1867 — Nov 17, Steamboat Onward burns, Alabama River, Bells Ledge, AL — 11

— 11 Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. 1972, p. 184.
— 11 Galveston Daily News. “Latest By Mail.” Nov 23, 1867, p. 2.
— 11 Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994: Passenger Steamboats…[MS Riv. Sys.]… 1999, 356.

Narrative Information

Berman: “Onward. St. w. [Steam Stern-wheel]. 241 [tons]. 1864 [built]. Nov 17, 1867. Burned. Bells Ledge, Alabama River, Ala. 11 lives lost.” (Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. 1972, p. 184.)

Alabama Supreme Court: “…And for further plea, said defendant saith, that the Mobile Trade Company was the owner of the steamboat Onward, on which the plaintiff’s said cotton was shipped from the port of Selma to the port of Mobile; and said cotton, while the same was being conveyed on said steamboat in due course of navigation on said voyage, was accidentally destroyed by fire, without the fault or negligence of this defendant…” (Alabama Supreme Court. Reports of Cases argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of Alabama during December Term, 1876 (Vol. 55). 1878, p. 388.)

Way: Onward. Sternwheel wood-hull packet, built at Brownsville, PA, in 1864 at 241 tons. “…Burned and lost at Bells Landing, Alabama River, Nov. 17, 1867, with loss of eleven lives.” (Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994: Passenger Steamboats of the Mississippi River System… (Revised). 1999, p. 356.)

Newspaper

Nov 20: “Mobile, Nov. 20. – Later accounts of the burning of the steamer Onward, report eleven lives lost – Mr. Conklin, of New Orleans and ten negroes. The cotton destroyed is valued at $55,000 fully insured. The boat is valued at $20,000. No insurance.” (Galveston Daily News. “Latest By Mail.” Nov 23, 1867, p. 2.)

Sources

Alabama Supreme Court. Reports of Cases argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of Alabama during December Term, 1876 (Vol. 55). Montgomery, AL Joel White, 1878. Digitized by Google at: http://books.google.com/books?id=v5UKAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

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

Galveston Daily News, TX. “Latest By Mail” [Burning of Steamboat Onward] Nov 23, 1867, p. 2. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=40951105

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.