More information : An excursion paddle steamer, which had left London at 10am that day to carry a full load of passengers, variously estimated at 880, with a crew of 20, to Gravesend and return. She left Gravesend for the return voyage at 6pm, the evening fine and clear. At 7.40pm whilst in Barking Reach, alternatively given as Gallion's (Galleon's) Reach, one mile below Woolwich, the steam collier BYWELL CASTLE, 1,376 tons, was seen ahead proceeding on the opposite course, in the charge of a Thames pilot. As the two vessels neared each other, Captain Grinstead ordered a change of course, putting his vessel across the bows of the collier, which struck her on the starboard sponson, just abaft the paddle box. The collier's bow drove deep into the engine room, almost cutting her in two. The bow section sank immediately with all its passengers, the stern going down 5 minutes later. Boats and other vessels went to their assistance but some 640 lives were lost, including Captain Grinstead. (3)
'The PRINCESS ALICE, the London Steamboat Company's largest passenger vessel, was built on the Clyde, and commenced running there first as a passenger boat...afterwards purchased by the London Company, who have been running her about 9 or 10 years on the Thames. She now lies a complete wreck off the City of London Gas Works at Beckton, all but parted in halves, and partially visible at low water...a river man...asserts that the passenger boat was most in the wrong. "She had no business to starboard her helm," said he, "and the screw steamer catched [sic] her on the starboard side and parted her almost in halves."...Woolwich, Wednesday, 11am...It is generally supposed that the collision was caused by the sharpness of the point in the river, on which is situated the powder magazine of the Woolwich Arsenal. In order to turn this point coming up the river it is necessary to leave the left-hand bank and cross right over to the other side, and it was the fact of the PRINCESS ALICE being on the wrong side of the stream, and her lights being almost obscured from the barque by the shadow of the magazine, that was the cause of the sad catastrophe.
'There seems to be...doubt with regard to the name of the barque which caused the collision, it being stated that she was a Norwegian screw collier called IBEX. The bodies of the unfortunate victims are distributed over a large area in consequence of the tide running out at the time of the accident...
James Lynn..."...they came right into us - I think it was just beside the paddle-box..."
Mr Totman..."...she left Sheerness at a quarter past 4. I should imagine there were 600 or 700 on board...I was saved by a buoy....thrown from the BYWELL CASTLE (the steamer in collision)..."' (4)
'SIX HUNDRED LIVES LOST. FRIGHTFUL COLLISION OF STEAMERS ON THE THAMES.
'London, Sept. 4. The excursion steamer PRINCESS ALICE, returning from Gravesend to London last evening, with about 700 passengers on board, was run down off Barking, about 8 o'clock, by a screw steamer, and many hundred lives lost, variously estimated at from 500 to 650. The highest estimate is the latest, and is given by the London Steam-boat Company, the owners of the PRINCESS ALICE.
The PRINCESS ALICE was struck amidships, and sank almost immediately. The steamer by which she was sunk is suposed to be the BYWELL CASTLE, a screw collier, bound north in ballast. The steward of the PRINCESS ALICE states that after the collision the other steamer proceeded without attempting to render aid. He estimates that 700 persons were on board the PRINCESS ALICE. She sunk bow first in five minutes after she was struck. Some small boats and another excursion steamer rendered what assistance was possible.
'The drowned include an extraordinary proportion of women and children. Several of the survivors speak of having lost as many as three, five, and six children. They describe the water as covered with hundreds of shrieking people. The Captain and nearly all of the crew of the PRINCESS ALICE were drowned. They had no time to lower the boats, and there were but few life-buoys on the steamer...
'The PRINCESS ALICE was a paddle-wheel steamer, with a raised saloon. Her gross tonnage was 251, and that of the BYWELL CASTLE is 1,376.' (5)
'THE ILL-FATED EXCURSION. EXTENT OF THE DISASTER NOT OVERSTATED. SIX HUNDRED AND FIFTY LIVES LOST....
