Event    From 21/6/1898  To 21/6/1898

HMS Albion disaster

Categories: Tragedy

The Albion was a battleship built by the Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company (TIASC) at Blackwall. The launching attracted huge crowds and, in spite of warnings that it was dangerous, some 200 people crowded on a flimsy bridge structure in order to get a better view. The Duke and Duchess of York (later King George V and Queen Mary) were in attendance. Bad luck loomed when the Duchess failed three times to smash a bottle of champagne to start the launch, before resorting to cutting a cord. As the ship slipped into the river it created a large wave which engulfed the bridge, plunging onlookers into the water. The cheers of the main crowd still applauding the launch drowned out the cries of those floundering in the river, thus delaying the start of the rescue operation. Sources differ as to the total number of fatalities, ranging from 34 to 39.

More details of the incident at Find a Grave.

R. W. Paul's film of the launch and the subsequent rescue operation (or the tail end of it) is a very early piece of disaster reportage. There is a point at which we think you see the ship already launched but no recognition of anything amiss.

TIASC's works straddled the mouth of Bow Creek near its confluence with the River Thames, at Leamouth Wharf. Two 1900 Goad insurance maps show the site: the south side, 'Orchard Yard', and the north side, with a 'private ferry' connecting them. The north side shows the 'slips' and a 'gangway' which could easily be part of the structure which gave way. This is surely where the disastrous launch took place, immediately north of what Google Maps currently (2023) has marked as 'Trinity Buoy Wharf'.

At Royal Navy we learnt that this HMS Albion was the 5th ship so named, and in 2021 sailors from the current ship (7th with the name) visited the mass grave at the cemetery.

June 2023: shortly after we published Mike Coleman sent us links to 3 more versions of the film, with extra shots: film 2, film 3, film 4.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
HMS Albion disaster

Commemorated ati

HMS Albion disaster

28 victims are buried here; another 6-11 victims (numbers differ between sour...

Read More

Other Subjects

Elizabeth Anne Daplyn

Elizabeth Anne Daplyn

Elizabeth Anne Daplyn was born on 14 October 1978, a daughter of Michael G. Daplyn and Pamela F. Daplyn née Tate. Her birth was registered in the Leicester Central registration district. She lived...

Person, Tragedy

3 memorials
Venera Minakhmetova

Venera Minakhmetova

From London24: "Ms Minakhmetova, a former City financial analyst from Bethnal Green, set up her own business in June 2013 called Simple2Connect, a location-based professional networking application...

Person, Cyclist, Tragedy, Russia

1 memorial
Christopher Hugh Forsythe

Christopher Hugh Forsythe

United Kingdom citizen who died in the terrorist attacks in America on 11 September 2001. Christopher Hugh Forsythe was born on 19 October 1956 in Lambeth, the son of Hugh Forsythe and Catherine F...

Person, Tragedy, USA

1 memorial
Druid Street arch WW2 bomb

Druid Street arch WW2 bomb

Railway arches were used as air raid shelters in WW2, as they were relatively secure. In the case of Druid Street however, they couldn't survive a direct hit. Depending on source, the number of dea...

Event, Tragedy

2 memorials

Previously viewed

Spencer Walpole

Spencer Walpole

Sir Spencer Walpole KCB, FBA was an English historian and civil servant. The son of Spencer Horace Walpole he was descended from one of the brothers of Robert Walpole. Through his mother he was a ...

Person, History, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
Bauhaus

Bauhaus

Art school. In full Staatliches Bauhaus. Founded by Walter Gropius, the name means 'building house', but in its early years it didn't actually have an architecture department. It was located initia...

Group, Architecture, Seriously Famous, Germany

1 memorial
Empress Matilda / Empress Maud

Empress Matilda / Empress Maud

Maud / Maude / Matilda was the daughter of King Henry I. Married aged 12 to the future Holy Roman Emperor, Henry V, she moved to Germany and then Italy. When her husband died, 1125, her father move...

Person, Royalty, France

1 memorial
Margaret Damer Dawson - bird bath

Margaret Damer Dawson - bird bath

SW3, Chelsea Embankment, Chelsea Embankment Gardens

The birth date given here differs with that on the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: 12 June 1873. Wikipedia helps us identify th...

1 subject commemorated, 3 creators