AN epic Bristol Channel rescue of more than 400 passengers from a sinking pleasure steamer on passage from Minehead to South Wales 45 years ago will be remembered again in a re-run of an exhibition on Saturday and Sunday, July 25 to 26.

The MV Prince Ivanhoe was cruising from Minehead to the Gower Peninsular with 463 passengers and crew on board when disaster struck in August, 1981.

Just off Port Eynon Point, the 200-foot vessel struck an underwater object, tearing a 60 feet gash in the hull.

What happened next is recreated in the exhibition in Port Eynon Village Hall, featuring personal accounts, photographs, newsreel footage, and archive material, which was first held in May.

With both engines disabled and water flooding in rapidly, the situation appeared catastrophic, but engineers managed to restart one engine using a mixture of oil and seawater.

In a decisive and courageous move, the captain turned the stricken vessel toward shore, successfully grounding it just 75 yards from the beach - a decision which proved lifesaving.

A spokesman for the exhibition organisers said: “What followed was an extraordinary community-led rescue effort.

“The Horton and Port Eynon inshore lifeboat, supported by a small fleet of local leisure craft, sprang into action with remarkable speed.

“While emergency services from across the region, including lifeboats from Mumbles and Tenby, an RAF helicopter, HM Coastguard, police, and ambulance services, raced to the scene, it was the swift response of local rescuers that ensured every person on board was safely brought ashore, although, tragically, one passenger later died after collapsing on the beach.

“As well as the death of the man from a heart attack shortly after the rescue, the shipwrecked vessel was lost and eventually broke in two in the following winter storms.

“The salvage operation took three years to remove all the wreckage.”