The steamboat Sultana exploded on the Mississippi River near
Memphis, killing 1,700 passengers including many discharged
Union soldiers. The accident is still considered the largest
maritime disaster in U.S. history in terms of lives lost.
The Sultana was launched from Cincinnati in 1863. The boat
was 260 feet long and had an authorized capacity of 376
passengers and crew.
It was considered one of the most modern vessels of its era
and was soon employed to carry troops and supplies along
the lower Mississippi River.
On April 25, 1865, the Sultana left New Orleans with 100
passengers. It stopped at Vicksburg, Mississippi, for repair
of a leaky boiler.
R. G. Taylor, the boilermaker on the ship, advised Captain J.
Cass Mason that two sheets on the boiler had to be replaced,
but Mason ordered Taylor to simply patch the plates until the
ship reached St. Louis.
The only known photograph of the Sultana taken on the last
day of its fateful voyage in Helena, Arkansas on April 27,
1865.
Model of Sultana by artist & Lincoln Shrine docent Ken Jolly.
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