1850 — Mar 4, steamer Orline St. John burns/sinks, Alabama Riv. ~Bridgeport Landing, AL-39-41

–39-41 Blanchard estimated death toll.*

— 100 U.S. Congress. House. Hearings. “Safety of Life and Property at Sea.” 1935, p. 246.
— 70 Gould. Fifty Years on the Mississippi. 1889, p. 467.
— 70 Lloyd’s Steamboat Directory and Disasters on the Western Waters. 1856, p. 207.
— 41 Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. 1972, p. 184.
— 41 Lytle and Holdcamper. Merchant Steam Vessels of the [U.S.] 1807-1868. 1952, p. 252.
— 41 Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours. 1977, p. 681.
— 41 Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994: Passenger Steamboats…MS Riv. Sys.. 1994, 358.
— 40 Curren. The Wreck of the Orline St. John, Jan 2010.
— 40 Wilcox County Chamber of Commerce. Off the Path in Wilcox County.
–39-41 Fort Wayne Sentinel, IN. “Burning of the Orline St. John.” 3-30-1850, p. 1, col. 5.
— 30 Lossing. Harper’s Encyclopedia of United States History…to 1902. 1902, p. 454.
— 30 Simonds. The American Date Book. 1902, p. 98.

* Blanchard estimated death toll. While the death toll seems to us to be forty-one, as noted by Lytle and Holdcamper and others, we also take into account the Fort Wayne Sentinel article of 3-30-1850, which notes 39-41 deaths. We have seen no detailed information which would support the accounts of seventy or one hundred deaths.

Narrative Information

Curren: “The Orline St. John was a side-wheel steamboat built in 1847 at Louisville, Kentucky. The packet boat ended its short life in 1850 on the banks of the Alabama River. The boat burned and sank with some forty lives lost. Men, women, and children passed away. Some of the bodies were found downstream as far as seventy miles. The wreck of the steamboat was found by two fishermen in 1955.” (Curren. The Wreck of the Orline St. John, Jan 2010.)

Lloyd: “The steamboat Orline St. John left Mobile for Montgomery, Ala., on Monday evening, March 2d, 1850. On the fourth of the same month, when within four miles of her place of destination, she was discovered to be on fire on the larboard side, near the boilers. In less than three minutes from the time at which the first alarm was given, the whole cabin was enveloped in a sheet of flame.

“There were about one hun¬dred and twenty human beings on board, and it is reported that not more than fifty of that number survived the destruction of the boat. As soon as the fire was discovered, the pilot steered for the shore, which the steamer fortunately reached before the tiller-ropes were severed by the flames. The boat was run ashore in a dense cane-brake on which her bow and waist rested, while the stern projected into the river. A few persons who happened to be on the forward part of the boat were landed without any difficulty, but the greater number of passengers ran aft, with the hope of getting into the yawl. But the deck passengers and a part of the crew had got possession of this small boat, and had already left the steamer. More than one hundred people were now collected at the stern, which, as mentioned above, projected into the deep water, which effectually cut off all means of es¬cape in that quarter; and to go forward was now impossible, as the whole of the middle of the boat was completely wrapped in flame. To make the situation of these people still more critical, the cabin threat¬ened to fall on them….

“If the yawl had been brought back, all might have been saved; but the deck bands who had taken possession of it, ran it ashore in the cane-brake; and before the captain and second mate could bring it back, all who remained on the steamer, without a single exception, were drowned or burned to death. Every woman and child who had been in the boat was lost; the only persons saved were those few who escaped over the bow when the boat struck, and the five or six deck hands who ran off with the yawl. There were a number of returned California gold diggers on board; such of them as saved their lives lost all the produce of their toils. No property of any kind was saved, ex¬cept a trunk belonging to Col. Preston, which his servant threw over the bow into the cane-brake.” (Lloyd 1856, p. 207-209.)

Way: Orline St. John. Sidewheel wood-hull packet, built in Louisville, KY, in 1847, at 349 tons. “Burned and lost at Bridgeport, Ala., with loss of 41 lives, Mar. 4, 1850.” (Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994: Passenger Steamboats of the Mississippi River System…(Revised). 1999, p. 358.)

Wilcox County: “The Orline St. John, a 349 ton side-wheel steamboat ended its short life on March 4, 1850, near Bridgeport Landing, north of Camden, taking the lives of 40 passengers and crew. Sparks, likely from her own boilers, set fire to her cargo of highly flammable pine logs. The captain steered for the western shore of the river as passengers leapt into the cold, muddy waters to escape the flames. Many drowned or were burned by the fire that sank the ship a short time later.

“In 1954, in the late summer and during a dry period that caused the water level of the river to fall, local fisherman spotted a section of the boat’s hull protruding from the waters of the river. They eventually recovered many artifacts from the sunken vessel. Though it is thought that millions in gold may have gone down with the steamer, more than one salvage operation has failed to produce any valuables.

From a maritime newspaper article:

“Details of the Burning of the St. John:

The following narrative of the disaster to the steamer Orline St. John was communicated to the Herald by Mr. Bass, of the Astor-place theatre, who was a passenger on board at the time of the fire: The Orline St. John steamboat left Mobile on Monday, the 4th inst., at 5P.M., for Montgomery, Alabama. The boat ran well, averaging about fifteen miles against the current till half past four o’clock P.M., on the 5th inst., when the startling cry of “fire!” aroused nearly everyone on board to a sense of the perilous situation of the boat and all on board. The large quantities of pitch pine wood, about fifty cords, stowed near the boilers, and on the boiler deck had ignited, and in the course of two minutes has enveloped the cabin portion of the boat above the boilers.

