PS Princess Alice
1843 Ditchburn and Mare of Blackwall, wanting to demonstrate the new annular type of engine (by Maudslay) in sea-going steamships built the Princess Alice for J. Hayward and Co. of Dover. This led to construction of about 10 more for the South-Eastern and Continental Steam Packet Co.[1]
1865 Another of this name was built by Caird of Greenock, for service as a passenger boat on the Clyde. 252 tons. 140 N.H.P.
1866 Acquired by the Woolwich Steam Packet Co
Then sold to the London Steamboat Co, after which she was considerably modified to increase her capacity for passengers.
The ALBERT EDWARD and PRINCESS ALICE were sister boats and were built in 1865 Caird and Co, of Greenock, for the Wemyss Bay Railway Company and were named KYLES and BUTE respectively. After running a short time this railway abandoned ship-owning and sold both vessels to the Waterman’s Company in 1867. When taken over by the Woolwich Company in 1871 the names were changed to ALBERT EDWARD and PRINCESS ALICE. They were handsome vessels with flush decks, two funnels fore and aft of the paddle boxes and one mast. Constructed of iron they had the following dimensions: 219.4 ft. by 20.2 ft. by 8.4 ft.; gross tons 171; oscillating cylinders 44 in. by 45 in.; N.H.P. 140. Steam was supplied by two haystack boilers working at 30 lbs. per square inch. They were licensed to carry 936 passengers each for river service in smooth water.
To increase the passenger accommodation the Waterman’s Company erected on the flush deck a forward and aft saloon having a promenade deck on top. After the alteration the Board of Trade granted certificates permitting the steamers to carry 850 passengers to Gravesend and 460 to Sheerness in the summer. In April, 1870, the certificates were amended to allow 872 passengers to Gravesend and 462 passengers to Sheerness. In March, 1872, they were amended once again the complement being raised to 936 to Gravesend and 486 to Sheerness. The gross tonnage was increased from 171 to 250, but it greatly reduced the reserve strength of the already weak structure—the hull plates being only 3/16 inch thick. They were at the time the most popular passenger steamers on the Thames.
On one occasion in 1873, the PRINCESS ALICE was chartered to take the Shah of Persia on a tour of the London Docks.
The tragic end of the PRINCESS ALICE is the worst river disaster on record in the British Isles. It was on Tuesday, 3rd September, 1878, that the vessel left London Bridge at 11.0 a.m. for a day trip to Sheerness, having on board some 900 passengers. The return journey was commenced at 4.15 p.m. Gravesend was left behind soon after 6.0 p.m., and at about 8.0 p.m. she was in sight of Woolwich Arsenal and was booked to stop at North Woolwich Pier. The tide was running out fast and the PRINCESS ALICE kept close to the shore, thus avoiding the tide’s force; and having rounded Tripcock Trees Point on the south Bank, she headed across the river to the next point on the north bank known as the Devil’s House. When about half-way across the reach, in mid-stream, off the Beckton Gas Works and just below North Woolwich gardens, the collier BYWELL CASTLE - 1,326 tons gross - struck the PRINCESS ALICE near the starboard paddle-box cutting into the body of the vessel to a depth of fourteen feet. The engine room rapidly filled with many tons of water and the middle part thus weighted and partially severed sank and the foremost half of the vessel rising at a considerable angle, broke off and turned round and headed down river before it too sank. In a little over five minutes all was over. Nearly 700 lives were lost in the tragedy and the author was acquainted with a whole family from Croydon who perished. In spite of conflicting evidence, the subsequent enquiry made it clear that the fault in navigation rested entirely on the PRINCESS ALICE. Some years later the BYWELL CASTLE was sunk in the North Sea.
This overwhelming disaster dealt a very severe blow to the Thames river excursion traffic and, with the increase in competing forms of land transport, it has never regained its former importance and volume.
See Also
Sources of Information
- Wikipedia
- * 'Steamers of the Thames and Medway' by Frank Burtt