Hurricane Ike which smashed ashore at Galveston, Texas last week, has sunk, crushed and damaged ‘hundreds if not thousands of boats’ according to BoatUS surveyors.

The damage was caused when the tidal surge as well as the storm hit the coast last Saturday.

Mike McCook, head of a 15-strong team from BoatUS, said: ‘The damage to boats and marinas is very broad and spread out along 400 miles of coastline.’ He spoke to the manager of one marina – Watergate marina in Kemah, Texas, who told him that of the 1,200 boats on his pontoons, 300 were sunk.

‘I’ve also heard that dozens of boats in the Houston Yacht Club in La Porte were badly damaged.’ added McCook.