''Princess Selandia'' was a Danish

train ferry A train ferry is a ship (ferry) designed to carry railway vehicles. Typically, one level of the ship is fitted with railway tracks, and the vessel has a door at the front and/or rear to give access to the wharves. In the United States, train ...

which had a long career on the

Great Belt The Great Belt ( da, Storebælt, ) is a strait between the major islands of Zealand (''Sjælland'') and Funen (''Fyn'') in Denmark. It is one of the three Danish Straits. Effectively dividing Denmark in two, the Belt was served by the Great B ...

and the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

, after which she became a restaurant and nightclub ship, at one time moored in

Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town in Cumbria, England. Historically in Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1867 and merged with Dalton-in-Furness Urban District in 1974 to form the Borough of Barrow-in-Furness. In 2023 t ...

, England. Built for DSB, the Danish State Railway, she began service as ''Dronning Ingrid'' (Queen Ingred) on the Korsør –

Nyborg Nyborg is a city in central Denmark, located in Nyborg Municipality on the island of Funen and with a population of 17,525 (2022). It is the easternmost settlement on Funen. By road, it is located 34 km east of Odense, 35 km north of ...

route in April 1951. She subsequently operated on several Danish inter-island and Denmark-Germany routes. In August 1979 she was renamed ''Sjælland'', although portraits of the Danish Royal Family remained in the state cabin on board. For a time she plied between

Malmö Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal popul ...

, Sweden and Copenhagen. In 1985 she was rented out to Danish Radio and TV as a studio and used as the setting for Danish TV show "Kajplads 114" (Berth 114) in Copenhagen. In 1988 she became a museum and restaurant ship and was sold to English interests in April 2002, being moved to

Tilbury Tilbury is a port town in the borough of Thurrock, Essex, England. The present town was established as separate settlement in the late 19th century, on land that was mainly part of Chadwell St Mary. It contains a 16th century fort and an anc ...

, England and renamed ''Selandia''. Following purchase by Rick Lucas in June 2004, she was sailed from Tilbury to

for a £2 million, nine-month refurbishment and renamed ''Princess Selandia''. The whole freight deck, which once carried trains, was converted to "The Blue Lagoon" - a 2,500-capacity nightclub. The night club operated from Town Quay, Buccleuch Dock,

until 16 August 2010. She also had an a la carte restaurant, casino and beer garden. On 9 October 2010 a fire started aboard the ''Princess Selandia.''Small fire aboard 2010
/ref> On 14 July 2015 she left Barrow-in-Furness for Frederikshavn, Denmark, for scrapping.

Footnotes

Technical external resources

* http://www.faergelejet.dk/faerge.php?id=801&n=4 * http://www.faergejournalen.dk/Korsoer-Nyborg/dronning_ingrid_1951.htm 1951 ships Ferries of Denmark Barrow-in-Furness Nightclubs in England Train ferries {{ferry-stub