An inflatable dinghy full of men, women and at least three children made its way out to sea from Gravelines beach, north-east Calais, at daybreak on Friday morning.
As the boat came close to shore, a man waded through the water towards it with a baby on his shoulders.
There were no police on the beach as the boat made its way out to sea monitored by a French coastguard vessel.
Those who could not get on the boat walked back towards the sand dunes.
At 9am local time, a boat full of young men was overtaken by local fishing vessels as it motored along a canal linking the town’s quay to the sea.
At about 5.30am, a group of 40 people appeared from a quiet side street in the town carrying an inflatable boat over their heads before launching it into the canal.
Police officers watched on from the shore as the driver of the boat struggled to keep it in a straight line.
Earlier in the night, a group of migrants linked arms to form a human chain down a steep bank to haul people out of the mud after a failed attempt to launch a boat in the canal.
People walking along the seafront stopped to look, including an angry British tourist who said he was “never coming back to France”.
“Where are the police? They’re doing nothing,” he said.
Meanwhile, a second migrant has been deported to France under the Government’s “one in, one out” deal.
An Eritrean man who lost a High Court bid to halt his removal was on a flight that left Heathrow for Paris at 6.15am on Friday.
