The Princess Alice Disaster: Tragedy on the Thames

Part of the Spotlight series, exploring key objects in the collection of Royal Museums Greenwich

In September 1878, a late summer day trip to the Kent coast turned into tragedy when the paddle steamer Princess Alice collided with the coal ship Bywell Castle in the River Thames. As many as 640 people lost their lives that day, one of the largest peacetime death tolls in British maritime history after the sinking of the Titanic. Despite the huge loss of life, the Princess Alice disaster is lit...