1866 — Feb 24, Steamers collide, Nannie Byers sinks, Ohio River, above Madison, IN –16-17

–16-17 Blanchard estimated death-toll.*

–30-60 Chicago Tribune, IL. “The News.” 2-26-1866, p. 1, col. 1.
–40-50 Madison Weekly Courier. 6-27-1866, p. 2, col. 2.
–25-40 New Albany Daily Ledger, IN. “Another Distressing Steamboat Disaster.” 2-24-1866, 3.**
— 30 Daily Evening Bulletin, Philadelphia. “Fatal Accidents. Thirty…Drowned.” 2-24-1866, p.5.
–19-20 Daily Commercial Register, Sandusky OH. “Loss of the Nannie Byers…” 2-27-1866, p2.
— 15 passengers
–7 members of Griffith family on way to Missouri.
–3 [Crosen family members (father and two sons from Somerset, Ohio). ]
–1 [Mrs. Quinn.]
–1 [W. H. Davidson.]
–1 [Young lady thought to be daughter of W. H. Davidson.]
–4-5 crew
— 1 Oliver Sundrick, bar-keeper. (Or Oliver Gander. )
— 1 Mary Jane Brown, chambermaid.
–>2-3 “some of the deck hands and firemen.” (We guestimate at least 2-3.)
— 1 [Thomas McNutt, body identified but not noted if crewmember or passenger.]
–19-20 Daily Evening Bulletin, Philadelphia. “Another Western Steamboat Disaster.” 2-28-1866, 1.
–15-20 Cincinnati Commercial, OH. “The News.” 2-25-1866, p. 4, col. 1.
–15-20 U.S. Local Steamboat Inspectors William A. Stewart, and C. W. Fisher in Mar 7 report.
— 17 Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994: Passenger Steamboats…[MS Riv. Sys.]…1999, p.336.
–15 passengers
— 2 crew (bar-keeper, chambermaid; Cincinnati Commercial. “Miscellaneous.” 2-27-1866, p7)
— 16 Board of Supervising Inspectors of Steamboats (U.S.). Report of… 1866, p. 289.
–10 passengers
— 6 crew
— >15 Jefferson Co. Local History. “River to Rail: Boats & Captains.” Jefferson Co. Pub. Lib.
— 14 Cincinnati Commercial, OH. “Gleanings from Our Exchanges.” 3-6-1866, p. 7, col. 1.

*Blanchard estimated death-toll. *Clearly the reports on the death toll (14-60) cannot all be correct. Our own attempt to count the identified crew and passenger deaths noted below (and one death not identified as crew or passenger) comes to 16 (we do not credit reporting of “some” or “several” deckhand and firemen deaths, instead choosing to rely on a tally of bodies recovered).

In that the Board of Supervising Steamboat Inspectors reports 16 deaths and Way reports 17 deaths, we choose to rely on a range of 16-17 deaths.

**New Albany Ledger: “The very lowest estimate of the number of the lost is that given by the second engineer, who says that at least twenty-five, possibly forty, and it may be that even more were drowned. The general opinion of the survivors is that between sixty and seventy lost their lives.”

Narrative Information

Board of Supervising Inspectors of Steamboats: “The passenger steamers C. E. Hillman and Nannie Byers, the latter descending, collided on the Ohio river on the night of February 24, 1866, five miles above Madison, Indiana, causing the Nannie Byers to sink, by which the lives of ten passengers and six of the crew were lost. Loss on boat and cargo $100,000. The case was investigated by the local board at Cincinnati, they finding the pilot of the Nannie Byers wholly in fault, revoked his license, reporting their proceedings in the case to me. Upon carefully reviewing the testimony, I found the pilot of the Byers guilty of unwarrantable carelessness, and returned his case to the United States district attorney at Indianapolis, Indiana, who now has it under advisement.” (Board of Supervising Inspectors of Steamboats (U.S.). Report of… 1866, p. 289.)

Way: Nannie Byers. Sternwheel wood-hull packet, built in 1863 in Cincinnati, OH, at 199 tons. “Built for Capt. A. N. Byers and others. Tramped Pittsburgh-St, Louis-New Orleans. Left Pittsburgh, new, for St. Louis, May 10, 1864. On Feb 23, 1866, downbound, she and C. E. Hillman came in collision a short distance above Madison, Ind., about 3:00 A.M. The Byers was struck on her port side forward of the engines. As she sank the cabin separated from the hull, was caught and towed into the Madison marine ways. The hull landed at the foot of Church Street, Madison. Fifteen passengers were drowned and two of the crew. The Hillman hot off almost school-free, losing her jackstaff. The Byers was in charge of Capt. W. J. Rusk, a former stockholder. An. N. Byers and James K. Cullam were in the office….” (Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994: Passenger Steamboats of the Mississippi River System…(Revised). 1999, p. 325-326.)

