650 PERSONS DROWNED IN THAMES RIVER - FROM SHIP -PRINCESS ALICE BROKE TWO PICES COLLIDED WITH SHIP SS BYWELL CASTLE ON 1878 SEPTEMBER 3
650 PERSONS DROWNED IN THAMES RIVER - FROM SHIP -PRINCESS ALICE BROKE TWO PICES COLLIDED WITH SHIP SS BYWELL CASTLE ON 1878 SEPTEMBER 3 SS Princess Alice , formerly PS Bute, was a passenger paddle steamer.[1] She was sunk in a collision on the River Thames with the collier Bywell Castle off Tripcock Point in 1878 with the loss of over 650 lives, the greatest loss of life in any Thames shipping disaster.[2 Early service[edit] Caird & Company of Greenock launched Bute in 1865 for the Wemyss Bay Railway Company, for whom she plied between Wemyss Bay and Rothesay.[1] She was sold in 1867 to the Waterman's Steam Packet Co.[1] on the River Thames, who renamed her Princess Alice. She was sold again in 1870 to the Woolwich Steam Packet Co. and in 1875 to the London Steamboat Company, who operated her as an excursion steamer.[1] The disaster[edit] This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this articl...