Artemis: 6 crewmembers and a pilot from board and save. Little damage only.
At sea, the main Channel port of Dover closed as winds of up to 80 mph (130 kph) hit the south coast, preventing ferries from operating.
Further west a Swedish tanker with 13 crew on board got into difficulties off the Isle of Wight, coastguards said.
At least one coastguard tug was sent to help the stricken 11,000-tonne vessel. "We launched in force 11 winds," said lifeboat spokesman John Keyworth. "The eye of the storm one might say. It was pretty horrendous."
Prime Minister Gordon Brown held talks with emergency services chiefs on Sunday night, ahead of the widely forecast tempest.
The storm was described as a "potent cocktail of strong winds, wave action and high tides from tonight until Wednesday" by Simon Hughes of the Environment Agency.
The Agency issued seven severe flood warnings, along with 44 flood warnings, while Britain's Meteorological Office put severe weather warnings in place for all of England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
In France meanwhile an 88-metre (289 ft)-long cargo vessel, the "Artemis," ran aground on a beach at Sables-d'Olonne, on the Atlantic west coast, according to the local government office.
Slightly further north, in Britanny, a search resumed for a 26-year-old man missing since Sunday after falling in the sea in Relecq-Kerhuon, near the port city of Brest.
Topic: Vessels aground in storms... (Read 7002 times)