A man thought to be a Sudanese migrant attempted to steal a fishing boat and take it to France to 'collect his family'.

The 30-year-old man boarded the shellfish trawler in the early hours of today while the crew were asleep in their bunks – and tried to take it out to sea.

He started the engine and revved it so hard that the mooring ropes snapped, according to one of the trawlermen.

The man was 'insisting' they take him to France to 'collect his family', he added.

The immigration status of the arrested man remains unclear. The Home Office has been approached for further details.

Police swooped on the incident at Royal Harbour in Ramsgate, Kent, just after 3am.

The man gained entry to the Carousel, a commercial trawler which fishes for whelks in the Channel.

It is co-owned by Lynn Shellfish, a third-generation wholesaler based in King's Lynn, Norfolk.

Skipper Olly Swift wrote on Facebook: 'Just had the Carousel stolen by an immigrant with all the lads in their bunks.

'He got onto the boat, started the engine and slapped the throttle down to the dash which snapped the mooring ropes and they've ended up out in the middle of the harbour.

'He was insisting to take him to France to collect his family!

'The lads managed to get on top of the situation and get the boat back alongside the wall and get new ropes back on.'

Mr Swift told the Daily Mail he feared the vessel could be a write-off due to damage caused during the incident.

The father-of-two, who co-owns the boat, said: 'I got this call from the lads who were on it and I thought it might be a wind-up at first.

'This bloke was yelling to get him to France. He's caused so much damage. He was using the steering wheel trying to get it to move but that doesn't get the boat moving.

'He had no clue what he was doing. He's caused no end of problems for me. I'm fuming.

'How on earth has this happened?

'He's put people's lives at risk. The crew could have died. He was like a man possessed. The lads were scared for their lives.'

Mr Swift, 31, who lives locally, said potential damage to the engine's electricity power supply and loss of earnings could put him out of pocket to the tune of £100,000.

He added: 'He could have written the whole thing off, I don't know yet.

'The boat is my pride and joy.'

Steven Williamson, managing director of Lynn Shellfish, said: 'It's the first time we've ever had anything like this happen. It's very novel.

'These people must be very desperate to resort to this type of thing, to think they can get across the Channel.

'It was a threat to his own life, a threat to the vessel and to navigation across the Channel.

'It's very lucky that the crew were onboard to stop him.' 

A spokesman for Kent Police said: 'Kent Police was called at 3.17am on Tuesday November 3 to a report of a theft in progress at Royal Harbour, Ramsgate.

'It is reported that an attempt was made to take a boat to sea and ropes were damaged.

'Officers attended and a 30-year-old Sudanese man was arrested in connection with the incident.

'He remains in custody while enquiries to establish the circumstances continue.'

Writing on X, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said he had spoken to Mr Swift in the wake of the incident, adding: 'Our country sinks deeper every day.' 

The incident came after 1,670 migrants reached Britain from the Continent over just four days between Thursday and Sunday.

It marked the busiest four-day period so far this year.

It took the total number of arrivals since Andy Burnham became Prime Minister past the 10,000 mark, to 10,136.

Since Labour came to power in July 2024 the running total is 87,319.