Paul Amos's photo of the ferry Hengist beached after the 1987 storms

It became one of the abiding images of the Great Storm of 1987 – the 5,500-ton Sealink passenger ferry Hengist tossed like a piece of matchwood on to the beach at Folkestone.

This dramatic picture was taken by Kentish Express photographer Paul Amos (pictured below), then a freelance photographer.

Paul said: “My mobile was ringing with national newspapers preparing me to venture out as soon as it was light.

"Because of the storm normal land phone lines were down and the mobile network overcrowded and getting a signal was almost impossible.

“At daybreak I headed out and photographed the storm damage, trees, bins, cables and so on. Everything was all over the roads and you had to be careful driving. The weather was still very windy.

The Hengist is now the Agios Georgios and is operated by Ventouris Sea Lines of Greece, covering the Aegean Sea

“I eventually made my way to East Cliff, Folkestone to photograph the beached Hengist.

"I had to lay down as the wind made using the long lens needed a little bit tricky. After shooting the stranded vessel I then drove to The Times in London who used this picture on their front page.”

The Hengist had been forced to put to sea on the night of October 15/16 when its lines kept breaking from its mooring at Folkestone Harbour, but the sea was so rough the waves almost capsized it.

Falling machinery damaged the alternator, causing it to lose all electrical power and the Hengist then drifted helplessly before being driven ashore below The Warren.

The vessel was badly damaged and holed after being impaled on part of the concrete sea defences.

The huge ferry remained beached for nearly a week and was not fully repaired until January the following year.

The Hengist continued its cross-Channel career until Sealink Stena, as the company had become, closed its Folkestone-Boulogne route in 1991, and a year later the vessel was sold to Greece.

Now named the Agios Georgios, the Hengist was rebuilt in 2009 and is ending its days plying the tourist trade in the calmer, bluer waters of the Aegean Sea.