steamboat wrecks on the mississippi riverfdep southwest district

The Sultana made it only a few miles north of Memphis. New York: Dover Maritime, 1994. At the same time, dozens of people began to float past the Memphis waterfront, calling for help until they were noticed by the crews of docked steamboats and U.S. warships, who immediately set about rescuing the survivors. Then the captain did his best to steer around the dead trees, but sometimes they were hidden underwater. "The paddle wheel fell off of one side, caused the boat to turn sideways; the other paddle wheel fell off.". The earliest steamboat disaster in Arkansas waters may have been the Car of Commerce, which suffered a boiler explosion north of Osceola (Mississippi County) on the Mississippi River in 1828, killing twenty-one people, while the deadliest was the loss of the Sultana near Marion (Crittenden County) on April 27, 1865, in which as many as 1,800 were [5] About ten hours south of Vicksburg, one of Sultana's four boilers sprang a leak. A tall mirror glistened behind the walnut bar. But some of the most poignant stories involve Confederate soldiers rescuing their Union counterparts. Constructed of wood in 1863 by the John Litherbury Boatyard [1] in Cincinnati, Ohio, Sultana was intended for the lower Mississippi cotton trade. 0:04. [4]:2931, Leaving Vicksburg, Sultana traveled downriver to New Orleans, continuing to spread the news of Lincoln's assassination. Barrett was a veteran of the MexicanAmerican War and had been captured at the Battle of Franklin. BNSF Railway says two of three locomotives and "an unknown number of cars carrying freights of all kinds" derailed onto the banks of the Mississippi River around 12:15 p.m. Crews are now working . The massive steam explosion came from the top rear of the boilers. The current was calmer and the channel was deeper. [4]:72 Sultana subsequently arrived at Memphis, Tennessee, around 7:00 PM, and the crew began unloading 120 tons (109 tonnes) of sugar from the hold. Men in skiffs from both riverbanks rescued people clinging to debris. A potential reader should care about this story because it shows that greed and corruption in the government is not a new thing. Because of a trick of fate, the story of the Sultana is virtually unknown. Privacy Policy. Using steam power, riverboats were developed during that time which could navigate in shallow waters as well as upriver against strong currents. DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) People living along the Mississippi River watched warily Sunday as water levels rose in southeast Iowa and northwest Illinois, awaiting spring crests as floodwaters began . Many Sultana survivors ended up on the Arkansas side of the river, which was under Confederate control during the war. Explosion of the Helen McGregor, At Memphis, Tennessee, February 24, 1830. Then, once some laws were passed, they were generally ignored. [17], In 1888, a St. Louis resident named William Streetor claimed that his former business partner, Robert Louden, made a confession of having sabotaged Sultana by the use of a coal torpedo while they were drinking in a saloon. The first steamboat on the Mississippi River along Iowas border was the 109-ton Virginia, on its way to Fort Snelling (now Saint Paul, Minnesota) in May 1823. 2), built in 1860 but coming downriver on her maiden voyage after being refurbished,[6] arrived at about 2:30 AM, a half hour after the explosion, and rescued scores of survivors. And, in fact, when the boats used the regular flue boilers, the sediment in the water was not too much of a problem. (The whole book is digitally available via the Library of Congress, on the Internet Archive.). On March 26, 1915, while the Alice Miller was laid up at Vicksburg, fire broke out in the kitchen, and the boat was destroyed. The Mississippi River has changed course several times since the disaster, leaving the wreck under dry land and far from today's river. The power of the boilers came with risk - the water levels in the fire tubes had to be carefully maintained at all times. Steamboats traveled into Iowa border waters even before Iowa was legally open for settlement. Through the corruption of Captain Reuben Hatch, a Union officer at Vicksburg, Mississippi, and the captain of the Sultana, James Cass Mason, those 2,000 ex-prisoners were crowded onto a boat with a legal carrying capacity of only 376 passengers. 