MV Princess Victoria was one of the earliest roll-on/roll-off (ro-ro) ferries. Completed in 1947, she operated from Stranraer to Larne. During a severe European windstorm on 31 January 1953, she sank in the North Channel with the loss of 135 lives. This was then the deadliest maritime disaster in United Kingdom waters since World War II. For many years it was believed that 133 people had lost their lives in the disaster, but research by local historian Liam Kelly JP, DL, identified two other victims - Gordon Wright and Thomas Saunders - whose names had not been identified as there had been no ship's passenger list at the time.

British folk singer Gareth Davies-Jones wrote a song "Princess Victoria" dedicated to those who lost their lives in the disaster which he recorded on his 2008 album Water & Light.