It's a terrifying thing to be on a sinking ship.

Often everything happens so fast that it's hard to focus on what you need to do to survive.

But this story isn't just about a boat sinking, it's way worse than that.

It's about one of the worst things you can imagine happening once you hit the water.

As always, viewer discretion is advised.

In the summer of 1858, London was hit by something known as the Big Stink. It was

particularly hot that summer, and the Thames, which is the large river which

runs through London, was essentially an open sewer. Now, London did already have a sewage system

that covered and redirected several rivers to flush waste through underground passageways,

but these still just emptied directly into the Thames. Even worse, by 1858, this system was

in need of a serious overhaul.

This meant that gas is often leaked, especially on hot days, and even though it moved the waste away from where people lived and worked, it was still dumped into the Thames, where it would just pile up on shore.

On hot days, this smell would become unbearable.

In fact, Michael Faraday, one of the most influential scientists at the time,

once wrote that, quote, the feculents rolled up in clouds so dense that they were visible

at the surface, end quote. And unfortunately, that summer, it was hot every day. This was also

before germ theory and the prevailing idea was that disease was spread by myasma or foul

smells instead.

And so it was assumed that many outbreaks of cholera and other diseases that plagued the city must be linked to the stench from the waste problem.

Proposals have been made for years for an overhaul, but up until then had been put off due to cost.

But finally, the big stink made officials realize the urgency of the problem.

Afterward, a plan was made to divert the waste away from central and west London where much

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