Bermuda's newest catamaran ferry will begin its journey to the Island from Connecticut a week today.

The Ministry of Tourism and Transport said yesterday that the 300-plus seat which will be used for the East End commuter service ? was due to arrive here sometime on August 21.

Construction on the East End ferry dock, which will be the berth for the new ferry, is expected to begin early next month. It will be located just off King's Square, opposite Ordnance Island.

Construction is expected to take between four and six weeks but will not affect the commuter service, which will go ahead as planned.

A woman who had her handbag snatched in Hamilton chased the mugger up the street.

Police attended the scene of the offence at 1.45 am on Wednesday. The victim, a 31-year-old from Paget, told officers that she was walking with a female friend on Front Street, approaching the junction with Queen Street, when an unknown man ran up behind them and grabbed her purse. The man then ran up Queen Street towards the Bermuda Public Library, with the victim chasing him.

The suspect managed to elude the victim in the area of the Par-la-Ville car park. However, Police subsequently detained a 31-year-old Southampton man in connection with the offence. The white handbag was recovered, minus $50 in cash.

Several pieces of lumber measuring up to 16 feet in length were stolen from a construction site in St. George's earlier this week.

Police attended the scene of the reported theft at Government Hill Road on Tuesday morning. They were told by the foreman that the incident had occurred sometime between 4 p.m. on Monday and 7 a.m. on Tuesday.

After a wave of burglaries earlier this week, Police reported that a Carrier air conditioner was stolen from Francis Patton school in Hamilton Parish.

According to the school principal, some time between 8 p.m. on Sunday and 9 a.m. on Monday, an unknown culprit entered the property and removed the air conditioner from a window.

In a separate incident, visitors had US$250 and a small Louis Vuitton shoulder bag containing reading glasses and personal items stolen from their Pembroke guest room between 10 p.m. on Monday and 3.35 a.m. yesterday.

Police also received a complaint that sometime between 9 a.m. and 4.45 p.m. on Monday, while the complainant was away from her Long Ridge Pass, Devonshire home, an unknown culprit had entered the property taking $200 in cash as well as a gold ring.

A car was stolen while parked in front of the owner's Pembroke residence and seven PVC windows were also stolen from a construction site in Sandys, Police said.

The owner of the car stated that sometime between 6.30 p.m. on Wednesday and 5 a.m. yesterday, an unknown culprit removed her car ? a green Volkswagen Polo, licence number 39749 ? which was parked outside her Orchard Grove, Pembroke home.

Police also attended a reported theft from a construction site at the junction of West Side Road and Nursery Lane in Sandys on Wednesday.

The site manager told Police that some time between 12 noon on Monday and 8 a.m. on Tuesday, unknown culprits stole seven PVC windows. Four of the windows were three feet by five feet, two were three feet by four feet and one was six feet by five feet.