Forgotten Thames disaster that killed hundreds

The sinking of the SS Princess Alice in 1878 is considered the most deadly inland maritime disaster in British history

On 3 September, 1878, a paddle steamer left Kent on its way to one of the greatest inland maritime disasters in British history.

The SS Princess Alice may not be a recognisable name, but in the late Victorian era it made headlines after hundreds of people – many of them working class – drowned in the River Thames.

Despite its morbid place in the past, historians say the widespread loss of life has been "largely forgotten".

Yet it triggered major changes in safety regulations and left a lasting legacy across the South East.

'Pandemonium'

The Princess Alice set off from Sheerness on its return to London, having ferried passengers to and from the capital including many returning from the Rosherville pleasure garden in Gravesend.

A trip to the pleasure gardens had been described as a "working class day out" for many families making the most of cheap travel out of the city smog.

At around 19:20 GMT, near Woolwich, the Princess Alice collided with the much larger Bywell Castle, and the paddle steamer began to sink rapidly.

"It was absolute pandemonium", said Alex Grover, assistant curator of historic photographs and ship plans at the National Maritime Museum.

"Victorian clothing was usually made of quite heavy material and was bringing passengers underwater.

"Men were taking their clothes off, and might also have been why there were so many more female fatalities instead of men."

Crews from the Bywell Castle dropped ropes to try and save passengers stranded in the water, and other clambered on lifeboats and rowing boats in the Thames – but rescue for many was futile and the damage was already done.

No manifest of those on board was kept, but estimates suggest that between 600 and 700 people died in the river, or on shore in the days following the disaster.

With so many bodies in the Thames, some were found as far south as Erith.

For many, what killed them was not the water, but what was being fed into it. Raw sewage, released by nearby pumping stations, hampered rescues and caused the death of several of the 130 people pulled from the river alive.

Lasting impact

Records from the time show an intense, macabre interest in the crash, Mr Grover said. As parts of the boat were dragged ashore, thousands clamoured around the wreckage to grab souvenirs for themselves.

Two inquiries were held into the crash.

One, an inquest into the deaths, shared the blame between the two vessels.

The other, a Board of Trade inquiry, put the fault solely on the crew of the Princess Alice.

For many of the families in Kent, the sinking of the Princess Alice uprooted their lives.

Families of the victims had to search from makeshift morgue to morgue, searching for their loved one's bodies.

For those bodies which cannot be identified, a mass grave was dug in Woolwich Cemetery, where a memorial now lies.

The bodies of those who died but could not be identified were buried in a mass grave in Woolwich, surrounded by thousands of mourners

The crash, Mr Grover said, had a lasting impact that spread much further than the maritime world.

While regulations were tightened following the disaster and education on the rules was improved, it is also believed that the SS Princess Alice's demise also brought about the building of public swimming pools across Kent.

With so many dying as they could not swim to safety from the Thames, pools such as one built in Gillingham aimed to teach people, particularly women and girls, how to swim so that they could save themselves.

The SS Princess Alice remains the most deadly inland maritime disaster in British history, and yet with so many dead it is a crash which has little place in the public imagination.

But, with everything that came from it, the deaths of those on board had a lasting impact on Kent families and the wider Victorian age.