Lakonia disaster: Cruise ship sinking 'clear as day' 60 years on, says rescuer

John Ware took part in the TSMS Lakonia rescue mission when he was a 19-year-old Royal Marine musician

A former Royal Marine musician involved in the rescue effort of one of the worst UK cruise ship disasters said it is "still as clear as day" 60 years on.

The TSMS Lakonia caught fire on its way from Southampton to Madeira on 22 December 1963, claiming the lives of 128 people.

John Ware, then aged 19, was on board aircraft carrier HMS Centaur as it steamed towards the stricken vessel.

"There she was, this great thing well on fire and smoke everywhere," he said.

The stricken TSMS Lakonia with HMS Centaur in the background

All Royal Marine musicians, in addition to their musical duties, have an action station - for the members of the band on HMS Centaur that was to be paramedics and stretcher bearers, Mr Ware explained.

When they finally had sight of the Lakonia, the ship was still floating and "listing quite noticeably" with smoke "rising everywhere", he told the BBC.

He said: "When we got close by, all our ship's boats were launched with a team of three in each - one was a naval nurse and two musicians to assist - our task was to go and try to find survivors.

"But we discovered by the time we got there all the survivors had been picked up by other ships that had been nearer than us.

"So, in fact, we pulled something like 114 dead bodies out of the sea, which was a bit of a baptism of fire for a young 19-year-old.

Mr Ware, who lives in Deal, Kent, recalled the dead were "mostly old people, vulnerable people".

"A couple of them were wearing evening dress - black tie and dinner jackets - whether they were passengers or musicians or members of staff, I had no idea," he said.

Mr Ware (left) pictured with his fellow HMS Centaur Royal Marine musician Rodney Preston (third) and two unknown local men in Dar-es-Salam, Tanganyika, in early 1964

He said he is often asked how he managed to carry out the grim task: "All I can say is, any military person will tell you, it's just your job and you get on with it.

"I think there's a kind of safety valve in the mind and it clicks over when you're faced with a situation like that and you just get on with what needs doing.

"It's only afterwards that it's all over that the horror of it dawns on you really - for a 19-year-old, I did some quick growing up on that day."

He said it had appeared there was a lot of panic on board the Lakonia, and recalled seeing one of the vessel's lifeboats hanging vertically by one hook: "It seems on the way down it had become detached and everybody in it had fallen out, it was pretty chaotic.

"It never leaves you, it's still as clear as day 60 years later."