On 27 April 1865, the SS Sultana exploded near Memphis Tennessee. The tragedy occurred around 2:00 a.m. killing an estimated 1,600 of its 2,427 passengers on board. The boat was a wooden side wheel paddle steam boat that was intended to be a part of the lower Mississippi cotton trade. The steam boat was manufactured by John Litherbury Shipyard in Cincinnati, Ohio and contained the state of the art safety equipment at the time such as life belts, life boats and safety gauges to prevent the boilers from exploding.

Leaving its port In New Orleans the steam boat set sail with around 85 to 100 crew members and passengers. While traveling the crew discovered a leak in one of the 4 boilers. Captain J.C. Mason made a stop in Vicksburg, Mississippi to make repairs to the boiler. In Vicksburg the boat was ordered to transport POW’s (Prisoners of War) to St. Louis. Captain Mason would make commission of $1.15 per passenger and decide to ignore the major repair that was needed on his ship and just patch the leak in the boiler so that he would not lose the POW’s to other steam boats passing by while the SS Sultana was being repaired.

The SS Sultana leaves Vicksburg with a patched boiler and additional 2,300 passengers. Approaching Memphis Tennessee 3 of the 4 boilers explode setting the boat on fire and sinking it to the bottom of the Mississippi River along with 1,600 of its passengers. The death toll was so high it even beat the Titanic’s death toll of 1,532. The explosion of the SS Sultana still holds the greatest maritime disaster in U.S. history today.

–Alex Turner

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Meet the Author

Alex Turner is a student at Schoolcraft College.