My entire family went on a boat trip that they never returned from
“It’s something you don’t get over; you learn to live with it.”
Sixty years ago, Peter Watts’ entire family was killed in a boating tragedy that shocked the country.
His nine-year-old sister Angela, 10-year-old brother David, mother Doreen and father Frederick George died, along with 11 others, when the Prince of Wales tour boat sank in the Mawddach Estuary in Gwynedd on 22 July 1966.
Now, the monument commemorating the names of the 15 people who lost their lives has been opened.
It was another chance for Peter to travel from the village near Milton Keynes where he grew up to the picturesque estuary where the disaster occurred.
Divers search for survivors in the Mawddach Estuary after the sinking of the pleasure boat Prince of Wales in July 1966. [Mirrorpix via Getty Images]
“In previous years we were on vacation and I was on this boat trip [before] and I didn’t want to go again,” Peter recalled.
Peter was 14 at the time and old enough to be allowed to spend the day alone in the seaside town of Barmouth, where his family was staying in a boarding house.
The rest of his family joined the queue to board the Prince of Wales for the eight-mile (13 km) journey across the estuary to the George III Hotel in Penmaenpool.
Peter’s parents, Doreen and Frederick George, seen here on their wedding day, died in the tragedy [Peter Watts]
But the tide pushed the ferry towards the Penmaenpool toll bridge in the estuary, throwing all 42 passengers into the water as the ship crashed on the bridge.
Local people, including the hotel owner and staff and the toll bridge attendant, came to the aid of those in the water and managed to pull 27 people to safety.
But among the 15 people who could not be saved, in addition to Peter’s brother and sister, there were two more children.
The tragedy led to changes in the law regarding the number of passengers boats such as the Prince of Wales can carry [Mirrorpix via Getty Images]
“This happened around 11am and I waited for hours for them to come back but they didn’t,” Peter said.
“When I landed at the port, I heard two people talking about a sinking boat. I asked them what was going on, they told me what was happening, I said, ‘My family is in this,’ they said, ‘Go to the police station.’
“It was like I sat there for a day and they took in the details.”
While his aunt and uncle came to him, the guesthouse owners came to take him back.
“The next morning we went to the hospital in Dolgellau and there they found three people; my mother was still missing,” he said.
“My father could swim, but my uncle, who identified him, said he had a bad blow to his head.”
It would take three more days for her mother’s body to be found.
This photo of Peter’s brother and sister, David, 10, and Angela, 9, was taken just a few weeks before the disaster. [Peter Watts]
An official investigation found that the boat was carrying six more passengers than the maximum of 36 allowed under its certification.
There also had to be two crew members, one on the engine and the other on the helm.
But only captain Edward Llewelyn, then 73, was found to have been negligent in the Board of Trade investigation.
The boat also lacked lifebelts and flotation devices were hidden.
Llewelyn was ordered to pay £100 towards the costs of the investigation, but no charges were brought.
However, the investigation led to changes in the law governing insurance and the number of passengers boats could carry.
New memorial to the tragedy bears the names of each victim, including Peter’s family [BBC]
The events left a deep mark on Peter and made him want to return to Barmouth and the estuary as often as possible.
“Even when we went to Ireland, going to Holyhead, if I was anywhere near Wales I would come this way,” he said.
“Just to pass a few minutes.”
This time, on the 60th anniversary of the tragedy, a special monument and a plaque in memory of those who died were unveiled by the Dolgellau Municipal Council.
“I didn’t want those 15 people to be forgotten. I wanted their names to be there,” Peter said.
