The incident happened during the 3.15pm sailing, amidst bad weather conditions, when a severe squall caused damage to panelling in the car deck area.

Though no cars were damaged the fault forced Caledonian MacBrayne to cancel the 4.45pm and 6.15pm crossings from Rothesay as well as the 5.30pm and 7pm crossing leaving Wemyss Bay.

Brian Fulton, Calmac's regional manager for the area, told The Buteman: "The ferry was damaged by a freak squall during the 3.15pm sailing from Rothesay.

"So it came alongside at Wemyss Bay, loaded up, and returned to Rothesay to be repaired."

The MV Argyle kept the Rothesay-Wemyss Bay route open with a reduced service and ferries every 90 minutes departing from both locations.

Normal service has since resumed with both ferries operating the usual timetable.

The Coruisk was brought in at the start of this week to cover the Rothesay-Wemyss Bay crossing after the MV Bute was taken away to a dry dock to receive its annual overhaul.

Thursday afternoon's disruption was the second such spell on the route this week, after an engine fault kept MV Argyle out of service for most of Tuesday.

Up-to-date information on the status of all CalMac's services is available by telephone on 08000 66 54 00 or at the 'Service Status' section on www.calmac.co.uk.

You can also have service information sent direct to your mobile; text CalMac, followed by the appropriate route code - 03 for Rothesay-Wemyss Bay and 04 for Rhubodach-Colintraive - to 60030.

Each text message costs 25p.