SS Princess Alice was a British passenger paddle steamer that sank on 3 September 1878 after a collision with the collier SS Bywell Castle on the River Thames. Between 600 and 700 people died, all from Princess Alice, the greatest loss of life of any British inland waterway shipping accident. No passenger list or headcount was made, so the exact figure of those who died has never been known.

She took the wrong sailing line and was hit by Bywell Castle; the point of the collision was the area of the Thames where 75 million imperial gallons (340,000 m3) of London's raw sewage had just been released. Princess Alice broke into three parts and sank quickly; her passengers drowned in the heavily polluted waters.

In the aftermath of the sinking, changes were made to the release and treatment of sewage, and it was transported to, and released into, the sea. wikipedia

In Memoriam

No! the merciless ship rode proudly,
And struck us through the gloom ;
And the crash of our sides rang loudly
As the "Alice" went to her doom.
She sank with her side all riven,
And the waters closed o'erhead.
There was welcome for souls in heaven,
For earth had six hundred dead.

https://songsfromtheageofsteam.uk/The%20Princess%20Alice%20Disaster/2164