The River Thames has been a vital lifeline for London since Roman warships sailed along it to the newly founded town of Londinium. Even then the peaceful-looking river had a lethal aspect which deceived many Thames sailors. Throughout the centuries the River Thames has claimed the lives of crews of small boats and large naval warships, the scale of the tragedies growing with the sizes of the vessels involved. The danger to shipping was accepted as a necessary risk in order to keep trade flowing into London and many of the earlier tragedies, in the years before widespread news reporting, were quickly forgotten - at least until the wreck resurfaced in the Thames mud. From the little-known to the worst disaster in Thames history, the Princess Alice collision in 1878 with the loss of around 650 people, this illustrated book chronicles the surprising number of disasters and tragedies to have occurred on the River Thames up to the present day.