Danger on the Western Rivers

 An American sailing vessel's life expectancy was 20 years, whalers maybe 60 years.  An eastern steamboat could be expected to last nine years in 1860.  The western steamboat, however was in operation slightly over two years.  Why?  Western steamboats had an appalling record for accidents.  A trip down the Mississippi was far more dangerous that an ocean voyage.

In the first half of the century, 30% of all steamboats were lost to accidents.  Two-thirds of those were explosions.  Flying wreckage, flood of steam and scalding water killed people at alarming rates,  Steamboat men met in Cincinnati in 1838 to consider the cause of accidents, admitting that carelessness, incompetence and the traveler's demand for speed were the greatest cause of deaths.

Steamboat explosions were unique to the West.  There are stories of how unpaid travelers were given the aft part of the boat where there was less danger so they would live to pay for their fare.  The Irish were preferred over slaves for fireman because they were worth less money.  Prior to 1850, there were 150 or more major explosions on western rivers with 1400 people perishing. 

One of the most notorious explosion was the Moselle on April 25, 1838 near Cincinnati.  Captain Perrin had bragged about his broken speed records by using resin to feed the ship's fire, not letting steam escape the safety value, and stopping only briefly at landings.  Of the 250 passengers, he lost 130 to scaling water or drowning.  Likewise the Pennsylvania in July of 1858 lost over 150 passengers to the same.

It was dangerous to travel West by water.  In an effort to get there the fastest way possible, many never got there at all.

Next time...Dawn of Rail Travel

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Today in Pioneer History: "On September 14, 1814, Francis Scott Key pens "The Star Spangled Banner," a poem which would later be set to music and become America's national anthem in 1931.  It was originally entitled 'The Defence of Fort M'Henry' and was written after Key witnessed the Maryland fort being bombarded by the British during the War of 1812."