After all the captain never abandons ship, even when it’s been washed up on the beach.

Mr Edmondson’s boat was stuck fast on the sand at Peterborough yesterday, after dragging anchor in the early hours of the morning.

He was at anchor in Newfield Bay after travelling from Apollo Bay with a deckhand when the incident happened about 4am.

Mr Edmondson said there was no damage apart from a bent cray pot lifting arm.

“We’re pretty lucky really. There are rocks and a reef that we could have easily hit and sunk,” he said.

“There’s no damage and we haven’t lost any pots or anything like that.”

The bizarre sight brought plenty of onlookers to the beach yesterday, many posing for photos in front of “the shipwreck”. Mr Edmondson said a specialised tugboat had been called from Tasmania and was expected to arrive on Tuesday next week to pull the boat back into deeper waters.

“I just want to get off the bloody beach and back to work,” he said.

But until then there is little else to do other than sit back and take in the view and wait.

“I suppose there are worse places to be stuck,” Mr Edmondson quipped.