1846 — May 27-28, steamer Queen City steam pipe burst, Miss. River, Natchez, MS –12-17

–12-17 Blanchard estimated death toll.*

–22-26 Alleganian, Cumberland MD. “Steamboat Explosion.” June 12, 1846, p. 2.
— 17 Lloyd’s Steamboat Directory and Disasters on the Western Waters. 1856, p. 291.
–15-16 Baton Rouge Gazette, LA. 6-13-1846, p. 2, col. 5.
— 12 Baltimore American Republican and Daily Clipper. “Steamboat Explosion…” 6-8-1846, 1.
— 12 Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. 1972, p. 187.
— >12 Indiana Palladium, Vevay, IN. “Terrible Steamboat Disaster.” 6-23-1846, p. 2.**
— 12 Lytle and Holdcamper. Merchant Steam Vessels of the [U.S.] 1807-1868. 1952, p. 225.
— 12 Twaintimes. “1846.”
— 12 Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994: Pass, Steamboats…MS River System. 1994, p. 380.
— 11 The Guard, Holly Springs, MS. “Dreadful Steamboat Explosion.” 6-5-1846, p. 2, col. 4.
— >10 American Almanac for the Year 1847 (Vol. 18). “Chronicle of Events for 1846,” p. 349.

Blanchard on date of loss: We have highlighted below in yellow, the wide range of dates used by various sources for this loss. Unfortunately we have not been able to determine with certainty the correct date of loss. Our reading of the sources below leads us to the opinion that the loss was either May 27 or 28.

* Blanchard estimated death toll. Given the number of sources which note twelve deaths, including the usually reliable Lytle and Holdcamper, we choose to use twelve as the low-end of our estimated death-toll. We choose Lloyd’s report of seventeen deaths as the high-end of our estimated death-toll, even though he is not always accurate. The reason we use a range with a number higher than twelve has to do with the large number of cases of scalding, which frequently resulting in deaths with a week, if not longer, after the scalding. These are serious injuries today with modern medicine and care.

**Indiana Palladium writes: “Twelve persons were buried the next day. There are thirty-five more who the physicians say will die. Several becoming alarmed, jumped overboard and were drowned.” [It is possible that one or more of those who “were buried the next day” were drowning victims, so we do not assume that these were in addition to the twelve buried.]

Narrative Information

American Almanac: “June 4. – The steamer Queen City, Capt. Dugan, on her way from New Orleans to Cincinnati, burst her connection pipe while shoving out from Natchez. Ten persons were instantly killed, and about thirty scalded, but few of whom were expected to recover.” (American Almanac for the Year 1847 (Vol. 18). “Chronicle of Events for 1846,” p. 349.)

Berman: “Queen City. St. p. [Steam side-wheel]. 318 [tons]. 1843 [built]. May 24, 1846. Exploded. Natchez, Miss. 12 lives lost.” (Berman 1972, 187)

Lloyd: “Queen City. – The steamer Queen City while lying at Natchez, Miss., on the 27th of May, 1846, burst one of her steam pipes, killing seven passengers and wounding ten mortally, and twenty others seriously.” (Lloyd 1856, p. 291.)

Lytle and Holdcamper: “Queen City…318 [tons]…exploded…5 24-1846…Natchez, Miss. 12 [lives lost].” (Merchant Steam Vessels of the [U.S.] 1807-1868. 1952, p. 225.)

Way: “Queen City. SW p wh. b. [Side-wheel packet, wood hull, built] Cincinnati, Oh., 1843. 318 tons. Collapsed a flue while at Natchez, Miss., May 24, 1846, resulting in 12 deaths, many of them German emigrants. Was not rebuilt.” (Way 1994, p. 380.)

Newspaper

June 3: “We copy the following melancholy disaster from the Louisville Democrat of the 3d. inst.

“A gentleman from Natchez, who came passenger on the ‘Magnolia’ informs us that on the morning of the 28th ult., about 3 o’clock, the steamboat ‘Queen City’ burst one of her cross pipes, while laying to at Natchez, killing and scalding about 60 persons. Twelve persons were buried the next day. There are thirty-five more who the physicians say will die. Several becoming alarmed, jumped overboard and were drowned. It appears there was an attachment of Capt. Thomas Dugan, and he have the engineers ord4rs to hold on steam, in order that he might escape the officers who were in pursuit.

