1874 — Aug 5, Steamboat Pat Rogers Burns, Ohio River, ~1 mile below Aurora, IN –47-50

— 50 Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. 1972, p. 258.
— 50 Childs. A History of the U.S. In Chronological Order…to…1885. 1886, p. 233.
— 50 Little, Charles. Cyclopedia of Classified Dates With an Exhaustive Index. 1900, p. 285.
— 50 Lossing. Harper’s Encyclopedia of United States History…to 1902. 1902, p. 454.
— 50 Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours. 1977, p. 687.
— 50 Semi-Weekly Wisconsin, Milwaukee. “Electric Flashes,” Aug 15, 1874, p. 1.
— 50 Simonds. The American Date Book. 1902, p. 101. [Incorrectly notes date of July 26.]
— 50 US Congress, House. Hearings. “Safety of Life and Property at Sea.” 1935, p. 247.
— 47 Nevada State Journal, Reno. Aug 12, 1874, p. 2.
— 47 The World, NYC. “The Pat Rogers Disaster,” Aug 10, 1874, p. 5.
— 30 Logansport Weekly Journal, IN. “News of the Week,” Aug 8, 1874, p. 2.
— ~30 Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994: Passenger Steamboats…[MS Riv. Sys.]…1999, p363.
–11-25 New York Times. “Disaster on the Ohio,” Aug 6, 1874, p. 1.
— 20 Janesville Gazette, WI. “From Cincinnati,” Aug 5, 1874, p.1, col. 3.

Narrative Information

Way: Pat Rogers. Sidewheel wood-hull packet, built in Cincinnati in 1872. “Owned by the U.S. Mail Line Co., and ran Cincinnati-Louisville. She caught fire, Aug. 5, 1874, at Laughrey Creek and was lost. Capt. Charles David was in command, and Charles J. Dufour was pilot on watch. Some 30 lives were lost inasmuch as she stuck on a bar and many were forced overboard and drowned….” (Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994: Passenger Steamboats…[MS Riv. Sys.]… (Revised).1999, p. 363.)

Newspapers

Aug 5: “Cincinnati, Aug. 5.—The operator at Aurora, Indiana, reports: The steamer Pat Rogers burned this morning, one mile below Aurora. About twenty lives were lost principally ladies.

“Cincinnati, O., August 5.—The particulars of the disaster to the steamer near Aurora, Ind., are coming in slowly. About five o’clock this morning, several bales of cotton, which formed a part of the cargo, caught fire, it is supposed from sparks from the chimneys, and the boat burned to the water’s edge. The boat and cargo, consisting of cattle, sheep and hogs, was a total loss. A passenger register and all the books were lost….

“Mr. Holmes, the engineer of the steamer Pat Rogers, burned at Aurora, arrived in Cincinnati on the noon train, and was interviewed by a reporter and gives the following account of the burning:

It was about six o’clock, when opposite Laughery Creek, which flows into the Ohio river two miles below Aurora, that I noticed a light among the bales of cotton in the afterpart of the boat. I hastened to the spot and found it to be burning rapidly, and beyond any possibility of immediately extinguishing it. I hastened to the hurricane deck and gave the alarm to the pilot that the boat was burning and told him to run the boat ashore. The pilot at once turned the boat’s head to the shore and immediately she became unmanageable. The pilot states that he could turn the wheel, but the steamer would not answer to the helm. He thinks the tiller rope had been cut, and from this fact it is thought that the fire was the work of an incendiary. Another theory is that one deck passenger, while smoking, dropped sparks from his pipe into the cotton. When the boat became unmanageable she drifted on to the sand bars and there grounded. The flames instead of spreading along the lower deck, at once shot up to the cabin and pilot house, then swept across the hurricane deck. The passengers were all aroused and boats lowered and many were carried to the shore, but others in their fright jumped into the water, and those who were not drowned reached a safe landing place after drifting a long time with the current. There were nearly a hundred people on board, but what proportion of this number were lost is not known.”

(Janesville Gazette, WI. “From Cincinnati,” Aug 5, 1874, p.1, col. 3)

Aug 9: “Cincinnati, O., August 9.—Conflict and confusion of statements have up to the present characterized the reports of the number of persons lost by the steamer Pat Rogers calamity at Aurora. To-day Captain Dan Morton, who is at the scene of the wreck superintending the recovery of bodies says that forty-five have been recovered, of whom fifteen have not been clearly identified….Two others…have not yet been recovered. These make forty-seven known to be lost. It is barely possible the list may run up three or four more, but is not probable….”
(The World, NYC. “The Pat Rogers Disaster,” Aug 10, 1874, p. 5.)

Aug 12: “Forty-seven persons are known to have been lost by the burning of the steamboat Pat Rogers, on the Ohio river, one day last week. Of these, the bodies of forty-five have been recovered.” (Nevada State Journal, Reno. Aug 12, 1874, p. 2.)

Aug 15: “The loss of life by the burning of the steamer Pat Rogers is now estimated at fifty.” (Semi-Weekly Wisconsin, Milwaukee. “Electric Flashes,” Aug 15, 1874, p. 1.)

Sources

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

Childs, Emery E. A History of the United States In Chronological Order From the Discovery of America in 1492 to the Year 1885. NY: Baker & Taylor, 1886. Google digitized. Accessed 9-4-2017: http://books.google.com/books?id=XLYbAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Janesville Gazette, WI. “From Cincinnati,” Aug 5, 1874, p.1, col. 3. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=52733223

Little, Charles C. Cyclopedia of Classified Dates With an Exhaustive Index. NY and London: Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900. Accessed 10-14-2020 at: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Cyclopedia_of_Classified_Dates_with_an_E/SRtGAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=steamer+pat+rogers+burns+ohio+river+1874&pg=PA285&printsec=frontcover

Logansport Weekly Journal, IN. “News of the Week,” Aug 8, 1874, p. 2. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=83179709

Lossing, Benson John (Editor). Harper’s Encyclopedia of United States History from 458 A.D. to 1902. NY: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1902. Digitized by Google at: http://books.google.com/books?id=fnwQAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours – A Narrative Encyclopedia of Worldwide Disasters from Ancient Times to the Present. New York: Pocket Books, Wallaby, 1977, 792 pages.

Nevada State Journal, Reno. [Steamboat Pat Rogers Loss], Aug 12, 1874, p. 2. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=535516

New York Times. “Disaster on the Ohio. Burning of the Steam-Boat Pat Rogers,” Aug 6, 1874, p. 1. At: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=19719696

Semi-Weekly Wisconsin, Milwaukee. “Electric Flashes.” 8-15-1874, p. 1. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=120022897

The World, NYC. “The Pat Rogers Disaster.” 8-10-1874, p. 5, col. 5. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=141468256

United States Congress, House of Representatives. Hearings Before the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, United States Congress (74th Congress, 1st Session). “Safety of Life and Property at Sea.” Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1935. Accessed 8-9-2020 at: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Safety_of_Life_and_Property_at_Sea/l9xH_9sUuVAC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq

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.