1862 — Feb 27, Steamboat Prince Snags and Sinks, Miss. River, near Hickman, KY — 74

— 75 Janesville Daily Gazette, WI. “A Disaster on the Evacuation of Columbus.” 3-18-1862, 2.
— 74 Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. 1972, p. 288.
— 74 Gaines, W. Craig. Encyclopedia of Civil War Shipwrecks. Baton Rouge: LSU Press, 2008.
— 74 Lytle and Holdcamper. Merchant Steam Vessels of the United States 1807-1868.
— 74 Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours. 1977, p. 684.
— 74 Twaintimes, p. 4.
— 74 Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994: Passenger Steamboats…[MS Riv. Sys.]… 1999, p.378.

Narrative Information

Way: Prince. Sidewheel wood-hull packet, built in Cincinnati in 1859 at 223 tons. “Built for Vicksburg-Yazoo River, connecting with Charmer and Princess for New Orleans. Went to Confederate registry 1861. Snagged and lost at Hickman, Ky., Feb. 27, 1862, with loss of 74 lives.”
(Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994: Passenger Steamboats…[MS Riv. Sys.]… 1999, p. 378.)

Newspaper

March 18: “A terrible disaster befell the rebels in their evacuation of Columbus. The steamer Prince left that place on the 28th ult., crowded with rebel soldiery on their way to New Madrid. The boat was snagged, and sunk in the chute, four miles above Hickman. She went down suddenly, the water being over her hurricane deck. Seventy-five soldiers are known to have perished. She also had on board one hundred and ninety-six kegs of powder, and considerable flour and other provisions. Two immense water tanks used for supplying water for the troops on the Columbus bluffs, were on her hurricane deck. Many of her passengers succeeded in getting into the tanks as she went down, and were thus rescued from drowning. Nothing was saved from the wreck. The safe, containing a large amount of confederate money, was lost.” (Janesville Daily Gazette, WI. “A Disaster on the Evacuation of Columbus.” 3-18-1862, 2.)

Sources

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

Gaines, W. Craig. Encyclopedia of Civil War Shipwrecks. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2008.

Janesville Daily Gazette, WI. “A Disaster on the Evacuation of Columbus” [Prince explosion]. 3-18-1862, 2. At: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=53366105

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.

Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion. (Published Under the Direction of the Hon. George V. L. Meyer, Secretary of the Navy, by Mr. Charles W. Stewart, Superintendent Library and Naval War Records.) Series I, Vol. 23. (Naval Forces of Western Waters From April 12 to December 31, 1862.) Washington: Government Printing Office, 1910. Accessed 10-18-2020 at: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924051351017&view=1up&seq=7

Twaintimes. 1857-1867. Accessed at: http://twaintimes.net/page4.html [Not operable 2020.]

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.