AN inquiry is to be held early next week into the causes of a series of collisions between a cargo ship and several yachts in Teignmouth harbour.

The incident happened around 8pm last Thursday as the German coaster Petra F came into port under the guidance of a local pilot.

The vessel, carrying a cargo of wheat, hit at least three moored yachts, including one owned by Reg Matthews, the former harbourmaster, and another belonging to Shaldon district councillor Chris Clarance.

A meeting between the ship owner's surveyor and the yacht owners' insurance surveyor took place on Monday afternoon to begin to assess the full cost and liability for the damage.

Eyewitness Roy Lightfoot, secretary of Shaldon Sailing Club, had been working on a dinghy on Shaldon beach at around 7.50pm, when he saw the Petra F coming over the bar.

'It was about an hour to high water, and I was horrified because she should not have been there at that state of the tide,' he said. 'It was roaring in at full flood, and I stood there spellbound, expecting fireworks – and we got them.'

Mr Lightfoot said that the ship's stern was being swung round by the tide, bearing down on a seine rowing boat and the Shaldon club's safety boat moored on a Salty trot.

The ship then moved forwards, heading towards a line of moored yachts on the Teignmouth side, including Shoestring, Ginger and Irazu.

'Petra F was on the wrong side of the channel buoys, and I heard banging and clanging and the twanging of stressed rigging,' said Mr Lightfoot. 'Shoestring went right up on its bow and dropped down again. It was outrageous to bring in a ship under those conditions, without a very good reason. The docks weren't even working, and if they'd waited another 30 minutes the tide would have slacked off.'

Mr Matthews, owner of the £85,000 37ft Irazu – replacement cost £120,000 – rushed straight down from his home overlooking the harbour, when he saw his boat adrift.

'The coaster broke its mooring and it ended up on the back beach,' he said. 'Luckily I moor with a rope warp, and it cut free. Otherwise it could have sunk.'

He thanked friends Paul Barczok and Chris Williams who put a rope on Irazu and towed it away from the beach to a visitors' mooring.

Mr Matthews said that the pulpit had been smashed, the bow roller was bent and needed renewing – 'it's very heavy stainless steel that I had made for this harbour' – the port side was marked, and the rubber fender possibly damaged.

The gel coat on the side was also damaged, and the furling gear for the headsail was now stiff, 'but it was in good working order last week'.

'I gave the pilot a bit of abuse afterwards, and my wife said that it is very appropriate that Irazu is named after an active volcano in Central America,' said Mr Matthews. 'I have contacted the Royal Yachting Association's (RYA) legal department and they hope to arrange a meeting between the harbour commission, the pilots and myself.'

He added that he was unhappy with the numbers of pilots working the port of Teignmouth.

There always used to be a minimum of three working pilots, with one off duty, but now there were only two working, and one off duty.

'The problem with that is that pilots also moor the ships when they come alongside the berths, and they can only work one ship at a time,' he said. 'When they had three working pilots, two ships could enter port at the same time, one behind the other.'

In his opinion, the reason for the accident was that the Petra F had been brought in too early on the tide.

'It should have been brought in at slack water or just before,' he said.

Cllr Clarance confirmed that there had been considerable damage to his £30,000 yacht Ginger, a 35ft Jeanneau One design.

'Nobody wants that to happen to their boat, and I believe it is fair comment to question the timing of the ship's entry to the harbour,' he said.

Dave Bell and his partner Jackie Cummings, of Lyme Bay Road, Teignmouth, were on the back beach using a new digital camera, and took a sequence of photographs of the series of collisions, including the one shown with this report.

Harbourmaster Ian Hayward said on Monday that an inquiry would probably start 'early next week'.

'It is impossible to say at this stage exactly why it happened,' he said. 'Everyone has their own ideas but we must wait until we have heard all the evidence.'