A baby was born in the middle of a river after her mum went into labour on a six-minute FERRY crossing.
Heavily pregnant Christine Greenwood was heading to hospital in the back of an ambulance when her daughter decided to arrive.
The emergency vehicle had just boarded the Torpoint ferry for the short crossing over the River Tamar between east Cornwall to Devon.
With no way off, paramedics delivered baby Jessica Maggie in the back of the ambulance before disembarking and completing the journey to Plymouth’s Derriford Hospital.
Christine and her 4lbs 67oz baby girl, born two weeks premature, were both fine despite the dramatic birth on July 27.
She and partner Matthew Windsor have three other kids, Brook Marie, four, Charlie, two and Skye, one.
Christine, from Torpoint, said: “I wasn’t in a panic because I thought I had at least a couple of hours to go.
“As soon as I was on the ferry everything started to happen and five minutes later Jessica was born.
“The paramedic who brought her into this world said it was his fourth delivery and he seemed quite pleased.”
Little Jessica was also born too quickly for Matthew to reach the hospital in time.
He said: “I missed the birth. When I got to Derriford Jessica had already arrived.”
Registry office staff said it was uncertain whether Jessica was actually born in Devon or Cornwall but they let the couple list Cornwall on her birth certificate.
They declined the opportunity to list the Torpoint Ferry as her official place of birth.
Christine added: “We thought Jessica would never live that down when she was growing up. We also thought that would look a bit odd on her passport.”
Jessica was delivered by paramedics Graham Mathieson and Lee Thirlby.
Ferry manager Rod Sugden said: “It’s all part of the service.”
