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Anniversary of one of Britains worst modern maritime disasters ...
It was the year that would see the new Queen Elizabeth crowned, indeed the year she would launch the excrutiatingly beautiful Royal Yacht BRITANNIA at John Brown's shipyard on the Clyde and in other maritime matters, this year would see the first sailing of a Roll On Roll Off ferry service on the English Channel, inaugurated by a rather elderly reconstructed vessel, the DINARD which had been built in Dumbarton by renowned channel packet builders Wm Denny in 1924.
But before all these wonderful events took place, the nation was brought to a sobering end of January when on 31st of that awful month of storm and rain, and on that particularly vile night of rough seas and howling gales, a Dumbarton-built ferry went down, taking with her 135 lives. She was a purpose-built car ferry on the Stranraer-Larne route and the manner of her going would inform ferry design and safety for the new generation of New Elizabethans.
The PRINCESS VICTORIA was a handsome motor vessel, the very first channel crossing car carrying ferry. Not strictly RoRo but getting close to the idea! She was built for LMS (London Midland and Scottish) Railway Ltd in 1947, the same year as that venerable paddler steamer that still plies the UK coasts today, the WAVERLEY, was built at Inglis on the River Clyde.
On the day that is this day's sad anniversary, she had left Stranraer and had just cleared the mouth of Loch Ryan when giant waves pounded into the stern of the little coastal liner. Such was the force that her stern doors buckled, letting water pour into the car deck.
It had been decided not to close her 'guillotine door', had this been done, in all likelihood this added protection would have saved the stern doors from being damaged.
The captain ( James Ferguson) decided it was best to make a return to the shelter of the Loch and made the command to make for the haven going astern, but the securing pin could not be released for the bow rudder due to the extreme conditions and unable to safely turn the vessel, he decided to make for Northern Ireland in such a manner as to minimise the exposure of the stern to the worst elements.
The ship was listing to starboard, one can only imagine the terror of everyone on board the vessel, especially as they would hear and probably feel the shifting cargo of cars below smashing around, further disabling the vessel's progress and increasing her alarming list.
Staggeringly the ship neared Northern Ireland, listing badly all the way, and an SOS was sent out. A destroyer, HMS CONTEST left Rothesay at all speed to find the ferry, but she too sustained damage when out in the wildness of the Irish Sea and her top speed of 31 knots had to be reduced to 16. She failed to find the vessel due to poor visibility at first; hampering her efforts was the fact that the PRINCESS VICTORIA was still limping towards Northern Ireland away from her last reported position.
At almost ten past one, after hours of terrifying battles with the sea, her engines succumbed and she stopped "on her beam end" east of the Copeland Islands by five miles. And there she drifted wildly lifeless in power, on her side.
Those who had made it into the lifeboats saw no rescues till after 3pm in the afternoon, weather hampering vision and indeed, other rescues were being performed in other parts of the west coast of Scotland during this storm that claimed 531 people around the UK.
Many acts of heroism took place when vessels found the survivors at last, with captains of merchant vessels who came on the scene later receiving MBE: James Alexander Bell of the LAIRDSMOOR, James Kelly of the PASS OF DRUMOCHTER, Hugh Angus of the ORCHY and David Brewster of the EASTCOTES.
Lt Cmdr Stanley McArdle and CPO Wilfred Warren of HMS CONTEST were awarded the George Medal for bravery in diving into the bitter waters to rescue survivors.
Despite these heoric efforts, and the fact that of the survivors there was not one of the ships officers, who clung to their posts, including the radio operator David Broadfoot who steadfastly kept working his radio to the bitter end (and was awarded a posthumous George Medal), despite this bravery and selfless devotion to duty, 135 persons never saw the remainder of that year nor any other, being engulfed by wave, or stayed on the sinking ship as it rolled over at just after 2pm.
No women or children survived. A lifeboat full of only women and children, presumably the first boat filled as is the custom, was reported to have smashed into the hull of the PRINCESS and went down with all aboard in the violence of the waves.
Of the 179 people on board that awful morning - 128 passengers and 51 crew - only 44 survived.
In modern times in coastal Britain it was a shock to the whole of the UK, but keener felt in the towns and counties around Northern Ireland and Scotland, touching many families in the two ports she served, and still to this day it plays over in their memories of what were happier days until the cruel sea intervened in the fates of their loved ones.