Rescue Attempt
The court of inquiry found that assistance to the Princess Victoria had been hampered by other distress operations already under way in the extreme weather conditions of the day. An RAF Hastings aircraft had been assisting rescues off Lewis and Barra and as a result did not reach the location of the doomed ferry until 1531hrs, dropping supplies and guiding HMS Contest to the scene.
The inquiry noted how different the outcome might have been if the aircraft had been available earlier. Confusion over the location of the Princess Victoria had contributed to the rescue vessels' difficulty in locating her and it wasn't until the crew had sighted the coast of Northern Ireland at 1335hrs and transmitted a new position fix that the rescue attempt was able to home in.
In addition to the naval, RAF and lifeboats then searching, four small merchant vessels which had been sheltering in Belfast Lough put to sea immediately to assist after hearing the transmission which placed the Princess Victoria close to their anchorage: the cattle ship Lairdsmoor, the trawler Eastcotes, the coastal oil tanker Pass of Drumochter and the coastal cargo ship Orchy.
Despite arriving before the lifeboats, the merchant ships were unable to rescue the survivors in lifeboats as the fierce waves were in danger of dashing the smaller boats against the sides of the larger ships. All they could do was to provide shelter from the worst of the seas until the Donaghadee lifeboat, the Sir Samuel Kelly arrived and was able to bring survivors on board. This lifeboat has been preserved and is now part of the collection of the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum.
The captains of the merchant ships: James Alexander Bell of the Lairdsmoor, David Brewster of the Eastcotes, James Kelly of the Pass of Drumochter and Hugh Angus of Orchy each became Members of the Order of the British Empire. Lieutenant Commander Stanley Lawrence McArdle and Chief Petty Officer Wilfred Warren of HMS Contest were both awarded the George Medal for diving into the water to help survivors.
There were 44 survivors but notably none of the ship's officers were among them.
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