Ro-ro ferry debate

In last week’s Larne Times we stated that the MV Caldeonian Princess was Larne’s first roll-on-roll-off car ferry on the Larne to Stranraer route around 1962/3.

The story has ignited debate among our readers, with one person stating that the first roll-on-roll off ferry on that route was in fact the MV Princess Victoria.

A later MV Princess Victoria ferry was lost in a severe storm in the North Channel on January 31 1953, with the loss of 133 lives.

At the time of her loss the Princess Victoria was six years old.

The fourth vessel of that name to sail the route, she was built on the Clyde by Wm Denny & Bros, Dumbarton, and launched in August, 1946, going into service in March of the following year.