Princess Victoria Disaster Memorial in Larne   Photo: Michael Fisher

Travelling recently through Larne (where the Granuaile was working on servicing buoys and harbour lights) I noticed the memorial at Chaine Memorial Road on the shoreline. It was erected to commemorate the victims of the Princess Victoria disaster. This weekend, 63 years on from the tragedy on January 31st 1953, they were remembered at a ceremony led by the Mayor of Mid and East Antrim. The annual event is organised by Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes. The Belfast Telegraph carried a report on the event.

Princess Victoria Disaster Memorial in Larne Photo: Michael Fisher

A total of 133 lives were lost in the tragedy, which at the time was the UK’s worst peacetime disaster at sea. The Princess Victoria ferry was crossing from Stranraer to Larne and sank after being battered by monstrous waves in the North Channel. Only 33 passengers and crew survived. The loss of so many lives sent shockwaves through Northern Ireland. It had a particularly strong impact on County Antrim and the Port of Larne with 27 of the victims coming from the town.

On Saturday, the Mayor of Mid and East Antrim Billy Ashe led tributes to those who perished in Larne with William McAllister who is the only living survivor of the of disaster, when he was 17 he was a galley boy on the ship.

Plaque on Memorial at Larne (edited) Photo: Michael Fisher

Allan Preston report: The courageous story of a forgotten hero from the Princess Victoria disaster has been revealed more than 60 years after his death.

A total of 133 lives were lost in the tragedy, which at the time was the UK’s worst peacetime disaster at sea.  It happened after a ferry crossing from Stranraer to Larne sank after being battered by monstrous waves in the North Channel. Now it has emerged that Len White, the ship’s second officer, who lived in Ballygally with his family, sacrificed his life while trying to put women and children on a lifeboat.

On the morning of January 31, 1953, the Princess Victoria set off at 7.45am despite warnings of gale force winds. When conditions at sea grew unbearable and it became clear the ferry would sink, Mr White was placed in charge of getting women and children to safety. As he lowered a lifeboat, he was swept to his death when a huge wave dashed the small vessel back against the Princess Victoria’s hull.

Mr White, a war veteran originally from Portsmouth, settled his family in Ballygally near Larne after the war to work in the Merchant Navy. He normally served on the HMS Margaret, but he volunteered as relief on the Princess Victoria that day because another officer was unable to sail. His body was later recovered by the crew of the Sir Samuel Kelly lifeboat, which was based in Donaghadee.

Mr White’s daughter Susan Crampton was nine years old on the day of the tragedy. “After all these years, I remember him as a quiet man and a loving father who seemed happiest when he had his family around him,” she said. “I can remember the bewilderment I felt as a nine-year-old and the impossibility of receiving satisfactory answers to my questions. My mother was very brave and she worked hard to restore a normal family life, but we all missed him terribly.”

Susan’s husband Fred, who also grew up on the Ballygally coast, remembers hearing when news of the maritime disaster broke. “I would have been 13 on the day of the tragedy, so I remember him very well,” he said. “(He was) not a very tall man, smoked a pipe, very family-orientated. He loved that area – he loved the Antrim coast. I looked out from the window straight at the sea. I remember going down to the shop and it was an awful job even walking home because of the terrible gales.”

Fred recalled how, when the devastating news came through, the community rallied around the family. “Sue’s mum and her sister had great support from everyone in the locality,” he said. “But it wasn’t just them, there was so many people in the locality who lost that weekend.”