Too Many on the Victoria (1881)

The Victoria was no stranger to holiday crowds and on Victoria Day, May 24, 1881, many people had traveled between Springbank Park and the city of London Ontario up and down the Thames river. The river was notoriously shallow, enough that people would joke about boats traveling up and down it grounding on oyster cans, but a grounding was exactly what had happened to the Forest City, meaning that it was no longer available to carry passengers. The burden now fell on the remaining three steam riverboats to bring the holiday crowds back and forth.  Name: Victoria  Nationality: Canadian  Year Built: 1880 Tonnage: 50  Ship Type: Stern Wheel Wood Steam Riverboat Year Sank: 1881 Location Sank: Thames River Ontario  Reason For Sinking: Overloaded  Lives Lost: Estimated to be around 200          Sources:  https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1881/05/26/98557356.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0 https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1881/05/27/98557591.html?pageNumber=5 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/207513957?searchTerm=ontario%20victoria%20steamship https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/107216940?searchTerm=ontario%20victoria%20steamship https://lfpress.com/2015/05/21/my-london-sad-and-ugly-scenes-followed-the-thames-river-tragedy https://dotydocs.theatreinlondon.ca/Archives/disasters/victoria.htm https://images.maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca/details.asp?ID=59596 https://newspaperarchive.com/richmond-hill-york-herald-jun-02-1881-p-3/ https://canadaehx.com/2020/07/04/the-victoria-steamship-disaster/ https://www.clintonnewsrecord.com/opinion/columnists/huron-county-and-the-victoria-day-disaster