'London, Sept. 4. The paddle-wheel excursion steamer PRINCESS ALICE, which was run into and sunk with such frightful results last evening, while on her return from Gravesend to London...was one of the largest saloon steamers of the London Steam-boat Company...The vessel left Gravesend on the return journey soon after 6 o'clock in the evening, and arrived within sight of the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich at about 8 o'clock. The BYWELL CASTLE was then approaching on the opposite course. The two steamers were near the middle of the stream, just off the City of London Gas-works at Beckton, and below the North Woolwich Gardens - almost the precise spot where the fatal collision occurred between the METIS and WENTWORTH 10 years ago. What happened is impossible accurately to detail. All that is known...is that the screw steamer struck the PRINCESS ALICE on the port side, near the fore sponsor...A few, very few, persons clambered on the other vessel, but nearly all rushed to the after part of the PRINCESS ALICE. As the bow subsided gradually under the water the shrieks were fearful, and nothing could be done to save life...Within five minutes the PRINCESS ALICE heeled completely over, and went down in deep water. Some small boats hastened to the scene, and the DUKE OF TECK, another steamer belonging to the same company, which was also on the passage up the river with a party of excursionists, went to the rescue, but the river, for 100 yards, was full of drowning people...and as it was growing dark then, not much could be done. It is believed that not more than 150 persons escaped out of the 800 aboard the vessel. The PRINCESS ALICE was a long and low river steamer, built for excursions down the Thames, of which the middle and poorer classes of Londoners are very fond. She had saloons on the forward and after decks, and her passenger-carrying capacity was unusually large. A large proportion of her passengers last evening were on the upper or saloon deck, and must have seen beforehand their impending doom, but those in the stern of the steamer had no warning until they heard the crash and found the passengers from the forward part of the vessel running to the after part.
'Both vessels were rounding the sharp bend int he river caused by the projection of a point of land whereon the powder magazine of the Woolwich Arsenal is situated. In order to turn this point, the PRINCESS ALICE had crossed over to the right bank of the river, and was thus out of her proper course. Her lights were probably obscured by the shadow of the powder magazine and, being much smaller and lower than the BYWELL CASTLE, the latter was upon her before the danger was perceived.' (6)
'LOG OF THE STEAMER BYWELL CASTLE.
'London, Sept. 5. The following is the log of the steamer BYWELL CASTLE, which run down the excursion steamer PRINCESS ALICE, on the Thames, Tuesday evening: "The master and pilot were on the upper bridge, and the lookout on the top-gallant forecastle; light airs prevailed; the weather was a little hazy; at 7.45 o'clock PM proceeded at half speed down Gallion's Reach; when about at the centre of the reach observed an excursion steamer coming up Barking Reach, showing her red and masthead lights, when we ported our helm to keep out toward Tripcock Point; as the vessels neared, observed that the other steamer had ported her helm. Immediately afterward saw that she had starboarded her helm and was trying to cross our bows, showing her green light close under our port bow. Seeing that a collision was inevitable, we stopped our engines and reversed them at full speed. The two vessels came in collision, the bow of the BYWELL CASTLE cutting into the other steamer with a dreadful crash. We took immediate measures for saving life by hauling up over our bows several passengers, throwing overboard ropes' ends, life-buoys, a hold-ladder, and several planks, and getting out three boats, at the same time keeping the whistle blowing loudly for assistance, which was rendered by several boats from shore, and a boat from another steamer. The excursion steamer, which turned out to be the PRINCESS ALICE, turned over and sank under our bows. We succeeded in rescuing a great many passengers, and anchored for the night."
'No log of the PRINCESS ALICE has been made up, nor has the Captain survived to give an account of her course. The collision will be the subject of a Board of Trade inquiry immediately. An accurate estimate of the number of persons drowned is impossible, but the general belief is that it will not fall below 500. The BYWELL CASTLE received no damage whatever.
'LONDON, Sept. 6. Later estimates of the number of persons drowned by the collision on the Thames are higher than those given yesterday. It is now stated that between 600 and 700 were lost, the majority of the estimates favouring the latter number. A diver says he felt corpses packed four and fifty deep in the after cabin of the PRINCESS ALICE.' (7)
'London, Sept. 10. Over 600 bodies have been recovered of persons drowned by the disaster to the excursion steamer PRINCESS ALICE, which was run down and sunk on the evening of the 3d inst. by the screw collier BYWELL CASTLE on the Thames. A large majority of the bodies have been recognized. Eighty-three bodies that could not be identified were buried at Woolwich yesterday.' (8)
'EIGHT HUNDRED PEOPLE STRUGGLING WITH DEATH IN THE THAMES.
