Downstream

were trapped in the wreckage
and drowned; others died in
the river in which an hour
earlier raw sewage had been
released from sewer outfalls
at Crossness. Hardly any of
the passengers would have
been able to swim, only ‘a
few’ were reported as having
made it to shore, and the
paddle steamer was barely
equipped with life belts – the
press reported ‘a dozen or
more lifebuoys onboard’.