Princess Victoria Disaster Remembered 50 Years On

The "Great Storm" of January 1953 brought widespread devastation to the whole of the British Isles and the near Continent. There was extensive flooding in Holland as the dykes were breached. Belgium and Eastern England also got hit as the low air pressure produced exceptionally high tides that were driven ashore by hurricane force winds. There was much loss of life but few places would have felt it so keenly as the tight knit communities of Larne and Stranraer that had to contend with the worst peacetime maritime disaster in British waters when the car ferry Princess Victoria (IV) was lost on her routine passage from Larne to Stranraer.

The fourth named Princess Victoria in happier times in service between Larne and Stranraer. Photo: Dougie McIntyre's collection

On the morning of the 31st of January 1953 the Princess Victoria was berthed at Stranraer's railway pier loading for her morning crossing to Larne. During her overnight lay up she had embarked 44 tons of cargo through her sliding port side doors, the high winds preventing use of the vehicle ramp. Her total compliment that morning was 179 persons, 128 passengers and 51 crew members.

Her Captain was James Ferguson who had served as master on the Larne Stranraer ships for 17 years. As Captain Ferguson assumed command that morning he received a gale warning giving west to north-west winds strong to gale force in the morning veering round to north to north-west later in the day. On this information Captain Ferguson decided to sail and at 0745 the Princess Victoria set out from her berth.

The first 9 miles of the crossing was along Loch Ryan and relatively sheltered but already spray was observed to be breaking over the 5 foot high stern doors. Crucially, the guillotine spray door was not in its lowered position and would have increased the height of the stern door by another few feet. By 0850 the Princess Victoria was passing Milleur buoy at the northern end of Loch Ryan and was moving into the dangerous unsheltered waters of the North Channel.

At Milleur buoy Captain Ferguson steered north for 3 to 4 miles to give plenty of sea room between the Princess Victoria and the jagged rocks at Corsewall Point, this all to avoid the Princess Victoria being driven ashore by the strong north-west wind. With this course the Princess Victoria continued taking the heavy seas on the bow but she was eventually turned west for Larne and this exposed the car deck doors to more of the heavy sea.

Shortly after the turn, the cargoman working on the car deck, observed the seas coming crashing in through the stern doors and flooding the car deck. The scuppers were too small to be able to clear the deck of the water and the stern doors were too badly damaged to close properly, despite valiant efforts by the crew and passengers to do so. The ship took an immediate list to starboard which became aggravated further by the 44 tons of cargo breaking their lashings and shifting to starboard too.

With the ship now in serious trouble an attempt was made to reverse the ship into Loch Ryan using the bow rudder, but the heavy seas beat back the crew men sent up to the fo'c'sle head to release the securing pin for the bow rudder. Faced with but one option, Captain Ferguson set course for the Irish coast and tried to nurse the ship to safety keeping the stern sheltered as much as possible.

At 0946 Captain Ferguson instructed his Radio Officer, David Broadfoot, to transmit an urgency signal (prefixed XXX in Morse Code) to Portpatrick wireless station that the Princess Victoria was, "hove to off mouth of Loch Ryan. Vessel not under command. Urgent assistance of tugs required." The closest tugs had departed Stranraer the previous day and were now sheltering off the Isle of Man coast.

By 1030 the XXX had become SOS after the water on the car deck had found its way through the fireproof door between the car deck and the lounge area forward of it. The Portpatrick lifeboat, Jeanie Spiers, was put out and the Royal Navy destroyer, HMS Contest, left her anchorage at Rothesay and sailed south at her top speed of 31 knots, but this had to be reduced after the seas caused damage to the destroyer and injured two of her crew. In her distress message the Princess Victoria reported her position as being 5 miles west-north-west of Corsewall Point, but with her engines still turning over she was making slow progress to the Irish Coast at approx. 5 knots. The rescue ships agonisingly headed to a position too far north and east.

In a message at 1308 the Princess Victoria radioed that her engines had stopped and shortly afterward David Broadfoot also transmitted that he could see the Copeland Islands at the mouth of Belfast Lough. The Donaghadee lifeboat, Sir Samuel Kelly, was put out to sea while Jeanie Spiers and HMS Contest were redirected towards the Irish Coast.

At 1339 David Broadfoot radioed that the ship was now on her beam ends and that the ship's compliment were preparing to abandon ship. By staying in the radio room David Broadfoot was giving himself no chance of escape. He continued to transmit signals to HMS Contest and the Portpatrick coastguard in the hope that they could use his signal to get a bearing on the ship. His final message was tapped out at 1358 when he signalled his last SOS to HMS Contest the the Princess Victoria was on her beam ends 5 miles east of the Copeland Islands.

Sheltering from the storm in Belfast Lough were 4 merchant ships, the cattle ship Lairdsmoor, the trawler Eastcotes, the coastal oil tanker Pass of Drumochter and the coastal cargo ship Orchy. All the ships put out to sea after hearing the 1339 signal from Princess Victoria that she was close to the Irish Coast.

In her final throes the David Broadfoot misreported the location of Princess Victoria and the rescue ships headed too far south and east. Captain Hugh Angus of Orchy, which was in ballast, set a more northerly course on his sweep for survivors since he was compensating for the leeway his ship would make in her lightly loaded condition ran into wreckage and lifeboats at 1445. Both Orchy and Pass of Drumochter attempted to take survivors on board but the waves threatened to smash the lifeboats against the side of the ships. Instead both the merchant ships sheltered the survivors' lifeboat while the Sir Samuel Kelly brought the survivors aboard.

