Two RNLI lifeboats and three Coastguard Rescue Teams were called out to help search for possible survivors after a Red Funnel ferry collided with yachts in Cowes Harbour, Isle of Wight, on Sunday morning, October 21. The Contessa 32 Greylag was sunk in the collision which occurred during heavy fog. In a statement the Maritime and Coastguard agency said a call had been received suggesting cries for help had been heard from within Cowes Harbour. An extensive search of the area with Cowes RNLI Lifeboat, Calshot RNLI lifeboats and Coastguard Rescue Teams from Bembridge, Needles and Ventor was carried out but nobody was found and nobody was reported missing, the MCA said. The cries turned out to be a sailor onboard his own vessel in the harbour trying to alert the officers on the bridge of the ferry.
The 3,953 ton ferry Red Falcon, ran aground in Cowes shortly after 8am, none of the 40 passengers on board was hurt and the ferry itslef was apparently unscathed. A spokesman for Red Funnel made a public apology for the incident adding that the captain and mate on the ferry had been suspended and that the company was reviewing its procedures for operating in limited visibility.
Reports noted that this was the third time Red Funnel was involved in an incident with pleasure craft in less than a month. The MCA is already looking into an incident where the Red Falcon was involved in a collision with a motor cruiser on September 29. And two days before that the Red Eagle, was involved in another collision in dense fog, involving a catamaran and a channel marker post.
Meanwhile the owner of Greylag saw the wreck of his yacht raised yesterday and wants £200,000 to replace her. The BBC reported Nigel Minchin, who has cruised the yacht for 40 years, saying the stern of Greylag had been ripped off in the impact and he had asked Red Funnel chief executive Fran Collins for the “full replacement value”, although her current insurance value was considerably less. Greylag’s wreckage is now in a local boatyard and will be examined as part of the MAIB investigation.
Red Funnel, which employs around 460 people, carries 2.3 million passengers and more than 857,000 vehicles on its ferry route between Southampton and East Cowes plus over 1.1 million passengers between Southampton and West Cowes on its footpassenger Red Jet Hi-Speed service.