If you frequently find yourselves craving ice-cream while sailing, you could be in luck … because the world’s first amphibious ice-cream van has set sail on the River Thames.

The bizarre vessel – which has a top speed of five knots and chimes Rod Stewart’s classic We Are Sailing – has fittingly been dubbed the HMS Flake 99.

It was the brainchild of David Mounfield, a stand-up comedian from Brighton, who got to realising his dream after winning an online competition.

David captained the amphib-ious ice-cream van along the famous London river, much to the surprise of commuters on the riverbank … though none seemed desperate enough for an ice-cream to swim over to him.

The HMS Flake 99 was specially commissioned by Fredericks, makers of Cadbury’s ice-cream, to mark National Ice-Cream Week which ended yesterday. It will now go on a nationwide tour of Britain’s beaches.

A spokesperson for the firm said: “We are now considering taking the remarkable vehicle across the Channel and onto the canals of Venice to champion Britain’s beaches and give our continental cousins the ultimate taste of the British summertime.”