sink, OH riv., Rayl’s Landing, IN-72-74

lornajarrettblanchard December 4, 1868

— ~100 Townsend, George H. The Handbook of the Year 1868. 1869, p. 29.
–75-80 Janesville Gazette, WI. “Terrible Steamboat Disaster on the Ohio River,” 12-5-1868, 1.
— 74 Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. 1972, p. 272.
— 74 Schmidt, Martin F. Kentucky Illustrated: The First Hundred Years. 1992, p. 90.
— 74 Talbot, Tim. “Great River Tragedy.” ExploreKYHistory. 11-4-2020.
— 74 Tenkotte & Claypool (Eds.). Encyclopedia of Northern Kentucky. “America.” 2009, 20.
–70 United States (31 cabin and 5 deck passengers; 34 officers and crew).
— 4 America
— 72 Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours. 1977, p. 686.
— 65 New York Times. “The Old Year. Chronology of 1868,” 1-1-1869.
— 63 Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994: Passenger Steamboats…[MS Riv. Sys.]… 1999, 464.
–59 United States (31 cabin passengers, 5 deck passengers, 23 officers and crew).
— 4 America (cabin passengers).

Narrative Information

Townsend: “America (Steamboat) was sunk in the river Ohio, United States, about one mile above Warsaw, Kentucky, by coming into collision with the United States steamboat, Friday, December 4, at about half-past eleven at night. Some petroleum on board the United States caught fire soon after the accident, and many person perished in the flames. The America sank a few minutes after the collision, and the United States was burned to the water’s edge. Nearly one hundred lives were lost.” (Townsend, George H. The Handbook of the Year 1868. 1869, p. 29.)

Schmidt: “The steamers United States, en route to Louisville, and America, eastbound for Cincinnati, collided on the night of December 4, 1868, near Rahl’s Landing, twenty-two miles above Madison. Both boats were owned by the Cincinnati and Louisville Mail Packet Company and provided daily service between the two cities, passing each other at about the same place on each trip. Weather and visibility were reported to be good, and the boats were apparently on proper courses shortly before collision. A subsequent lawsuit charged that the pilot of the ascending America willfully neglected to follow pilot regulations and the signals given by the other boat. Seventy-four passengers and crew members lost their lives in the accident. The Louisville Courier-Journal described the boats as two of the largest and most luxurious on the river.” (Schmidt. Kentucky Illustrated: The First Hundred Years. 1992, p. 90.)

Way: United States. Sidewheel wood-hull packet built in Cincinnati in 1865 at 1,106 tones, m294 x 40 x 6.5. “….Owned by the U.S. Mail Line Co., and ran Cincinnati-Louisville teamed up with the General Lytle and after April 1867 with the America. She was involved in several collisions…On the night of Dec. 4, 1868, about 11:00 P.M., she collided with her sister packet America above Warsaw, Ky., at Rayl’s Landing, Ind., about 300 yards above Bryants Creek.

“America was upbound, Capt. David Whitten in command, and Napoleon B. Jenkins pilot on watch.

“United States was downbound, Capt. Richard M. Wade in command, and Jacob Remlein pilot on watch.

“Night was clear.
“River state about 16 ft.
“Cause: Misunderstanding of passing signals.

“Speed: United States was making 18 to 20 mph downbound; America making about 10 mph upbound.

“Rivermen agree that the underlying cause of the accident was the unfamiliarity of Napoleon B. Jenkins with a custom He was pinch-hitting for the regular pilot Charles Dufour. The two partner boats often met in this vicinity and the upbound boat kept to the Kentucky side. Jenkins elected to do it the other way and blew two whistles. Remlein testified that he heard but one whistle, and only expected one whistle. As consequence he answered so promptly that he drowned out the second blast. This set the stage for the worst catastrophe in that territory.

“The United States continued down the Indians side and into the path of the America which was crossing to that side. The result was that the upbound America rammed the States about amidships on her port side with great headway and inflicted mortal damage. The States rounded to and was landed along the Indiana shore where she was found to be on fire. The America drifted back and then was driven ashore immediately below the burning States. Disabled, burning, and unmoored, the States left the shore and the current took her down against the America. Soon both boats were ablaze. Many persons jumped to the shoreward boat. The States sand alongside of the America. Charles Dittman sprang to the pilot-wheel of the America and backed her down the river, and landed her about 200 yards below, but the flames were beyond control and she burned and sank.

“Toll of life:

America 4 cabin passengers
United States 31 cabin passengers
5 deck passengers
23 officers and crew.

(Way. Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994: Passenger Steamboats of the Mississippi River System…(Revised). 1999, p. 464.)

Wynkoop: “Even in a year which has furnished so full a record of disasters by land and water it is difficult to find a story more painful than that of the recent collision of the two steamboats United States and America, on the Ohio River.

