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North Sea Ferry Services : UK to Netherlands
Stoomvaart Maatschappij Zeeland (SMZ)
The company was established in 1875 and operated from Vlissingen in the Netherlands to Sheerness in Kent but switched to Queenborough for its second season. Paddlers maintained the Queenborough link. Prins Hendrick, built in 1895 was the last of the paddlers to be built. Screw ships were ordered from 1909 onwards and these more modern vessels were used on a new run to Folkestone. SMZ eventually went into partnership with the UK's London and North Eastern Railway and later with British Railways and shared the Hook of Holland to Harwich service with the British state-owned company which later became Sealink. In 1989 the Stena Line bought SMZ and in 1990 acquired Sealink, which had by then been privatised and owned by Sea Containers. 

The new company purchased three older steamers. Liverpool-built Stad Vlissingen and Stad Middelburg had served as blockade runners in the American Civil War as Southern and Northern. Stad Breda was the former Isle of Man Steam Packet Company's Snaefell, built by Caird & Co at Greenock, For new tonnage, SMZ  went to the Clyde for its paddle steamer tonnage from John Elder & Co, which changed its name to Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Co in 1886. New ships were ordered in batches of three, but after the 1895 sisters, the next batch, in 1909 and also from the Fairfield yard, were turbine steamers. This led to a cull of the paddlers, with those remaining in the fleet taking the day services and the turbines the night runs.

The 1886/7 sisters were 286.5 ft long and had twin cylinder engines. Gross Registered Tonnage was 1648


The final three paddle steamers (including Prins Hendrik, above) were the largest both in terms of length (320 ft) and engine size : triple expansion with cylinders of 51, 75 and 112 inches with a stroke of 78 inches.  This generated 9500 NHP and drove the ships at 19.5 knots. Gross Registered Tonnage was 1947



Stad Middelburg, later Aurora (1875-1885)
Built in 1865 by Liverpool Shipbuilding Co at Liverpool
274.1 ft : 1622 GRT
Oscillating 64 and 64 in x 78 in
Built as Midland for Mersey-based owners
Renamed Southern in 1873
Sold to SMZ in 1875 and renamed Stad Middelburg and Aurora in 1881
Hulked in 1885

Stad Vlissingen  (1875-1879)

Stad Breda (1875-1888)
Built in 1863 by Caird & Co at Greenock
228.5 ft : 604 GRT
Built as Snaefell for the Isle of Man SP Co
Sold to SMZ in 1875 and renamed Stad Breda
Scrapped in 1888

Prinses Elisabeth (1877-1899)
Launched on December 10th 1877 by J Elder & Co at Govan, Scotland
84.79 m : 1566 GRT
Ordered by the Stoomvaart Maatschappij Zeeland of Vlissingen, Netherlands as Prinses Marie
Placed on the route from its home port to Queenborough in England
Sailed in 1895 under charter to Ballin, for the Hamburg-Helgoland service
Sold in 1899 to the Rederi AB Sverige Kontinenten based at Stockholm as Svea
Scrapped at Stettin in 1909

Prinses Marie (1878-1898)
Launched on December 10th 1877 by J Elder & Co at Govan, Scotland
84.79 m : 1566 GRT
Ordered by the Stoomvaart Maatschappij Zeeland of Vlissingen, Netherlands as Prinses Marie
Placed on the route from its home port to Queenborough in England
Sailed in 1896 under charter to Ballin, for the Hamburg-Helgoland service
Sold in December 1898 to JF Braunlich for service out of Stettin to Sassnitz and also to Trelleborg in Sweden and renamed Germania
Sold for scrapping in 1902

Prins Hendrik (1880-1902)
Launched on March 25th 1880 by J Elder & Co at Govan, Scotland
Dimensions : 84.95 x 10.67 metres
Two cylinder compound oscillating engines : 60 and 104 in x 84 in
In service for Stoomvaart Maatschappij Zeeland for their North Sea service from Vlissingen to Queenborough
Chartered to Albert Ballin for their busy Helgoland trade in 1895 and 1896
Scrapped in 1902

Willem Prins van Oranje (1883-1909)


Duitschland later Zeeland (1887-1923)
Built in 1887 by Fairfield Engineering & Shipbuilding Co at Govan
286.5 ft : 1653 GRT
Oscillating compound 60 and 104 in x 84 in
Renamed Zeeland in 1914

Engeland (1887-1911)
Built in 1887 by Fairfield Engineering & Shipbuilding Co at Govan
286.5 ft : 1653 GRT

Nederland (1887-1911)
Built in 1887 by Fairfield Engineering & Shipbuilding Co at Govan
286.5 ft : 1660 GRT
Oscillating compound 60 and 104 in x 84 in

Koningin Wilhelmina (1895-1916), Koningin Regentes (1895-1918) and Prins Hendrik (1895-1922)
Built in 1895 by Fairfield Engineering & Shipbuilding Co at Govan
320 ft : 1945 GRT
Triple expansion diagonal 51, 75 and 112 in x 78 in
Koningin Wilhelmina : Mined and sunk in the North Sea on 31/07/16
Koningin Regentes : Sunk by torpedo in the North Sea on 06/06/18 while serving as a hospital ship
Prins Hendrik : Scrapped in Bremen in 1923

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