CATASTROPHES THAT THRILLED THE WORLD.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2104, 1 February 1908, Page 2 (Supplement)

CATASTROPHES THAT THRILLED THE WORLD.

THE TRAGEDY OF THE “PRINCESS ALICE.” HOW 700 PLEASURE-SEEKERS MET THEIR FATE. Seldom, if over, has the irony of life been more tragically demonstrated than by the terrible disaster on the Thames which struck London dumb with horror nearly thirty years ago, and which still survives in the memory as one of the most pitilul and pathetic episodes in the drama- of human life. A HOLIDAY CROWD ON HIE THAMES. . . It was a bright August morning in tlio year 1818 that 000 persons left fclieir homes for'. a delightful trip down the Thames as far as Sheer-nci-s ti.iul bnrk. Mostly hard-woik- 1 ing mothers they were who snatched a day from the dreary round of everyday life to eniov with their children the rare delight of a. few hours of fresh air, of innocent gaiety, and a sniff (it could be little more) of the sea-breezes. Here and tlufie a. bushand had taken a day off to share a litlo pleasure with bis wile and family, a young man to give lus sweetheart a treat, and a honeymoon rouplo to put one bright day between cho romance of the altar and tlio prose of tlio workaday world. ■‘ON THE DECK OF THE PRINCESS ALICE.” If ever a nleasurc-serlung crowd lie served the smiles of Fortune, it was rarely these hundreds ol humble workers' wlio, with laughter and light hearts, crowded the deck of the liver steamer Princess Alice that August morning. She was but a tiny vests] of 251 tons, with comfortable deck room for no more than a third of the number that flocked on to her. “We were packed like sardines m a tin,” said one survivor, “but what cared wo? We were all ‘out lor the dav,’ and ‘the more the merrier, said we' J If we had to sit on each other’s laps or stand on one another s toes, wliv, nil the more fun 1 Such was the spirit of good temper mil jollity which animated the packed pleasure-seekers as the little steamer panted its way down the Thames, each bend of the river revealing new vistas to call forth exclamations of. delight and to make weary eyes brighten once more. Never a thought of danger, wemav be sure, entered anv

mind. They had a tight little craft luvnoatk thorn which hail made tho journey hundreds of times without mishap, and a, wholo Jong day of now sensations and ploasuro before them. A Jig for foreboding in such a world of sunshino and laughter! Gloomy da vs enough stretched behind and in front; to-day at loast they would bo happy I And they were ; wit h a zest nml enjoyment such as low can know whoso pleasures are not so rare 01 dearly bouglil • ....... PLENTY OK LAUGHTER AND JOLLITY ON BOARDBut the longest summer day conies to an end ; and the brighter and more crowded it is. the brietor if always seems. And thus the time was all too short before once again the 1 rmcess Alice was crowded at Shoorness with her human freight, tired—well, yes, a little—but perfectly happy, and on the whole not reluctant to turn homeward, taking with them the memories of one of the gladdest days ol their lives. Koine little eyes were heavy, a lew little heads nestled snugly on the breasts of rather weary mothers; but there was plenty ol life aboard, plenty of laughter anil good-humored clialf as tho paddles bogan to revolve, and tho pleasure boat, black with humanity, turned her head up-river towards distant London. Away from the spreading sea- behind, she steamed up the broad estuary, past ’J ilbury, to Gravesend, wlior© her already crowded decks received a fresh influx of passengers who had been making merry in Roeherville’s famous gardens; and now, with all aboard, she starts 1111 the last long lap, tlio goal of wlueli is home. . ' The sun w«ir» now sinking towurils tho west; but it was a glorious evening such as only August really knows, a Tilting dose'to a glorious outing; and, as the boat with throbbing engines nml splashing paddles nosed hei ■\vay up-stream past Purlleet and Krith, with the coasts ot Kent and Essex unfolding li'ko a beautiful panorama. to left mid right, and with the cool, pure breezes blowing, there uas not one of the 900 souls on board who did not feel tor once that it was a good thing to catch a whiff of tilt sea, and that, alter all, it was a very bright and wonderful world to live 111 vr GALLION’S REACH, NEAR “WOOLWICH. Vessel after vessel, carrying their cargoes towards tho open sea, they passed on the way, each an object of interest and each greeted in turn with shouts and waving handkerchiefs by be homeward-bound pleasure-finders ; and thus with songs and laughter and merry chatter—for as home drew near even the drowsy woke to life again—the Princess Alice puffed and panted up Gallion’s Reach towards AVoolwicli, which lay beyond a bend of the river.

