Downstream

outdoor tank at the West
India Docks.
Of the known causes of
death, five boys drowned
while bathing. But far more
fell from barges and ships;
one boy was knocked into the
water by a rope, a stevedore
missed his footing coming
ashore, a ship keeper slipped
off a gangway ladder.
Records from the winters of
1873–4 and 1879–80 show
that most drownings