1855 — Mar 23, steamboat Bulletin No. 2 burns, Miss. River, Alsatia-Salem Bend, LA– 23

–~23 Bragg. Historic Names…Places on…Lower Miss. Riv. Alsatia-Salem Bend,” 1977, 148.
— 23 Times & Sentinel. Columbus, GA. “Steamboat Burned – Great Loss.” 3-30-1855, p. 2.
— 23 U.S. Steamboat Inspect. Svc. Report… Supervising Inspectors… Oct 14, 1855. 1856, 436.
— 23 Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994: Passenger Steamboats of the [MS Riv.]. 1999, p. 64.

Narrative Information

Bragg: “Alsatia-Salem Bend. Mile 468.0 AHP….Islands No. 96 and No. 97, which no longer appear on navigation maps, were in Tompkins Bend when Zadoc Cramer numbered them in 1801. Near the two islands a steamer called the Bulletin No. 2 caught fire on March 24, 1855. The pilot of the burning boat courageously stayed at his post until he had run the steamer to the shore, but before a line could be taken to the bank the boat bounced off and floated on down the river, burning furiously. It was estimated that about 23 persons lost their lives. The boat’s cargo and all of the luggage and other property of the passengers went down with the vessel.” (Bragg. Historic Names…Places on…Lower Miss. Riv. Alsatia-Salem Bend,” 1977, 148.)

Lloyd: “The steamboat Bulletin No. 2, Capt. C. B. Church, was burned on the Mississippi river, near Islands No. 96 and 97, March 24th, 1855. A large quantity of cotton was among the freight, and this highly combustible article caused the flames to spread rapidly. The boat was run ashore as quickly as possible; but as soon as she struck the bank, she bounded back again, and floated down the river until consumed to the level of the water. The surface of the river was covered with floating bales of ignited cotton; and many persons who had leaped overboard, while attempting to save themselves by clinging to these fiery masses, were severely burned. One of the cabin passengers stated that he was sitting on the hurricane deck when the fire first appeared, and before he could get a bucket of water to throw on it, the whole boat seemed to be in a blaze. If the force pumps had been in good order, (which was not the case,) the flames could easily have been suppressed. An eye-witness thinks that the boat and the lives of many passengers could have been saved, if gum elastic hose had been provided for such an emergency. Certainly it shows shameful and criminal neglect on the part of the Captain or owners, when a steamer is without such apparatus. While the boat was burning, the passengers were greatly excited and dismayed; but we have one instance of surprising coolness, whether it proceeded from courage or stupidity, we will not pretend to say. A gentleman was standing in the cabin with perfect composure and apparent unconcern while the fire was making rapid progress in every direction. Capt. Church advised this stoical person to take off the door of a state room and endeavor to save himself thereon. ” Make yourself easy, Captain,” was the calm response, ” I am safe enough!” And, sure enough, he was saved. This anecdote reminds us of one which is told of a celebrated gambler, who leaped from a burning boat into the Mississippi, exclaiming, “Now, gallows, save your own!”

“Some of the passengers of the Bulletin succeeded in leaping on shore from the forecastle at the moment the steamer struck the land; but a large majority, who were in the after-part of the boat, were cut off from this means of escape. Capt. Church and all the other officers of the boat faithfully used every effort to save the passengers, and the Captain remained so long on board for this purpose, that his own life nearly became the sacrifice of his fidelity. When driven by the flames from the last refuge on the wreck, he threw himself in the water. The boat had drifted out to such a distance from the shore, that he would infallibly have been drowned, had not a skiff, which happened to be near, come to his assistance.

“LIST OF THOSE WHO PERISHED.- [We break the names out of original paragraph form.]

Mr. Swick, Boston;
C. Denny, deck hand;
J. B. Williamson, New York;
Jesper Brown, Friar’s Point, Miss.;
Orville Hill, Nashville;
B. Handwerkt, Memphis, Tenn.;
John McConican, North Carolina;
Evans Gwynn, Columbus, Ohio;
a negro girl belonging to J. M. Craig, Arkansas;
Nathaniel Carter, barber;
Stephen Tareter, cabin-boy;
four negro firemen, belonging to Capt. Church;
several do. [ditto] belonging to W. L. Porter, New Orleans;
one negro fireman belonging to Mrs. Reinhart, Memphis, Tenn.;
one do. [ditto] belonging to J. R. Upsham, of same place,
and an assistant engineer.”

(Lloyd, James T. “Burning of the Bulletin No 2.” Pp. 310-311 in Lloyd’s Steamboat Directory and Disasters on the Western Waters. Cincinnati, Ohio: James T. Lloyd & Co., 1856.)

U.S. Steamboat Inspection Service: “On the 27th day of March, 1855, the steamer Bulletin, No. 2, was destroyed by fire at Tompkins’s Bend. This boat was loaded with 3,500 bales cotton; boat and cargo a total loss, amounting to $165,000. There were also lost by this accident twenty-three lives, mostly crew of the boat.

“The origin of this fire was most singular, and shows clearly the necessity of great caution on board steamers loaded with such inflammable cargo. It originated in a cigar being thrown to the windward by a passenger, and which, by the high wind blowing at the time, was again driven on board among the cotton, at a point where it could not be reached before the fire was in full and uncontrollable progress. The captain of the boat reports that the inflated life-preservers with which the boat was provided proved entirely useless on this occasion, from the effect of the heat upon them. Owing to the combustible nature of the cargo, it was utterly impossible to control the fire with the means at command. The remainder of the passengers and crew (about 90) were saved by the exertions of the officers, and by means of the life and other boats and stagings with which the steamer was provided. Much credit is due to the officers for the energy and presence of mind displayed.” (U.S. Steamboat Inspect. Svc. Report… Supervising Inspectors… Oct 14, 1855. 1856, p. 436.)
Way: Notes that Bulletin No. 2 was a sidewheel packet built in 1850 in New Albany, IN, and was of 692 tons. “Ran Memphis-New Orleans, Capt. C. B. Church. Burned downbound at Island 96, Mississippi River, with loss of large cotton cargo and we lives….This disaster happened on Mar. 27 [sic. March 23], 1855.” (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 Univ. Press, 1994-1999.

Newspapers

March 26: “New Orleans, March 26. We have news from Vicksburg that on Saturday [March 23] steamboat Bulletin, No. 2, was destroyed by fire on the Mississippi below Lake Providence.

“Twenty-three lives were lost by this sad catastrophe, of which sixteen were negroes. Among the whites lost were J. B. Williams, of New York, and Mr. McCaushe, of N. Carolina.

“The officers of the boat and all the ladies on board escaped.

“The whole cargo, consisting mainly of thirty-five hundred bales of cotton, was destroyed.” (Times & Sentinel. Columbus, GA. “Steamboat Burned – Great Loss.” 3-30-1855, p. 2.)

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

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

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

United States Steamboat-Inspection Service. Annual Report of Supervising Inspectors of Steamboats (October 14, 1855). In: Treasury Department. Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances for the Year Ending June 30, 1855. Washington: Beverly Tucker, 1856. Digitized by Google at: http://books.google.com/books?id=OCYSAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

Times & Sentinel. Columbus, GA. “Steamboat Burned – Great Loss.” 3-30-1855, p. 2. Accessed 8-14-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/columbus-times-and-sentinel-tri-weekly-mar-30-1855-p-2/

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 Univ. Press, 1994-1999.