Did Tintin sail on a boat from Liège?

prince baudouin photo andré Caput

When Hergé published The Black Islandin 1938, he showed Tintin narrowly climbing aboard a ferry to England. This ferry was the Prince Baudouin trunk, built entirely by S.A. John Cockerill. It was the first boat with a Sulzer-Cockerill diesel engine. Engines built at the Seraing plant in the suburbs of Liège. Commissioned in 1931 with the help of public subsidies, the Prince Baudouin was intended to replace the old cargo ships sunk during the First World War.

Launched on September 16, 1933, in the presence of Queen Astrid and 3-year-old Prince Baudouin, she made her maiden voyage to Dover in the summer of 1934. At the time, the Prince Baudouin was the fastest ship in the world. She sailed from Ostend to Dover in 3 hours, at a speed of 25 knots (46 km/h). Her length and draught were exceptional for her time. The mechanical installation and all auxiliary machinery are electric.

But what really stands out is the luxury and spaciousness enjoyed by the 1,500 passengers. From the restaurant at the front of the train, wide windows offer unobstructed views. The halls, staircases, restaurants and smoking room are made of polished wood from the Belgian Congo, manufactured in John Cockerill's carpentry workshops. The furnishings and decor are the work of architect and decorator Henry Van de Velde, one of the founders of Art Nouveau in Belgium.

Technical innovations were just as remarkable: electric heating and galley, remote fire detection, soundproofing of the engine room, wireless telephony for passengers..

A sign of the times, second-class travel is on the rise, enabling many people unable to pay first-class fares to afford the trip. And this^2nd class was far more comfortable than the ^1st class on the steamships that preceded Prince Baudouin! This trend was even more pronounced for the ships built later:Prince Albert, launched in 1937, andPrince Philippe, two years later.

The model of the Prince Baudouin is on display at the Maison de la Métallurgie et de l'Industrie in Liège. But Tintin was long gone... In 1965, the album L'île noire was updated by Bob de Moor, and the Prince Baudouin trunk was replaced by a newer ferry.

^{Further information: DAUWE e.a., L'évolution des Malles Ostende-Douvres from Bulletin de la Société Belge des Ingénieurs et des Industriels, 1935}