1 was no longer used to manufacture boilers after 1879. Lloyd, James T. Lloyds Steamboat Directory and Disasters on the Western Waters. The Missouri History Museum had it on display from 1962 to 1996, and preserves it in storage. The last Iowa steamboat to carry goods was the coal fired sternwheeler the Loan Star in 1967. When steamboats went out to investigate the wreck, they reported on what was found. Many bodies were never recovered. The men located around the twin openings quickly crawled under the wreckage and down the main stairs. Why should potential readers care? Although designed with a capacity of only 376 passengers, she was carrying 2,130 when three of the boat's four boilers exploded and caused it to sink near Memphis, Tennessee. He ordered the engines reversed, but the drifting boat smacked into submerged rocks near Grand Tower Island, opening a gash on its port (left) side. Non-subscribers can read five free Naval History articles per month. Sultana launched on January 3, 1863, the fifth steamboat to bear the name. FS: Given the mistrust of any reporting from the press in some parts of our society today, how reliable would you say the reporting on these disasters was back in its day? The Hayne was sold in 1908 to C.J. Find out more about what this space is all abouthere. A freight train carrying hazardous materials derailed in southwestern Wisconsin on Thursday, injuring four employees and sending two containers into the Mississippi River. A sunken casino boat has been uncovered in the Mississippi as severe drought pushes water levels in the Memphis section of the river to record lows. Sign up to get updates about new releases and event invitations. Crew members roused passengers and swung a gangplank onto land. These trips moved almost 5 million tons of lead down stream! More passengers boarded at Baton Rouge including a number of politicians fresh from the state legislative session that had just ended early for the holiday. A steamboat is a boat that is propelled primarily by steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels.Steamboats sometimes use the prefix designation SS, S.S. or S/S (for 'Screw Steamer') or PS (for 'Paddle Steamer'); however, these designations are most often used for steamships.. The jagged limbs could rip open the bottom of a steamboat. The cost for a stateroom fare was marginal when compared to the amount that could be gained by carrying freight and goods. FS: In writing this book and having devoted much of your lifetime to telling the true stories of the vessels named Sultana, when did your aim to dispel myths and legends take over your outlook? In his book, he builds a strong case against the boat's captain and co-owner, J. Cass Mason. It was not until the U.S. government began to crack down and either enact, or enforce, the laws, that safety became an overriding factor in steamboat travel. (Post-Dispatch), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers crews dismantle the wreck of the Golden Eagle on May 28, 1947, to eliminate its hazard to river navigation. Perhaps inspired by their northern comrades, a southern group of survivors, men from Tennessee and Kentucky, began meeting in 1889 around Knoxville, Tennessee. In later years the steamboats pushed huge rafts of logs from the forests of Wisconsin and Minnesota to sawmills farther down the river. But what the museum really has to offer is a powerful story of soldiers who died just days away from seeing their families and loved ones. For several hours its crew and passengers provided aid before heading upriver, its decks covered with bodies of the dead and injured. Almost 1,200 people perished. Explosion and Burning of the Steamboat Teche on the Mississippi River, May 5, 1825. He was a passenger on its trip to Nashville, Tenn. (Post-Dispatch), Passengers pass time on Grand Tower Island until they were picked up by a passing towboat. [4]:7985, While the Sultana burned, and the men on the steamboat were either already dead or fighting for their lives, the southbound steamer Bostona (No. The Capt. One-Year subscription (4 issues) : $20.00, Two-Year subscription (8 issues) : $35.00, 64 Parishes 2023. Johnson points out that steamboat explosions, caused by faulty boilers, were the nineteenth centurys first confrontation with industrialized mayhem, and Lloyds prose seemed almost to revel in these horrors. Most of Sultana's officers, including Captain Mason, were among those who perished.