New-York tribune., 1871-08-05
STEAMBOdT EXPLOSIONS.

TRAVELLERS SAFER TO-DAY THAN EVER BEFORE
RECORD OF SOME EARLY STEAMBOAT EX-
PLOsiONS--THE MOST DESTRUCTIVE ONES OF
LATER YEARS-FIRES ON STEAMBOATS,.
Whenever, as on Sunday last, the COM
munity is startled by the announcement of an appa
ling disaster steamboat railroad, We are apt to
forget the terrible OF former years. 10 thinks tho
present catastrophe the most destructive on record
and TO jump to the conclusion that the lives OF travellers
are yearly exposed TO increasing dangers. But though
few statistics OF accidents have been prepared those at
hand prove beyond doubt that, despite the careessness
and criminal negligence which lies at the bottom Of
great majority Of fatal accidents attendant on steam
travel by land and sea- the ratio Of the number OF lives
lost 20 carried is greatly less than it was when
the stage-cOach and tho saing-vessel were our only
of transportation and moreover that the danger
of travel to-day is less than that at any previous time
in history That the safety Of travellers may yet be
greatly increased no doubts and the terrible lesson
of the Wcsted viii not trust be lost upon any who,
even remotely responsible for the condition man
agement of steam boilers.
The Mississippi River early acquired an unenyiable
reputation for its frequent and disastrous steamboat ex
plosons, and, though they are now far less frequent
than formerly Mississippi steamer IL still regarded as
about the most dangerous means OF travel In the country
Within nine years Fulton successfully launched the
Clcrmon on the Hudson there record of explosion
in the West by which the Washington destroyed and
seven lives lost The next year-lsl7-the boilers of
other Mississippi steamers burst-0ne OF them
that OF the Constitution, killing 10 per
sons-and by 1925 the number Of explosions had III
creased FIVE yearly and the number OF casualties
10 at after this there some of the great
accidents recorded In 1928 the boiler of the Car of Com
merce exploded in the Mississippi River at Island No. 25
The middle boier-head, which OF cast-ron, was
blown out by excessive pressure caused by "extreme
rashness and ignorance the boilerhead having been
known be cracked before the accident The number
lives lost D. Two years after another explosion
occurred the steamer in the Ohio River, by which
% persons we're killed and 25 wounded Another terri
bic explosion which occurred in 1880 was that OF the
Helen McGrcgOr. at Memphis by which go persons lost
their lives and II wounded The cause assigned
was that the water low in the starboard boiler on
OF the boat being careened as she lay at the
Ievee and that he tthe engnee noticed the fires were
very hot" Between and than 200 explO-
sjons on steamboats, were reported by which s10O00O
worth property destroyed than 1900 persons
killed and 1000 wounded The most terrible Of these
were the A. NJ. Johnson the Lucy Walker, the Mosele
and the Pulaski The first OF these exploded in the Ohio
River 8i7 She had three boilers, all OF which were
burst by excessive pressure allowed TO accumulate by
incompetent engineers. The explosion occurred during
mOmentary stOppage the steamers trial trip and the
number of killed was 1O7 wounded, 30. The Lucy
Walker exploded Louisville, in 1873. She had three
boilers all OF which destroyed by excessive press
ure. The number Of killed was co.; wounded, 90 The
Mosee was wrecked, April g. 1893, in the Ohio River, by
the simultaneous explosion OF all four OF her boilers
passenger who related the circumstances said that he
knew that the water low from the peculiar Kissing
sound which he heard when the engineer tried the gauges
Just before tine accident he went to the extreme end Of
the boat and to that precauon attributed his safety
The COrOner Jury found the of the explosion to be
Glow water-reckessness Of captain and engineer" The
number OF killed Isl; wounded, lG one hundred
and forty lives lost by the explosion Of boiler Of
the Pulaski Juneil 1s on her passage from Charleston
to Baltimore The ship broken in two and went to
the bottom. The of the accident low water
in the starbOard boiler"
Passing over period Of nearly 30 years, during which
nnumerable steamboat explosions occurred, some of
them destructive those already cited it is found
that since the even, in spite Of the wonderful inn
proycment that have been made in the construction OF
machinery and boilers and the nominal enforcement OF
the law OF 1sj2-whch for the first time made thorough
and careful inspection OF steamboat boilers obligatory
explosions occurred not comparatively so frequent but
no less terrible in their effects In October, 1865, two
took place which were at the time much commented
upon The rstand most terrible of these board
the Yo Semitic at ROvesta, the Sacramento River,
Oct. l2 1865. Fty-four persons were killed, Of whom
32 were Cinnamon, and about so wounded. On
the Goth Of the month the St. John exploded the
Hudson River, Bulls Ferry But one boiler
burst and destroyed only the small portion of the boat
which was Immediately above it. Nearly every one who
occupied a sateroom situated was either killed
wounded. The fracture in the boiler similar
10 that made in that OF the Westheld. and
the cause is supposed to be the same. Fourteen
persons killed, and many were wounded.
The Winter OF 1866 will long be remembered
along the Mississippi River for the number and desruc
yeness OF steamboat explosions On the 2Sth of Janu
ary 1906 after explosion OF several and
other small craft had been from day to day reported the
loss Of life in each being from tye the
try startled and horrortricken by the of the
loss the Miami Of the finest boats upon the Misss-
sppi, and the destruction Of from $50 lives. The
steamer was entirely wrecked by the explosion of her
boilers Only two days afterward, and before the full
particulars the awful slaughter had reached the East
the Missouri another steamer Of the line suffered
similar disaster just above the mouth OF the Green
River, and 70 more victims were added 10 the already
long list Of a single month. But the end yet.
week had elapsed before the columns OF the daily
journals again budened with the reports OF another
terrible exposon-this time that OF the II. W. Carter
Island No 95-and the loss os half hundred OF
her passengers
The Westheld disaster IL without doubt the most ter
rbly destructive of human life of all the steamboat ex
posons that have occurred in the vicinity OF NewYork
though the examples OF Western accidents already cited
show that at least Dozen equally fatal have occurred
on the Mississippi River and its tributaries. The
statistics referred TO include only accidents caused
by the explosion Of boilers. But the number of steamers
That have been burned the fires originating around the
engines OF boilers aud the losses ocean and lakes
would make q i,t fully as long accompanied by an
equally great Oss Of life The very naming of such dis
asters that OF the Lexington burned Long Island
Sound IN lo and the loss Of $50 lives, ana OF the two
steamers on the Ohio River In the Winter of 1920 by
which the lives of passengers were sacrificed
Is all that necessary to convince any OF the truth
OF this assertion.
The complaint in the Broadway Widening