The Donaghadee lifeboat Sir Samuel Kelly that rescued 33 of the survivors from the Princess Victoria is now preserved for history at Donaghadee. Photo: Steven Brown

Eastcotes, Jeanie Spiers and HMS Contest all managed to pick up survivors from rafts and the remaining lifeboats that got away. Petty Officer Wilfred Warren and Lieutenant Commander Stanley McArdle both dived overboard from HMS Contest to rescue two men from rafts.

In all 44 people, all men, survived. Eye witnesses reported seeing one lifeboat full of women and children being dashed against the hull of the Princess Victoria as they tried to get away from the ship. Nobody in that lifeboat survived. Also among the dead was the deputy Prime Minister for Northern Ireland, J. Maynard Sinclair and the Member of Parliament for North Down Sir Walter Smiles. All the ship's officers including Captain James Ferguson also perished. Captain Ferguson was last seen at the salute on the bridge and made no attempt to get off the ship.

Those instrumental in the rescue were to be rewarded for their bravery. The Portpatrick, Donaghdee and Cloughy lifeboat crews all received RNLI awards. Each crewmember received a pewter tankard and the sum of £5. Chief Engineers James Mitchell of Jeanie Spiers and James Armstrong of Sir Samuel Kelly also received RNLI certificates inscribed in velum. The coxswains William McConnel of Jeanie Spiers and Hugh Nelson of the Sir Samuel Kelly were awarded RNLI bronze medals for gallantry, and in addition the British Empire Medal.

The captains of the merchant ships, Captain James Alexander Bell of Lairdsmoor, Captain David Brewster of Eastcotes, Captain James Kelly of Pass of Drumochter and Captain Hugh Angus of Orchy each became Members of the British Empire. The Naval personnel Lieutenant Commander Stanley Lawrence McArdle and Chief Petty Officer Wilfred Warren both got awarded the George Medal.

Radio Officer David Broadfoot posthumously received the George Cross for staying with the radio set until the very end, giving the rest of the people on board the chance to escape even though he knew by doing so he had no hope of escape.

The Inquiry into the sinking was chaired by Mr. John H. Campbell QC and his three assessors; Captain C. Groves of Ipswich; Professor A. McRobb DSc MINA, a Naval Architect from Glasgow and Mr. J. Shand a Marine Engineer with the Admiralty Merchant Shipbuilding and Repair Department. The proceedings were held in Belfast at the Crumlin Road Courthouse.

During the Inquiry a number of "near misses" with the Princess Victoria were reported. The first instance in October 1949 involved milk tankers breaking loose from their lashings and overturning in heavy seas resulting in Princess Victoria taking on a list. The Second Officer, Leslie Unsworth, released milk from some of the tankers to level up the ship. Fuel also leaked out of busted fuel tanks and the resultant milk-fuel mix flooded the car deck to a depth of several inches. It took the small scuppers several hours to drain the deck of this potential fire hazard.

Another incident occurred in November 1951 when the Princess Victoria attempted to enter Larne in rough weather. The 5 feet high stern doors were exposed to the seas and got damaged. The car deck flooded and it took 1½ hours for the car deck to drain. The ship was allowed to continue in service for a further 3 trips before the doors were repaired, all they needed was a bolt replaced costing £10.

A third instance involved a minor collision with the Atlantic Steam Navigation vessel Empire Gaelic while the Princess Victoria was berthed at Larne. The collision resulted in damage to the running rails for the guillotine door at the stern and again the ship was allowed to remain in service before repairs were made.

The Inquiry found the blame for the disaster was the fault of the Princess Victoria's owner and manager, the British Transport Commission. The court said this was because:

1. For not providing sufficiently strong stern doors to withstand the seas in the North Channel.
2. They failed to provide adequate freeing arrangements for seas that may enter the car decks from any source.
3. Failing to heed the October 1949 incident and November 1951 incident despite the Princess Victoria's officers reporting these incidents. And
4. Failing to report the November 1951 incident to the regulating body (Lloyds).

Another subject brought to light during the Inquiry was the lifejackets carried on the Princess Victoria, these were standard cork lifejackets of the time. Captain David Brewster of the Eastcotes reported that the 6 bodies he picked up had their lifejackets tight up against their chins and had possible choked to death. The person they did rescue alive was desperately holding his lifejacket down from his chin. Now lifejacket wearers are expressly instructed to tie their jackets tight and to hold int down if they are jumping into the water from a height to prevent neck injuries and choking.

The remains of the Princess Victoria were eventually located 5 miles north-north-east of the Copeland Islands in around 90 metres of water. Working from a Royal Navy sonar survey of the sea bed carried out in 1973 a crew from Cromarty Firth Diving, led by John MacKenzie and funded by the BBC, photographed the wreck in September 1992.

Using a remote camera they dived on the wreck and managed to take video footage and still photographs but the umbilical cable to the camera got caught on the wreck and snapped. The camera was lost and it took 4 weeks for a replacement to arrive. The dive survey continued but for 4 days they couldn't find the wreck. With the BBC's funds running out on the fifth and last day they at last rediscovered the wreck. After studying the recorded images with reference to the ship's plans the divers were satisfied that this was indeed the Princess Victoria and after 39 years she had been found.

The dive survey was eventually incorporated into a BBC Northern Ireland documentary on the disaster called Home Truths (Things Don't Happen to Boats Like This). It was first broadcast on the 26th of January 1993 to mark the 40th anniversary of the sinking.

Now Larne and Stranraer both have permanent memorials to the Princess Victoria and each year on the anniversary of the disaster a short memorial service is conducted in memory of those who lost their lives at sea.

The plaque on the front of the Princess Victoria memorial at Larne. The text on the Stranraer equivalent is identical except it mentions that Stranraer lost 23 of its inhabitants in the disaster.