Last Wednesday was a date to remember because January 31, 71 years ago, was a day which brought sorrow to families in Northern Ireland and Scotland, heralding weeks and months of drama and mourning.

On that day, the Princess Victoria, a British Railways car ferry set sail across the North Channel to Larne, a routine journey of 31 miles taking somewhere in the region of two-and-a-half hours. That’s on a normal day, but January 31 1953 was no normal day; think the destructive gale force winds of two weekends ago and you’ll get some idea of the conditions the ship tried to plough through.

Tragically the big seas were too much for the ferry. It was overwhelmed, the stern doors were stoved in by a huge wave and sea water poured into the car deck. There was no list of those on board but it was thought the Princess was carrying 127 passengers and 49 crew. She left the Scottish port of Stranraer just before 8am, heading into Loch Ryan but didn’t get much further; once into the Irish Sea, Captain Ferguson realised the ferocious conditions and decided to return to the comparative shelter of the loch, but before that could happen the waves were filling the ship.

He made the disastrous decision to proceed to Larne. At 9.46am the call went out asking for........

© The Irish News