Red funnel use a different prow arrangement than Wightlink, however, in my opinion, there are a couple of things that could have gone wrong. As Pompeyfan said, this is so familiar with the Captains, that I can't believe it was purely human error. The Red Funnel ships are similar to Wightlink C Class ships - whereby they have one engine either end. If the forward facing engine was to fail, through a problem - or, as is more likely in todays' winds, the old man pulling the sticks back too soon (thereby overspeeding the engine), the ship would not be able to effectively maneuvre into the 'jaws' of the linkspan.
The Red Funnel ships carry a Chief and Motorman ( I think ), same as Lymington. When I'm in Lymington, I am not engine room based, but the alarms ring in my cabin and the bridge - so I can always be in touch. When I have had an overspeed coming into Yarmouth, I have always managed to start the engine long before any problems could arise.