Lost at Launch

On a warm day in July 1883, a crowd gathered for the launch of the newest steamship added to the fleet of the Glasgow, Dublin and Londonderry Steam Packet Company.  At 11:25 a.m., a champagne bottle shattered across the bow, christening of the 500-ton SS Daphne.
As the Daphne began to leave her slip, she accelerated toward the Clyde while a hundred men aboard waved to the crowd of onlookers. Within seconds of entering the river, 124 men and boys would quickly lose their lives.