“The citizens were much exasperated at his conduct, and were in pursuit of the Capt. after the explosion, with the determination of hanging him according to the code of Judge Lynch.” (Indiana Palladium, Vevay, IN. “Terrible Steamboat Disaster.” 6-23-1846, p. 2.)

June 5: “We learn by a letter of the Captain and passengers of the steamboat Queen City, addressed to the editor of the Eagle, that the steam pipe of that boat collapsed at Natchez on the morning of the 28th ult., which resulted in the death – by scalding – of eleven deck passengers, who expired that day, and, it was ‘supposed that three or four more could not live out the night.’ They were mostly German emigrants to the West, and were sleeping ‘on the deck, between the cylinder and aft the boilers.’ Great excitement seems to have prevailed at Natchez, against the officers of the boat, to exonerate whom from blame, is the object of the letter referred to. {Memphis Appeal}.”
(The Guard, Holly Springs, MS. “Dreadful Steamboat Explosion.” 6-5-1846, p. 2, col. 4.)

June 8: “The steamboat Queen City, at Natchez, burst her steam pipe on Wednesday [May 27], killing 7 passengers and badly scalding 38 – five of whom have since died, the others were sent to the hospital. The killed and wounded were principally German emigrants.” (Baltimore American Republican and Daily Clipper. “Steamboat Explosion and Loss of Life.” 6-8-1846, p. 1.)

June 12, Alleganian: “The Cincinnati Commercial states that the steamer Queen City, at Natchez, on the 27th May, burst her connection pipe, instantly killed 12 or 14 persons; 10 or 12 more were so badly scalded that they could not survive the night following. Sixty persons, in all, scalded; those not dead were taken to the hospital at Natchez. The persons scalded and killed were deck passengers, and principally Germans.” (Alleganian, Cumberland MD. “Steamboat Explosion.” June 12, 1846, p. 2.)

June 13: “We learn from the Natchez Free Trader that a warrant has been issued for the arrest of Thomas S. Dugan, the Captain of the steamer Queen City, the connecting pipe of which burst on the 28th ult., just as she was leaving the wharf at Natchez for Cincinnati, and caused the death of fifteen or sixteen deck passengers, and the scalding of thirty-five or thirty-six others. The explosion is attributed, the Free Trader says, to the reckless haste of the Captain to get under way. ‘Complaints says that paper’ ‘were loud against the Captain, who, however, took good care to be out of the way when a warrant was issued for his arrest, nor has he since been…[unclear word]; and on Thursday evening the boat was moved over to the Louisiana shore to avoid, probably, further molestation by the officers of law, who were on the look out for the Captain.’ – Bulletin.”
(Baton Rouge Gazette, LA. 6-13-1846, p. 2, col. 5.)

Sources

Alleganian, Cumberland MD. “Steamboat Explosion” [Queen City] June 12, 1846, p. 2. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=2176433

American Almanac and Repository of Useful Knowledge for the Year 1847 (Vol. 18). Boston: James Munroe & Co., 1846. Digitized by Google at: http://books.google.com/books?id=yLA0AAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Baltimore American Republican and Daily Clipper. “Steamboat Explosion and Loss of Life.” 6-8-1846, p. 1. Accessed 10-19-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/baltimore-american-republican-and-daily-clipper-jun-08-1846-p-1/

Baton Rouge Gazette, LA. 6-13-1846, p. 2, col. 5. Accessed 10-19-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/baton-rouge-gazette-jun-13-1846-p-2/

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

Indiana Palladium, Vevay, IN. “Terrible Steamboat Disaster.” 6-23-1846, p. 2, col. 4. Accessed 10-19-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/vevay-indiana-palladium-jun-13-1846-p-2/

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

Lytle, William M., compiler, from Official Merchant Marine Documents of the United States and Other Sources; Holdcamper, Forrest H. (Editor, and Introduction by). Merchant Steam Vessels of the United States 1807-1868. “The Lytle List.” Mystic, CT: Steamship Historical Society of America (Publication No. 6), 1952. Accessed 8-16-2020 at:
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015018039084&view=1up&seq=8&size=125

The Guard, Holly Springs, MS. “Dreadful Steamboat Explosion, and Loss of Life.” 6-5-1846, p. 2, col. 4. Accessed 10-19-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/the-guard-jun-05-1846-p-2/

Twaintimes. 1846-1856. Accessed at: http://twaintimes.net/page3.html (Inoperable link.)

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.