Page 58 - Greystones Archaeological Historical Society

THE ACCIDENT THAT TIME FORGOT

One of the problems that ships heading for the MV Princess
Victoria faced was her precise location. While Portpatrick Radio
had one radio bearing for this vessel’s location, it needed a
second one to determine her location but none was immediately
forthcoming from anyone until eventually one was later obtained.
Another problem was that the MV Princess Victoria could only
send and receive messages in Morse code while other vessels
were able to maintain voice contact with each other and with
Portpatrick Radio.

The heavy seas were also impeding the progress of ships on
the way to mount a rescue operation but unknown to them the
prevailing weather conditions were bringing MV Princess Victoria
further south than anyone realised at that time.

At the Corsewall Point lighthouse, keeper George Sutherland
kept watch for the MV Princess Victoria but only saw the tug
Salveda heading south.

Between noon and 2 p.m. a series of events occurred. On the
MV Princess Victoria the passengers were moved to one of the
higher decks as the list continued to increase but the rescue
vessels were no-where in sight as most had a wrong position for
her. A radio fix on the ship’s position was eventually obtained
after her Radio Operator David Broadfoot transmitted a
continuous unbroken message for six minutes to enable this to
be done. This position identification revealed that many of the
ships searching for the MV Princess Victoria were looking for her
in the wrong place and were at least 10 miles away from her. In
the meantime conditions deteriorated further on the MV Princess
Victoria as the list increased further due to her cargo shifting.

At 1.08 p.m. the MV Princess Victoria’s engine room flooded
and her engines ceased operating. Realising that they were very
near the Irish coast, a lot nearer than previously thought, Captain
54