Sultana Steamboat Explosion 1865
In April 1865, the wooden paddle-steamer Sultana was packed far beyond capacity with recently released Union prisoners of war, many weak from their time in Confederate prison camps, along with crew and civilians. The steamer was only rated for around 376 people, but by barge-loading and parole mix-ups, she carried over 2,100 souls when she left Memphis.
About twenty-two seconds after midnight on April 27, her severely overtaxed boilers, patched for leaks days earlier with makeshift repairs, gave out. Three boilers exploded in quick succession. The decks above were torn apart, fire broke out, and many who survived the blast then drowned or died of hypothermia in the icy, swollen Mississippi. Estimates of the death toll vary. Most place it between 1,100 and 1,800 people. Sultana remains the worst maritime disaster in U.S. history, and no one was ever held truly accountable.