Marooned! Day trippers stranded on puffin island by a faulty ferry
ALMOST 80 people were left stranded on a remote island for two nights after their ferry broke down.
The boat, the MS Oldenburg, suffered major mechanical failure in a large swell on Saturday, leaving visitors stuck on Lundy Island 12 miles off the North Devon coast.
While some had booked in to stay for a night or two, others had just been planning to just spend the day on the island famous for its native puffins.
But 79 trippers were forced to spend two nights there, with some people sleeping in the church and on the floor of the island pub, the Marisco Tavern.
Officials said the MS Oldenburg appeared to have been fixed and was due to return to pick up the visitors last night. Island spokesman Vanessa Shaw said: ‘We would like to thank all the guests for their patience and understanding.’
Owen Polley, 35, from Bristol, was among those stranded. Mr Polley arrived on Lundy with his mother and unexpectedly spent Saturday night in a shared room with five strangers. he said: ‘We started hearing whispers about problems with the boat around lunchtime on Saturday. Then we were all told to go to the tavern.
‘They told us that the boat had broken and we couldn’t get home. They said they were sorting out accommodation but it is obviously very limited out here. everyone has been amazing. We’ve all been given free meals and drinks.’
Mr Polley said about 20 people slept on makeshift beds in the island’s church while others bedded down in the tavern. A small number of visitors who had to return to the mainland urgently, including an eye surgeon and a patient with a scheduled operation, were transported back by lifeboat on Sunday.
evacuee Jo King said: ‘They said there was a problem with the boat – they couldn’t moor it properly – and they were worried it was going to break up overnight. They were concerned we wouldn’t be going back as planned.’
Mrs King and her husband Derek spent Saturday night in a room in the island’s dairy. Mr King said: ‘It was very comfortable. There were people sleeping in the church, and in the old barn. But we were fortunate to end up in the dairy, which was as good as the accommodation we’d paid for.’
Lundy is three miles long and has been inhabited for 3,000 years. Its current population is about 28.
It received its current name from the Vikings in the 9th century, who called it Lund- ey, meaning Puffin Island. The island was sold in 1954 for £150,000 to the Landmark Trust and is kept as a ‘tranquil and unaffected place’.