1866 — May 31, City of Memphis boiler explosion/fire, MS River, Buck Island, AR –11-~60

–11-~60 Blanchard.*

— <65 Cincinnati Commercial, OH. “Cairo…Survivors…City of Memphis Disaster.” 6-3-1866, p. 1.** -- ~60 Bragg. Historic Names and Places on the Lower Mississippi River. 1977, p. 86. -- ~60 Semi-Weekly Wisconsin, Milwaukee. “Particulars…City of Memphis,” 9 June 1866, 1. -- 11 Gould. Fifty Years on the Mississippi… 1889, p. 437. (Year of loss shown as 1870.) -- 11 Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994: Passenger Steamboats…MS River System. 1994, 94. -- 5 Lytle and Holdcamper. Merchant Steam Vessels of the [U.S.]1807-1868. 1952, p. 258. *Blanchard on fatalities: From descriptions of the explosion and fire, as well as the estimate of the City of Memphis clerk that probably less than 65 died, said at a time when there were sill many badly wounded and scalded survivors, and given the Bragg and Wisconsin Semi Weekly sources, we are of the opinion that the number of fatalities was approximately sixty. We do not wish to overlook the Gould and Way accounts however and thus choose to use a range of fatalities, using their estimates of eleven deaths for the low end of our range and about sixty for the high end. ** “The clerk of the Memphis says, the whole number lost and died since will not be over sixty-five.” Paper goes on to note that probably of the 27 scalded survivors in Memphis “probably three will die.” Narrative Information Bragg: “In June, 1866 the steamer City of Memphis exploded and burned opposite Buck Island. On her last trip up the river, the big boat had run aground just above Vicksburg, but a high wind and heavy rains had dislodged her from the sandbar and she had hurried on upstream to her doom. Newspapers reported that about 60 people lost their lives in the explosion and fire. “The City of Memphis was an old boat at the time of her demise. She had been well-known and extremely popular in her day. In 1858, she had carried so many passengers that a daily newspaper published on board proved to be a successful and lucrative venture.” (Bragg 1977, p. 86.) Way: Sidewheel wood-hull packet built at Monongahela, PA in 1857; was 301x36x8 with six boilers. “….Exploded boilers 30 miles below Memphis on May 31, 1866, with loss of 11 lives. The wreck was towed to St. Louis and torn up.” (Way’s Packet Directory, 1994, p. 94.) Newspapers June 1, NYT: “Memphis, Thursday, May 31. The steamer City of Memphis, from New Orleans for St. Louis, exploded at the foot of Buck Island, 40 miles below here, at eight o’clock this morning. The forward cabin was torn away and the boat set on fire. She had twenty-eight cabin and sixty deck passengers. The following are lost: [8 names]….About sixty persons were lost or injured. The steamer St. Patrick brought up the survivors [to Memphis]. The Memphis was owned by the Atlantic Steamship Company and valued at $90,000. She was uninsured.” (NYT. “Steamboat Explosion-Eight Lives Lost-Large Number of Scalded-Sixty…, June 1, 1866.) June 2: “Cairo, June 2….The Luminary passed up for St. Louis, with the following survivors of the City of Memphis disaster: Sam. Harris, second mate, leg broken; Nick Byrne, first engineer, ankle broken and the other foot crushed; Thomas Richmond, steward, bruised and cut; Mr. Wakefield, passenger, head and arms scalded, and four of the crew severely scalded…. “The remainder of the scalded, twenty-seven in number, are at Memphis; probably three will die. The clerk of the Memphis says the whole number of lost and died since will not be over sixty-five.” (Cincinnati Commercial, OH. “Cairo. Port List – Survivors of the City of Memphis Disaster.” 6-3-1866, p. 1.) June 2, Semi-Weekly Wisconsin: “The Cincinnati Commercial of June 2 publishes the following particulars of the explosion of the steamer City of Memphis on the 31st ult.: “Statement of Mrs. Carrie Taylor. “The explosion occurred at 8 o'clock in the morning. I was at the time sitting at the breakfast table; the first thing I knew of the explosion was a crashing noise and the falling of the chandelier. The cabin was pretty full of people. There were about 150 ladies in the cabin, and a few children. The explosion, I think must have occurred near the back end of the boilers, the force of the explosion sending the cabin about midships. After the explosion I put on my life preserver, after which I got to the lower deck by means of a board. I stood on the lower deck until the flames compelled me to jump into the river, when I got hold of a plank, by means of which I was enabled to get ashore. “I cannot tell the cause of the explosion. It is said the boilers were leaking. I heard that the passengers said that the boat did not go fast enough, to which the engineers replied that they would not put any more steam on, as the boilers could not stand it. Capt. Thompson deserves great credit for his conduct on the occasion. The flames on the boat did not gain headway until fifteen minutes after the explosion. I do not think they could have been put out by any means. I noticed that the sparks we're scattered pretty well all through the ruins of the cabin, texas, etc., the most of which was all piled together. The City of Memphis had six boilers, and at the time of the explosion had not more than 115 pounds of steam. “Capt. Thompson’s Statement. “We left New Orleans Friday evening, the. 26th, at 6 o'clock, with a large freight, 40 cabin passengers and 60 deck passengers. We put off and took on as we came up, and had about the same number at the time of the explosion.— Nothing particular occurred during the trip up, excepting that we passed safely through one storm. I did not apprehend any danger. The engines worked well, and there were no signs of a leak in any one of the boilers. The day before the explosion the first engineer came to me and said remarks bad been made by the passengers about the boat going so slow. I told them I was captain of the boat and would order faster speed when I thought it necessary. I know that the first engineer tried the gauge all the way across the six boilers. “Mr. Bruno, the first engineer came to me while in New Orleans, and said he would have to put the boat to some expense by having the middle gauge cocks opened, and said he did not believe they had been opened for five years. I told him he was right, and to go ahead, which he did and had them open at the time of the explosion. “I was standing in the clerk's office. The force of the explosion tore the shirt I had on in shreds, and split my vest clear up the back, besides smashing my watch all to pieces. I got out of the window and down on the forecastle hurriedly, where I had the stage planks lashed together and put overboard. I saw the wounded were carefully put on the planks, and those well I made take off their coats and get into the water, instructing them not to get on the staging, but to remain in the water. I then selected a trustworthy negro to take charge of them, telling them to make no efforts to go to the shore, but to wait for some boat to pick them up, and they were the first survivors picked up by the Saint Patrick. I next threw them a lot of planks, which were eagerly grasped by those in the water. “I first discovered the boat to be on fire in the hold, and the forward pumps were working at the time but the water could not penetrate; the strikers were both fastened in the ruins where we pulled them out. I heard a number of men beneath the debris of wood, iron, &c., groaning most pitifully and praying for some way to escape from being burned to death, but as there was no possibility whatever of getting at them, they were left to burn to death, while we exerted ourselves in saving those we could. The mates and myself remained on the forecastle doing all we could, until every person was off the forward part of the boat, when the carpenter and watchman came with the yawl and took us off…. “After leaving the forecastle I went aft in the yawl to help the ladies, and rescued Miss Belle Addison, of St. Louis, when she was so weak as to be unable to hold out her hand to be saved. After getting all we could into the boat there was a number of men in the water with their life-preservers on them. I told them to keep cool and permit themselves to float quietly until rescued. I made no effort to save any of my personal effects, and upon arriving at Memphis I had nothing save the clothes on me. I do not think the total number of lives lost will amount to over sixty.” (Semi-Weekly Wisc., Milwaukee. “Particulars…Destruction…City of Memphis,” 6-9-1866, p. 1.) Sources Bragg, Marion. Historic Names and Places on the Lower Mississippi River. Vicksburg, MS: Mississippi River Commission, 1977. Accessed at: http://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/pao/history/MRnames/MissRiverNames.htm > Also at:
http://www.mvd.usace.army.mil/Portals/52/docs/MRC/MRnames%28Intro-end_final2%29.pdf

