‘70 boats block their port and Jersey can’t send anyone?’

‘If you go in, you run a real risk of having your boat impounded and ruining your career’

‘If we kick the French out of our waters, we can catch more but you can’t sell it to Europe’

had also sent two patrol boats to the area – Athos and FS Themis – in response to British “intimidation” although they kept well away.

The initial plan was simply a show of strength before turning and leaving, but when the radio crackled into life, it became clear that the skippers from Normandy and Brittany were bent on more than a mere sailpast.

“I haven’t come all the way from Saint-malo for this. I’m going into the port,” shouted one. “That would be very foolish,” said a Norman colleague.

“If you go in, you run a real risk of having your boat impounded and ruining your career.”

“I’ve got an Englishman on board,” said Mr Andreani, sparking an outbreak of mirth and mutterings of walking the plank.

To break the deadlock, Chris Le Masurier, 45, skipper of the 27m Normandy Trader, one of a few Jersey vessels to come out in support of their Gallic counterparts, offered to broker talks with local officials.

But as the clock ticked and it became clear that no Jersey official would be forthcoming, blood pressures started to rise. “This is taking the p---,” said one French fisherman over the radio. “There are 70 boats blocking their port and they can’t send anyone. In that case, we stay put.”

Mr Le Masurier said: “I don’t know what the Jersey lot are playing at. I told them, ‘come on guys, I’ve managed to appease the French and stop them coming into the port but can’t hold on forever’. But two hours later, they’re still mucking about.”

He said he was “sympathetic to both sides. “I deal with the French every week and since Brexit we’ve had to find ways round this bureaucratic rubbish,” he said. “There are ways to deal with the French, and that’s normally sitting round a table over lunch. We’re in an awkward position. We are steaming into French ports with Jersey shellfish on board right under their noses, so we have to be diplomatic.

“But unfortunately, Jersey fishermen are being led by a fishermen’s association that has a couple of bosses that are anti-french – there is no way to dress it up. They are very short-sighted as they say if we kick the French out of our waters, we can catch more. But if you can’t sell it to Europe, what are you going to with it? We need that access.”

But Don Thompson, president of Jersey Fishermen’s Association, urged the Jersey government to stand firm.

He said: “The French fishermen out there want conditions removed from their licences so that they can fish with no constraints in our waters, whilst our boats are subject to all sorts of conditions about how much they can catch and where they can go.”

It would be “grossly unfair” if the Government does “capitulate to that”, he said, adding that such tactics might be used “again and again in the future”.

Finally, talks got under way and the blockade was eased. A cargo boat was allowed to sail out.

Back on L’omerta, Mr Andreani said it would be far better if there were fewer middle men.

“The problem is our hands our tied. (The Jersey government) has to pass everything to London and we have to go through Brussels, then Paris and Normandy and Brittany fishermen. No wonder it’s a mess.”

After 10 hours at sea, the hopeful French flotilla finally started chugging back to the mainland. However, as it approached the Normandy coast, word got out that Jersey was refusing to budge. Predictably, the French were furious and vowed to return with a vengeance.

Cyril Piraud, the skipper of a Normandy boat called The Pearl, demanded France make good its threat to cut off electricity to the island. “We’re calling on Annick Girardin, the Minister of the Sea, to put her threats into action,” he said.

Aboard L’omerta, crewman “Popeye” warned: “We will go back, and next time it will be war. It’ll be just like in Port-en-bessin,” – a reference to the site of recent scallop wars with British fishermen in the Channel.

Then, to add insult to injury, French navy patrol boats they thought were being dispatched to offer support ended up stopping a couple of Gallic fishing boats to check over their papers.

“And we thought they were on our side,” said Mr Andreani.