Almost 80 passengers planning a day trip to Southend ended up with a tour around a shipwreck when the maiden voyage of Sheppey's new ferry service was scuppered by strong winds, tides and a lost gangplank on Saturday.

All sailings on Sunday and Monday were cancelled.

Dave Wilcock, 52, who runs Island Cruises, said: “I’d like to apologise to everyone. We are all gutted.”

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He was holding emergency talks with Queenborough Harbour Trust on Tuesday to decide if sailings will resume this weekend.

A tea cruise went ahead on Wednesday afternoon and a sunset cruise was planned for Friday.

The maiden voyage of the 145-seat Spirit of Sheppey began badly when the crew were unable to find a missing gangplank at Southend Pier, which delayed departure from Queenborough’s all-tide landing stage by almost two hours.

Customers were offered free tea and coffee at the Flying Dutchman pub while they waited.

The ferry, under the control of stand-in skipper Edmund ‘Eddie’ Hadnett from Sittingbourne, then encountered high winds and a racing tide and had to zig-zag across the estuary to keep the boat steady, doubling the 45-minute journey time.

Passengers booked for a return trip were unable to land and were given a tour of the wreck of the Richard Montgomery bomb ship off Sheerness instead.

More problems surfaced when the boat returned to Queenborough and discovered luxury yachts moored four abreast alongside the all-tide landing stage.

A disappointed Mr Wilcock, who with his investors has sunk almost £190,000 into launching the service, admitted: “Coupled with the tide and wind we found it very difficult to tie up and nudged one of the boats as we came alongside. Luckily, no one was hurt. But it was another huge learning curve. Everything just conspired against us.

“We are only a small company. This was never set up to make a lot of money but to give Sheppey an added attraction. Luckily, we still have the support of Islanders. We are hoping it will be third time lucky soon.”

His first attempt three weeks ago was postponed when refurbishment work on the boat overran because of bad weather.

Even so, it had been a race against time to get the ferry ready for Saturday. It only received its passenger certificate from the Marine Coastguard Agency on Friday and Mr Hadnett, 60, a Royal Navy veteran, was still completing his exemption certificate to sail the Thames Estuary without a pilot until the last minute. He replaced skipper Alastair Oliver, who was taken ill, with four weeks' notice.

Among those on board was grandma Tracey Weedon, 54, of Queenborough Drive, Minster who was taking her five grandchildren to Southend for the first time.

Speaking before she went she said: “I joined Island Cruises as a member because it is a good thing for the Island. Hopefully, it will be a good day. The last time I went to Southend was 35 years ago. I imagine it is the same seaside town as it ever was. Sheerness doesn’t offer a lot. If this is available for Islanders to pop over, all the more the better.”

John Longhurst from Rushenden, Brett Adams from Queenborough and Simon Morris from Sheerness booked tickets so they could watch the Brand New Heavies and Incognito perform at the Southend Soul Festival on Saturday and were planning to sail back on Sunday. Island Cruises hired a minibus to take them back to the Island.

Mr Adams' wife Adrienne said: "We had a great time and Dave Wilcock couldn't have been more helpful. He kept in touch over the weekend and booked a taxi to bring us back on the Sunday. We will definitely use the ferry again."

But John Pitts, secretary of Sittingbourne Football Club, was not impressed.

He said: “The boat eventually departed around 11.30am, one-and-three-quarter hours after it should have done. We heard on board we would have to leave Southend at 3.30pm although our tickets said 4pm. But this got worse.

“We were told that because of the tides and the repositioned gangway we would have to leave at 2pm. We arrived at Southend Pier at around 12.50pm but it took half an hour to get the boat docked meaning we would only have three-quarters of an hour instead of the five hours we had been promised.

“But it got even worse. We were told that because of the ‘unsafe gangway’ only passengers on a one-way trip would be allowed to land. The boat departed 15 minutes after it berthed and then took an age to get back to Queenborough.

“On the way, it circumnavigated the Richard Montgomery, something I might have been interested in, if that was why I had booked the trip.

"The whole thing was a disaster from start to finish...” - John Pitts

"By now my wife and I only wanted to get back to Queenborough as we and others were totally fed up. Once we reached Queenborough, no berthing position was available. After much manoeuvring, we finally docked. From my point of view, this was a complete waste of a day. The whole thing was a disaster from start to finish.”

A retired Medway pilot who was on board blamed problems on Southend Pier and inexperience.

He said: "The crossing itself was fine but the intermediate platform at Southend Pier is now inaccessible. Pressure should be put on Southend council to bring it back into action. And the stand-in skipper lacked experience with the boat. The reason there were no berths on the return to Queenborough was that the ferry returned two hours earlier than planned."

Island Cruises says it is building a new gangplank for the pier.

Charlie Davis wrote on the company's Facebook page: "We all enjoyed the day despite the problems. There were bound to be hiccups for the first service. It was nice to do something different, though. I’m sure once the issues have been sorted this will be great for the Island. I’ll definitely be looking at doing it again."

Matt Whiting said: "Hiccups or not, me and my son had a great time! Yeah, it didn't go to plan but I will be re-booking in the near future for sure."

And Wendy Norton posted: "We had an amazing day sailing. The crew tried so hard to do everything in its power to make the maiden trip memorable for everyone. There were always going to be hiccups. Can't wait to sail with you again."

* Were you on the maiden voyage? What did you think? Email jnurden@thekmgroup.co.uk