1847 — June 29, Star Spangled Banner snags/sinks, MS Riv. Thomas’s Point ~Baton Rouge, LA-20

–125 Lloyd’s Steamboat Directory and Disasters on the Western Waters. 1856, p. 285.
— 20 Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. 1972, p. 192.
–>20 Daily Chronicle and Sentinel, Augusta, GA. “A Steamboat Sunk.” 7-7.1847, p. 2, col. 6.
— 20 Lytle and Holdcamper. Merchant Steam Vessels of the [U.S.] 1807-1868. 1952, p. 228.
— 20 Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours. 1977, p. 681.
— 20 Twaintimes. “1846-1856.”
— 20 Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994: Passenger Steamboats…MS River System. 1994, 432

Narrative Information

Lloyd: “The steamer Star Spangled Banner struck a snag fifteen miles below Baton Rouge, July 12th, 1847. About one hundred and twenty-five deck passengers were drowned.” (Lloyd’s Steamboat Directory and Disasters on the Western Waters. 1856, p. 285.)

Way: “SW p wh b [Sidewheel packet, wood hull, built] Cincinnati, Oh., 1845. 275 tons….Had 36 staterooms. Ran Cincinnati-New Orleans, Capt. Dick Phillips… Snagged and lost about fifteen miles below Baton Rouge, La., June 29, 1847. Life loss was set at 20, most of them deck passengers.” (Way 1994, 432)

Newspaper

July 7: “Intelligence was received here [New Orleans] yesterday morning by the steamboat Missouri, Capt. Twichell, that on the morning of Tuesday last, the steamboat Star Spangled Banner, Capt. Pierce, struck a snag near Thomas’s Point, ten miles above Baton Rouge and sunk in a few minutes. A large number of German emigrants were on board, of whom it is said over twenty were drowned. Those who survived are left in the most destitute circumstances. A portion of the 3d Indiana Regiment was also on board, but we hear of no losses among them. The cabin of the boat parted from the hull and floated down the river for eight miles, thereby saving several persons who were upon it. The baggage of the cabin passengers was saved in a damaged state. Over one hundred of the passengers were brought down to Baton Rouge by the steamer St. Mary. Capt. Twichell has received the thanks of the passengers for the assistance he rendered to them. – N. O. Picayune, 1st inst.” (Daily Chronicle and Sentinel, Augusta, GA. “A Steamboat Sunk.” 7-7-1847, p. 2, col. 6.)

Sources

Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. Boston: Mariners Press Inc., 1972.

Daily Chronicle and Sentinel, Augusta, GA. “A Steamboat Sunk.” 7-7-1847, p. 2, col. 6. Accessed 10-30-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/augusta-daily-chronicle-and-sentinel-jul-07-1847-p-2/

Lloyd, James T. Lloyd’s Steamboat Directory and Disasters on the Western Waters. Cincinnati, Ohio: James T. Lloyd & Co., 1856. Digitized by Google. Accessed at: http://books.google.com/books?id=JlYqAAAAYAAJ

Lytle, William M., compiler, from Official Merchant Marine Documents of the United States and Other Sources; Holdcamper, Forrest H. (Editor, and Introduction by). Merchant Steam Vessels of the United States 1807-1868. “The Lytle List.” Mystic, CT: Steamship Historical Society of America (Publication No. 6), 1952. Accessed 8-16-2020 at:
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015018039084&view=1up&seq=8&size=125

Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours – A Narrative Encyclopedia of Worldwide Disasters from Ancient Times to the Present. New York: Pocket Books, Wallaby, 1977, 792 pages.

Twaintimes. 1846-1856. Accessed at: http://twaintimes.net/page3.html

Way, Frederick Jr. (Author and Compiler), Joseph W. Rutter (contributor). Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994: Passenger Steamboats of the Mississippi River System Since the Advent of Photography in Mid-Continent America (Revised). Athens OH: Ohio University Press, 1999.