutanche, the wife of the Bailiff of the day, sir Alexander Coutanche

ON 29 October 1960 the Island said farewell to one British Railways mailboat and less than a month later it welcomed a new one, described at the time as a ‘luxury’ vessel.

The ship which left the Channel Islands run was the Isle of Sark. Launched in 1932 in Dumbarton, she was well loved by Islanders, who turned out in force to see her off on her last voyage from St Helier Harbour.

Having taken part in the partial evacuation of Jersey before the Germans arrived in 1940, the Isle of Sark saw service during the war as a Royal Navy radar experimental training ship.

As she left the Island for the last time, her master, Capt F Cantle, ordered flags signalling ‘Goodbye’ to be flown from her masts.

And as she rounded Corbière, he and her crew had the pleasure of seeing the same signal flown from the lighthouse – with the addition of flags which conveyed the message ‘Well done’.

The Isle of Sark was hardly luxurious, but she was fitted with stabilisers for the safety and comfort of passengers. When her successor, the Caesarea, arrived on her maiden voyage on 18 November 1960, stabilisers were just one among many devices, facilities and furnishings designed with passenger comfort in mind.

Anyone who still has memories of making the long and all too often storm-tossed crossing to Weymouth in the Caesarea – or her sister ship, the Sarnia – might question the idea that these vessels were in any way luxurious or comfortable.
However, when the new mailboat entered service she was regarded as a state of the art ferry for cross-Channel operations.

The Caesarea was launched at the Cowes yard of shipbuilders Samuel White and Co Ltd in January 1960

Built in Cowes on the Isle of Wight, the Caesarea was launched by Lady Coutanche, the wife of the Bailiff of the day, Sir Alexander Coutanche, in January 1960. She was then fitted out for some months before being ready for her first voyage. Her name, of course, was the word that the Romans are supposed to have used for Jersey, though there is no real evidence to support this long-held belief.

Quite deliberately, Guernsey and Jersey were chosen for the maiden voyage because the new ship was destined to be one of the principal links between the islands and the UK port of Weymouth.

British Railways, then the operator on this ferry route, must also have had an idea of how warm a welcome their latest vessel would receive in the Islands. In the event, a large crowd, which included the Bailiff and Lady Coutanche, turned up at St Helier Harbour to see the Caesarea berth alongside the Albert Pier.

Over the course of the few days that she remained in the Island, 18,000 people – a third of the population – took the opportunity to go on board to see for themselves what was now on offer for cross-Channel passengers.

On her arrival, other ships in port greeted the newcomer with blasts on their sirens and the States tug, the Duke of Normandy, which was not needed as the Caesarea’s master, Capt V Newton, eased her into harbour, was dressed overall with flags and pennants.

The Caesarea was launched in January 1960 by Lady Coutanche, the wife of the Bailiff of the day, sir Alexander Coutanche

Although she was designed to carry 1,400 passengers, the only people on board for the maiden voyage besides the crew, which would number 78 in full service, were British Railways officials and Sir James Milne, the managing director of Samuel White and Co Ltd, the ship’s builders, and Lady Milne.

At 4,174 tons displacement, the Caesarea was no ocean-going giant, but she represented a step up from other vessels on the Channel Islands run. She was 322 ft long, 51 ft in the beam, drew 13 ft 6 in, had five decks and a single funnel designed to take smoke away from passengers on the open decks in all weather conditions.

She was powered by two steam turbines driving two three-blade propellers and had a bow rudder to help her manoeuvre when going astern in tight spaces such as St Helier Harbour.

With 11 watertight bulkheads and a double-bottom hull which had been tested in prototype at the National Physical Laboratory, she was also designed to be a safe vessel, though if the unthinkable ever happened she was equipped with six GRP lifeboats and 45 inflatable rafts.

On board there was only one class of passenger accommodation, which had seating for everyone who could be carried. In addition, there were 64 private cabins, a restaurant, a cafeteria and a bar which served duty-free drinks when the ship was on the high seas.

In terms of décor, the Caesarea was an interesting mixture of ancient and modern, use having been made of teak finishes and the latest plastics.

After the ship entered regular service in December 1960, she became one of the major lifelines linking the Channel Islands with the south coast of the UK, sailing come rain or shine and in all but the most severe sea conditions.

Countless visitors and Islanders used her as a reliable means of getting to and from the islands.

The Mailboat Sarnia enters the harbour in October 1961

And she remained one of the famous ‘boats out in the morning’, recommended to those who criticised Island life too bitterly, until her last CI voyage in April 1978, though she ceased to be a regular vessel on the service in October 1975.

The Caesarea was launched at the Cowes yard of shipbuilders Samuel White and Co Ltd in January 1960 by Lady Coutanche, the wife of the Bailiff of the day, sir Alexander Coutanche

Having spent time on other Channel routes, she was sold to businessmen in Hong Kong who intended to transform her into a floating hotel.
She was renamed Aesarea, a transformation achieved by a strikingly cheap-skate tactic – the initial C of her name, which she bore on her stern, was simply painted out.
The hotel scheme never really took off, and, after a detour to Japan, the old ship finally ended her days in June 1986 in South Korea, where she was broken up for scrap.