The suggestiorr which I made, in some ignorance, last week
that the loss of the ' Princess Victoria might have been largely due to the fact that the car doors in the stern were calculated to withstand heavy seas far less effectively than a solid stern, has received a most interesting confirmation. A former Merchant Navy Officer who at one time served on the Larne-Stranraer route says that when he heard of the loss of the vessel on the wireless he exclaimed at once: " I'll bet those ramp-doors have gone." He adds that when the late Edgar Hall, Chief Engineer of the ' Princess Margaret,' which preceded the ' Princess Victoria,' inspected the latter vessel for the first time he declared " She's all right for a few weeks in the summer, but she's no good for winter on the North Channel. One good sea on those ramp-doors and she's finished." This opinion deserves to be seriously considered in view of the fact that some of the newer cross-Channel boats are constructed with similar ramp-doors.
Previous page
