[1] The Stoomvaart Maatschappij Zeeland was founded in June 1875 and opened a service from Vlissingen to Sheerness in Kent on July 26 of that year.

However, poor support led to the service being suspended for the following winter and re-opened on May 15, 1876 to nearby Queenborough.

During this period, competition from the Great Eastern Railway's services to Harwich had grown and forced the company to invest in 3 new vessels from Fairfields of Govan.

In 1927 an agreement was reached with the London and North Eastern Railway to switch the service to Harwich, and that agreement was further enhanced in 1946 after World War II when services were moved to the Hook of Holland, the company's facilities at Flushing having been destroyed during the hostilities.

In the meantime, British Railways had taken over from the LNER at Harwich in 1948 and the service evolved to a full co-operation, the two companies providing the night [B.R.]