3-071-286 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Sketches of the Ship-Launch Disaster at Glasgow, 1883. Sketches by W. A. Donnelly from photographs by J. Russell Stewart. '1. Hull of the Daphne...at low tide, from Messrs. Stephen's yard, Linthouse, with Barclay and Curies' yard...2. The diver [in a waterproof suit, with helmet and breathing apparatus] preparing for descent...3. River police assisting to remove the dead. 4. Boat with flag...to warn passing vessels. 5. The starboard anchor, to which the chains were attached to guide the Daphne in the launch. 6. The port side anchor for the chains at the launch. The terrible disaster at the launch of a newly-built vessel on the Clyde, on Tuesday week, by which the lives of nearly a hundred and twenty working men were suddenly sacrificed, has occasioned great distress. It took place...at the shipbuilding yard of Messrs. Alexander Stephen and Sons. The Daphne, a small steamer of 400 tons, built for the Glasgow and Londonderry Steam-Packet Company, was there launched into the water...having on board nearly two hundred men and boys who were to finish the internal fittings...the hull...sank in the middle of the river...Eighty dead bodies have been recovered...on one of the rafts may be observed a couple of stretchers for the removal of the corpses'. From "Illustrated London News", 1883.