[8]. Bates, both eight-footers, arrive a, On April 18, 1949, at Verhagen Hall at St. Louis University a priest just back from a year of study at Harvard completed an exorcism after hea. The steamer registered 1,719 tons[2] and normally carried a crew of 85. From 1817 to 1871, about 5,600 people died on Mississippi River wrecks of all sorts, including burst boilers, collisions and fires. I had learned so much more, and collected so many more first-person accounts from the people on board, from the rescuers, and from the people involved, that I knew I had to write a new tell-all book that would dispel, as well as verify, all of the stories, rumors, and myths surrounding the disaster. The Missouri History Museum displayed it from 1962 to 1996 and preserves it in storage. GES: Readers should care about the Sultana since it was the greatest maritime disaster in American history. The report blamed quartermaster Capt. Many of the stories that the newspapers got from survivors were not always correct (one man said that there were people from every state in the Union on boardnot so), but they were reporting what they were told. Passengers were blown apart or scalded by the hot water. The current on the Missouri was fast, and the channelthe deepest part of the rivershifted from place to place. 2023 As a lawyer, Potter was well-equipped to investigate the mistakes and malfeasance that led to the Sultana disaster. Its sister craft included the Spread Eagle and the Bald Eagle. MADISON, Wis. (AP) A freight train derailed along the Mississippi River in southwestern Wisconsin Thursday, possibly injuring one crew member and sending two cars into the water, officials said. [18] Louden, a former Confederate agent and saboteur who operated in and around St. Louis, had been responsible for the burning of the steamboat Ruth. Among other St. Louisans along for the ride was Capt. The preliminary crest of 19.61 . Among its owners on that day was Herman Pott, St. Louis boatbuilder. And the boat was filled with enlisted men primarily men who really hadn't made a mark in history or a mark in life." The Princess ran weekly round trips from New Orleans to Vicksburg, Mississippi and back, departing the New Orleans wharf promptly at 5 p.m. every Tuesday. Aunt Letty (1855) steam paddle. Her four boilers were interconnected and mounted side-by-side so that if the boat tipped sideways, water would tend to run out of the highest boiler. On November 19, 1840, The Burlington Hawkeye newspaper reported upwards of 100 flatboats had passed Burlington going downstream loaded with produce. The Directorypadded out the bloody prose of the disaster descriptions and the repetitive awfulness of the illustrations with current business and travel information about the Mississippi Valley. Yet few know the story of the Sultana's demise, or the ensuing rescue effort that included Confederate soldiers saving Union soldiers they might have shot just weeks earlier. Salecker, historical consultant for the Sultana Disaster Museum in Marion, Arkansas, recently participated in an author q&a with former Naval History editor-in-chief Fred Schultz to discuss the book: FS: After having read your exhaustive story of the various iterations of the steamboat Sultana, I couldnt help but compare her fate to the loss of the Titanic, which, as Im sure you know, has received much more attention from historians. Most were Union soldiers, newly released from Confederate prison camps. It was part of the museum's River Room. [4]:202 Captain Hatch, who had concocted a bribe with Captain Mason to crowd as many men onto Sultana as possible, had quickly quit the service to avoid a court-martial. It was reported that the steamer was insured for $8,000. The rest can be gotten through the internet, which can be a positive thingif done correctly. He has conducted interviews with some 75 high-profile people, including historians, government officials, combat veterans, journalists, explorers, and Hollywood stars. It went upward at a 45-degree angle, tearing through the crowded decks above and completely destroying the pilothouse, instantly killing Captain Mason. Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. Library of Congress Persac, Marie Adrien (Artist) They tended to report what others thought these findings meant, but they very rarely added their own input, one way or another. Newspaper accounts suggest John Fogelman and his sons spotted the burning Sultana as the remains of the paddle-wheeler drifted downriver. The steamboat sank shortly after it struck submerged rocks at 2:20 a.m. All 91 passengers and crew members reached the island by gangplank, and were rescued later that day by a towboat. The official inquiry found that the boilers exploded because of the combined effects of careening, low water levels, and the faulty repair made a few days earlier.[16]. Steamboats ultimately carried more men and freight in the Civil War than the faster and more expensive railroads. Reuben Benton Hatch, an individual with a long history of corruption and incompetence, who kept his job through political connections: he was the younger brother of Illinois politician Ozias M. Hatch, an advisor and close friend of President Lincoln. Most were Union soldiers, newly released from Confederate prison camps. [citation needed] The next year, only one man showed up. Poster 17" x 22". The giant paddle wheel started turning faster. Sometimes these snags stuck out of the water. Mrs. Lind's birthday cake was lost, but fellow evacuees serenaded her as morning sun warmed their island refuge. As stated in the 1903 newspaper article, the log was mistakenly taken by Sultana. The Golden Eagle was bound for Nashville, Tenn., from its St. Louis home via the Ohio and Cumberland rivers. By Lieutenant Commander Ralph P. Dillon, U. S. Naval Reserve. 