Disaster can strike at any community but within weeks the world often moves on. However, left in the wake of such tragedy, the memories of those lost are not forgotten by the people and communities closest to them. Sometimes lessons are learned. Series Two of the successful series tells the stories and histories of eight Irish tragedies. They include: Noyek’s fire in the centre of Dublin; the Wexford container deaths of eight Kurdish immigrants; The Princess Victoria car ferry sinking off the coast of Belfast; the Cherryville train crash in County Kildare; the New Quay drowning of school children in Co. Clare; the Lacken, County Mayo drownings during the big storm of 1927; and the Drumcollogher cinema fire in Limerick of 1926.
Episode Two: The Princess Victoria.
Few remember the sinking of the car ferry, The Princess Victoria. Though it happened in 1953, it was one of the worst maritime disasters in Irish and British waters. On a routine journey from Stranraer to Larne one wintry Saturday, a freak storm hit the ship in broad daylight. Though the crew battled six hours to save her, heavy weather finally capsized The Princess Victoria. Most of the 177 passengers and crew perished only a few miles from Belfast Lough.
Why, in a place & era renowned for Irish shipping, was a relatively new boat lost? With less than a handful of survivors still alive, does the disaster still haunt? And what about the families who lost loved ones on that cold January day fifty-five years ago?