Newspapers

Feb 24: “Cincinnati, Feb 24. – The steamer Hillman came in collision with the steamer Nannie Byers, at 2½ o’clock this morning, near Madison, Indiana, sinking the latter almost instantly. Thirty lives are reported to have been lost.” (Daily Evening Bulletin, Philadelphia. “Collision of Western Steamers…Thirty Persons Drowned.” 2-24-1866, 5.)

Feb 24: “Madison, Ind., Feb 24. The People’s Line steamer Hillman, upward bound collided with the Cincinnati and Memphis packet Nannie Byers, just above and in sight of this city, at half past 2 o’clock this morning. The night was dark and it was raining, and the wind was blowing hard, rendering the boats hard to manage.

“The Byers was cut completely down, sinking in four minutes after the collision, and turning completely over. The cabin became detached from the hull, and both are now lying at the foot of Church street. The texas, pilot house, and a portion of the furniture, &c., were caught near the Marine Railway. The boat and cargo are a total loss.

“But the saddest part of the disaster remains to be told. There were on board the Byers nearly one hundred human beings – men, women, and children – most of whom were asleep in their berths, little dreaming that when they next opened their eyes it would be only to close them again forever, and sink helplessly into a watery grave.

“I have conversed with a few of the survivors, but none of them can tell the exact number that perished. The very lowest estimate of the number of the lost is that given by the second engineer, who says that at least twenty-five, possibly forty, and it may be that even more were drowned. The general opinion of the survivors is that between sixty and seventy lost their lives. The Hillman is supposed to have picked up about thirty and taken them on to Cincinnati.

“Among those known to be saved are Captains Rusk and Byers, engineers Benjamin Simmons and Thomas Nicholas, both the pilots, the carpenter, first and second mates, Dutton, Heuston, and Charles Coan, first steward George Fennel, second steward James Fennel, Wordemens, Douce, and Weaver, and the texas tender and his wife, and the berth-maker….

“….One or two bodies were taken from the ruins of the wreck early this morning, and later in the forenoon the body of a young lady was taken out. At the time I dispatch no additional bodies have been taken out of the wreck, but doubtless many more are yet beneath it – some of them locked up in their state rooms, where death found them sleeping…

“The Nannie Byers was an excellent boat, valued at $40,000. She had a valuable cargo aboard. Upon both boat and cargo there was a large amount of insurance, but not enough to cover the heavy loss. They Byers was on her way to Memphis, and most of her passengers got aboard at Cincinnati.” (New Albany Daily Ledger, IN. “Another Distressing Steamboat Disaster.” 2-24-1866, p. 3.)

Feb 25: “The steamer Nannie Byers, which left Cincinnati for St. Louis Friday evening, collided with the steamer C. E. Hillman at Eagle Hollow yesterday morning at 3 o’clock. The Nannie Byers was sunk almost instantly, the cabin and upper works separating from the hull. Fifteen or twenty lives were lost by this disaster. The Hillman was not injured.” (Cincinnati Commercial, OH. “The News.” 2-25-1866, p. 4, col. 1.)

Feb 27: “From the Gazette we learn that the steamer Nannie Byers, which left Cincinnati on Friday evening last [23rd], with twenty cabin and ten deck passengers, and a crew of thirty-five men, came in collision, near Madison, Indiana, on Saturday morning, with the C. E. Hillman, form Louisville. The hull of the Byers was cut in two, and sank in five minutes. Fifteen of the passengers, the bar-keeper, Oliver Sundrick, of Madison, some of the deck hands and firemen, and the chambermaid, Mary Jane Brown, were lost. A family named Griffith, from Butler County, Ohio, consisting of father, mother, grandfather, two sisters and three brothers, who were on their way to Missouri, were all lost, except Miss Elizabeth….” (Daily Commercial Register, Sandusky OH. “Loss of the Nannie Byers and Winchester” 2-27-1866, p. 2.)

Feb 28: “….There are various reports as to the cause of the terrible calamity, of which the following seems most likely to be correct: It I that both the boats whistled as usual in passing, when the Byers somehow became unmanageable and turned half way round, and the Hillman’s bow struck her amidship, checking her on top, when the force of the current caused her to careen with her chimneys up-stream. Mr. Hewetson, the first mate of the Byers, was on the hurricane [deck] at the time, but he says it is impossible to tell which boat is to blame….It is said that of fifteen women on board, only three escaped [inaccurate]. The barkeeper of the ill-fated vessel lived in Madison and was named Olies Gande4r; he is believed to be lost.