2012 was additionally when the river was low sufficient to expose five steamboat wrecks along the Missouri River between St. Charles and Bridgeton. "All the boilers, four in number, burst simultaneously . [4]:62, Sultana spent two days traveling upriver, fighting against one of the worst spring floods in the river's history. By that standard, the loss of the Golden Eagle was a minor event. In 2015, after I retired, I decided to look at all the known lists to discover who was actually on the Sultana and how many lived and died. 1, which tends to become brittle with prolonged heating and cooling. Captain Mason of Sultana, who was ultimately responsible for dangerously overloading his vessel and ordering the faulty repairs to her leaky boiler, had died in the disaster. Blackened wooden deck planks and timbers were found about 32 feet (10m) under a soybean field on the Arkansas side, about 4 miles (6km) from Memphis. What is the connection? A Hancock County native died Sunday evening from injuries she sustained in a boat crash on the Jourdan River, Coroner Jeff Hair confirmed to the Sun Herald. An outfield in flux. ", Discovery Gives New Ending To A Death At The Civil War's Close. An estimated four hundred people were on board the Princess when it pulled out into the current of the river after 9 a.m. Because the boat was late, high boiler pressure had been maintained during the stop, and second engineer Peter Hersey was reported to have declared that he would make it to New Orleans on time if he had to blow her up. As a portent of the looming catastrophe, the Mississippi River was veiled in a dense fog. The train . Although sediment settled in the bottom of even the flue boilers, it was never thought to be much of a hazard. In a seeming paradox of frontier boosterism, Lloyds book sold this terrible recent history of the Mississippi as a romantic feature of the area. "They had survived prison in one of the most hideous places the South had. But perhaps the best explanation is that after years of bloody conflict, the nation was simply tired of hearing about war and death. 2. However, they were not without hazards, as high-pressure steam boilers manufactured according to the science of the day were analogous to kegs of dynamite. He is currently a freelance writer living in Annapolis. ", 15th Michigan Volunteer Infantry Regiment, Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company, Judge Advocate General of the United States Army, "Sultana: A Tragic Postscript to the Civil War", https://www.nationalboard.org/SiteDocuments/General%20Meeting/Jennings.pdf, "The Sultana Disaster (Coal Torpedo theory)", http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/investigation/civil-war-sabotage/, Sultana museum in Arkansas memorializes 1,169 people who died in river, "Surviving the Worst: The Wreck of the Sultana at the End of the American Civil War", "Blues in the Water, by King's German Legion", "Ardent Presents: Cory Branan "The Wreck of the Sultana", "Remember the Sultana | Film Threat - Part 2", Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in 1865, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sultana_(steamboat)&oldid=1152358259, Articles with incomplete citations from April 2022, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from April 2022, Articles with unsourced statements from July 2018, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Initially Capt. Thousands of recently released Union prisoners of war who had been held in the Confederate prison camps at Cahaba and Andersonville had been brought to a small parole camp outside of Vicksburg to await release to the northern states. April 27, 2023. They'd stay in a motel at night, but she loved to cook for the crew and the men from the Coast Guard. No one was ever held accountable for the tragedy. The crew threw more wood on the fire. Preston Lodwick, then a consortium including Capt. However, the Judge Advocate General of the United States Army overturned the guilty verdict because Speed had been at the parole camp all day and had not personally placed a single soldier on board Sultana. Its clientele were among societys elite in the Lower Mississippi Valley. While wealthy patrons might buy drinks all night at the bar, the bar was usually privately owned, with