THE WRECK OF THE PRINCESS ALICE
3 September 1878 The paddle steamer, The Princess Alice, sank on the RiverThames.
Sinking of SS Princess Alice from Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinking_of_SS_Princess_Alice#:~:text=SS%20Princess%20Alice%2C%20formerly%20PS,British%20inland%20w
The Wreck of the Princess Alice - The Wellington Wailers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWTYpI8mIrc
THE WRECK OF THE PRINCESS ALICE
1. If you listen to me, a story I'll relate
Of a ship called the good Princess Alice.
She met with her fate in 1878.
She was known as the "Floating Palace".
CHORUS: When the Princess Alice sank in Barking Reach,
Six hundred and forty died together.
Not all had been drowned as the coroner found,
Some were poisoned by the black stinking river.
2. Eight hundred or more were aboard her for sure,
On a pleasure trip in gay company,
But for hundreds of men, their families and their friends,
Oh the pleasure was surely not to be. CHORUS
3. To Sheerness they went, via Woolwich and Gravesend.
William Rickstead it was the captain's name,
And the helmsman was John Ayers who was new to such affairs,
But the captain must accept the final blame. CHORUS
4. As they rounded Tripcock Point, a collier came in sight,
Bywell Castle, a thousand tons or more,
And the collier's captain thought that ships should pass to port
And maintained his position by the shore. CHORUS
5. Well, the Alice came around from the shelter of the land
And was turned by the ebbing tide,
And by now it was too late to avoid the dreadful fate
And the collier caught her squarely in the side. CHORUS
6. There were screams. there were shouts as the ships lights went out.
They took just four minutes to go down,
And though the collier's gallant crew managed to save just a few,
All the rest were either poisoned or drowned. CHORUS
7. Well, the inquest resolved that lessons should be learned
And rules of navigation put together,
And they stand to this day, and I'm very pleased to say
That they've cleaned up the black, stinking river. CHORUS