Page 53 - Greystones Archaeological Historical Society
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GREYSTONES ARCHAEOLOGICAL & HISTORICAL SOCIETY JOURNAL      VOLUME 8

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          31  January including a gale warning broadcast on the B.B.C. at
          6.55 a.m.

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              At 9.10 p.m. on Friday 30  January 1953, the MV Princess
          Victoria  docked  in  Stranraer  after  completing  another  routine
          crossing  from  Larne.  Once  she  was  tied  up,  dock  foreman
          Joseph Irons went on board and commenced supervision of the
          unloading of her cargo which was completed around midnight
          after which they began loading the cargo for the return journey
          to Larne. Around midnight another dock foreman William Pirrie
          joined  Irons,  with  Irons  working  on  the  ship  and  Pirrie  on  the
          quayside. As the ship was berthed bow first, loading was carried
          out using a sliding door on the port side which led directly to the
          car deck with the lighter mail and parcels being loaded onto the
          car deck utilising a wooden chute leading through these doors.
          Normally the MV Princess Victoria carried about 70 tons of cargo
          but on this occasion it was only in the region of 43 tons consisting
          of:

            110   Bags (letter mail)   55   Cartons. of footwear   2  Tons of baggage

            425   Bags (parcels)    14   Tea chests (sundry items)   6  Boxes of fish

           1000   Rail parcels       5   Hampers of laundry   3  Bales
            520   Sanitary pipes     5   Cases               6  Drums

            160   Bags of brush blanks   2   Crates of textiles   1  Parcel

              2   Boxes of tyre covers                       1  Skip


              Stacked on the car deck were forty wooden steel shod trays
          for  holding  cargo.  These  trays  were  lifted  by  crane  from  the
          quayside and lowered into the car deck after which they were
          moved around by a five-cwt Lister motor tractor. Additionally six
          four-wheel barrows were located on the car deck to enable the
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