Here is one the articles describing the accident. It's quite long, but I found it interesting for the amount of detail and insight into a different time on the Thames
Subsequent inquest identified the deceased as Sarah Ann MEARS ("mother of two children"), Martha REDBURN ("whose husband is at sea"), James BALL ("cousin to Sarah Mears") and Walter RIDLEY. No blame was attached to POPE.
MELANCHOLY ACCIDENT ON THE THAMES
A fatal accident, attended with the melancholy loss of four lives – namely, two men and two women – occurred on Tuesday evening, on the river Thames, immediately opposite the premises of Mr. G. West, mast and block maker, Rotherhithe, which adjoins those of Mr. Alderman Atkins on the one side, and the Commercial Docks on the other.
It appears that a waterman, named Samuel Pope, on Tuesday evening rowed a party from the Custom-house Stairs to the Horse Ferry, at Greenwich, where he was, immediately after disembarking them, applied to by the deceased persons, and a young man, named Heffernan, a bookbinder, of No. 9, Clerkenwell, whose life was saved, to row them to the Tower Stairs. Some of the party appeared to be known to each other, but all were strangers to Heffernan, the young man saved, and to the waterman, whose life was also preserved. The boat was a perfectly new and commodious one, licensed to carry eight persons, but her fare, on the unfortunate occasion in question, did not exceed the five persons mentioned, all of whom, including the waterman, as far as appears from inquiry, are reported to have been sober. Up to the spot where the fatal occurrence took place, the wherry proceeded in perfect security, but unfortunately there were some spars or rough masts, the property of Mr. West, embedded in the mud, at a distance (by measurement) of 104 feet to their outer extremity from his premises. The time was about nine o’clock, and the water, having been then rather high, ran to a depth of eighteen inches over the external ends of the masts, thus concealing them from the eye, with the exception of the internal ends, which having lain on higher ground, are ascertained to have been somewhat above the surface of the water, but not observed, the night not being clear. The boat’s course was along shore, but in sufficient deep water had the masts (as reported) not been so placed, and having struck on them, a young man who occupied the end seat, rose in a state of alarm, which caused some water to get into the boat. The waterman, who is considered a very steady man, at this critical moment cried out to the party to keep their seats, but the women on feeling the water come in, sprung up, by which they caused the boat, which was balanced as it were upon the mast, to upset, and the whole party were consequently precipitated into the river. The women shrieked, and the scene at the moment was heart-rending. The four ill-fated individuals seemed at the moment to have clung to each other – they sunk and rose twice, and then disappeared altogether. The boat was turned bottom-upwards, and the waterman, who clung to her keel once caught hold of one the young men by the hair, but was unable to maintain his grasp. At this juncture, the young man who was saved caught hold of the keel of the boat, which caused her again to turn over, and both he and the waterman were again precipitated into the water, when the latter once more succeeded in grasping hold of his boat, but the former (Heffernan) must have been drowned had not the boat of the revenue cutter, whence the shrieks for help were heard, pushed towards the spot, and picked him up. Instant and energetic exertions were made to recover the bodies of the deceased, and all, after about a quarter of an hour, were found in a sort of gut in the mud, into which they had rolled. They were speedily taken to the Ship and Whale public-house, Russell-street, Rotherhithe, where every possible means were employed to restore animation to them, but without effect. Too much praise cannot be given to Mr. and Mrs. Halls, proprietors of the house, for their marked humanity towards the saved and the deceased on the occasion: the employed men and women to rub the latter, while they supplied dried garments to the former. The unfortunate deceased were all respectably dressed. During the whole of yesterday, up to a late hour, none of the bodies were recognised. They all appear to be under thirty years of age, and were returning to London after a day’s amusement at the Greenwich Fair. No blame appears , as yet, to the waterman, who seems greatly distressed in his mind for the melancholy event. An inquest is to be held on the bodies this day, at two o’clock, at the Ship and Whale, Russell-street, Rotherhithe, where the bodies still lie to be recognised by their friends.
Morning Chronicle Thursday, Apr. 3, 1834