s/s Borea

As I was attending rating school at Åbo Navigationsinstitut 1984-1985 (today Aboa Mare) we were also arranged to go work on an old steamship "Borea" operated by Aura Line in order to get a feel for ships and conditions working onboard + of course to help the crew there with maintenance.

s/s Borea (courtesy Ålands sjofart magazine)

She was a lovely looking, dark cream colored, passenger ferry built in 1960, the largest (and last) steam ship ever built in Scandinavia. She had been revived by enthusiasts of old to go in liner traffic in between Turku and Stockholm, Sweden. She could also carry 50 cars and 3-4 buses on her ro-ro deck that was accessible by a side shell door.

Usually we would be sent there once a week and alternate between deck and engine. As we a were at the institute it was a very short walk down the hill to port where she usually sat and we reported to the ships officers for work. 

I recall the engine room being very hot from the boilers going, we mostly did cleaning jobs there. I was once chipping her shipsides and also recall the paint layer was centimeters thick from various colors and liveries she had been covered in throughout her years.

Usually after a day of work we got permission to use the ships sauna and sometimes the older chaps managed to wheedle a few beers from somewhere. Unfortunately the venture went bankrupt due to excessive debts during my time in school so the work sessions ceased on her as she was laid up in Turku. 

Below is a translated excerpt of her mileposts starting in 1984 from on a Swedish shipregister:

1984 04 26 - sold to Aura Line, which however could not meet the purchase conditions.

1984 05 08 - arrived at Pargas for lay-up.
1984 05 29 - sold to Helsingfors Steamship Company Ltd (Henry Nielsen LLC) Helsinki, Finland.

1984 June - chartered to Oy Aura Line Ab, Turku, Finland.
1984 06 20 - deployed between Turku - Stockholm traffic.
1984 10 03 - at 18.50 last departure from Stockholm.

1984 10 04 - Aura Line goes bankrupt, the debts amount to 9 million FIM.

1984 10 05 - laid up in Turku.
1985 10 01 - sold to Canadian stakeholders but the deal fell through and the vessel remained in Turku waiting for the next buyer.
1985 11 14 - deleted from the Finnish ship register.
1985 12 03 - re-registered at Helsinki Steamship Company Ltd (Henry Nielsen LLC) Helsinki, Finland.
1987 01 20 - Sold to Rannikkolinjat LLC, Kotka, Finland.
1987 03 02 - Delivered to the new owners.
1987 04 28 - renamed Kristina Regina

Bore's specifications & particulars are as follows:

Ex: Bore, Borea, Kristina Regina

Built in 1960 by Oskarshamn shipyard, Oskarshamn, Sweden.
Yard number 353

IMO number 5048485

Dimensions, length over all 99.38, beam, 15.28, draught 5.26 m
GT/ NT/ DW 3492/ 1445/ 870t
After 1988 conversion GT/ NT/ DW 4295/ 1688/ 870t

Machinery. Quadrelope steam engine, type Götaverken with turbine.
Power 3920 hp
Speed 16.0 kts
After 1988 re-engined: 2x Wärtsilä/Vaasa 12V22D MD-C diesels.
Power 3240 kW.
Speed 17.0kts

Passenger capacity 1028
After 1972 conversion 742
After 1988 conversion 245
Cabin spaces. 333
After conversion 444
After conversion 249

Cars 50

Buses 4
After conversion 0

When I finished school I went working on Bore Line's ships and I recalled the old crew talking about the Bore, nicknamed "Zero Bore" because she had no number (in those days the Bore ships were named Bore 1,2,3...). One anecdote stuck to my mind about the Owner mr Hans von Rettig, tru to the nature of rich people, he was extremely stingy. So, the Owner's cabin onboard Bore was off limits all the time and it was used by him only when he traveled. The cabin had his private pyjamas and according to one lady she said it was so tattered that someone always had to patch it together after his stay as it ripped during the night. True or not, funny story...

Luckily Borea was not scrapped, like many others, after becoming "unseaworthy" after the SOLAS fire safety regulations tightened for cruise ships in 2010 making her not able to comply without a considerable investment and time in shipyard. My colleague had been as Chief Mate on her when she was Kristina Regina and I recall him saying she was becoming quite old and knackered needing a lot of TLC. Eventually she was sold by Kristina cruises and would have probably ended up in a scrapyard had she not been bought out by interests in Finland and she was relocated as a floating hostel in Turku.

Today she is still serving the public with 250 berths available for guests and various functions. She's been popular and mentioned in various online outlets like e.g. this blogger .

Bore has also been documented in Wikipedia and SSMaritime (as Kristina Regina) websites.