Was it the original Shit Creek ? 650 passengers died close by in 1878 when the Princess Alice paddle boat serving as a pleasure craft collided with a coal ship that was plying the river. A lot of the fatalities are believed to have occurred as the result of " the twice-daily release of 75 million imperial gallons (340,000 m3) of raw sewage from sewer outfalls at Barking and Crossness had occurred one hour before the collision"