“The accident took place on the night of December 4, a little after eleven o’clock. The United States, a splendid three-decker, was descending the river to Louisville. Just opposite Rayl’s Landing, one mile above Warsaw, Kentucky, she collided with the America…ascending the river. The United States was sunk, but not before she was enveloped in flames, which were instantly communicated to the other steamer. Both vessels were destroyed in less than five minutes. The fire was caused by the collision, which forced a number of barrels of petroleum that were on the guards of the United States into the furnace; at least this is the statement made by Mr. Andres Harrigan, second clerk on that vessel. The cargo on both steamers was of a very inflammable material–consisting of brooms, whisky, cotton, bacon, etc. …The catastrophe was sudden, and there was an immense loss of life, mainly…on the United States, which lost 35 out of 65 passengers.

“Captain R. M. Wade, who makes this statement, says that it was a dark but not a foggy night. “The America,” he reports, “went into the States on the larboard, abreast of the baggage-room, and only cut through the guards and a few of the top timbers of the hull. The flames appeared to come instantaneously with the crash on both boats–shooting up above the top of the hurricane-roof of the States, where I was standing. The wind was blowing hard up stream. The States backed into the Indiana shore, where her head swung quartering out into the stream, going down in a few seconds. The America blew two whistles, which was answered by the States by one whistle, or it was all I could hear, owing to the high wind. The States blew again, but we could not hear the America’s reply.” After the collision the boats appear to have been separated for a brief interval, but, according to the second clerk’s statement, came together again, and a number of passengers were saved by jumping on board the America. This clerk says there were 75 passengers on board the United States, and that of this number 25 were ladies. ‘There were,’ he says, ‘two bridal parties on the boat, and some of the passengers thought they would have a little fun in serenading them, which they did, and some twenty minutes after the serenade the collision occurred; and I think if it was not for the serenade the bridal parties would have been lost; but as they were in their state-rooms awake, they were apprised of the danger in which they were, and got off the United States on to the America; and as their state-rooms were on the same side as the America they were saved. The scene in the cabin at the time was indescribable. Several ladies stood throwing their children overboard and crying for assistance. Upon the guards a number of ladies stood, wringing their hands and crying for help, but they would not leave the place they were in, and perished in the flames. Previous to the disaster we were enjoying ourselves in the cabin dancing, and the passengers had just entered their state-rooms.’” (Wynkoop 2004.)

Newspaper

NYT story on “The Ohio River Disaster,” based upon a dispatch from The Louisville Courier & Journal, December 23. 1868:

“…concerning the loss of life caused by the collision and burning of the steamers United States and America, on the night of the 4th inst. There were, as well as can be ascertained, 150 passengers, officers, and crew on the States, of whom seventy-fire escaped at the time of the disaster. Since then sixty-one bodies have been recovered.”

(New York Times, “The Ohio River Disaster,” 12-25-1868.)

Sources

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

Janesville Gazette, WI. “Terrible Steamboat Disaster on the Ohio River.” 12-5-1868, p. 1. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=53370448

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.

New York Times. “The Ohio River Disaster.” 12-25-1868. Accessed at: http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9902E2D7113AEF34BC4D51DFB4678383679FDE

New York Times. “The Old Year. Chronology of 1868,” Jan 1, 1869. Accessed at: http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9B01EFDE103AEF34BC4953DFB7668382679FDE

Schmidt, Martin F. Kentucky Illustrated: The First Hundred Years. University Press of Kentucky, 1992. Accessed 11-3-2020 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=fV0A88A4ptEC

Talbot, Tim. “Great River Tragedy.” ExploreKYHistory. 11-4-2020. Accessed 11-3-2020 at: https://explorekyhistory.ky.gov/items/show/457?tour=31&index=4

Tenkotte, Paul A. and James C. Claypool (Editors). Encyclopedia of Northern Kentucky. University Press of Kentucky, 2009. Accessed 11-3-2020 at: https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Encyclopedia_of_Northern_Kentucky/Zc0eBgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Passing+Point:+1868+Steamboat+Collision+on+the+Ohio+River&pg=PA20&printsec=frontcover

Townsend, George H. The Handbook of the Year 1868. London: Wyman & Sons, 1869. Digitized by Google. Accessed at: http://books.google.com/books?id=mToIAAAAQAAJ

VevayNewspapers.com, IN. “The American, the United States: Steamboat Collision Part of County [Switzerland] History.” 6-15-2017. Accessed 11-3-2020 at: http://www.vevaynewspapers.com/the-america-the-united-states-steamboat-collision-part-of-county-history/

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.

Wynkoop, Christopher H. “Steamboat Disaster on the Ohio River,” 2004. Accessed at: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~wynkoop/webdocs/steambts.htm