Red Funnel passengers stranded for hours as boat breaks down
Passengers onboard a Red Funnel passenger ferry were left floating for hours after an “engine failure” in a crossing from the Isle of Wight to Southampton.
Those taking the 1.30pm vehicle ferry sailing from East Cowes had their journey delayed after the Red Eagle “limped into Southampton Water and ground to a halt” halfway through the crossing.
The Red Eagle should have arrived in Southampton around 2.30pm, but it was spotted on marine trackers being pulled in to Town Quay by tug boat Wynforce at around 4.23pm.
Ged Ansell from Titchfield, who was returning to the mainland onboard the boat, said the boat stopped “about halfway across the Solent”.
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“There was a bit of a clunking noise when we got out of East Cowes, but I’m not sure if that was related,” Ged said.
“We got to Weston Shore and basically stopped, we were there for quite some time as a container ship came through and a subsequent ship.”
Ged said staff told passengers it was an “engine failure” and that the boat had to be moved to let another Red Funnel vessel through.
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“It was ironic, us who had got the earlier ferry watching the next one pass by us,” he said.
Ged explained that the Red Eagle was stopped near Weston Shore as a tug pulled it towards Southampton.
“The staff were very apologetic and they handed out refreshments,” he said.
“It’s just another annoying episode in the Red Funnel saga.”
The incident caused subsequent 60 minute delays to the 5.30pm sailing to East Cowes and the 4.30pm journey has been cancelled to “facilitate essential repairs to Red Eagle’s aft engine”, Red Funnel’s website said.
