Builders: Societe Cockerill 1892
Propulsion type: Paddle, compound diagonal
Owner: Belgian State Railways
Service dates: 1892 - 1914
Tonnage: Gross 1451
Comments:
A fast vessel of 22 knots, Marie Henriette was built for the Ostend to Dover service and was a break from tradition in that she was built in Belgium rather than by Wm Denny Bros as had been her immediate predecessors. This vessel and her two later fleetmates, PS Princesse Clementine (1896) and PS Rapide (1895), were considered to be the finest cross Channel steamers of their time. They boasted large, well fitted saloons, wide promenade decks and elegant cabins and were first class sea boats which could make the crossing in under three hours. It was not always so, however, as Marie Henriette also took what must have been the longest ever crossing in 1902. After leaving from Dover for the afternoon crossing on 31 January, with only 18 passengers, contact was lost for more than eighteen hours during a fierce storm. She had only travelled around five miles and was off the South Foreland at anchor as she was in trouble. Her starboard paddle wheel was disabled and she was able to travel at only one knot, and whilst a tug out of Ostend had come to her assistance, she was unable to take Marie Henriette in tow due to the mountainous seas. The steamer Prince Albert also tried to assist from Dover but was badly damaged in the high seas and had to continue to Ostend, herself being around seven hours late. After three nights at sea (on a trip which should have taken three hours) Marie Henriette was finally taken in tow by a Belgian tug and eventually limped into Ostend after sixty four hours at sea, after the tugs had abandoned her as they had run out of coal. She was finally brought back in the tow of La Flandre from Ostend. She fared worse in 1914, however, when she was wrecked in fog in 1914 off Ushant, shortly after the outbreak of the Great War, although fortunately there was no loss of life.