Explosion of the Steamboat Sultana

On April 27, 1865, some seven miles north of Memphis, Tennessee, the steamboat Sultana, carrying 2,300 just-released Union prisoners of war, plus crew and civilian passengers, exploded and sank. Some 1,700 people died. It was the worst maritime disaster in U.S. history. But because the Sultana went down when it did the disaster was not well covered in the newspapers or magazines and was soon forgotten. The accident happened at 2 a.m. when three of the steamship's four boilers exploded. The Sultana was legally registered to carry 376 people. She had six times more than that on board due to the bribery of army officers and the extreme desire of the former prisoners to get home. In 1863, the Sultana was built in Cincinnati and began sailing the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, mainly from St. Louis to New Orleans. She was state of the art, including the most modern safety equipment. In April 1865, Union prisoners of war were gathered at Vicksburg. They were loaded on steamboats for the trip to Cairo, Illinois, with the government paying $5 per man. That was big money, which led to corruption. Steamboat captains kicked back $1.15 to the army officers in charge if they filled the boats with men. The Sultana was the last to leave. One of her boilers had sprung a leak and needed repair but instead of doing the job right - removing and replacing the bulge in the boiler that was the cause - the Sultana captain ordered a patch of metal put over the bulge. That could be done in one day, while a proper repair would consume three or four days. Before that was done, other steamboats would come to Vicksburg from New Orleans and pick up the POWs, leaving the Sultana without these lucrative passengers. The army officers in charge knew this but they wanted the Sultana's kickback and loaded 2,300 men on board. Soldiers were packed in so tightly they could find no place to sleep and could barely stand. Among the passengers was Lt. Harvey Annis, who, along with his wife Anna and their seven-year-old daughter, was also heading north. Anna expressed great fear about the large number of men getting on the boat. The Hurricane deck was sagging from the weight of the men despite a number of stanchions put in place to buttress it. But the Sultana's chief clerk told her it would be alright and Lt. Annis, who had just resigned his commission and was eager to get home, agreed. So the family joined the POWs, except Lt. Annis paid for a private cabin. At 9 p.m., on April 24, the Sultana left Vicksburg to head up river. The captain, J. Cass Mason, told an Army officer his ship had carried so many men before. He said the Sultana was a good vessel and the men were in capable hands. On Apil 26, the ship docked at Memphis to pick up coal. At midnight she headed upriver. At 2 a.m., April 27, the repaired boiler exploded. Two of the three other boilers exploded. Fire spread through mid-ship. The two smokestacks fell on the boat, crushing the Hurricane deck and killing many men. Those who survived panicked and rather than fighting the fire began to jump into the river. The flames started sweeping toward the stern, causing more panic and jumping. Lt. Annis opened his stateroom door to see what was happening. He was enveloped in a cloud of steam. He slammed the door shut, put life belts on himself and his wife, took their daughter in his arms, opened the door again, and rushed to the stern. There he shimmied down a rope to the lower deck with his seven year old and waited for his wife Anna to follow. With his daughter in his arms, Annis jumped. Anna followed. When she hit the water she discovered her life preserver had been fastened incorrectly. She managed to grab hold of the Sultana rudder. Anna was almost hysterical in her worry about her husband and child. Then, in horror, she saw her husband and her daughter disappear into the current. As they drowned and the fire began to engulf the rudder she grabbed a small board and floated away. The river was high, flowing fast, crowded with dead, drowning and barely floating men. The Sultana was in flames. When the sun began to come up, more than 1,700 were dead. Anna Annis was picked up by a Navy gunboat coming from Memphis. Heartbroken by the fate of her husband and child, she nevertheless managed to say thanks to Corporal Albert King, who had helped keep her afloat. She took off her wedding ring and gave it to King, saying that everything she had was gone "except my ring," which was her only "token of reward." Almost 800 of the 2,500 passengers survived, although 200 later died. The steamship, what was left of it, drifted downriver and sank opposite Memphis. She lies today, covered with mud, at the bottom of the Mississippi River.