”The consternation was general, and it was only by the caution of those who escaped that their lives were preserved. Many leaped into the stream, and were swept under the boat, and down by the current, almost instantaneously losing their lives by this dreadful casualty, and their anxiety to preserve their lives. Others saved themselves by catching floating fragment thrown from the deck, with which they were buoyed down the stream, and finally, to safety. Mr. Bass hoped to save Mrs. Hall and daughter, a beautiful girl of ten years of age, but Mrs. Hall returned to the cabin to assist another lady and the whole party, except Mr. Bass, were lost, the flames flashed upon every part of the boat, and adding terrors to the scene, already awfully painful from the sacrifices of valuable lives.

”It is supposed that there was not a living being in the boat after the lapse of two minutes from the alarm, though many had jumped into the water and some were clinging to the rudder. In this short space of time, human energy was exerted to its utmost, both by the officers of the boat and the engineers. Captain Meaher and his brother, the first mate, exerted themselves to the utmost to save the lives of the passengers. Mr. Benjamin Pearce, the pilot, stood at the wheel till the vessel was run ashore on the Western bank of the river.

“The engineers with remarkable presence of mind, attended to the boilers, and opened all the valves in an instant, and thereby prevented the loss of life that might have resulted from an explosion. The promptitude of Mr. Pearce, who ran the boat ashore while she was about the distance of four lengths off, is highly commended, as he was only enabled to escape from the wheel by leaping into the water through a sheet of fire. When the boat struck, she ploughed into the shore about four feet deep, and thus those on the bow were preserved. For those on the rudder, who were cut off by the flames from this means of escape, there was still great danger.

”The flames were over their heads, and they were driven down to hold by the rudder till they could be assisted….”

(Wilcox County Chamber of Commerce. Off the Path in Wilcox County.)

Newspapers

March 30: “Immense Loss of Life. – The Montgomery Journal of the 8th inst. Brings us detailed accounts of he awful incidents connected with the burning of the steamer Orline St. John, already noticed, by telegraph, accompanied with terrible loss of life. A letter from a passenger says:

“The steamboat Orline St. John. Capt. T. Meaher, left Mobile on Monday evening, for Montgomery, and when about four miles above this place, was discovered to be on fire on the larboard side, near the boilers. In less than three minutes from the time it was first discovered, the cabin was an entire sheet of flame. There were about 120 souls on the boat at the time, and I have not seen more than fifty persons since I came ashore. As soon as the fire was discovered, the pilot steered her towards the shore, which she reached before her wheel ropes burnt off. She ran ashore in a very dense cane brake, her bows on and her stern standing out in the river.

“Those who were on the front part of the boat got ashore, who were but few – the greater part of the passengers ran to the stern of the boat to get in the yawl, but the deck hands and firemen had taken possession of it, and had left the boat; to go forward was now impossible, as the boat was one sheet of fire, and there was great danger of the cabin’s falling on them. As the fire spread aft, the scene was terrible; ladies and children had gathered in the extreme after part of the boat, and their cries for help can never be erased from my memory. If the yawl had been brought back they might all have been saved; but the deck hands who had taken it, ran it ashore in the cane brake, and before the Captain and his brother, the first Mate, could return with it to the burning wreck, they were all burned or drowned without exception.

“It never will be correctly ascertained how many lives were lost, as none of her books were saved. But one thing is sure, neither lady nor child remains to tell the tale. There was a passenger on board who had a life-preserver and could swim, but refused to give it to a lady who asked it for her child. All the ladies were willing to sacrifice their own lives for the preservation of their children….

“Passengers Lost – [We break paragraph into separate lines.]
Mrs. Hall and daughter of Augusta, Ga.;
Mrs. and Miss Vaughn and
Mrs. McCain, of S.C.,
Mrs. Haley,
Mrs. Wright,
two other ladies and
two children, names unknown;
Messrs. T. B. Carson and son, of Dallas county;
Thomas Stephens, printer, of Camden;
Judge Tindsley, of Mobile;
Hugh Hughes, ed mate, of Mobile;
Peter Upson Steward and wife, Mobile;
second cook,
two white deck hands and
eight negroes –
some ten or twelve other cabin passengers names unknown.

“Edward Maul, second clerk of the Farmer, and a Californian, seriously burned and bruised….”

(Fort Wayne Sentinel, IN. “Burning of the Orline St. John.” 3-30-1850, p. 1, col. 5.)

Sources

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

Curren, Caleb. The Wreck of the Orline St. John, Jan 2010. Accessed 10/1/2010 at: http://archeologyink.com/Orline.htm

Fort Wayne Sentinel, IN. “Burning of the Orline St. John.” 3-30-1850, p. 1, col. 5. Accessed 10-13-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/fort-wayne-sentinel-mar-30-1850-p-1/

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

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

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.

Simonds, W. E. (Editor). The American Date Book. Kama Publishing Co., 1902, 211 pages. Google digital preview accessed 9-8-2017 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=JuiSjvd5owAC

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.

Wilcox County Chamber of Commerce. Off the Path in Wilcox County.