B&I put passengers up in hotels until the ferry sailed, 24 hours late.
The ferry, he was told, had sailed on time.
Permission was eventually granted and the last ferry sailed on October 31, 1978.
We eventually arrived in Dunkirk at 2.00pm with a three hour wait until our ferry sailed.
Cars often had to wait, and if the ferry sailed with full capacity, there was no room for passengers to leave their vehicles.
The ferry also sails in the winter months, but there are few tourists on these trips and therefore only a crew of 20-25 is needed.
The last ferry to the Isle of Man sailed in 1961.
The announcement said the first ferries for Corsica would sail in the evening.
A port official had told him that the ferry was sailing in two hours for the Dodecannese islands.
Ferries sail to there from Portsmouth and other mainland sites.