A few minutes after five o’clock, on the evening of November 15, 1849, the steamboat Louisiana, Captain Cannon, lying at the foot of Gravier street, New Orleans, had completed all the preparations for her departure for St. Louis. She was laden with a valuable cargo, and had on board a large number of passengers. The last bell was rung, and the machinery set in motion; but at the moment the boat disengaged herself from the wharf and began to back out into the river, all the boilers exploded with a concussion which shook all the houses for many squares around to their very foundations. The Louisiana was lying between two other steamers-the Bostona and. Storm-the upper works of which were completely wrecked; their chimneys were carried away, and their cabins were shattered to small fragments. The violence of the explosion was such, that large pieces of the boilers were blown hundreds of yards from the wharf, falling on the levee and in different parts of the city. One of these iron fragments cut a mule in two, and then struck a horse and dray, killing both driver and horse instantly. Another mass of iron, of considerable size, was projected to the corner of Canal and Front streets, two hundred yards from the exploded steamer, where it threw down three large iron pillars which supported the roof of the portico of a coffeehouse. Before it reached the iron pillar, this fragment passed through several bales of cotton which lay in its passage.
The tremendous detonation gave notice of the accident to the whole city, and soon all the levee near Gravier street was thronged with anxious and sympathizing spectators. A number of bodies, in every conceivable state of mutilation, had been dragged from the wreck, and were surrounded by the immense crowd which had assembled. Hacks and furniture cars were sent for, and the wounded were conveyed with as much despatch as possible to the hospitals. The sight of the mangled bodies on every side, the groans of the dying, and the shrieks of the agonized sufferers, produced a general thrill of horror among the multitude. The body of a man was seen, with the head and one leg off, and the entrails torn out. A woman, whose long hair lay wet and matted by her side, had one leg off, and her body was shockingly mangled. A large man, having his skull mashed in, lay dead on the levee; his face looked as though it had been painted red, having been completely flayed by the scalding water. Others of both sexes, crushed, scalded, burned, mutilated and dismembered, lay about in every direction. Two bodies were found locked together, brought by death into a sudden and close embrace.
But it is utterly impossible to describe aB the revolting objects which presented themselves to the view of the beholders. Suffice it to say, that death was there exhibited in all its most hideous forms; and yet the fate of many who still lived was more shocking and distressing than the ghastly and disfigured corpses of those whose sufferings were terminated by death.
A gentleman who was a passenger on the Louisiana, says that he was standing on the hurricane deck, abaft the wheel house, at the time of the explosion, and though his position was most perilous, he fortunately escaped unhurt. He distinct’y saw the faces and arms of several ladies and gentlemen who were vainly struggling to free themselves from the falling planks and timbers. They were carried down with the boat when she sunk. The steamer went down within ten minutes after the explosion; and it is thought that many citizens who went on board to assist the wounded, sunk with the boat. The passenger mentioned above succeeded in saving a little negro boy. The river was covered with fragments of the wreck, to many of which persons who had been blown overboard were clinging, and a number of small boats were engaged in taking them up. The confusion was so great that it was quite impossible to ascertain the names of one quarter of those who were killed; and as a promiscuous crowd of strangers, emigrants, &c., were on board, the greater number of them could not be identified. It is generally admitted that this disaster caused a greater loss of life than ever took place on the Mississippi, before or since. The most authentic accounts make the number of killed one hundred and fifty, and some estimates extend the number to two hundred. The mayor of New Orleans judged from his own observations and diligent inquiries on the spot, that one hundred and fifty hives were lost, at the lowest calculation.
The steamer Storm, which lay in close proximity to the Louisiana, was almost as completely wrecked as the last-named boat itself, and was driven out fifty yards from the wharf by the concussion. Several persons on board of the Storm were killed or wounded. The captain himself was severely injured, but appeared on deck, his face covered with blood, and calmly gave directions for clearing the wreck and bringing his boat back to the wharf.
