The Princess Alice sank in the River Thames on 3 September 1878, killing hundreds of ordinary Londoners returning home from a day trip to the seaside. The tragedy, now largely forgotten, dominated newspaper headlines and led to changes to the shipping industry. A boatman hooks another body out of the foul-smelling Thames, a grisly prize that will earn him five shillings. A few days before, the Princess Alice had been smashed in two as it returned to London packed with men, women and children who had been on a trip to Kent. About 650 lives were lost and for weeks bodies decayed in the polluted water or washed up on the riverbank. Princess Alice disaster: The Thames' 650 forgotten dead
