by Sheldon

Now that I’m working amongst the glass towers of Canary Wharf, the history of Docklands is of particular interest to me at the moment. I regularly find myself stalking the exhibits of the Museum of London during my lunch hour andlast week I paid a visit toTunnel, the Archaeology of Crossrailwhere I learnt more about a Victorian disaster most of us have never heard about. Remarkably, bits of it were filmed.

On June 21st 1898, close to where Royal Victoria Dock DLR station is now, the firstof sixCanopus class battleships named the HMS Albion was preparing to leave her dock and enter open water. It would be the sixth ship to bear that name for the British Navy since 1763 and what better way to christen this battleship than with an almighty party?

Grandstands were prepared, local children were given the day off from school…