SS Bywell Castle
Contemporary engraving of Bywell Castle bearing down on Princess Alice
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| History | |
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| Name: |
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| Namesake: | Isle of Bute, Scotland; HRH Princess Alice |
| Owner: |
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| Operator: |
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| Port of registry: |  |
| Route: | Wemyss Bay – Rothesay (1865–67), River Thames (1867–78) |
| Builder: | Caird & Company, Greenock |
| Yard number: | 123 |
| Launched: | 29 March 1865 |
| Out of service: | 3 September 1878 |
| Fate: | wrecked in collision |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | passenger steamer |
| Tonnage: | 171 GRT |
| Length: | 219.4 ft (66.9 m) |
| Beam: | 20.2 ft (6.2 m) |
| Draught: | 8.4 ft (2.6 m) |
| Installed power: | 140 NHP 2 cylinder oscillating steam engine |
| Propulsion: | paddle |
SS Princess Alice , formerly PS Bute, was a passenger paddle steamer. 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.
Caird & Company of Greenock launched Bute in 1865 for the Wemyss Bay Railway Company, for whom she plied between Wemyss Bay and Rothesay. She was sold in 1867 to the Waterman's Steam Packet Co. 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.
On 3 September 1878, she was making what was billed as a "Moonlight Trip" to Gravesend and back. This was a routine trip from Swan Pier near London Bridge to Gravesend and Sheerness. Tickets were sold for two shillings. Hundreds of Londoners paid the fare; many were visiting Rosherville Gardens in Gravesend.
By 7:40 PM, the Princess Alice was on her return journey and within sight of the North Woolwich Pier—where many passengers were to disembark—when she sighted the Newcastle bound vessel SS Bywell Castle. Bywell Castle displaced 890 long tons (904 t), much more than the Princess Alice. She usually carried coal to Africa: at the time, she had just been repainted at a dry dock and was on her way to pick up a load of coal. Her Master was Captain Harrison, who was accompanied by an experienced Thames river pilot. The collier was coming down the river with the tide at half speed.
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