BBCTonnes of fresh food and drink had to be airlifted to the Isles of Scilly after the cargo ship usually used to transport supplies was damaged.
Gry Maritha left Penzance on Friday evening as scheduled and arrived in St Mary’s later that evening.
However, while alongside, the vessel experienced higher-than-forecast conditions, which resulted in damage to the boat which had to sail back to Penzance without discharging its cargo, its operator Isles of Scilly Freight said.
The company has thanked Lands End and St Mary’s airports, which extended their flying hours, while SkyBus operated an additional six freight flights, which carried more than four tonnes of supplies in total.
It said higher-than-forecast swell conditions, had resulted in damage to the forward windlass and windlass shaft of the vessel.
Jay Cowen, from the Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust, said the issues with the boat had left a shortage of fresh food on the islands.
“In the shops it is pretty much first come, first served but this has happened before so it is nothing new to anybody.
“Personally I have a few friends who have got a healthy crop of potatoes so I think we may be on potato and leak soup for the next few days.”
‘Too dangerous’
Nick George runs a number of pubs on the mainland and the Isles of Scilly.
He said: “This time we are OK, with it being Christmas quite a few people would’ve got things in earlier.
“All in all they have done a pretty good job with the sailings, we got all our stuff in on Wednesday’s boat.”
He added: “These things happen, they couldn’t do anything about it – it even got to Scilly which was the heartbreaking thing.
“A metre off the quay and it couldn’t offload – she couldn’t drop anchor and it was a fair swell so she couldn’t stay there, it was too dangerous.”
The Gry Maritha was built in 1981 and is due to be replaced in 2026.
