The Sad Story of the Illfated Steamboat Sultana

The Sad Story of the Illfated Steamboat Sultana

news@theeveningtimes.com

Officially, a faulty boiler was responsible for causing the steamboat Sultana to explode into a fiery inferno in April 1865.

But the real culprit which sealed its fate was actually the removal of over 200 hogshead barrels of sugar.

A hogshead was a large wooden cask used to hold liquids such as wine or cider or other food commodities for transport.

The boat had about 240,000 pounds of sugar in over 200 hogshead barrels in her hold when the soldiers were loaded at Vicksburg and acted as ballast for the trip upriver to Memphis.

When the Sultana docked in Memphis, those hogshead were unloaded.

Roz O’Neal, a volunteer at the Sultana Disaster Museum, said the missing ballast — coupled with the weight of all the men crowding the decks — made the already top-heavy boat careen from side to side causing the water pressure in the boilers to spike in when the water hit the red hot metal.

“The reason why it exploded when it did was the removal of the ballast,” O’Neal said. “What they said about the boilers is correct. But the boat came all the way from New Orleans. You take the weight of 2,000 people, and the weight of the sugar that was balancing it out, and the action of the boat changes dramatically. So the removal of the sugar was absolutely critical.

The amount of pitch and yaw once that sugar came off would have been incredible. So the removal of the ballast was what did it. It didn’t go ten miles when they removed it.”

Visitors to the museum can see what a hogshead of sugar looks like. The barrel is the latest addition to the museum, along with some fire buckets.

The barrel and buckets were donated to the museum by Gene Salecker, author of “Disaster on the Mississippi” a definitive account of the Sultana’s final days.

The museum will be open this weekend as part of the Sultana Heritage Festival.

The festival will feature history lectures, tours of the museum, period craftsmen, Civil War memorabilia, vendors, a living history encampment, music, wagon rides and more.

On Saturday, “Remember the Sultana,” a full-length documentary by Mike Marshall will have a special preview showing at 6 p.m. at the Marion Performing Arts Center.

Musical entertainment will be provided by the Lee Millar Band, a group of Civil War musicians. General Ulysses S. Grant will also be on hand for the weekend played by reenactor Curt Fields.

The Haizlip Firm of Memphis will also offer a sneak peak at plans for a permanent museum.

And on Sunday, a special outdoor picnic will be held followed by a Civil War period church service by former Marion United Methodist Pastor Brother Tom Letchworth.

The events are free to the public.

By Mark Randall