A former navy man has told how he refused to abandon ship when his luxury yacht was battered by Hurricane Ivan on the Caribbean Island of Grenada.

Ex-Merchant Navy caterer, Stephen Wooster, 53, who has been sailing his boat the Delphine around the Caribbean and Atlantic Oceans for the past two years, was woken by warnings of the impending hurricane.

Mr Wooster, of Southend, was in an area traditionally sheltered from storms, so thought mistakenly he would be safe to stay aboard and see it out.

He threw out three anchors and ropes to stabilise the yacht, but was stunned by the force of the gale when it hit.

He said: "At first, the boat started to buck up and down dramatically. By now, the wind was howling around me, I felt as though I was on a wild Alton Towers ride.

"When I went on deck to make sure everything was okay, the visibility just disappeared, in what I can only describe as an Arctic white-out."

He was forced to lie face down on deck for over an hour and his boat almost capsized as it was thrown around by 25 foot waves.

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