One hundred and twenty passengers aboard the steamship Royal Archer were saved recently by lifeboat and launches after a collision in a thick fog with the Gleniffer off the South Shoebury Buoy at the mouth of the Thames, The Royal Archer, which was outward bound from London to Edinburgh, was badly holed amidships.
With her radio flashing out an SES. for "urgent assistance," and with water pouring into her engine-room, she made a desperate dash for the Maplin Sands, five miles away, where the master beached her.
In spite of the severity of the shock of the collision, which sent passengers, who were at dinner in the restaurant, catapulting from their seats, there was no panic.
Orders were given for life belts to be donned, and the passengers waited, ready for any emergency, while the 2,226-ton Royal Archer rushed for the sands and safety through the fog-shrouded estuary. N With the receding tide she was left high and dry, and the passengers were able to climb down on to the
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