Cincinnati Commercial, OH. “Cairo. Port List – Survivors of the City of Memphis Disaster.” 6-3-1866, p. 1. Accessed 8-16-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/cincinnati-commercial-jun-03-1866-p-2/

Google Maps. “Helena Arkansas.” (Best viewed as satellite map.) Accessed 8-17-2020 at: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Helena,+Helena-West+Helena,+AR+72342/@34.5441161,-90.5607013,3490m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x862b2c858fbd6487:0x564468f41826d7b9!8m2!3d34.5291253!4d-90.5900273

Gould, E. W. Fifty Years on the Mississippi; or, Gould’s History of River Navigation. St. Louis: Nixon-Jones Printing Co., 1889, 750 pages. Digitized by Google. Accessed 2008 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=udyywXOVBvsC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

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. “Steamboat Explosion [City of Memphis]–Eight Lives Lost–Large Number of Scalded—Sixty Persons Supposed to be Injured,” June 1, 1866, p. 5. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=7742676

Quapaw Canoe Company. “Helena – Buck Island Map and Description.” Accessed 8-17-2020 at: http://www.island63.com/helena-buck_island.cfm

Semi-Weekly Wisconsin, Milwaukee. “Particulars of the Destruction of the Steamer City of Memphis,” 6-9-1866, p. 1. At: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=120021620

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.