00:00If I asked you to name the most famous wreck of all time, you would think of the Titanic, wouldn't you?
00:07The Atlantic Ocean, the hope of a new life, heartbreaking love stories.
00:12It had everything to become a hit at the box office.
00:15But I guess you've never heard of the SS Princess Alice who sank in the dirty waters of the Thames, carrying with her between 600 and 700 lives.
00:24Life in Victorian London of the 19th century was not easy, especially for the middle class.
00:29Affordable public transport and holidays made things a little easier.
00:34People could escape to the coast by train or boat, even if it was only for a day.
00:43Sheerness on Sheppey Island in Kent started as a fort under Henry Wheat, then turned into an animated city with a shipyard.
00:51When they added a station in 1863, it became a destination of choice for tourists and holidaymakers.
00:58Walks by the sea, charming throws and a whole bunch of fun activities to do by the sea, everything was there.
01:05A little inside the land along the Thames, there were the Rocherville Gardens.
01:10These gardens included arched lawns, ball fields, labyrinths, lakes, walks on the cliffs and even a floral bazaar.
01:19In addition, there was a aviary, a bear pit and the skeleton of a lost whale that had taken a bad turn in the Thames.
01:27Londoners of the late 19th century could get on a train or sail along the Thames by boat, and these two options were quite popular.
01:35But on September 3, 1878, many more people than usual chose the boat.
01:41They preferred this option on the railway after a passenger train collided with goods wagons in Kent, costing the lives of 5 people.
01:50The river seemed to be a safer way to travel.
01:54One of the ships available for the trip was the SS Princess Alice.
01:59The boat at Haube was launched for the first time in 1865 on the west coast of Scotland.
02:05Its original name was Le Butte, and it was used as a ferry for the passengers of the Weymouth Bay Railway Company.
02:12A few years later, it was sold and renamed after the third child of Queen Victoria.
02:18Then it was sold again and got the nickname of the Cat's Boat, because it transported the Persian cat on the Thames to Greenwich in 1873.
02:28The ship had undergone several modifications throughout its life.
02:31It had received new boilers and watertight locks.
02:34The trade office had inspected it and judged it safe.
02:38The year of its last trip, it was officially allowed to transport up to 936 passengers between London and Gravesend in a calm manner.
02:50On the day of the tragedy, the Princess Alice took part in what was called a Moonlight Walk,
02:55descending from Swan Pier near London Bridge to Sheerness in the Kent and back.
03:01The trip was not expensive, so most of the passengers were from the working class.
03:06There was also a fanfare on board to cheer people up.
03:10September 3 was a bright day, and many families were eager to enjoy the last rays of sun in the summer and the fresh air of the sea.
03:18The owner of the ship at the time, the London Steamboat Company, had several ships operating on the road.
03:25Passengers were free to get on and off different ships.
03:29Around 6.30 p.m., after a beautiful day at sea, the SS Princess Alice headed for Swan Pier.
03:36No one had an official list of passengers, so we will never know exactly how many people were on board that night.
03:43But it seems that the steamboat was almost at full capacity.
03:47As darkness and freshness settled in, many families decided to stay inside the lounge or in their cabins below.
03:56Some stories about steam are similar to fate.
03:59The captain of the Princess Alice left his pilot at Gravesend and replaced him with one of the passengers.
04:05John Ayres was a sailor, but he had little experience on the Thames or with a ship like the Princess Alice.
04:12Alfred Thomas Merriman, a chef from eastern London, had been asked to work on the steamboat at the last minute.
04:19He was 30 and the father of four children, so he could not refuse an additional income.
04:24Around 7.40 p.m., he was standing on the bridge near the lounge door.
04:29At that moment, the Princess Alice had passed Tripcock Point and entered Galleon's Reach.
04:34Passengers could see the dock of North Woolwich in the distance.
04:38Many of them planned to land at this stop.
04:41It was then that Merriman noticed a huge ship carrying coal.
04:46It was the Bywell Castle.
04:48This ship normally transported coal to Africa, but it had just been repainted in a radobe basin.
04:55The Bywell Castle was heading for Newcastle to take coal and transport it to Alexandria in Egypt.
05:01The captain of the ship, Harrison, was not very familiar with his waters.
05:06So he called Christopher Dix, a seasoned pilot from the Thames, to lend him a hand, even if he was not obliged to.
05:13The ship had a part of the bow raised above the deck, and Dix could not really see what was in front of him.
05:19So they had a sailor in charge of the watch.
05:22Using Millwall at a speed of 5 knots, they tried to stay in the middle of the river, but other boats had other plans.
05:31When they approached Bay of Galleon Reach, Dix saw the red light at the bottom of Princess Alice, heading towards them but planning to go right.
05:42At the same time, Greensteed, the captain of Princess Alice, was going against the current of the river, trying to find calm waters on the south side.
05:50He adjusted his cap, heading along the Bywell Castle.
05:54The two crews realized that they were heading for a collision.
05:58Dix tried to move away, and even ordered to reverse the engines at full speed, but it was too late.
06:09The Bywell Castle collided head-on with Princess Alice, who was much smaller, weighing less than a third of the 890 tons of coal-carrying coal.
06:18He cut the steam in half.
06:21As Merriman remembered later, the laughter on board immediately turned into screams and panic.
06:28Some people rushed to the bridge to secure themselves.
06:32Merriman hurried to see the captain, asking what to do next.
06:37The captain's answer was gloomy.
06:39We are sinking quickly, do your best.
06:43The ends of the steamboat rose high in the air, and the environment darkened, dragging the passengers with it.
06:51The unfortunate people who were under the bridge were tragically trapped.
06:55The impact caused the eruption of tons of unused water from the exits near the collision site.
07:01The water became an emaciated mass of untreated waste, releasing a horrible smell.
07:06It was powerful enough to make even the most resistant sailors vomit.
07:11In the midst of the chaos, the passengers struggled to survive in the contaminated water.
07:15They inhaled dangerous waste without knowing it.
07:19The crew on board the Bywell Castle immediately activated.
07:22They threw ropes from their bridges, exhorting Princess Alice's passengers to get on board.
07:27All that could float, tonneau boards, were thrown into the water to serve as a floating device for those in need.
07:34Other members of their team launched a rescue channel, saving 14 people.
07:39The neighboring boats, moored along the banks, joined the mission, rescuing the survivors from the water.
07:48Many of Princess Alice's passengers did not know how to swim,
07:51and it was even more difficult for the ladies wearing long, heavy dresses.
07:55Merryman was one of the lucky ones who knew how to swim.
07:58He first hung on to a piece of wreckage, then, when others arrived,
08:03he moved away to swim and clung to a rope hanging on the side of the Bywell Castle.
08:08They managed to save about 130 people in this way.
08:12Another survivor was Robert Haynes, who played in Princess Alice's orchestra.
08:17He loved ships very much, and had noticed the Bywell Castle a few minutes before the collision.
08:22He chose not to follow the rest of the orchestra,
08:25who descended to take a break, and that saved his life.
08:28Princess Alice's twin ship, the Duke of Teck, arrived 10 minutes too late to assist in the rescue efforts.
08:35Only two people, who were under the bridge or in the living room, managed to survive the collision.
08:41We still do not know the total number of lives lost that day, but it is between 650 and 700.
08:48And what makes this story even more tragic, is that it was largely forgotten.
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