|
''Sultana'' was a Mississippi River side-wheel steamboat. On April 27, 1865, the boat exploded in the greatest maritime disaster in United States history. An estimated 1,800 of her 2,427 passengers died when three of the boat's four boilers exploded and she burned to the waterline and sank near Memphis, Tennessee. This disaster has long been overshadowed in the press by other contemporary events; John Wilkes Booth, President Lincoln's assassin, was killed the day before. The wooden steamboat was constructed in 1863 by the John Litherbury Boatyard〔Given as the "John Lithoberry Shipyard" on Ohio Historical Marker 18-31 (1999) on the Ohio River at Sawyer Point.〕 in Cincinnati, and intended for the lower Mississippi cotton trade. Registering 1,719 tons,〔Berry (1892), p. 7〕 the steamer normally carried a crew of 85. For two years, she ran a regular route between St. Louis and New Orleans, frequently commissioned to carry troops. ==The tragedy== Under the command of Captain J. Cass Mason of St. Louis, ''Sultana'' left St. Louis on April 13, 1865, bound for New Orleans, Louisiana.〔Salecker, ''Disaster on the Mississippi'', p. 12〕 On the morning of April 15, she was tied up at Cairo, Illinois when word reached the city that President Abraham Lincoln had been shot in Ford's Theater. Immediately, Mason grabbed an armload of Cairo newspapers and headed south to spread the news, knowing that telegraphic communication with the South had been almost totally cut off because of the war.〔Salecker, ''Disaster on the Mississippi'', p. 27-28〕 Upon reaching Vicksburg, Mississippi, Mason was approached by Lt. Col. Reuben Hatch, the chief quartermaster at Vicksburg. Hatch had a deal for Mason. Thousands of recently released Union prisoners of war that had been held by the Confederacy at the prison camps of Cahaba near Selma, Alabama, and Andersonville, in southwest Georgia, had been brought to a small parole camp outside of Vicksburg to await release to the North. The U.S. government would pay $5 per enlisted man and $10 per officer to any steamboat captain that would take a group north. Knowing that Mason was in need of money, Hatch suggested that if he could guarantee Mason a full load of about 1,400 prisoners, Mason would guarantee to give Hatch a kickback. Hoping to walk away with a pocketful of cash, Mason quickly agreed to the offered bribe.〔Salecker, ''Disaster on the Mississippi'', p. 29-31〕 Leaving Vicksburg, the ''Sultana'' traveled down river to New Orleans, continuing to spread the news of Lincoln's assassination. On April 21, 1865, the ''Sultana'' left New Orleans with 75 to 100 cabin passengers, deck passengers, and a small amount of livestock. About an hour south of Vicksburg, one of the ''Sultana's'' four boilers sprang a leak. Under reduced pressure, the steamboat limped into Vicksburg to get the boiler repaired and to pick up her promised load of prisoners.〔Salecker, ''Disaster on the Mississippi'', p. 33, 34-35, 38, 40-41〕 While the paroled prisoners, primarily from the states of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, and West Virginia,〔Salecker, ''Disaster on the Mississippi'', p. 226-290〕 were brought from the parole camp to the ''Sultana'', a mechanic was brought down to work on the leaky boiler. Although the mechanic wanted to cut out and replace a ruptured seam, Mason knew that such a job would take a few days and cost him his precious load of prisoners. By the time the repairs would be completed, the prisoners would have been sent home on other boats. Instead, Mason and his chief engineer, Nathan Wintringer, convinced the mechanic to make temporary repairs, hammering back the bulged boiler plate and riveting a patch of lesser thickness over the seam. Instead of taking two or three days, the temporary repair took only one. During her time in port, and while the repair was being made, the ''Sultana'' took on the paroled prisoners.〔Salecker, ''Disaster on the Mississippi'', p. 40〕 Although Hatch had suggested that Mason might get as many as 1,400 released Union prisoners, a mix-up with the parole camp books and suspicion of bribery from other steamboat captains, caused the Union officer in charge of the loading, Captain George Williams, to place every man at the parole camp on board the ''Sultana''.〔Salecker, ''Disaster on the Mississippi'', p. 50, 55-56〕 Although the ''Sultana'' had a legal capacity of only 376, by the time she backed away from Vicksburg on the night of April 24, 1865, she was severely overcrowded with more than 2,100 paroled prisoners. Many of the men had been weakened by their incarceration in the Confederate prison camps and associated illnesses. The men were packed into every available space, and the overflow was so severe that in some places, the decks began to creak and sag and had to be supported with heavy wooden beams.〔Salecker, ''Disaster on the Mississippi'', p. 62〕 The ''Sultana'' spent two days traveling upriver, fighting against one of the worst spring floods in the river's history. At some places, the river overflowed the banks and spread out three miles wide. Trees along the river bank were almost completely covered, until only the very tops of the trees were visible above the swirling, powerful water.