1864 — Feb 17, steamboat Orient snags/sinks to upper deck, Miss. Riv., Commerce, MO–14

–25-30 NYT. “Sinking of the Steamer Orient. Thirty Lives Lost.” Feb 18, 1864, 1.
— ~20 Dawson’s Fort Wayne Daily Times, IN. Feb 18, 1864, p. 2.
— 14 Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. 1972, p. 287.
— 14 Iowa State Register, Des Moines. Feb 24, 1864, 3.
— 14 Lytle and Holdcamper. Merchant Steam Vessels of the [U.S.] 1807-1868. 1952, p. 262.
— 14 Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994: Passenger Steamboats…MS River Sys. 1994, 357.

Narrative Information

Berman: “Orient. St.w. [Steam sternwheel]. 222 [tons]. 1862 [built]. Feb 17, 1864. Snagged. Commerce, Mo. 14 lives lost.” (Berman 1972, 287)

Way: Orient. Sternwheel wood-hull packet, built at California, PA in 1862 at 222 tons. “…Built for and owned largely by Capt. J.A. Harton, Pittsburgh. Ran Pittsburgh-St. Louis. Snagged at Commerce, Mo., Feb 17, 1864, with loss of fourteen lives.” (Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994: Passenger Steamboats…MS River System. 1994, 357.)

Newspapers

Feb 17, NYT: “Cairo, Wednesday, Feb. 17. The steamer Imperial, from St. Louis, has arrived, and reports passing the steamer Orient, which was sunk to her hurricane-deck in Dog Tooth Bend, 20 miles above here. She struck a snag at 7¼ o’clock this morning, and went down in ten minutes. Twenty-five to thirty lives are supposed to be lost, including the wife of Capt. Norton, the chambermaid, steward, and the barkeeper.

“The Custom-house officers’ boat was laden with Government stores, including eighty horses, all but three of which were lost. The Imperial brought down the crew and passengers.” (New York Times. “From the Mississippi. Sinking of the Steamer Orient. Thirty Lives Lost.” 2-18-1864, 1.)

Feb 18, Dawson’s: “The steamer Orient, from St. Louis for Nashville, struck a snag, twenty miles above Cairo, yesterday morning, and sunk to her hurricane-deck. About twenty persons were drowned. The boat was loaded with government stores, all of which are a total loss.” (Dawson’s Fort Wayne Daily Times, IN. [Steamboat Orient Snags and Sinks.] 2-18-1864, p. 2, col. 1.)

Feb 19: “Cairo, Feb. 19. As far as ascertained, fourteen lives were lost by the sinking of the steamer Orient.” (Iowa State Register, Des Moines. Feb 24, 1864, 3.)

Sources

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

Dawson’s Fort Wayne Daily Times, IN. [Steamboat Orient Snags and Sinks.] 2-18-1864, p. 2, col. 1. Accessed 10-13-2020 at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=119991181

Iowa State Register, Des Moines. [Steamboat Orient Snags and Sinks]. Feb 24, 1864, 3. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=83247753

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

New York Times. “From the Mississippi. Sinking of the Steamer Orient – Thirty Lives Lost…” 2-18-1864, p. 1. col. 6. Accessed 10-13-2020 at: https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1864/02/18/issue.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.