Page 57 - Greystones Archaeological Historical Society

GREYSTONES ARCHAEOLOGICAL & HISTORICAL SOCIETY JOURNAL VOLUME 8

‘Princess Victoria to SOS – Princess Victoria four miles north
east of Corsewell. Car Deck flooded. Heavy list to starboard.
Require immediate assistance. Ship not under command.’

Thirty minutes later at 11 a.m. the Portpatrick lifeboat on the
Scottish side of the Irish Sea was launched while Chief Officer
Duckels advised passengers that they were passing through a
difficult time but to remain calm and that lifejackets would be
handed out as a precautionary measure. Simultaneously crew
members were ordered to prepare lifeboats for launching but in
the rough conditions the oars in some of them were washed
away. Additionally water was beginning to slowly seep into
various parts of the ship especially into the lower deck and down
into the engine room with the vessel now starting to take on a
prominent list to starboard.

At 11.10 a.m. a private message was sent to British Railways
advising them of the situation the ship was in:

‘Have sent distress call; four miles North West Corsewall; car
deck flooded; heavy list to starboard; require immediate
assistance; ship not under control.’

North of the distressed vessel, HMS Contest had departed in
response to her call for assistance and estimated that she would
reach the stricken vessel around 1 p.m.

In the meantime an officers’ conference on the MV Princess
Victoria considered opening the port cargo door to drain off some
of the water but this idea was abandoned when it was realised
that this door was above the water line while the starboard one
was below it. By this time the list had increased to 30 degrees.
At 11.30 a.m. matters took a more serious development with the
formal issuing of lifejackets to passengers as the list had
increased by this time to 45 degrees.

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