1836 — March 13, Steamboat Ben Franklin boiler explosion, wharf, Mobile, AL –13-30

–13-30 Blanchard*

–25-30 Lossing. Harper’s Encyclopedia of U. S. History…458 AD…1902. 1902, 454.
— 29 Fisher/McCord. “Steamboat Explosions…Fifty-Five Years.” In Scharf 1883, 1108.
— 20 Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. 1972, p. 158. [3-13-1836]
— 20 Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours. 1977, p. 679. [3-13-1836]
— 20 U.S. House of Reps. Hearings… “Safety of Life and Property at Sea.” 1935, p. 245,
— 13 Lloyd. Lloyd’s Steamboat Directory and Disasters on the Western Waters. 1856, p. 74.
— 13 Sparks. American Almanac and Repository of Useful Knowledge…1840, Vol. 11, p. 119.
— 11 Republican Compiler, Gettysburg, PA. [Ben Franklin explosion.] March 29, 1836, p3.**
— ? Gould. Gould’s History of River Navigation, 1889, p.446. “Many…perished.”***
— ? Way. Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994. 1934, p. 47. “…great life loss.”

*Blanchard. While we show a range of 13-30, based on the sources below, with the exception of the Gettysburg newspaper account, if we were to use a single number we would utilize the 1935 Congressional Hearings on “Safety of Life and Property at Sea,” notation of twenty deaths.

**Gettysburg Republican Compiler: Notes a report of eleven immediate deaths, while fourteen others were “badly scalded.” We presume that one or more succumbed later.

***Lloyd: Notes that “the loss of life…[was] at that time was unexampled…[and] the destruction produced by this accident was very extensive.”

Narrative Information

Lloyd: “The steamboat Ben Franklin, on the day of this awful occurrence [Title notes March 13], was backing out from her wharf at Mobile, in order to make her regular trip to Montgomery. Scarcely had she disengaged herself from the wharf, when the explosion took place, pro¬ducing a concussion which seemed to shake the whole city to its foun¬dations. The entire population of Mobile, alarmed by the terrific detonation, was drawn to the spot to witness a spectacle which must have harrowed every soul with astonishment and horror. This fine boat, which had on that very morning floated so gallantly on the bosom of the lake, was now a shattered wreck, while numbers of her passengers and crew were lying on the decks, either motionless and mutilated corpses, or agonized sufferers panting and struggling in the grasp of death. Many others had been hurled overboard at the mo¬ment of the explosion, and such were the numbers of drowning people who called for assistance, that the crowd of sympathizing spectators were distracted and irresolute, not knowing where or how to begin the work of rescue. Many—how many, it is impossible to say—perished in the turbid waters before any human succor could reach them.

“Apart from the loss of life, which at that time was unexampled, the destruction produced by this accident was very extensive. The boiler- deck, the boilers, the chimneys, and other parts of the machinery, besides much of the lading, were blown overboard and scattered into fragments over the wharf and the surface of the river. Mr. Isaac Williams, a passenger, was blown at least one hundred feet high in the air, and his dead body fell into the water, about one hundred and fifty yards from the boat.

“The cause of the accident is believed to have been a deficiency of water in the boiler. The boat was injured to that degree that repairs were out of the question, and she was never afterwards brought into service.

“The usual uncertainty attends the estimated number of lives lost by this calamity. Many of those who perished, had just entered the boat, and had not registered their names ; and, among the mangled corpses, not a few retained scarcely any vestige of the human form, so that the identification of particular persons was impossible. We have, after much research, obtained the following list of the sufferers, which we believe to be the most complete account ever published. [a list of 13 killed is provided.]” (Lloyd. “Terrific Explosion of the Steamboat Ben Franklin, at Mobile, Alabama, March 13, 1836.” Steamboat Directory and Disasters on the Western Waters. 1856, 77.)

Way’s Packet Directory: Ben Franklin, wooden sidewheel packet, built at Cincinnati, OH in 1834; 98 tons. “Owned by the U.S. Mail Line Co….Considered very fast, and her record upstream time Louisville-Cincinnati was 14 hours 12 minutes. In the fall of 1835 was sold to a Capt. Slade and others at Mobile after having made 200 round trips in the L&C trade. She exploded boilers at Mobile on March 13, 1836 with great life lost.” (Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994: Passenger Steamboats…MS River System. 1994, p. 47.)

Newspaper

March 29: “The boiler of the steamer Benjamin Franklin exploded at Mobile, on the 12th inst. With a force that shook the city; by which accident eleven persons were killed outright, and fourteen badly scalded. It appears to have proceeded from the usual cause of all such disasters – the omission to let off steam while the machinery was not in motion.” (Republican Compiler (Gettysburg PA). March 29, 1836, p. 3.)

Sources

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

Fisher, Captain S.L., and Captain James McCord. “Steamboat Explosions for Fifty-Five Years.” In Scharf, J. Thomas. History of Saint Louis City and County, From the Earliest Periods to the Present Day: Including Biographical Sketches of Representative Men. In Two Volumes, Illustrated. Volume II (Chapter XXVII. Navigation on the Mississippi River). Philadelphia: Louis H. Everts & Co., 1883. Digitized by Northern Illinois University, NU Libraries Digitization Projects at: http://lincoln.lib.niu.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.4487:4.lincoln

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

Lloyd, James T. Lloyd’s Steamboat Directory and Disasters on the Western Waters. Cincinnati, Ohio: James T. Lloyd & Co., 1856. Digitized by Google. Accessed at: http://books.google.com/books?id=JlYqAAAAYAAJ

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.

Republican Compiler, Gettysburg, PA. [Steamboat Benjamin Franklin Explosion]. 3-29-1836, 3. At: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=2868075

Sparks, Jared and George Partridge Sanger, Compilers. American Almanac and Repository of Useful Knowledge for the Year 1831. Boston: Gray and Bowen, Nov 11, 1830. Accessed at: http://books.google.com/books?id=OKs0AAAAMAAJ&dq=editions:LCCN05001604&lr=&source=gbs_navlinks_s

U.S. 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=belle%20zane

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 Edition). Athens OH: Ohio University Press, 1994-1999.