“Hero comes a big one!” shouted someone iu the crowded bow, as a vessel larger than any they had yet passed camo into sight round tlio curve; and a hundred pails of eyes watched tho massive and imposing ship as sho camo towards them w'ith what seemod appalling swiftness. “.She’ll be oil us!” exclaimed an alarmed passenger, as it seemed impossible that tho towering mass could clear their own tiny craft. "Not a bit of it,” retorted another; ‘‘sho’ll clear us right enough.” CRASHED INTO BY' A BIG COLLIER.

Tho helmsman saw tho danger looming ahead; with a frantic turn of the wheel ho tried xo bring liis boat’s head round, but it was too late. Tlio massive iron bows of the collier Bywell Castle towered for a moment high and menacing over the little steamer, and then, with a sickening, rendering crash, struck her amidsliip and clove its resistless way right through her middle, tearing and crushing hor as if sho were no more than a matchbox, and striking with instant death scores of tho packed crowd who encountered her resistless onslaught.

Until tho crash camo most of those on board had no warning of the danger that threatened. They had caught no sight, had heard no sound of tlio great ship that was bearing down on them and bringing death in her wake. Tho deck on which but an instant boforo all was happiness and gaiety became in a moment a scene of wild confusion and of a fierce struggle for life; shrieks of despair rent tho air ; children with terror-stricken eyes clung frantically to their distracted parents; husband and wife and lovers with blanched! faces threw protecting arms around each other to ward off tlio danger they were too paralyzed almost to realize, while they gazed awestruck at the monster of destruction’which had driven itself into tlio very heart of their own small vessel. FIGHTING FOR DEAR LIFE

The horror of those moments no pen could adequately portray. Even those who survived could do little more than shudder at the memory. Scores in their -Light leapt overboard and struggled helplessly in the swiftlyrunning tide which’floated them to death; men, driven mad with fear, fought their way through tlio seething mass of humanity, trampling women and children under foot; others frantically tried to scale the steep sides of the destroying vessel, tearing at its smooth surface with their hands, while- a. few succeeded in climbing to the security of her decks by the chains which supported the funnel of the Princess Alice. Meanwhile, one hall of the doomed steamer had sunk. suddenly and without warning, and hundreds of men, women, and children were battling impotently for life in the bli\ck waters. “The entire surface of the river was a mass of struggling, panicstricken, and despairing humanity. Everything that was within reach was seized and held in the convulsive grasp of death.” And amid this awful scene of destruction tlio noblest instincts of humanity triumphed, for many a. mother went to her death clasping a beloved child in her arms, and iovers locked in a last embrace. DROWNED LIKE SO MANY FLIES Everything that was possible was done for the drowning people by the crew of the By well Castle. With much., difficulty a boat was launched (lor th<> tackle was rusty from disuse), which rescued a few. of them -from a watery grave. Hopes were Hung irom her deck, to be eagerly seized the moment tliev touched the water, hut alas, the tight lor life was so fierce that many of (hose who seized them were dragged from their hold, to kiii'k and not to rise again. Some of the drowning had clutched the anchor ami its chain suspended from the bow of the. By well Castle, and were clinging to it with a tenacity that only despair can give, when the anchor was dropped and they were drowned like so many flies. OUT OF 900 ONLY 200 SAVED. Meanwhile the other hah of the doomed boat had been engullcd, to iuld huwlmls more to the battle I u life, which flic growing darkness made more hopeless still. And although by this time a few neighboring boats bad Innried to their rescue, but lew ; ,f them all could be snatched from rlio greedy waters, and of these several died speedily from the -shock. One by one (or rather by dozens) they gave up the struggle and disappeared beneath the river, the turmoil of shrieks and cries for help grew still, and a few minutes after the 900 passengers on the Princess Alice were laughing and singing, lull of the memories of a happy day and anicipations of a happy home-coming, cho waters of the Thames were flowing darkly over 700 of them.