The Isle of Innisfree was offshore of Boulogne-sur-Mer, approaching the Strait of Dover today, and among the Irish Ferries fleet, two ships serve the busy UK-France route linking Calais, writes Jehan Ashmore.
The mid-afternoon's transit of the Isle of Innisfree took place while Oscar Wilde had just departed the Port of Dover on the short hop across to mainland Europe, whilst route partner and former Irish Sea cruise ferry Isle of Inishmore was berthed at the continent’s Calais.
At one stage the short-sea UK-France service that Irish Ferries established in 2023 was running a three-ship operation involving the Isle of Inisheer, which, like the ‘Innisfree,’ was transferred to Irish Sea routes, and also their only Ireland-France connection.
Isle of Inisheer currently serves Dublin-Cherbourg; the freight-oriented (ropax) ship service also runs in tandem with cruise ferry W.B. Yeats; however, given the low season, the larger cruise ferry is dry-docking at Dunkirk, as Afloat reported. The Irish Sea ferry Isle of Innisfree, as above, is seen departing Rosslare recently for the South Wales port before it heads to the northern France dockyard to undergo a routine maintenance programme.
Dover-Calais Transit Recalls Celebrity Launch
‘Innisfree’ most certainly has historical connections on the Strait, having been custom-built as the Prins Filip for Belgian State operator RMT and launched in 1991. However, it did not enter service until the following year as the Belgian flagship on the Oostende-Dover route.
Since then, the ferry has had an extensive and varied career, having changed hands, routes, and numerous names, among them Norman Spirit (6th name in 2005). After an interim period of six years, the name was revived in 2012 when the ferry’s inaugural sailing for the DFDS Seaways-LD Lines joint service on the Dover-Calais run was launched by UK celebrity Kelly Brook.
The partnership no longer exists, except for the Danish firm’s continued role, trading as DFDS Ferry on the Rosslare-Dunkirk and the UK-France link route, competing with Irish Ferries and P&O Ferries. As for the celebrity, Brooks is currently a contestant in the TV series ‘I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! now, in its 24th season of annual broadcasting. Whether you’re a fan or not, the series has easily outpaced that of the joint ferry company service, but that's not too surprising given the fluidity of the ferry scene.
For those Irish fans, TV presenter Vogue Williams, hailing from Howth, Co. Dublin, recently joined as a late entrant.
In addition to mentioning the French operator LD Lines, it maintained an Irish connection for over a decade before closing its mainland continental land-bridge routes that linked Ireland, France, and Spain, using Rosslare Europort, as previously reported by Afloat.
In fact, Isle of Innisfree is the ninth name (excluding the revived Norman Spirit), which stretches for more than three decades, but is Irish Ferries' third ship to bear the name. This involved a former Danish state train operator and is now with Stena in Scandinavia. As for the second ship, this was the Dublin company’s first custom-built ferry, which remains running for another train-ferry operator, New Zealand’s KiwiRail’s Interislander ferry service across Cook Strait, linking road and rail networks between the North and South Islands.
Dunkirk Dry-Dockings
Returning to the northern hemisphere and to where the current Isle of Innisfree entered Dunkirk (Eastern Docks) just before 18:00 French time with the assistance of the tug Triumphant. It also provided escort duties in the approaches before the ferry had entered a lock, leading into a basin to where it docked adjacent to the dry-docked W.B. Yeats. When this ferry vacates, it is expected the Isle of Innisfree will occupy the dry dock for a maintenance period, having been replaced by James Joyce following a transfer from the Dublin-Holyhead route.
The Oscar Wilde, formerly P&O's Spirit of Britain, operates opposite of twin ‘Spirit’ class former fleetmate, Spirit of France, one of a trio of vessels they serve on the Strait. In addition, DFDS also has a three-ship service, making the route a very busy and vital international passenger and trade link in northwestern Europe.
As a footnote, unfortunately, neither of the Irish Ferries vessels caters for 'foot' passengers.
