40.2a SS Princess Alice

I still remember with a shudder a news story from August 1989. I had worked for a spell in London, and, although I had moved back to Wellingborough, I had London-based projects to manage, and had an alternative base at the old Plessey Telecomms building in Clerkenwell Road. Dad had worked opposite for Hammond & Champness in the 1970s.

On the evening in question, a 46-ton pleasure-craft The Marchioness had been struck amidships by an 1880-ton dredger, The Bowbelle. 51 people died. We'd had some train crashes, and the Kings Cross Fire of 1987 that had killed 31 (I was there a couple of hours before the fire broke out). We hadn't imagined that the River would see such as disaster in the late C20.

It turns out that there was a precedent. On 4 September 1878, John Marsh of Clerkenwell was an early witness at an inquest. He formally identified his deceased mother-in-law Zillah Waddilove (John Waddilove's wife - see Chapter 40.2). She had been on a St John's Mission Bible outing which had gone wrong. It was a treat from Susannah Law, a wealthy and generous woman, who had promised the poor women in her Bible group a day out. It was to be on 5 September but on seeing what a beautiful day it was on 3 September, she declared "Today's the Day!".

I don't know whether the day out was to Sheerness, where Londoners could escape to the seaside away from the Great Stink, or the resort of Gravesend, or just to the Pleasure Gardens at Rosherville. However, the vessel of choice was the smart paddle steamer pleasure-craft, the SS Princess Alice, named after Queen Victoria's daughter. She weighed 432 tons gross. The atmosphere was happy: people were chattering about the terrible rail collision at Sittingbourne three days earlier, and glad to be on the water instead of on the rails.

SS Princess Alice (credit)

Princess Alice left Rosherville at about 6:30 pm on her return to Swan Pier, by London Bridge. A little over an hour later she was struck amidships by a much larger vessel, the 1376 tons gross collier SS Bywell Castle. Just like Marchioness, the Princess Alice had no chance, and sank quickly trapping many below decks. The crew of the Bywell Castle and boatmen from local factories did what they could, and saved about 130 people. By the time the Princess of Alice's sister ship arrived ten minutes later, there was no one left to save.

Some of those rescued died from ingesting the water. The miraculous Crossness Pumping Station had routinely pumped 75 million gallons of decomposing raw sewage into the Thames  close to the collision point. The gas works and chemical factories discharged to that stretch of the Thames, and there had been a fire that day, resulting in oil and petroleum entering the River.

A cigarette card - in doubtful taste (my collection)

There was no manifest, so it is not known how many died, but it was between 600 and 700, making this the worst disaster on British inland waterways.

Next      (or skip to Part III)