1854 — Aug 2, Steamboat Cape May snags, careens, sinks, Ohio River, Mt. Vernon, IN- 7-18

— 7-18 Blanchard range.*

— 20 Daily Constitutionalist and Republic, Augusta, GA. “Steamboat Explosion.” 8-15-1854, 3.
–15-20 Daily Pittsburgh Gazette, PA. “Loss of the Steamer Cape May.” 8-11-1854, p. 3.**
–15-20 Miners’ Express, Dubuque, IA. “Sinking of a Western Steamer.” 8-23-1854, p. 1.
— 18 Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. 1972, p. 237.
— 18 Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994: Passenger Steamboats…MS River System. 1994, 70.
— 7 New Orleans Daily Crescent, LA. “The Cape May.” 8-29-1854, p. 2.
— 7 New York Herald. “Sinking of the Cape May – Further Particulars.” 8-14-1854, p. 3.
— 0 Chronicle & Sentinel, Augusta, GA. “Cape May Sunk.” 8-11-1854, p. 2.

* Blanchard: The reporting is inconsistent – ranging from zero to twenty. It has been our experience that Berman and Way are fairly reliable sources, but virtually no source is infallible. Nonetheless we use their number of eighteen deaths as the high end of our range. And, though we have one account noting ten bodies had been removed from the inside of the boat after it sank, we choose to use the number of seven fatalities as the low end of our fatality range, given that one of the reports of seven known deaths is indirectly from the Mt. Vernon Advocate. We note, however, that this account stated the death toll was not actually known, but that there were seven known deaths for a certainty.

** Notes ten bodies had been taken from the wreck.

Narrative Information

Way: “Cape May. SW p wh b [sidewheel packet, wood hull, built] Brownsville, Pa., 1850. 124 tons. Snagged and lost at Mount Vernon Ind., on Aug. 2, 1854, with loss of 18 lives.” (Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994: Passenger Steamboats…MS River System. 1994, 70.)

Newspaper

Aug 10: “A telegraph dispatch received here on Thursday [10h] announced the sinking of the steamer Cape May at Mt. Vernon, on the Ohio river, in twenty feet water. The boat is represented as a total loss. We understand she was freighted with iron from the Cumberland river. No lives lost. – Nashville Whig.” (Chronicle & Sentinel, Augusta, GA. “Cape May Sunk.” 8-11-1854, p. 2.)

Aug 11: “Several Persons Drowned. We learn from Mr. Thomas Bein, mail agent of the James Trubue from Louisville, that the steamer Cape May, bound up the Ohio, struck a snag on the night of the 2d inst., just below and in sight of Mount Vernon, Ind., and sunk directly in eighteen feet water. One woman and three children, and perhaps two or three other persons, all deckers, were drowned. The cabin passengers, officers and crew escaped, and were removed from the wreck by some of the people of Mt. Vernon, who went to their assistance in a keel boat. The Cape May and her cargo, as well as the moveables and baggage belonging to the passengers, are a loss. She had on board a lot of freight left at Paducah for reshipment to Louisville, by the S. F. T. Trabue, on her last trip from New Orleans. The Cape May was, we believe, a Nashville and Pittsburgh sternwheel trader, rather old and of not much force. We have no information as to where she was owned or insured, or by whom commanded, or as to the names and residence of those drowned by the catastrophe. – (St. Louis Intel.)….

“We learn that it is supposed between fifteen and twenty lives were lost by the sinking of the Cape May, near Mount Vernon, Ia. [sic. IN]. At last accounts ten dead bodies had been taken from the wreck.–(Cin. Gaz.)” (Daily Pittsburgh Gazette. “Loss of the Steamer Cape May.” 8-11-1854, 3.)

Aug 14: “We published on Monday a brief notice of the snagging of the steamboat Cape May at Mt. Vernon. The accident happened, as we learn from the Mount Vernon Advocate, between 8 and 9 o’clock on Wednesday evening [2nd]. The moon was shining bright, and the snag was visible to the passengers two hundred yards distant. The conduct of the pilot is severely censured by the Advocate. The boat, an old concern, directly she struck the snag, careened over so much as to throw the shole cabin partially off, and immediately commenced sinking very rapidly. The citizens of Mt. Vernon immediately procured every boat at the wharf, and in a brief time were saving passengers and baggage, and but for their noble assistance the loss of life must have been very great. As it was, the Advocate says, ‘although we have taken some pains, we can not ascertain the number of passengers on board, neither is it known how many have found a watery grave; seven of the latter, are however known; an Irish girl, the wife of a German from New Orleans, and two children, all deck passengers; a cabin passenger by the name of Henry Coulden, from Mobile; a colored boy, and one other, supposed a cabin passenger, drowned while attempting to swim ashore.’ Some baggage was left with the crew on the boat. It was thoroughly pillaged. The boat is a total loss with no insurance. – Louisville Journal, August 9th.” (New York Herald. “Sinking of the Cape May – Further Particulars.” 8-14-1854, p. 3.)

Aug 15: “The steamer Cape May exploded near Mount Vernon, Indiana, killing 20 persons.” (Daily Constitutionalist and Republic, Augusta, GA. “Steamboat Explosion.” 8-15-1854, p. 3.)

Aug 29: “The Louisville Courier says that the wreck of the Cape May has been pretty effectually broken up in the search after the cargo, and now lies an indistinguishable mass of ruins. The greater portion of the cargo, consisting of dry goods, has been got out in a partially damaged condition. The machinery will also be recovered. Seven bodies have been found, two make and two female adults, two white children and one colored. These are believed to compose all the victims of the late deplorable catastrophe.” (New Orleans Daily Crescent, LA. “The Cape May.” 8-29-1854, p.2.)

Sources

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

Chronicle & Sentinel, Augusta, GA. “Cape May Sunk.” 8-11-1854, p. 2. Accessed 8-14-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/augusta-daily-chronicle-and-sentinel-aug-11-1854-p-2/

Daily Constitutionalist and Republic, Augusta, GA. “Steamboat Explosion.” 8-15-1854, p. 3. Accessed 8-14-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/augusta-daily-constitutionalist-and-republic-aug-15-1854-p-3/

Daily Pittsburgh Gazette, PA. “Loss of the Steamer Cape May.” 8-11-1854, p. 3. Accessed 8-14-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/pittsburgh-daily-pittsburgh-gazette-aug-11-1854-p-3/

Miners’ Express, Dubuque, IA. “Sinking of a Western Steamer.” 8-23-1854, p. 1. Accessed 8-14-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/the-miners-express-aug-23-1854-p-1/

New Orleans Daily Crescent, LA. “The Cape May.” 8-29-1854, p. 2. Accessed 8-14-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/new-orleans-daily-crescent-aug-29-1854-p-2/

New York Herald. “Sinking of the Cape May – Further Particulars.” 8-14-1854, p. 3. Accessed 8-14-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/new-york-herald-aug-14-1854-p-3/

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 Univ. Press, 1994-1999.