On the 31st of January, 1953, the car and passenger ferry the Princess Victoria set
sail for what was normally a short and straightforward journey from Stranraer in Scotland to Larne
in Northern Ireland.
There were around 179 people on board, none of whom suspected that a combination of design
flaws and severe weather conditions would lead to a devastating accident that would
come to be regarded by some as the Titanic of its generation.
Roll-On/Roll-Off ferries are designed to allow passengers to board by driving their vehicles
directly onto a car deck, where they will be parked for the duration of the journey.
Passengers leave their vehicles and move to upper decks, joining other pedestrian passengers.
In this way both travellers and their vehicles can be quickly and efficiently transported.
The Princess Victoria was one of the very first Roll-On/Roll-Off ferries to be built
in 1947.
She was preceded by another car ferry of the same name, though this ship had a very short
life – completed in 1939, it only carried passengers until 1940.
At this point it was converted into a mine layer for use in World War II, and was sunk
by a German mine just a few months later.
The Princess Victoria completed in 1947 lasted somewhat longer.
For almost six years she carried passengers between Stranraer in Scotland and Larne in
Northern Ireland.
She had space for around 1,500 passengers, which included cabins for up to 54 overnight
travellers.
The car deck had space for up to 40 automobiles, but could also accommodate cargo lorries and
other large vehicles.
On a typical journey travellers would drive their vehicles up a ramp at the stern.
Once all vehicles were on board a pair of large doors at the stern of the ship would
be closed and the ferry would get underway.
These doors, which in most conditions stood at least 2.3 metres (or 7.5 feet) above the
water at all times, were not watertight.
On the 31st of January, 1953, the Princess Victoria was captained by 55-year-old James
Ferguson, a skilled and reliable captain who had been working the route for more than a
decade at that point.
The weather that day was unpleasant – with strong winds and heavy rain forecast.
Though far from ideal, these conditions were not considered severe enough to cancel the
scheduled 7:00am sailing that day.
Accordingly the ship set sail from Stranraer just 45 minutes late, with approximately 51
crewmembers and 128 passengers on board.
The numbers are approximate as, at the time, an exact passenger manifest was not required
– it is likely that at least a few passengers who had booked travel reconsidered given the
weather conditions and did not turn up to catch the ferry.
In addition to the approximately 179 people on board, there was around 40,000 kilograms
(or 44 tons) of cargo.
Since the car deck was nowhere near full, this cargo had been loaded there rather than
in the cargo hold – something that was a common practise on this particular route.
The first part of the journey was across Loch Ryan – a relatively sheltered inlet.
This part of the trip was slow but uneventful.
When the ship reached more open waters, however, the situation rapidly worsened.
The weather had deteriorated since the forecast that morning, and the conditions at sea were
so rough as to be impassable.
Massive waves tossed the ship back and forth, knocking passengers off their feet.
At 09:00am Captain Ferguson made the decision to turn back to the relative safety of Loch
Ryan.
As the ship turned, however, the stern doors were exposed to several massive waves, which
damaged the doors to the point that they could not be fully closed.
Thereafter more waves flung huge quantities of water into the car deck.
Scuppers in the floor of the deck were designed to drain away water, but were far too small
to cope with this deluge.
More and more water flooded in, causing the cargo stowed on the car deck to shift.
As the cargo and water on the car deck moved, the ship began to list to starboard.
To prevent even more waves entering through the broken stern doors, Captain Ferguson turned
the ferry back to its original heading, and attempted to reverse back to the safety of
Loch Ryan.
To do this he would need to use the bow rudder, but conditions were so bad that his crew could
not approach the bow rudder to remove a pin which secured it.
With this option off the table, Captain Ferguson attempted simply to maintain his position,
whilst a morse code message was sent asking for a tugboat to be sent out to assist.
It was now around 10:00am.
Lifejackets were issued to passengers as the ferry began drifting from its position.
When sleet and snow began to hammer the vessel, the request for assistance was soon upgraded
to an urgent SOS.
Unfortunately, the position given in this SOS message was incorrect.
Lifeboats and other nearby ships converged on the location given, but could not find
the Princess Victoria.
While they searched in vain at the wrong location, the distressed ferry began to founder.
By 1:58pm the Princess Victoria was rolling so severely that her decks were almost vertical.
The order to abandon ship was given.
As was the custom, women and children were prioritised, and were loaded into lifeboats
as a matter of urgency.
However, as these lifeboats were being lowered into the water they were caught by waves and
smashed against the side of the ship, throwing their occupants into the water.
Because of this, no women or children survived this disaster.
Three other lifeboats were launched before the angle of the ship made it impossible to
deploy any others.
Captain Ferguson also sighted the coast of Ireland and was able to provide via morse
code message an updated, more accurate position for the ferry, finally allowing rescue vessels
to converge on the scene.
Help arrived just as the Princess Victoria finally capsized and sank.
The first vessels on scene were commercial ships, and could not retrieve passengers from
the lifeboats as the waves were still too violent to risk getting close.
Instead they provided some shelter from the waves until dedicated lifeboat crews arrived
to retrieve the survivors.
Just 44 people survived the sinking of the Princess Victoria.
Captain Ferguson and his officers all went down with the ship.
The loss of life was devastating to the communities of both Larne in Ireland and Stranraer in
Scotland – where almost every family knew at least one person who had died.
Over the course of the next few months an investigation was carried out.
The sinking had been a shocking accident, given that the crossing was relatively short
and the waters usually calm and safe.
As around 100 bodies were recovered from the waters around the wreck site, a 30,000 page
report into the cause of the sinking was compiled.
Investigators found that Captain Ferguson had behaved reasonably and, indeed, bravely
– he had worked hard to the last moment to keep passengers calm and evacuate anyone
he could.
Radio Officer David Broadfoot was also recognised for remaining at his post, sending out distress
calls as the ship went down, even though in doing so he sacrificed his own chance to escape.
He was posthumously awarded the George Cross for his bravery.
While the crew had done all they could, the design of the ship itself was criticised.
The stern doors were simply not strong enough to withstand large waves, and the scuppers
were not large enough to drain away any meaningful amount of water.
Whatever else had contributed to the disaster being as deadly as it was, these deficiencies
in the design of the ship were instrumental to the disaster.
The investigation acknowledged that the Princess Victoria was a new type of ferry, and that
sometimes faults with such experimental vessels cannot be foreseen.
However, it also pointed to an incident in 1951, when a wave had partly flooded the car
deck as the Princess Victoria was attempting to dock.
No persons were injured and no damage was done, but it was noted on that occasion that
the scuppers were far too small to drain the water away.
This was a missed opportunity, it was said, for the owners of the boat to realise that
a dangerous condition existed and make alterations to prevent a tragedy.
Memorials to those lost in the sinking of the Princess Victoria have been installed
in Larne, Stranraer and several other nearby communities.
The loss of over a hundred lives in a single night had a profound effect on many of these
places, and indeed it was, at the time, the deadliest maritime disaster in UK waters since
the end of World War II.
Roll-On Roll-Off ferries are now much more common, and although (like any form of transport)
they are not perfectly safe, they are designed with doors and drainage that would allow them
to survive the conditions that sunk the Princess Victoria.
As the official report into the disaster concluded, “If the Princess Victoria had been as staunch
as those who manned her, then all would have been well and the disaster averted.”