'...From 700 to 800 men, women and children were thrown into the river, some ingulfed [sic] with the ship, others struggling with the tide, which runs here wth great power...
'...her Captain went down with his ship. But one of his officers, named Rand, made the following statement: "We were on the top of Halfway Reach when we saw a screw ship coming down. We whistled and the screw starboarded her helm. We then starboarded ours. The screw was 300 yards off when Capt. Grinstead gave orders to stop engines and turn her astern. The screw came straight into us and sunk us. I caught the screw's chains and got aboard of her. They threw out ropes and things to the passengers in the water."
'To me, said a local mariner of Woolwich: "I don't know as anybody is to blame: them darned pleasure boats has no business out after dark; the point at the bend is awful dangerous; it was hereabouts as the METIS and WENTWORTH had that awful bad collision some years ago; and the tide was pretty stiff, which you will understand when you're trying to put a vessel suddenly about. Fact is these vessels wouldn't see each other's lights just where they was outside the bend until they was nearly on each other, and in a moment like that the triflingest mistake is good-bye to you." This is a fair representative opinion, though there are men who loudly blame Harrison, and who equally denounce Grinstead, who, a few minutes before the collision, they say nearly had a bark run into him.' (9)
'London, Friday, Sept. 6, 1878...The diving carried on preparatory to raising the vessel, which is expected to float in two, if not three, parts, led to the not unexpected discovery that a vast number of the passengers were drowned in the saloon.
'The condition of the ill-fated PRINCESS ALICE revearled its utter unseaworthiness. It was literally broken into three parts. "My dear sir," said my companion, who lives on the river in an official capacity, "these so called saloon steamers are little better than floating platforms, egg-shells, that must go down on the smallest contact with anything like iron or timber. The London Steam-boat Company ought to be prosecuted. This vessel, with its boasted 30 feet beam, hasn't 20 feet: the breadth is pricked out by planking. It is a mere platform, planked in. The description given by the Captain of the BYWELL CASTLE of its condition is quite true. Moreover, passenger steamers have no business on the Thames hereabouts after dark. The river is full of heavy shipping, masses of wood and iron, not easy of control at certain states of the tide. The Captain of the PRINCESS ALICE was out of his course. He was avoiding the rush of the tide by making a circuit, in which he steamed through calm water. They continually do this...they think the river is theirs and that everybody else must get out of their way. This BYWELL CASTLE fellow...could not get out of the way."'
[A letter was produced and quoted in this article showing that the PRINCESS ALICE had a history of collision, having run down a small rowing boat the previous month. (10)]
'The divers declare that the submerged vessel is full of dead bodies...in a vain effort to rush on deck, drowned where they stood. At 2 in the morning, or to-morrow afternoon at ebb-tide, this will probably be verified, as the grappling chains are biting the wreck, and the vessel will probably be beached before this is mailed...
'The Coroner, at this afternoon's sitting of the inquest, received an official communication to the effect that, after examining the turn-stile tickets and other evidence, the company now deeply regretted to say that 800 was the lowest estimate. This, it is to be feared, will bring up the number of the drowned to 700. The experts who are raising the wreck say that they consider the position of the vessel and the gaping wound she received will prove that Capt. Grinstead was in his proper water. ' (10)
"The prisoner received a good character, and was stated to have given every satisfaction in dealing with salvage from the wreck of the "Princess Alice" in 1878. (12)
Built: 1865 (3)
Builder: J Caird and Co. (3)
Where Built: Greenock (3)
Propulsion: Paddle-driven, 2-cylinder compound engine (3)
HP: 140 (3)
Boilers: 2 (3)
Owner: London Steamboat Co. (3)(4)
Master: W Grinstead (3)
Crew: 20 (3)
On board: 800 (6)(9)
Lives Lost: 640 (3); 650 (5)(6)
Date of Loss Qualifier: Actual date of loss
Additional sources cited in Shipwreck Index of the British Isles:
The Great Thames Disaster, ILN; SGBI p107(illustration) |