“Later. – Workmen are busily engaged in fishing out the furniture in the wreck, and one more body has just been found – that of a man in his shirt sleeves, with a life-preserver on.

LATEST.

“The eight bodies taken from the Nannie Byers have been examined by a coroner’s jury, and the following facts deduced:

“Five of the persons are recognized as members of one family, consisting of eight persons, of whom only one person escaped alive – a girl about fourteen years of age. The bodies of the family removed are, Robert Griffith and Ellen Griffith his wife, and John and Daniel Griffith and Margaret Griffith, their sons and daughter. The family were from Paddy’s Run, Ohio about twenty miles above Cincinnati, and were on their way to Missouri to settle on their farm. On the body of one was found a baggage check, which led to a discovery of their trunk. In the trunk was found letters for a part of the family, showing membership in the Paddy’s Run Congregational Church, signed by Griffith Morris, Clerk, Feb. 15, 1866. Daniel Griffith had a return of thanks to the ‘Ohio volunteer guard for 100 days,’ signed by Abraham Lincoln. On the old gentleman there was found $2,430. There are yet two of the family not found – a married daughter and her husband. The family occupied state-rooms side by side, and only two of them have as yet been opened. Friends have come from Ohio, who recognize the family, and are making arrangements to remove their bodies to Cincinnati to-might.

“We have just been informed that the other bodies, three men, have been recognized by the Captain as a father and two sons, on their way with fine stock to the West. From papers found on them, it seems their name is Crosen, from Somerset, Ohio.

“It is probable that some forty more bodies are somewhere about the ruins. It is a fearful thought, to think how soon so many precious lives were hurried into eternity.” (Madison Weekly Courier, IN. “Terrible Catastrophe! Steamer ‘Nannie Byers’ Sunk!!” 2-28-1866, p. 2, col. 4.)

March 2: “Madison. – The Courier, of Tuesday [Feb 27], says:

“The remains of Oliver Gander, of Madison, bar-tender on the Nannie Byers, were taken out of the wreck yesterday afternoon. The body was conveyed in a spring wagon to the Court-room, where an inquest was held, after which it was taken to the residence of the young man’s parents, next door to the stone house, near the foot of Michigan Road. Young G. was, during the late war, a soldier in the 4th Indiana Cavalry, attached to Captain Cunningham’s company. His funeral will occur on to-morrow morning.

“The other body found yesterday, was that of Mrs. Quinn. Up to last evening ten bodies altogether had been taken from the boat, and decently and properly cared for….

“This morning the eleventh body was recovered – that of a gentleman named W. H. Davidson.

“Still later, a young lady was found, supposed to be the daughter of the gentleman last named….” (Cincinnati Commercial, OH. “Gleanings from Our Exchanges.” 3-2-1866, p. 7, col. 2.)

March 7: “Below will be found the decision of the Local Inspectors in the collision case of the steamers E. C. Hillman and Nannie Byers:

Office Local Inspectors, Cincinnati, March 7, 1866.

To. R. H. Stephenson, Surveyor of Customs:

Sir – as required by law, we hereby report the result of our investigation of the causes that led to the sad collision between the C. E. Hillman, a steamer running in the People’s Line, between this port and Louisville, and the steamer Nannie Byers, bound for St. Louis, on the morning of the 24th ult., about two miles above Madison, Ind.

The steamer Hillman left the wharfboat at Madison at twenty-five minutes before 3 o’clock A.M. of the 24th. When about five hundred yards above the Mammoth Cave Pork-house, on the Indiana side of the river, Mr. Bacon, the pilot of the Hillman, steered her for the Kentucky shore, the usual course of up-stream boats at that stage of water. When about the middle of the river, he saw a steamboat descending the river, from 700 to 900 yards distant. He blew (as he states) one whistle, for the starboard or Kentucky side, the descending boat answering with two whistles. As the Hillman was straightening up, two or three hundred yards from the shore, she blew one whistle again for the starboard. It not being answered, Mr. Bacon, the pilot of the Hillman, rang his bells to back his engines, sufficiently, as it is believed by some three or four persons, to check her headway entirely. The above is the statement of Mr. Bacon, the pilot; Mr. Bumgartner, the mate; Mr. S. Byington, the clerk, and Mr. Mestumaker, engineer – all on watch at the time on the Hillman.

