Peter Watts, then just 14 years old, shared his harrowing experience of the Prince of Wales pleasure boat tragedy that killed 15 people, including his immediate family, 60 years ago. The incident occurred in the morning, and Watts recounted waiting for hours for his family to return from a boat trip.
Watts went to the harbor and heard people discussing a boat that had sunk. Upon realizing his family was on board, he was directed to the police station. "I sat in there for what seemed ever and a day, and they took the details," he recalled. Guest house owners and his aunt and uncle later joined him.
The following day, Watts and his family went to a hospital in Dolgellau, where three bodies had been recovered. His mother was still missing at that time. He noted that his father, though able to swim, had sustained a significant head injury, as identified by his uncle.
It took an additional three days before his mother's body was discovered. The Prince of Wales boat tragedy remains a significant event, with a plaque listing the names of all 15 victims of the 1966 disaster.
The search for survivors involved rescue divers in the Mawddach estuary in July 1966.
