Overnight 27th-28th October a powerful storm, in U.K terms, crossed from the southwest towards the east/northeast before continuing on across The Netherlands and towards the Baltic countries. Dubbed St. Jude the gusts of wind peaked across England at 99.9mph (The Needles, I.o.Wight).

Various ports in its path suffered disruption with the port of Dover being closed for a time meaning some ferries had to ride out the storm at sea. Penzance based 1,346gt/1977 built Scillonian III was sent to Falmouth for safety before the storm arrived whereas the 40,859gt/2004 built Pont Aven had to divert from Roscoff to Brest on 27th October due to the worsening weather. A steering problem caused her to be withdrawn from service and reside at Brest for repairs at the Damen Shiprepair facility for 24-48 hours.

The 36,468gt/2001 built Peter Pan broke loose from her berth at Trelleborg on the afternoon of 28th October as the storm continued to wreak havoc. Stena Line’s 22,152gt/1989 built Stena Alegra (built as the Dawn Merchant) also went aground off Karlskrona and, once freed, was withdrawn from service until 17th November for repairs. Among the other casualties of the storm was the 92,293gt/2008 built container ship Maersk Salina which lost 45 containers during a stormy voyage from Cap Finistere towards the UK. The vessel was forced to take shelter and secure her cargo at Le Havre.