The watchman and striker, in testimony, say:

After the signals had been given for the starboard, there was a signal of two whistles given from the Hillman. The watchman heard no whistles from any other boat. The striker heard the other boat blow two distinct whistles for the larboard side. On the part of the witnesses on the Nannie Byers, there are no two witnesses agree as to the number of whistles blown. The Captain says four signals were given by the Byers, one whistle each; the pilot (Mr. Smith) of the Byers, says he blowed only two signals, one whistle each; the engineer heard three whistles, the third as if in another boat; the watchman heard but one whistle; the mate heard several whistles, but did not know what they were about. It is impossible for this Board to decide as to the number of whistles blown from the statements of the witnesses, and believing that they intended to state the facts as they believed them to exist, and under such exciting circumstances, differences of opinion will exist under the most upright intentions; therefore, this Board must look to the acts of the officers of the respective boats for a solution of the seeming difficulty, and first of the conduct of Mr. Bacon, of the Hillman. When he became aware of a disagreement in signals, he did what the law requires and what any prudent pilot should do: he stopped the engines and started them back, and they continued to back until after the collision. Mr. Smith heard, as he says, the Hillman signal for the Kentucky side, then for the other side, and last, three whistles, meaning, ‘what do you want?’ and all this time doing nothing to avoid a collision as the law requires. But when he conceived a collision inevitable, he halloed [sic] down to the engineer to whale it on to her, and when the two boats were about to strike, he gave his wheel hard toward the Indiana shore, thereby swinging her stern still harder against the bow of the Hillman, that was trying to back away from her. His evidence, in this particular, agrees with the statement of Mr. Byington, who was standing forward on the Hillman and saw the boats collide. It is attempted to show that the Byers was only a few hundred yards from the Indiana shore (the evidence conflicting). Even that fact being proven, would not release the pilot of the Nannie Byers from blame, for if the Hillman was not in her place, but in the road of a descending boat, it would be no excuse for the descending boat to recklessly act in such a manner as to place life and property in jeopardy.

The conduct of Mr. Smith can only be accounted for in one of two ways: First, that he had incapacitated himself by dissipation from acting with judgment and skill; the other, that he never had the proper qualifications. The last is scarcely possible, as Mr. Smith has been a licensed pilot for eight years; and the first can only be inferred from his actions, as in evidence. On the night before, on leaving this city, and immediately after the melancholy occurrence, it is in evidence that he drank five times within an hour – the last time on the boat, before she left the wharf at the foot of Fifth street, at dark – and that he became intoxicated immediately after the collision, on board the Hillman.

We can not close this communication without noticing another singular feature in this case. We do not blame any one in particular, but rest the blame where it should fall. The man acting as mate of the Byers had never acted as mate of a boat before; the watchman had never been on a boat before on the Western rivers, except two months as cook on the Bostona. This may account, in part for no exertions being used to avoid a collision.

We therefore come to the conclusion, from the evidence brought before us, that the collision of the C. E. Hillman and Nanny Byers was caused by the reckless conduct of Albert H. Smith, whereby the Nannie Byers was sunk, causing the loss of fifteen or twenty lives, and property to thee amount of near $100,000; and for such reckless and careless conduct in the discharge of his duties as a pilot, we revoke his license as a pilot from this date.
Wm. A Stewart,
C. W. Fisher,
U.S. Local Inspectors.

(Cincinnati Commercial, OH. “River and Steamboat News.” 3-8-1866, p. 7, col. 1.)

March 14: “It appears on evidence that the pilot of the Nannie Byers, which was sunk by the collision with the Hillman, was carried on board helplessly drunk, when the boat left Cincinnati. It is a well-understood fact that steamboat captains are now employing such incompetent men, because they wish to break down the Pilot’s Association, and will not pay the wages adopted by the organization….” (Iowa Transcript, Toledo, IA. “Summary of the Week.” 3-14-1866, p. 2, c.5.)

Sources

Aurora Commercial. 3-10-1866, p. 1, col. 1. Accessed 10-6-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/aurora-commercial-mar-10-1866-p-1/

Aurora Commercial, IN. “Nannie Byers Sunk.” 3-3-1866, p. 1, col. 1. Accessed 10-6-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/aurora-commercial-mar-03-1866-p-1/

Board of Supervising Inspectors of Steamboats (U.S.). Report of Board of Supervising Inspectors of Steamboats. 10-24-1866. Report of Seventh Supervising District (Pittsburgh), p. 289. In: Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of The Finance for the Year 1866. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1866. p. 276. Accessed 9-18-2020 at: https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/annual-report-secretary-treasury-state-finances-194/report-secretary-treasury-state-finances-year-1866-5510/report-board-supervising-inspectors-steamboats-238234

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