was constructed beside the pump house as well, which no longer stands, though its foundations are still visible. Another dock was constructed at the end of Dundas Street in London close to where the 1st Hussars Museum is located today. The vessels operating the London to Byron route often had a makeshift construction and lacked consideration of safety standards, having flat-bottomed, shallow hulls to better accommodate the varying depths of the river. In July 1878, the Forest City was launched, becoming one of the first vessels to operate the Thames under the Thames Navigation Company. She was followed by the Princess Louise, launched the following year in May 1879. Several days prior, the rival company; the London and Waterworks Line, had just completed trial runs of their own vessel, the Enterprise. In 1880, the Admiral, the first propeller-driven passenger vessel also began operating on the Thames. Out of all the steamboats that operated on the Thames at the time of the disaster, the worst built was the Victoria. The Victoria In the November 1879, the London and Waterworks Line ferry Enterprise caught fire and sank during the winter, her burned-out hull slipping beneath the ice until the next spring when it was raised. The hull was then repaired and expanded, being reused for what would be the company's newest vessel: the Victoria. The Victoria, registered with Port Stanley, Ontario as her homeport, was finished with a glossy white-painted hull with royal blue and gingerbread trim. She could easily cover the distance of Springbank Park within half an hour. She was powered by a 60-horsepower boiler, 14 feet in length, 3½ in diameter with ninety tubes. She was driven by a paddle-wheel located at her stern within a paddle housing, and equipped with a steam pump, handle pump, and inspirator to keep the boiler supplied with water. The engine was furnished by Mr. J. White of Forest City Machine Works, which sat on King Street in London at the time. It was a single cylinder, 10½ inches in diameter, 29 inches stroke and fitted to a wheel crank. The shaft was 17 feet in length, upon which were the vessel's two paddle wheels ten by four feet each. The Victoria had two decks and a hurricane roof, and measured from bow to stern at 80 feet, with a beam of 23 feet and a hull 3 feet and 10 inches deep.