MS Oujda

MS Oujda was a ferry built by Aalborg Værft AS in 1974 for Townsend Thoresen. She sailed under the name Viking Venturer from Southampton to Le Havre then latterly Portsmouth to Cherbourg . She was sold to P&O European Ferries and renamed Pride of Hampshire. With the takeover of Townsend Thoresen by P&O and the sinking of the Herald of Free Enterprise in 1987, P&O wanted to drop the Townsend Thoresen name and the ship names associated with the company. She was repainted from her Townsend Thoresen orange and white livery to the new P&O blue and white, the TT logo on her funnel was also replaced by the P&O house flag. Her funnel was also painted P&O navy blue replacing the TT turquoise colour. Townsend Thoresen became P&O European Ferries and in 1989 Viking Venturer became Pride of Hampshire. She continued to sail under that name until 2002.She was transferred to the Portsmouth-Cherbourg route in 1994 as a result of larger vessels Pride of Le Havre & being chartered for the Le Havre route. She carried a lot of freight on this route and was very busy with families during school holidays.

The Pride of Hampshire eventually became a well-loved ferry by her regular passengers and was affectionately known as 'The Happy Hampshire' by her loyal crew. Despite her rather unattractive appearance due to extensive "jumboisation" in Bremerhaven in 1986....
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