Travel Trident V breaks down en route to Herm

The 12.15pm departure to Herm was about five minutes out of St Peter Port Harbour, with 92 passengers on board, when excessive smoke was seen coming from the stern.

Skipper Craig Masterman said as soon as a passenger had made him aware of this, a crew member went down into one of the engine rooms.

‘It was clear to him straight away that there wasn’t a fire,’ said Mr Masterman.

It was found that the end of the turbo charger on the exhaust side had snapped off and the engine was shut down.

‘I notified the coastguard straight away and the fire service came to the harbour but they were not needed,’ said Mr Masterman.

‘The crew did a great job by keeping the passengers informed and calm and there was no risk to life or the boat.’

The vessel limped back to St Peter Port on its other engine.

Travel Trident manager Peter Wilcox said it was a great relief that there had not been a fire.

Had that been the case, a CO2 system on board would have kicked in and filled the engine room with foam but that could have put the vessel out of action for four or five weeks.

‘Trident VI was on an adjacent mooring. The first skipper was called in and 87 of the 92 passengers that had disembarked from Trident V left aboard it for Herm shortly before 1.15pm.

‘A couple of people were a bit nervous and did not want to go so we gave them their money back and some said they had changed their mind as the weather seemed to be changing,’ said Mr Wilcox.

He said The Maritime Coastguard Agency carried out annual structural inspections on the vessels and Guernsey Harbours did an audit that covered things such as crew training.

‘I think it showed that procedures are in place and that they work,’ said Mr Wilcox.