just a share of the profits going to the steamboat captain and/or owner. This list may not reflect recent changes . In 1929, only two men attended the southern reunion. On a landscape lacking roads but braided with bayous and rivers, travel via water was the only efficient means of transportation. Everyone escaped to the muddy, isolated safety of Grand Tower Island. William "Buck" Leyhe, who had sold Eagle Packet Co. the year before, waits for rescue on Grand Tower Island after the Golden Eagle sank. [8], In 2015, on the 150th anniversary of the disaster, an interim Sultana Disaster Museum was opened in Marion, Arkansas, the closest town to the buried remains of the steamboat,[citation needed] across the Mississippi River from Memphis. Highlights of the Mississippi River Cruise: Round-trip from New Orleans Length: Five days Price: Starts at $2,405 per person Enjoy a complimentary overnight in New Orleans before embarking on. The exact number of steamboat accidents in Iowa Rivers is not known. Like us onFacebook, follow us on Twitter@slatevault, and find us onTumblr. Constructed of wood in 1863 by the John Litherbury Boatyard[1] in Cincinnati, Ohio, Sultana was intended for the lower Mississippi cotton trade. Featured in the museum are a few relics from Sultana such as shaker plates from the boat's furnace, furnace bricks, a few pieces of wood, and some small metal pieces. Three civilian victims of the wreck of Sultana are interred at Elmwood Cemetery in Memphis. (Post-Dispatch), The Golden Eagle moored on the St. Louis riverfront in May 1946. Lawmakers voted 85-12 Monday to approve legislation that would exempt . Given as the "John Lithoberry Shipyard" on Ohio Historical Marker 1831 (1999) on the Ohio River at Sawyer Point. A crew member fished liquor bottles from the half-flooded bar. "The Arabia sank. An epilogue to Tennessee steamboating came in the 1970s with the return of the pleasure sternwheeler to the Mississippi, Cumberland, and Tennessee Rivers. After some time, the weakened twin smokestacks fell; the starboard smokestack fell backward into the blasted hole, and the port smokestack fell forward onto the crowded forward section of the upper deck, hitting the ship's bell as it fell. FS: In the course of your story, you declare that It is now possible to write a work of historical nonfiction without ever leaving home. How do you actually feel about that? "The river is at flood stage," he says as we watch a barge struggle to move up river, "very similar to what it was on April 27, 1865." After the fall of Vicksburg and Port Hudson, Louisiana, in July 1863 and the opening of the Mississippi, the Sultana was used to bring cotton from parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas that were now under Union control up north so that it could be sent to Eastern manufacturers that had been starving for the raw material. Newspaper accounts indicate that the residents of Memphis had sympathy for the victims despite the ongoing Union occupation. Poster: Shows location of 31 steamboat sinkings on Mississippi River between Trempealeau, WI and Victory, WI (many boats were recovered and refitted). The areas between the many flues clogged easily, especially since dirty river water carried much sediment, and were difficult to clean. The term steamboat is used to refer to smaller, insular, steam-powered boats working on lakes and rivers . A series of maritime disasters, occurred over the next 120 years before the Coast Guard assumed enforcement responsibility. At least thirty-nine passengers and crew members died in the accident. Nathan Smith of Normandy, Mo., the pilot of the Golden Eagle when it sank on May 18, 1947, as he prepared to testify two days later at a Coast Guard hearing on the accident in downtown St. Louis. WASHINGTON -- If the U.S. Senate has its way, a 90-year-old steamboat will soon be able to return to the Mississippi River. 19th-century American steamboat that sank on the Mississippi River in 1865. from 1993-2005. Or does it let would-be historians off the hook from paying their own dues for embarking on the composition of a piece of nonfiction? In 2012 and 2015, the river was low sufficient to additionally expose the USS Inaugural. 