Great Storm 1987

"At the time I was a Foreign Exchange cashier onboard the Sealink cross-Channel ferry St Christopher. On that night we left Calais bound for Dover just after midnight - the weather was still and warm, we had approximately 90 passengers onboard and the lower car deck was fully loaded - the top car deck was empty.

Screaming

About an hour after leaving Calais there was an enormous bang, and the ferry tilted hard to Starboard, everything slid across the lounge and ended up in a heap against a bulk head, including some of the people in the lounge. In an instant the lights went out and we heard the engines stop and the sound of them trying to start. Somewhere onboard a woman was screaming very loudly. 

After a minute or two the engines started and the lights came back on - the lounge looked like a bomb had hit it, everything smashed and in a pile.

Flooded

It turned out that an abnormal wave had hit the upper bow door of the ferry and split it open like a piece of paper, the car decks were flooded as was the engine room, stalling the engines. 

We were told afterwards that the ferry had listed 39% and had even a car been on the top car deck it would have been enough to turn us over. As it was the vehicles on the lower car deck were smashed to pieces, a lorry fell over on a VW camper van which ended up about 2ft high.

When we finally got to Dover at 2.15pm the car deck had to be unloaded with fork lift trucks and cranes - it took 3 days. 

My journey home from Dover to Ash near Canterbury was shocking, the debris and trees down I could never have imagined - but my cottage - the only one in the street with NO damage at all..."

Pandora Phelan was also on board the St. Christopher that night. This is her story...

"I started the journey in the duty free shop but within minutes it was too dangerous to be in there because boxes were falling off shelves etc. All the staff ran out of the shop. There was a fair bit of panic.

My friend was out on deck and two stewards helped me get her back in because the wind was forcing the door shut. When we got her in she was completely drenched from head to foot. The steward got her a blanket.
It is a miracle she was not swept away. She told me that she was swept along a short distance but had grabbed onto a pole for dear life.

I asked her if she wanted a stiff drink, We went to the bar and the poor barman was up to his ankles in broken glass that had fallen from the shelf above his head.

We got one drink and then he closed the bar. By this time everything was closed and I just got us a seat near the lifeboats. I was unsure how useful a lifeboat would be in this situation.

People were crying

The ferry was seriously leaning to the right and a lorry driver informed me that loads of lorries had fallen over. I thought he was trying to wind me up. He said "come and look for yourself" so I went with him and as we got to the stairs next to the car deck there was a lorry crashed into the side of the staircase. He also told me that one of the big waves had damaged the door to the car deck and that the ship was taking in water. I also saw staff trying to pump it back out.

The restaurant was covered in sugar sachets and salt and pepper. People were crying and praying. The only thing that worked was a horoscope machine so there was a big queue for that. My horoscope said.

'keep travel plans minimum until the weekend.'"