On 17 June, there were still about waiting ashore, many at St Nazaire and ferrying men to the big ships offshore resumed early in the morning, soon joined by lighters, tenders and destroyers. The men being transported were reinforcements and lines-of-communication troops, tradesmen, labourers, mechanics and engineers of the Royal Army Service Corps (RASC), pioneers and tradesmen in RAF maintenance units from Nantes aerodrome. Several merchantmen and railway ferries from the Dover–Calais route were among the armada off St Nazaire but the largest ship was the "Lancastria" of the Cunard Line. "Lancastria" was normally permitted to carry and but in the emergency Captain R. Sharp was ordered to take as many troops as could be crammed on board. Among the military personnel were about including embassy staff, men from Avions Fairey in Belgium and their families.