〔Salecker, ''Disaster on the Mississippi'', p. 24〕 On April 26, the ''Sultana'' stopped at Helena, Arkansas, where photographer T.W. Bankes took a picture of the grossly overcrowded vessel.〔Salecker, ''Disaster on the Mississippi'', p. 72〕 Near 7:00 p.m., the ''Sultana'' reached Memphis, Tennessee, and the crew began unloading 120 tons of sugar from the hold. Near midnight, the ''Sultana'' left Memphis, went a short distance upriver to take on a new load of coal and then started north again.〔Salecker, ''Disaster on the Mississippi'', p. 74-79〕 Near 2:00 a.m. on April 27, 1865, when the ''Sultana'' was just seven miles north of Memphis, her boilers suddenly exploded.〔Salecker, ''Disaster on the Mississippi'', p. 79〕 First one boiler exploded, followed a split second later by two more. The cause of the explosion was too much pressure and low water in the boilers. There was reason to believe allowable working steam pressure was exceeded in an attempt to overcome the spring river current. The enormous explosion flung some of the passengers on deck into the water, and destroyed a large section of the boat. The forward part of the upper decks collapsed into the exposed furnace boxes which soon caught fire and turned the remaining superstructure into an inferno. Survivors of the explosion panicked and raced for the safety of the water but in their weakened condition soon ran out of strength and began to cling to each other. Whole groups went down together.〔Salecker, ''Disaster on the Mississippi'', p. 79-85〕 While this fight for survival was taking place, the southbound steamer ''Bostona II'', coming downriver on her maiden voyage, arrived at about 3:00 a.m., an hour after the explosion, and arrived at the site of the burning wreck to rescue scores of survivors. At the same time, dozens of people began to float past the Memphis waterfront, calling for help until they were noticed by the crews of docked steamboats and U.S. warships who immediately set about rescuing the half-drowned victims.〔Salecker, ''Disaster on the Mississippi'', p. 129〕 Eventually, the hulk of the ''Sultana'' drifted about six miles to the west bank of the river, and sank at around 9:00 a.m. near Mound City and present-day Marion, Arkansas, about seven hours after the explosion.〔Salecker, ''Disaster on the Mississippi'', p. 164〕 Other vessels joined the rescue, including the steamers ''Silver Spray'', ''Jenny Lind'', and ''Pocohontas'', and the navy tinclad ''Essex'' and the sidewheel gunboat .〔Salecker, ''Disaster on the Mississippi'', p. 146-147, 168-168, 169-172, 174-176〕 Passengers who survived the initial explosion had to risk their lives in the icy spring runoff of the Mississippi or burn with the boat. Many died of drowning or hypothermia. Some survivors were plucked from the tops of semi-submerged trees along the Arkansas shore. Bodies of victims continued to be found downriver for months, some as far as Vicksburg. Many bodies were never recovered. ''Sultana''s officers, including Captain Mason, were among those who perished. About 700 survivors, many with horrible burns, were transported to hospitals in Memphis. Up to 200 of them died later from burns or exposure. Newspaper accounts indicate that the people of Memphis had sympathy for the victims despite the fact that they had recently been enemies. The Chicago Opera Troupe, a minstrel group, staged a benefit, while the crew of ''Essex'' raised $1,000.〔''Memphis Daily Bulletin'', and ''Memphis Daily Appeal'', various dates, April 1865〕 In spite of the enormity of the disaster, no one was ever held accountable. Capt. Frederick Speed, a Union officer who sent the 2,100 paroled prisoners into Vicksburg from the parole camp, was charged with grossly overcrowding the ''Sultana'' and found guilty. However, the guilty verdict was overturned by the judge advocate general of the army on grounds that Speed had been at the parole camp all day and had never placed one single soldier on board the ''Sultana''.〔Salecker, ''Disaster on the Mississippi'', p. 197-202〕 Captain Williams, who had placed the men on board, was a regular army officer and graduate of West Point, so the military refused to go after one of their own.〔Salecker, ''Disaster on the Mississippi'', p. 202〕 And Colonel Hatch, who had concocted a bribe with Captain Mason to crowd as many men as possible on the ''Sultana'', had quickly quit the service and was no longer accountable to a military court. In the end, no one was ever held accountable for the greatest maritime disaster in United States history.〔Salecker, ''Disaster on the Mississippi'', p. 198, 200, 202〕 Monuments and historical markers to ''Sultana'' and her victims have been erected at Memphis;〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://historic-memphis.com/memphis-historic/elmwood/elmwood.html )〕 Muncie, Indiana;〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=18140639 )〕 Marion; Vicksburg; Cincinnati;〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=24614 )〕 Knoxville; Hillsdale, Michigan;〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.austinblaircamp7.com/sulmemor.htm )〕 and Mansfield, Ohio.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=20888 )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Sultana (steamboat)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|