Although sediment settled in the bottom of even the flue boilers, it was never thought to be much of a hazard. Introduced in 1848, they could generate twice as much steam per fuel load as conventional boilers. Potter, the lawyer and author, grew up around Memphis, but didn't learn about the tragedy until the late 1970s, when he saw a painting of the ship in flames. Explosion of the Oronoko, April 21, 1838, near Princeton, Mississippi. Capt. Persac, Marie Adrien (Artist). An estimated 1,800 people died in the explosion and ensuing fire more than died in the sinking of the Titanic. 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? Leyhe died in St. Louis in 1956 at age 83. [4]:197202 Captain George Williams, who had placed the men on board, was a regular Army officer, and the military refused to go after one of their own. The Capt. Explosion of the Oronoko, April 21, 1838, near Princeton, Mississippi. [7] Many died of drowning or hypothermia. In the thirty years prior to the Civil War, several thousand lives were lost in steamboat calamities. He is currently a freelance writer living in Annapolis. "And the entire center of the boat erupted like a volcano.". Both groups met as close to the April 27 anniversary date as possible, corresponded with each other, and shared the title National Sultana Survivors' Association. The boilers exploded off Cairo, killing at least 1443 men, a loss of life never exceeded on the rivers, and rarely at sea. [4]:50,5556 Although Sultana had a legal capacity of only 376, by the time she backed away from Vicksburg on the night of April 24, she was severely overcrowded with over 1,953 paroled prisoners, 22 guards from the 58th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, over 70 fare-paying cabin passengers, and 85 crew members, for a total of 2,130 people. 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. It happened near Memphis, Tennessee, almost in the very heart of the United States, and yet very few people have ever heard about it. "The boat had a legal carrying capacity of 376 passengers," he says, "and on its up-river trip it had over 2,500 aboard," in part because the government had agreed to pay $5 for each enlisted man and $10 for each officer who made the trip. However, the Upper Rapids and Lower Rapids were serious obstacles to navigate. And many of them were saved by local residents, like John Fogelman an ancestor of the city of Marion's current mayor, Frank Fogelman. The Sultana was launched from Cincinnati in 1863. 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. "It's pretty exciting. [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.
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