''Anthi Marina'' was a ferry operated by GA Ferries. She was the first of three 'Spirit' class ferries built for

Townsend Thoresen European Ferries Group plc was a company that operated in passenger and freight ferries, harbour operation and property management in the United Kingdom and the United States. It was taken over by the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Com ...

, as MS ''Spirit of Free Enterprise.'' Her two sister ships were and .

As ''Spirit of Free Enterprise''

''Spirit of Free Enterprise'' operated reliably and successfully on Townsend's routes from her delivery in 1980 until the company was bought by P&O in 1987. In the same year, her identical sister ship ''

Herald of Free Enterprise MS ''Herald of Free Enterprise'' was a roll-on/roll-off (RORO) ferry which capsized moments after leaving the Belgian port of Zeebrugge on the night of 6 March 1987, killing 193 passengers and crew. The eight-deck car and passenger ferry was ow ...

'' capsized while leaving

Zeebrugge Zeebrugge (, from: ''Brugge aan zee'' meaning "Bruges at Sea", french: Zeebruges) is a village on the coast of Belgium and a subdivision of Bruges, for which it is the modern port. Zeebrugge serves as both the international port of Bruges-Zeeb ...

. The design of the ship was not found to be at fault, and after fitting of cameras to allow monitoring of the bow doors from the bridge she continued in service.

As ''Pride of Kent''

In the aftermath of the sinking of ''Herald of Free Enterprise'', P&O moved to change the appearance of the fleet. The Townsend red and white hull with light blue funnels was replaced with the P&O darker blue and white, and the old Townsend "Free Enterprise" names were replaced. ''Spirit of Free Enterprise'' became ''Pride of Kent'' in late 1987. In 1991 ''Pride of Kent'' was extended in a process often known as "

Jumboisation Jumboization is a technique in shipbuilding consisting of enlarging a ship by adding an entire section to it. By contrast with refitting or installation of equipment, jumboization is a long and complex endeavour which can require a specialized shi ...

". The ship was cut in half and a new hull and superstructure section 31 metres (102') in length was inserted amidships, raising her passenger capacity to 1,825 and her car capacity to 460. The work cost £20m and took six months. In 1998 she was renamed ''P&OSL Kent'' following the merger of P&O European Ferries and

Stena Line Stena Line is a Swedish shipping line company and one of the largest ferry operators in the world. It services Denmark, Germany, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland and Sweden. Stena Line is a major unit of Ste ...

on the

Dover Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...

–

Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's prefecture is its third-largest city of Arras. Th ...

route, and later ''"P O Kent"'' in August 2002 (following P&O's buyout of Stena Line's 40% share in the joint venture). In the spring of 2003 the ship was sold by P&O after a brief lay-up period in

Dunkerque Dunkirk (french: Dunkerque ; vls, label=French Flemish, Duunkerke; nl, Duinkerke(n) ; , ;) is a commune in the department of Nord in northern France.Pride of Kent'', an extensive rebuild of a former freight ferry.

As ''Anthi Marina''

In 2006 she was named ''Anthi Marina'' and operated by GA Ferries between

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; el, Πειραιάς ; grc, Πειραιεύς ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens' city centre, along the east coast of the Saronic ...

Kos Kos or Cos (; el, Κως ) is a Greek island, part of the Dodecanese island chain in the southeastern Aegean Sea. Kos is the third largest island of the Dodecanese by area, after Rhodes and Karpathos; it has a population of 36,986 (2021 census), ...

and

Rhodes Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the So ...

. In addition to the jumboising carried out by P&O she then had a more conventionally shaped bow in place of her original clamshell doors, and an internal ramp to enable her upper car deck to be used in ports without double-deck linkspans. As most

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

ports lack the

linkspan A linkspan or link-span is a type of drawbridge used mainly in the operation of moving vehicles on and off a roll-on/roll-off (RO-RO) vessel or ferry, particularly to allow for tidal changes in water level. Linkspans are usually found at ferry t ...

s found elsewhere, the ship was usually docked stern-on to the quayside and vehicles loaded via a ramp mounted on the ship. She was laid-up in 2009 due to her owner's financial difficulties and she was scrapped in 2012.

Sister ships

Three ships were originally built for

for the services between Europe and the UK: ''

'', ''Spirit of Free Enterprise'' and '' Pride of Free Enterprise''.
''Herald of Free Enterprise'' was scrapped in 1988 after the capsizing at Zeebrugge as ''Flushing Range''. ''Pride of Free Enterprise'' was broken up in late 2015. This ship, ''Spirit of Free Enterprise'' sailed under a range of names on both English Channel as well as between the Greek islands. She was scrapped in September 2012 as MS ''Anthi Marina''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Anthi Marina Ferries of the United Kingdom 1979 ships Connections across the English Channel