14th May 2007
Captain is suspended after Condor collision
An HD Ferries captain was suspended after his catamaran collided with a vessel from rival Condor Ferries. He later resigned. No passengers had been aboard at the time but it was an unfortunate incident for HD Ferries, which had only started running its service between the Channel Islands and France two months earlier.
Tricky beginnings
The service had got off to a difficult start, with the first crossing from St Helier suffering engine problems, delaying its arrival when it made the journey on just three of its four engines. On its second day, it cancelled a crossing, and offered passengers a refund, or tickets for Condor. On the fourth day, it cancelled crossings from Guernsey because of the height of the waves, and the following day all crossings from both Guernsey and Jersey were cancelled for the same reason.
The 14 May collision wasn’t the only coming together that HD Ferries and Condor suffered that year, either. Just over two months later, an HD Ferries vessel was coming into port at St Helier, this time with passengers aboard, when it struck a Condor vessel that was loading passengers for a crossing to the mainland.
The Condor ferry was only scratched but the HD Ferries vessel was holed in several places. The holes were above the waterline, so there was no imminent danger of sinking, but it put the vessel – HD1 – out of action until a repair could be actioned.
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Other events that occured in May
Jersey prisoners’ liberation revealed by the Foreign Office
- Channel Islanders who had been sent to prisons in mainland Europe during the Occupation were liberated in April 1945.
- Read more…
An Occupation escape attempt goes wrong
- Three Jersey men were captured when their wartime escape attempt failed. They were sent to mainland Europe where Maurice Gould died.
- Read more…
Captain is suspended after Condor collision
- An HD Ferries captain was suspended after his catamaran collided with a vessel from rival Condor Ferries. He later resigned.
- Read more…
Jersey hosts UK’s first post-war Grand Prix
- British driver Reg Parnell won the 1947 Jersey International Road Race, considered to be the UK's first post World War II Grand Prix race.
- Read more…