1883 — Mar 4, steamer Yazoo Valley hits drift-log/sinks, MS Riv., ~Bonnet Carre Crevasse, LA-20

— 20 Blanchard estimated death-toll.*

— 26 Cincinnati Commercial Gazette. “The Loss of the Yazoo – Testimony…” 3-10-1883, p. 8.
— 6 Known lost (testimony of pilot F. C. Cuny.
–20 “…and twenty others are missing, and supposed to be lost.” (Pilot Cuny testimony.)
— 20 Cincinnati Commercial Gazette. “The Loss of the Yazoo – Testimony…” 3-10-1883, p8.*
— 20 Supervising Inspector-Gen. of Steam-Vessels (US). An. Rpt. …[FY] 1883. 1883, p. 17.
–17 crew
— 3 passengers
— 19 Harper’s Book of Facts. “Wrecks.” 1895, p. 945.
— 18 Janesville Daily Gazette, WI. “At the Bottom…Yazoo…” 3-5-1883, p. 2.
— 16 Appletons’ Annual Cyclopaedia and Register…1883. “Events of 1883.” 1884, p. 322.

* Blanchard estimated death-toll. We have attempted to compile a list of those identified in sources below as fatalities (the compilation is to be found below following the newspaper accounts section). Our list totals twenty (six passengers and fourteen crew). This is the same total as used in the Supervising Inspector-General of Steam Vessels report for fiscal year 1883, though our composition of crew and passenger totals differs. It is also the same number of deaths reported by Captain Sullivan to the local steamboat inspectors.

We make the choice not to use what appears to us to be a guestimate of the pilot Cuny of possibly twenty-six “lost.”

* Cincinnati Commercial Gazette. Our number based on counting the people noted as lost by Captain J. B. Sullivan “before the U.S. Local Inspectors.”

Narrative Information

Appletons’: “Steamboat Yazoo sunk in the Mississippi, and 16 lives lost.” (Appletons’ Annual Cyclopaedia and Register…1883. “Events of 1883.” 1884, p. 322.)

Harper’s: “Steamer Yazoo strikes a log 35-mile point above New Orleans, and sinks; 19 lives lost…4 Mch. 1883.” (Harper’s Book of Facts. “Wrecks.” 1895, p. 945.)

Supervising Inspector-General of Steam-Vessels (U.S.): “March 4, 1883. – The steamer ‘Yazoo’ struck a drift-log on the Mississippi and sank. Three passengers and seventeen of her crew were drowned.” (Tenth District. Annual Report of the Supervising Inspector-General of Steam-Vessels (U.S.)…for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1883. 1883, p. 17.)

Way: Yazoo Valley. Sternwheel wood hull packet, built in 1876 in Jeffersonville, IN, measuring 180 x 36 x 5. “….Sold in 1883 and ran New Orleans-Red River in the Red River and Coast Line headed by Charles P. Truslow, with M. N. Wood, superintendent. Sank Mar. 4, 1883, some 35 miles above New Orleans….” (Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994: Passenger Steamboats of the Mississippi River System…(Revised). 1999, p. 492.)

Newspapers

March 5: “New Orleans, La., March 5. – News is received that the steamboat Yazoo, hence Saturday evening for Bayou Macon and Tensas, while turning a point during a high wind, capsized and sunk near Red Church. The boat and cargo are a total loss. It is believed a number of lives were lost.

“The Times-Democrat Donaldsonville special says: ‘This morning at 1 o’clock the steamer Yazoo, at Bonnet Carre, struck an obstruction, supposed to be a log, and she commenced to fill. She was landed, and a small line was put out, which parted, and the boat sunk.’

“Capt. J. B. Sullivan, master, stated that the steamer Yazoo Valley sunk about thirty-five miles above New Orleans at a quarter to 1 o’clock yesterday morning. ‘Shortly before that time I was standing in the hall of the cabin, when the boat struck a log or some other hidden obstacle, which jarred her considerably. Immediately told the watchman to go below and see if there was any damage done to the boat. He went down and soon shouted to me ‘Let the boat come to the bank at once.’ I told the pilot on watch, Mr. F. C. Cuney, to let her go to the shore. He headed her around and we landed. A party of men landed with a small rope, and we were about to put out a larger one and make it fast when an eddy near the bank drove the boat out into the stream again. I then awoke the mate and told him to go and awaken the pilots and passengers. When I got down to the deck the water was coming in over it on the port side. I hurried upstairs, but I had to climb up the cabin stanchion to the roof. When I reached it I had to crawl back on it toward thee stern, which covers the highest portion of the boat, by the hog chains. The cabin soon went entirely under water and disappeared. When the cabin went under the passengers and crew were all in the water swimming about and clinging to anything that was floating near them. I clung to a plank and was in the water about fifteen minutes, when the cabin floated to the surface again, and I made for it. Several people managed to reach the floating cabin, like me, and we clung to it until the steamer St. John came in sight and rescued us. The water was intensely cold, and our fingers so benumbed that it was impossible to hold on to the wreck. Clark, the watchman who went ashore with the crew to secure the rope, found a skiff and came to the wreck and took off some of the people. The rescued passengers were carried up the river on the St. John and transferred to the Jesse K. Bell, on which they returned to the city. The water was intensely cold, and most of the rescued people had been in for more than an hour, with but little clothing on, when they were saved.’

