1854 — Jan 9, Steamboat General Bem Snags/lost, Arkansas River, Walnut Bend, AR– 10

–15 New York Times. “Wreck of a Mississippi Steamer – Fifteen Lives Lost.” Jan 16, 1854.
–10 Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. 1972, p. 279.
–10 Lytle and Holdcamper. Merchant Steam Vessels of the [U.S.] 1807-1868. 1952, p. 235.
–10 Twaintimes. “1846-1856.”
–10 Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994: Passenger Steamboats…[MS Riv. Sys.]… 1999, p179.

Narrative Information

Berman: “General Bem. St.p. [steam sidewheel]. 116 [tons]. 1849 [built]. Snagged. Walnut Bend, Arkansas River. 10 lives lost.” (Berman 1972, p. 279.)

Lytle and Holdcamper: “General Bem…116 [tons]…snagged…1 9 1854…Walnut Bend, Arkansas River…10 [lives lost].”

Way: General Bem. Sidewheel wood-hull packet, built in Paducah, KY in 1849 at 116 tons. “Owned by John B. Adams and others. Capt. Lew Kates went master 1849, his first command. Snagged and lost at Walnut Bend, Arkansas River, Jan. 9, 1854, with loss of 10 lives.”

Newspaper

Jan 14, NYT: “Cincinnati, Saturday, Jan. 14. Memphis papers report that the steamer General Bem, bound from this city to Arkansas River, struck a snag in the Mississippi River, at Grand Cut Off, and was torn to atoms in five minutes. She sank to her hurricane deck, when the whole cabin floated off, leaving the hull, with fifteen deck passengers, below the surface of the water, all of whom perished. The cabin passengers and crew were fortunately rescued by the steamer Saranac.” (New York Times. “Wreck of a Mississippi Steamer – Fifteen Lives Lost.” Jan 16, 1854.)

Sources

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

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=9&size=125&q1=ceres

New York Times. “Wreck of a Mississippi Steamer – Fifteen Lives Lost.” Jan 16, 1854. Accessed 9-1-2020 at: https://www.nytimes.com/1854/01/16/archives/wreck-of-a-mississippi-steamerfifteen-lives-lost.html

Twaintimes. 1846-1856. Accessed at: http://twaintimes.net/page3.html [Inoperable link.]

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 Ed.). Athens OH: Ohio University Press, 1999.