Government officials remained tight-lipped yesterday as to what caused the Government ferry Bermudian to run aground at St. George's on Sunday night.

A spokesman at Bermuda Maritime Operations said yesterday that the tender remained hard aground, and an assessment was underway by Marine & Ports.

The extent of damage to the stricken vessel also remained unclear, with Mayor of St. George Kenneth Bascome saying it would have to wait until it is taken out of the water.

Pictures of the craft at the time it broke free do not appear to show a chain hanging over the bow, and The Royal Gazette understands that the ferry had been secured to a new mooring. Sources familiar with the mooring indicated it was likely that the mooring itself had held firm while the attachment on deck may have not.

Filmmaker Lucinda Spurling, who lives on Speaker's Drive, in St. George's, was filming the hurricane when she caught sight of the Bermudian shortly after it went adrift into the harbour and smashed to shore near Wellington Slip Road.

Ms. Spurling said: "The Bermudian ferry was tied up to a bollard right in front of my house. Before the hurricane we were all a little nervous about it.

"Early evening [on Sunday] I was filming the surf coming in. I was filming west out a side window. Suddenly I realised I could see the ferry going west toward the slip. I went next door to my uncle's house—at that time it had just happened and only the bow was up on the rocks. The back end was going backward and forward with the surf. We were worried that when the wind changed direction it was going to come back and hit our dock but that was at high tide. But it had gone up on its side by the time the wind changed."

Ms. Spurling estimated that the Bermudian went ashore quickly, over the course of about 20 minutes.

"We're just lucky it didn't hit our dock or take anything out," she said.

A large ferry with three decks, the Bermudian is used to convey cruise ship passengers to the town of St. George. It had been servicing the Veendam, which was scheduled to return to Bermuda on Tuesday of next week. With the ferry out of commission and no other conveyance from an offshore cruise anchorage, the Veendam will have to bypass the East End until the tender can be repaired.

"I'm hoping they can use one of the larger ferries if the Bermudian is deemed unworthy the rest of the season," said Mayor of St. George Kenneth Bascome, who saw the tender break its moorings. "There will have to be a full investigation into the cause. If there's an upside to this it will be that we can make modifications to the Town Cut channel."

Mr. Bascome had been unable to get a full assessment of the damage but said: "With it resting on its propeller, there's probably more damage than you can see with the naked eye. I believe that for insurance reasons alone it will have to be pulled out of the ocean before it can be serviced. Once they pull her out we can make a total assessment."