“The following, as near as can be learned, are the missing:

Mrs. C. P. Lewis, of Chicago…
The child of Mr. Cooley, the pilot, seven months old.
First mate Chris Kearns.
Second clerk Leo Carpenter.
The carpenter, John Frank.
The colored chambermaid.
The steward, Daniel Lightner, colored.
Two cabin boys.
Four deck passengers and about five roustabouts.”

(Janesville Daily Gazette, WI. “At the Bottom. Dreadful Accident…Yazoo…” 3-5-1883, p. 2.)

March 8: “New Orleans Picayune, March 8. – The following are the sworn statements of the officers of the Yazoo, taken before the U.S. Local Inspectors:

“F. C. Cuny, one of the pilots of the Yazoo, testified as follows: ‘Am licensed pilot and was pilot of the steamer Yazoo at the time of her loss by sinking on the 4th instant, between the hours of 4 and 5 o’clock, just below Thirty-Five Mile Point above the city. Was on watch at the time. It was during the Captain’s watch. It was starlight but smoky. Had been on watch about half an hour, and was getting close to the point and holding about seventy-five yards from the shore; I discovered a small, black object in the water, almost immediately ahead. I instantly stopped the boat, pulled her over to the starboard to miss the object, and in about a second thereafter she struck. Did not come ahead again on the boat till I saw the log float by the side of the boat. The Captain came up on the roof about the time she struck, and ordered me to run her across the river on the bar. I replied that it was too far to the bar, and she had better be landed on the point. He asked if what he saw ahead was Bonnet Carre crevasse. I told him that it was a cave in the bank. He then ordered her landed just below the cave. I landed her. Two lines were made fast, and the stage lowered; but the eddy took her head out from the bank, and tore the lines loose from their fastenings. She then commenced sinking rapidly, and turned over from the shore, and sank clear out of sight. I got out of the pilot-house when she was turning over, and swam out on the starboard bank, the one she was landed on.

“The mate, second clerk, carpenter, and one lady passenger, one colored passenger and infant, are known to be lost, and twenty others are missing, and supposed to be lost.

“The boat was properly officered and manned and fully equipped. One person was saved by a life-float. Every effort was made to save the passengers and officers and crew, and also the boat. Five or six men went ashore with the watchman to make the lines fast. I think the log was struck end on, and by the swinging of the same it was pried out by the sweep of the current. The drift now running is very heavy.’….

“Capt. J. B. Sullivan testified as follows: ‘Am a licensed Master, and was so employed on the steamer Yazoo at the time of her loss by sinking on the 4h inst. ….

“Three officers, one lady cabin passenger, an infant, four deck passengers and eleven of the crew are missing, and, I believe, are lost….’”

(Cincinnati Commercial Gazette. “The Loss of the Yazoo – Testimony…” 3-10-1883, p. 8.)

Steamer Yazoo Valley Fatalities Noted in Sources Above

Passengers

1. Cooley, child, 7 months Said to have been the child of one of the pilots.
2. Lewis, Mrs. C. P. “Of” Chicago
3. Unnamed deck passenger, one of four. According to the pilot one was a woman.
4. Unnamed deck passenger, two of four.
5. Unnamed deck passenger, three of four.
6. Unnamed deck passenger, four of four.

Crew

1. Carpenter, Leo Second Clerk
2. Frank, John Carpenter
3. Kearns, Chris First Mate
4. Lightner, Daniel Steward
5. Unnamed boy, 1 of 2 Cabin boy
6. Unnamed boy, 2 of 2 Cabin boy
7. Unnamed female Chambermaid
8. Unnamed male 1st of “about” five roustabouts
9. Unnamed male 2nd of “about” five roustabouts
10. Unnamed male 3rd of “about” five roustabouts
11. Unnamed male 4th of “about” five roustabouts
12. Unnamed male 5th of “about” five roustabouts
13. Unnamed crew 1st of 2 unnamed crew noted by the Capt. to be lost.*
14. Unnamed crew 1st of 2 unnamed crew noted by the Capt. to be lost

* Captain Sullivan testified before the Local Steamboat Inspectors that three officers and eleven of the crew were lost (14). We have accounted for twelve (if we include the carpenter and the steward as the 3rd and 4th “officers” (the second clerk and the First mate were definitely “officers.”

Sources

Appletons’ Annual Cyclopaedia and Register of Important Events of the Year 1883 (New Series, Vol. VIII). NY: Appleton and Co., “Events of 1883 (April, May).” 1884. Google digitized. Accessed 1-24-2021 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=Wo4EAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Cincinnati Commercial Gazette, OH. “The Loss of the Yazoo – Testimony of the Officers of the Steamboat as Taken by the Local Inspectors.” 3-10-1883, p. 8, col. 4. Accessed 1-24-2021 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/cincinnati-commercial-gazette-mar-10-1883-p-8/

Harper’s Book of Facts. New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1895. Digitized by Google. Accessed 1-24-2021 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=UcwGAAAAYAAJ

Janesville Daily Gazette, WI. “At the Bottom. Dreadful Accident by the Wrecking of a Boat on the Lower Mississippi. The Yazoo Strikes a Snag and Sinks, Drowning at Least Sixteen Persons.” 3-5-1883, 2. At: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=53338535

Supervising Inspector-General of Steam-Vessels. Annual Report of the Supervising Inspector-General of Steam-Vessels (U.S.) to the Secretary of the Treasury for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1883 (dated 10-9-1883). Washington: Government Printing Office, 1883. Accessed 1-22-2021 at: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nnc1.cu09189980&view=1up&seq=169&q1=vernon

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.