The Shotley foot ferry to Harwich and Felixstowe is likely to be out of action for the rest of the season after sea water got into the engine.

High winds caused the ferry to break free of her moorings at the Ha'penny pier, Harwich last night and then took on water. She was swept around the pontoon and ended up stuck under the gangway down from the pier to where she she was originally tied up.

A crew from Harwich Haven Authority went to help and eventually secured the ferry, which used to be a lifeboat on board luxury cruise liner SS Canberra.

The ferry had not been running yesterday and nobody was on board and no-one was hurt in the incident.

Ferry owner Christian Zemann will assess the damage and is also considering whether to use a back up boat to continue the service until the end of October, as originally scheduled.

The RNLI boat had already moved to a safer haven in the Navyard when the gales started coming in on Thursday.

Meanwhile, RNLI and Coastguards crews have been busy over the past 72 hours rescuing a number of vessels that had broken loose from their mooring on the rivers Stour, Orwell and Deben.

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