Storm Strands Ferry in South Devon Bay

13th November 2010

Thursday night's stormy seas forced a car ferry with more than 40 Irish-bound passengers to shelter in a south Devon bay.

The Herald Express in Devon reports that the Norman Voyager, which left Cherbourg on Wednesday night, was due to arrive in Rosslare by Thursday afternoon.

But stronger than usual winds from the Atlantic storm system persuaded the captain to forgo the usual refuge of Falmouth and take shelter in Torbay, rather than risk the 186-metre vessel in the turbulent waters of the Irish Sea.

Local Coastwatch member Brian Knowles spotted the ferry seven miles of Berry Head.

"It's very unusual to have a passenger ferry here," he said, remarking that 12 ships were anchored in Torbay and nearby Babbacombe Bay to shelter from Force 12 winds.

Published in Ports & Shipping

Tagged under

About The Author

MacDara Conroy

Email The Author

MacDara Conroy is a contributor covering all things on the water, from boating and wildlife to science and business

We've got a favour to ask

More people are reading Afloat.ie than ever thanks to the power of the internet but we're in stormy seas because advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news sites, we haven’t put up a paywall because we want to keep our marine journalism open.

Afloat.ie is Ireland's only full–time marine journalism team and it takes time, money and hard work to produce our content.

So you can see why we need to ask for your help.

If everyone chipped in, we can enhance our coverage and our future would be more secure. You can help us through a small donation. Thank you.