The Princess Victoria BBC Radio Ulster 60 years on By Karen Atkinson .

60 years on By Karen Atkinson,BBC Radio Ulster Reporter.

Sixty years ago, the MV Princess Victoria sank off the County Down coast in treacherous weather, with the loss of 133 lives. .

One of the worst to happen in British coastal waters - dominated the headlines and devastated families and communities in Larne, Stranraer and further afield.
31 January 1953.

Parts of western Europe and the UK were in the grip of freak weather from the north Atlantic killing hundreds of people.

Timeline of disaster
0745: Princess Victoria leaves Stranraer
0900: Wave bursts through stern doors
0946: First emergency signal sent: No tugs available
1032: SOS call: "Car deck flooded"
1100: Portpatrick lifeboat given wrong directions
1300: Starboard engine room flooded - position critical
1308: Ship lying on beam end
1315: "We are preparing to abandon ship"
1330: Steamer passes Victoria without seeing her
1340: Passengers ordered to deck
1358: Last message from ferry's radio operator

Larne man, John McKnight, 92, is one of the few remaining survivors. He was chief cook on the ferry and remembers that day vividly. (Deceased 2 weeks after interview)

"I started work at 5.30am and the train from London arrived (in Stranraer) at 6am. Everything had to be prepared for breakfast, we served that to the passengers before setting sail. The ferry proceeded up Loch Ryan and soon we discovered that there was a severe gale blowing," he recalled.

At the helm of the Princess Victoria that day was 55-year-old Captain James Ferguson. An experienced seaman, he had worked on the Larne - Stranraer route for many years.

Jack Hunter, has written about the tragedy,
"Out of the shelter of the loch, Captain Ferguson discovered that the sea was much worse and perhaps with a change of direction, the ship was having more difficulty," he said.

"For one reason or another, the captain decided to try turn back and head for Stranraer. It was at this point that the ferry had a calamitous encounter with a large wave, which stove in the stern doors."

With the stern doors irreparably damaged, water flooding the car deck and inadequate drainage on board, Captain Ferguson decided the best course of action was to try and steer the ship towards Northern Ireland.

On board were families with young children, servicemen, Short Brothers workers from the company's Scottish base and two politicians - the Northern Ireland deputy prime minister, Maynard Sinclair and Sir Walter Smiles, the north Down MP. Both men died when the ship went down.

Stephen Cameron, author of a book on the Princess Victoria tragedy, said David Broadfoot was posthumously awarded the George Cross for his heroic actions.

"He stayed in his cabin broadcasting continuously, at one stage he even apologised to radio stations (that were picking up his signals) for the poor quality of his Morse code. David's last message was sent as the ship went under," he said.
In those final traumatic hours, many other people showed fortitude and compassion in the face of certain death.

One of them was Castlerock woman, Nansy Bryson, who has been called the "heroine of the Princess Victoria".

When Captain Ferguson made the final call to abandon ship, eyewitnesses say he was at the bridge as the Princess Victoria went under. It happened just five miles off the Copeland Islands and within sight of the north Down coast.

Some passengers and crew were able to reach the ship's lifeboats although, tragically, one carrying women and children crashed against the side of the ferry, throwing everyone into the icy waters.

The frantic search for survivors involved steamers, trawlers, a naval boat and the Donaghadee lifeboat, the Sir Samuel Kelly. whichb plucked out 33 men.

Only 44 men survived the sinking of the Princess Victoria .

Two months after the disaster, a court of inquiry was convened in Belfast. A verdict was reached that the Princess Victoria was not a seaworthy ship, because of the inadequate strength of the stern doors and a lack of drainage on its car deck.

On two previous occasions - in 1949 and 1951 - these same design faults had caused problems on the ferry. Jack Hunter believes if they had been fixed back then, things might have been very different.

"Most certainly, it is a disaster that could have, and should have been avoided. The problems were discovered, they were known to be there, one assumes they were reported through official channels, yet nothing was done about them,"

Whatever the causes of the Princess Victoria sinking to a watery grave on that stormy Saturday afternoon in January 1953, the passing of time has not erased the sorrow felt by many, whose loved ones went down with the ship.
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