Ship Collision in the Thames
After @jacksonsdeadpig told me how many of the characters of Ripper Street are drawn from real life counterparts, I did some digging of my own to find out what else the writers might have taken as inspiration. A quick google search offered the story of the steam ship Princess Alice and the SS Bywell Castle.
First, the tragic true story.
The SS Princess Alice was a paddle steamer built in 1965 and registered in 1878 to carry up to 936 passengers in calm water. She was mainly used as a stopping service from Swan Pier in London to Sheerness, Kent and back. Passengers could buy one ticket for the day for 2 shillings (14£ or $20 in today’s currency) and ride to several pleasure gardens before returning home.
On September 3rd, 1878 on her return trip, a nearly full-to-capacity Princess Alice diverted into the course of the Bywell Castle at about 7:30 in the evening. The Bywell was a cargo ship built to carry coal and though not very much longer or wider than the Princess, it weighed nearly three times as much. Princess Alice was struck on her right side at an angle and the impact split the ship in two.
Though the crew of the Bywell hurried to throw ropes, buoys, and frankly anything that could float to the frantic passengers, Princess Alice sank within four minutes. Nearby ships launched life boats and around 130 people were pulled from the water.
Unfortunately for even those rescued; it wasn’t just water they were drowning in. The collision happened near one of London’s twice daily sewage dumping. 75 million imperial gallons of raw sewage was pumped into the Thames within a mile of the accident. 16 of those ‘rescued’ from the Princess Alice later died from ingesting the ‘water’.
There were no passenger records for those aboard the Princess Alice and therefore the death count is only an estimate. Between 600 and 700 men, woman and children drowned in the stinking muck that evening and bodies were found as far upstream as Limehouse and as far downstream as Erith.
That is the true story of the collision on the Thames. So what changes in the Ripper Street version?
The Pride of Wapping set sail for the final time on the 15th of September 1888. While the Princess docked at Swan Pier, Pride launched from St. Katherine’s Docks, slightly further east. Inspector Reid describes the accident, a second ship bearing down on them, the impact and subsequent splitting of the hull. The deck lurching into the air as happened on the Princess, throwing on-deck passengers to the middle point as both halves began to sink at the point of impact. He also details the steam pipe coming down and in the first image the Princess offers a similar depiction.
In this fictional version however, of the 253 passengers aboard, only 77 drowned and 5 were lost with the majority (171 including our dear Edmund) saved. He mentions a body being found as far downstream as Greenwich.
Now, after spending far too much time on this research as I have already done, I wonder if this incident isn’t why we see Reid as being very knowledgeable about the tides, the currents of the Thames. I put to the fandom that Reid spent his time recovering from his injury to research where each victim was found and map a possible course for Mathilda’s recovery (alive or dead).
Throughout the show Reid has performed experiments to determine where bodies may have been dumped into the Thames, as well as where a body dumped at a certain point may come to rest at a given time. He also uses this experience to discover the reason behind the erosion at Hampton-On-Sea (where the real-life Edmund Reid retired and spent the last two decades of his life).
Anyway. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk. If you wander by Tripcock Point, you can find a.. well, there’s a little sign about it. I think it’s the white square. So, basically, don’t feel badly if you didn’t know anything about this incident before. All my love.
