Stricken cargo ship Sinegorsk sheltering at Southampton docks

The 450ft Sinegorsk, now sheltering in Southampton docks, pictured, issued an alert in rough seas on Monday after it lost some of its load around 14 miles off the coast of Newhaven, East Sussex.

A spokeswoman for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said the wood was now spread across eight miles, with the main bulk of it floating around 12 miles south of Rye, East Sussex.

The vessel, which had come from Oskarshamn, Sweden, and was bound for Alexandria, Egypt, was subsequently forced to anchor off Sandown on the Isle of Wight in the Solent, while the damage was assessed and the rest of its load secured.

It was listing 15 degrees to one side when it lost the wood in rough seas, but this was reduced to between five and t e n degrees a f t e r m e m - bers of the 25- s t rong c r e w took ballast water into its starboard side to even it out.

The Receiver of Wreck, who is the authority in matters of wreck salvage, has been kept informed of the current situation in case the timber comes ashore.

An MCA spokeswoman said the agency would continue to assess tidal patterns and the weather to monitor where the wood floated.

Fred Caygill of the MCA warned that if the wood did come ashore there could be a “similar” situation to January last year when the Greekregistered Ice Prince sank about 26 miles south of Dorset.

Then, 2,000 tonnes of sawn timber floated up the coast to Sussex, resulting in the closure of beaches from Ferring in the west of the county to Brighton in the east.

A year earlier hundreds gathered to help themselves to containers which washed ashore following the grounding of the cargo ship MSC Napoli off the coast of Sidmouth, Devon.