Sinking of SS Princess Alice

Date: September 3, 1878 • Location: Barking, United Kingdom

The passenger steamship SS Princess Alice sank in the River Thames after colliding (pictured) with the collier Bywell Castle, killing more than 600 people.

SS Princess Alice, formerly PS Bute, 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 deaths has never been known.