1, a wooden model barge, and Vessel No. In the 1840s, The Ripple was the first steamboat to the capital in Iowa City. Evidence like that may have led the government to downplay the Sultana tragedy, Potter says. GRAND TOWER, ILL. It was the first trip of the season for the Golden Eagle, an antique steamboat with twin stacks, gingerbread woodwork and a splashing sternwheel. The last northern survivor, Private Jordan Barr of the 15th Michigan Volunteer Infantry Regiment, died on May 16, 1938, at age 93. Library of Congress To the left are the smokestacks of the Union Electric Co. plant at Cahokia. GES: Goods and materials were by far the most important and more profitable cargo to carry. Explosion and Burning of the Steamboat Teche on the Mississippi River, May 5, 1825., Explosion of the Helen McGregor, At Memphis, Tennessee, February 24, 1830., Terrific Explosion of the Steamboat Ben Franklin, at Mobile, Alabama, March 13, 1836.. Badger State (1844) steam paddle. In the early 1900s, the Mississippi River shifted about two miles to the east, leaving the wreck under about 15 feet of Arkansas soil. Steamboats and flatboats brought thousands of early settlers to the new land of Iowa. When the boat tipped the other way, water rushing back into the empty boiler would hit the hot spots and flash instantly to steam, creating a sudden surge in pressure. FS: Tell us why the Sultana Disaster Museum is located in Marion, Arkansas. Nashville: Land Yacht Press, 2000. Sometimes the boilers exploded. There was no manifest to record the names of passengers aboard the Princess at the time of the disaster. The Nick Wall was a sternwheel river packet that struck a snag on the Mississippi River near Grand Lake (Chicot County) on December 18, 1870. In the early 1900s, the Mississippi River shifted about two miles to the east, leaving the wreck under about 15 feet of Arkansas soil. The Missouri was a dangerous river. The broken wood caught fire and turned the remaining superstructure into a raging inferno. [24]:193197, Despite the magnitude of the disaster, no one was ever formally held accountable. It's estimated between 300 and 400 boats have sunk along the Missouri River. The Sultana was a 260-foot-long wooden steamboat, built in Cincinnati in 1863, which regularly transported passengers and freight between St. Louis and New Orleans on the Mississippi River.. On April 23, 1865, the vessel docked in Vicksburg to address . (Post-Dispatch). Morgan, James Morris. (Post-Dispatch), The Golden Eagle heads downstream at St. Louis on May 14, 1940. [7] Many died of drowning or hypothermia. Because Union forces had captured Memphis in 1862 and turned it into a supply and recuperation city, numerous local hospitals treated the roughly 760 survivors with the latest medical equipment and trained personnel. Among those killed were Louisiana state representatives H. J. Huard and Charles Bannister. Shewas a sidewheel Mississippi steamboat carrying nearly 2,000 releasedUnion prisoners-of-war back north at the end of the Civil War. An interview with author Gene Eric Salecker. Students tour the pilot house of the Golden Eagle on display at the U.S. Army Engineers base at the foot of Arsenal Street on Jan. 4, 1948. It seemed that profit was the driving factor for most steamboat owners and captains. Leyhe died in 1956 in St. Louis at 83. The main channel now flows about 2 miles (3km) east of its 1865 position. "A few weeks earlier, he might have been attacking the Sultana if it had come in.". While the Titanic caused more deaths, the great ocean liner was a British vessel and carried people from several different countries. No one seemed to question the danger of a steamboat race until there was an accident or . 3) The design of the boilers. "They had survived war," O'Neal says. In the 1820s, steamboats on the Mississippi carried lead from Julien Dubuque's lead mines near Dubuque. Immediately, Captain Mason grabbed an armload of Cairo newspapers and headed south to spread the news, knowing that telegraphic communication with the southern states had been almost totally cut off because of the recently-ended American Civil War. Instead of taking two or three days, the temporary repair took only one. (Post-Dispatch), Ruth Ferris, assistant curator at the Missouri Historical Society (now the History Museum), displays the steering wheel in the Golden Eagle pilot house as it went on display in the museum on May 2, 1962. When the Princess pulled up to the wharf in Baton Rouge early on the morning of February 27, 1859, it was already late. [13] The dead soldiers were interred at the Fort Pickering cemetery, located on the south shore of Memphis. Charcoal Hammered No. It was late April 1865 and more than 2,000 tired, sick, and injured men, wearing dirty and tattered clothes, filed down the bluff from Vicksburg to a steamboat waiting at the docks on the Mississippi River. There were 10 passengers on board. [4]:129 Eventually, the hulk of Sultana drifted about six miles (10km) to the west bank of the river and sank at around 7:00 AM near Mound City and present-day Marion, Arkansas, about five hours after the explosion.

Electric Narrowboat Hire, What Area Is Considered The Poconos, Which Persons Are Exempt From The Continuing Education Requirement?, Articles S