AFTER a 26-day saga littered with delays, errors and a near shipwreck, two car ferries are on their way to Mauritius. The Thor Gitta cargo ship finally departed Galway port at high tide at 8.45am yesterday morning, with the Clann Eagle and Clann na nOilean car ferries onboard. The two former Aran ferries were owned by a Galway-based businessman but were sold to a French company when he got into financial difficulties.

The apparently straightforward project to bring them to their new home in Mauritius hit choppy waters from the start when the original cargo ship sent to collect them dragged its anchor on to rocks. The Thor Gitta was called in but its first attempt to lift a ferry was spoiled when a lifting strap failed. Some days later it was placed under arrest by order of the Irish Admiralty Marshal.