Overview
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 little known today, but a deeply personal relic - an unused ticket for the trip - in the collection of the National Maritime Museum speaks to one intended traveller’s lucky escape. The ticket for a ‘Moonlight trip to Rosherville and back’ features a handwritten note that refers to Pa’s decision ‘not to go on [the] trip after he had bought [a] ticket’, a decision that may well have saved his life. Alongside it is a small fragment of wood, apparently carved from the wreck of the Princess Alice. Hannah Stockton tells the story of the events that unfolded that day and the immediate aftermath, including the sensationalist media reporting that followed, through contemporary objects, first-hand accounts and illustrations. ‘Pa’ would have been among the estimated 800 passengers on the steamer, travelling for the day down to the Kent coast towards Gravesend and on to Sheerness, then popular resorts. The incident exposed some of the worst issues and inequalities of Victorian London and Stockton considers if the working-class background of many of the victims contributed to a lack of public memorialisation. In the longer term, the disaster did result in changes to sewage treatment in the Thames, the provision of swimming lessons for girls and improvements to safety and working conditions for sailors. This unused ticket, meanwhile, is a much more personal and profound legacy of the sinking of the Princess Alice.
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 little known today, but a deeply personal relic - an unused ticket for the trip - in the collection of the National Maritime Museum speaks to one intended traveller’s lucky escape. The ticket for a ‘Moonlight trip to Rosherville and back’ features a handwritten note that refers to Pa’s decision ‘not to go on [the] trip after he had bought [a] ticket’, a decision that may well have saved his life. Alongside it is a small fragment of wood, apparently carved from the wreck of the Princess Alice. Hannah Stockton tells the story of the events that unfolded that day and the immediate aftermath, including the sensationalist media reporting that followed, through contemporary objects, first-hand accounts and illustrations. ‘Pa’ would have been among the estimated 800 passengers on the steamer, travelling for the day down to the Kent coast towards Gravesend and on to Sheerness, then popular resorts. The incident exposed some of the worst issues and inequalities of Victorian London and Stockton considers if the working-class background of many of the victims contributed to a lack of public memorialisation. In the longer term, the disaster did result in changes to sewage treatment in the Thames, the provision of swimming lessons for girls and improvements to safety and working conditions for sailors. This unused ticket, meanwhile, is a much more personal and profound legacy of the sinking of the Princess Alice.
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