3-047-018 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Wreck of the steamer Batavier in the Thames, near Barking, [Essex], 1872. 'A disaster, which caused the loss of two lives and of a fine vessel...The Batavier, passenger-steamer, one of the vessels of the Netherlands Steam-Packet Company, left Blackwall...with passengers and a valuable cargo for Rotterdam and the Rhine. When she was in Barking Reach, near the pumping station of the Southern Outfall Sewer, the large Turkish screw man-of-war Charkee came up the river. This ship, a fine vessel of some 1800 tons burden, had been sent by the Turkish Government to be fitted with new engines and boilers, and had gone down the river from Millwall Docks, the day before...[She] was steaming up through Barking Reach, the river being unusually free from other craft, when a fearful collision ensued. The Turkish man-of-war penetrated the Batavier 8 ft., striking her with tremendous force. The boats of the two steamers were instantly lowered; the women and children were placed in the first boat, and a tug coming up at the time rendered material assistance. In the confusion and alarm a child sleeping in the cabin was overlooked, and a boy of the crew was also drowned. The rest of the passengers and crew were saved, but the Batavier foundered'. From "Illustrated London News", 1872.