Steamboat Explosions in the West

The following refers only to destruction of steamers by explosions, and make up a very melancholy list, and yet it tells but a part of the great loss of life on the Western waters by steamboat accidents.  The list is incomplete.

Date   Lives Lost
1816 June 9, Washington, boiler exploded at Marietta, Ohio River 9
1817 Constitution, May 4, boiler exploded at Pt. C'pee, Mississippi 30
1825 Teche, May 5, Mississippi 20
1830 Helen McGregor, Feb. 24, boilers exploded at Memphis, Tenn. 60
1836 Ben. Franklin, March 12, Mobile, boilers exploded 20
1836 Rob Roy, June 9, Mississippi, boilers exploded 17
1837 Chariton, July 28, Upper Mississippi, boilers exploded 9
1837 Dubuque, Aug. 15, Upper Mississippi, flue collapsed 21
1837 Black Hawk, Dec. 31, Red River, boilers exploded 50
1838 Oronoko, April 21, Mississippi, flue collapsed 109
1838 Moselle, Cincinnati, boilers exploded 85
1838 Gen. Brown, Nov. 25, Mississippi, boilers exploded 55
1838 Augusta, Dec. 3, Mississippi, boilers exploded 7
1839 George Collier, May 5, Mississippi, piston rod broke and ran through, carrying away boiler stand. 36
1839 Wilmington, Nov. 18, Mississippi, boilers exploded 25
1840 Walker, Nov. 3, Lake Pontchartrain, boilers exploded 9
1840 Persian, Nov. 2, Mississippi, flues collapsed 26
1844 Lucy Walker, October 25, Ohio River, boilers exploded 25
1845 Elizabeth, April 3, Mississippi, flue collapsed 6
1845 Marquette, July 14, New Orleans, boilers exploded 30
1847 A. N. Johnson, Dec. 30, Ohio River, boilers exploded 74
1848 Edward Bates, Aug. 9, Mississippi, flues collapsed 53
1848 Concordia, Sept. 16, Mississippi, boilers exploded 28
1849 Virginia, March 31, Ohio River, boilers exploded 14
1849 Louisiana, Nov. 15, New Orleans, boilers exploded 150
1850 Anglo-Norman, New Orleans, boilers exploded 100
1850 Kate Fleming, Oct. 6, Ohio River, boilers exploded 9
1850 Knoxville, Dec. 11, New Orleans, flues collapsed 19
1851 Oregon, March 2, Mississippi, boilers exploded 19
1852 Pocahontas, March 14, Arkansas River, flues collapsed 8
1852 Red Stone, April 2, Ohio River, boilers exploded 40
1852 Glencoe, April 9, St. Louis, boilers exploded 60
1852 Saluda, April 9, Missouri River, boilers exploded 27
1852 Franklin No. 8, Aug. 22, Upper Mississippi, flues collapsed 20
1853 Steamer Bee, near Evansville 9
1854 Kate Kearney, Feb. 16, Mississippi 15
1854 Timoon No. 2, Aug. 26, Mississippi 19
1854 Raindeer, collapsed flues, March 13, Mississippi 40
1855 Lexington, Ohio River, June 30 5
1855 Lancaster, July 31, burst steam pipe, Ohio River 5
1855 Heroine, March 13, Tombigbee 8
1856 Metropolis, March 29, Ohio River 11
1857 Forest Rose, May, Mississippi 11
1857 Fanny Fern, January 29, Ohio River 20
1857 Cataract, November 18, burst a mud-ram, Mississippi River 12
1857 Buckeye Belle, November 26, boilers exploded, Mississippi, Loss not known
1858 Titania, October 12, flues collapsed, Mississippi River 1
1859 Princess, February 27, boilers exploded, Mississippi River 70
1859 St. Nicholas, April 24, boilers exploded, Mississippi River 45
1859 Hiawatha, October 1, burst steam pipe, Missouri River 2
1860 John C. Calhoun, April 29, exploded boilers, Chattahoochee River 6
1860 Sam Getty, April, boilers exploded, Ohio River 2
1860 Ben. Lewis, June 25, exploded boilers at the mouth of the Ohio River 23
1860 W. V. Gilman, November 25, exploded, Kentucky River 8
1861 Medora, June 12, exploded boilers, Ohio River 4
1862 Monongahela, Feb. 20, boilers exploded, Ohio River 4
1862 Commodore Perry, August 2, exploded boilers, Louisville Wharf 1
1862 Steamer I Go, boiler exploded, Ohio River 3
1862 Advance exploded, Ohio River 3
1863 Ollie Sullivan, February 24, flues collapsed, Ohio River 3
1864 Maira, Mississippi River, boilers exploded, loss not known
1865 Sultana, April 27, boilers exploded, Mississippi 1,547
1865 Ben Levi, March 19, boilers exploded, Mississippi 5
1865 Nimrod, Sept 23, boilers exploded, port of Pittsburgh 5

Debow, J.D.B., “Steamboat Explosions in the West,” Debow’s Review, Volume 2, Issue 3, Sept 1866, pp.308-309

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