The fragments of iron, and blocks and splinters of wood, which were sent with the rapidity of lightning from the ill-fated Louisiana, carried death and destruction in all directions. Persons were killed or wounded at the distance of two hundred yards from the boat. There were many miraculous escapes. Dr. Testut, of New Orleans, was standing on the wharf, having just parted from his friend Dr. Blondine, of Point Coupee, who had embarked in the Louisiana, and was killed by the explosion. A fragment of iron struck a man down at Dr. Testut’s feet; the poor fellow, while falling, stretched out his hands and convulsively grasped the doctor’s palletot, tearing a pocket nearly out. His grasp was soon relaxed by death. Among the citizens who received severe injuries from the flying pieces of the wreck, was Mr. Wray, a clerk in the house of Moses Greenwood & Co., who had been on board of the steamer Knoxville, lying below the ferry landing, and was passing up at the time. He was struck on the thigh by a piece of wood, and so badly wounded that amputation was deemed necessary. Several newsboys, who had been selling papers on the Louisiana, and had just gone ashore, were killed.
The bodies of persons who had been in the steamer, were, in some instances, blown to the height of two hundred feet in the air, some of them falling on the wharf, and some into the river. Legs, arms, and the dismembered trunks of human bodies, were scattered over the levee. One man, it is said, was blown through the pilot house of the steamer Bostona, making a hole through the panels, which looked like the work of a cannon ball.
Among those who were killed on board of the Storm, was Mrs. Moody, the wife of the first clerk, who was standing on the guard, opposite the ladies’ cabin. Twelve or fifteen other persons were killed in this boat, and several others were wounded, some of them mortally. The Storm had just arrived with passengers from Cincinnati, none of whom had been landed.
As stated above, a considerable number of those who were killed were emigrants, and other strangers. These are not included in the following list.
KILLED.-Robert Devlin, Baton Rouge; Capt. E. T. Dustin, of the Bostona; Mr. Gilmer, second mate, and Andrew Bell, pilot, La. ; wife and child of Mr. Robert Moody, clerk of the steamer Storm; Capt. Edmonston, St. Louis; Mr. Roach, deck hand of the Storm; Mr. Knox, head steward of do.; a cabin boy of do., name unknown; two firemen of do. ; John Sullivan, James Wolf, and a third, name unknown, newsboys; the coachman of St. Charles hotel; several negroes and deck hands of the Bostona; Dr. Thomas M. Williams, Lafourche; Dr. Blondine, Point Coupee; Robert McMackin, clerk of the Louisiana; J. J. Gillespie, Vicksburg; J. Merring, Cincinnati; Mr. Wilson, grocer, St. Louis; Mr. Edgar, Washington Co., Miss. ; Sylvester Prescott and Aeneas Craft, Memphis; Mr. King, of the firm of J. J. Grey & Co., St. Louis; Mr. Elliott, clerk of the firm of Marsh & Rowlctt, New Orleans; Merrick Morris, clerk of the firm of Small & McGill. New Orleans.
WOUNDED.-Isaac Hart, New Orleans (supposed to be incuraLle) Mr. Ray, clerk of Moses Greenwood & Co., New Orleans; S. I)avis, Mobile; Augustus Frets, brother of Capt. Frets, formerly of the steamer Memphis; A. Bird, planter, near Baton Rouge ; Capt. Hopkins, of the Storm; John Meson, pilot of the Storm; Mr. Ilorrell, of the firm of Horrell & Gale, New Orleans; Mr. Price, clerk of the Bostona; chambermaid of do.; Harvey W. Bickham; Daniel Eckerle; Henry Livingston; Isaac Garrison ; Hugh Mckee; Henry, a slave; Samuel Fox; William Welch; Clinton Smith; Milcy Mulley; a female slave of Moses Murray, and her two children; John Evans; William Burke; John Laws; Charles, a small negro boy; William Tucker; Henry Tucker; James Matthews; Juan Montreal; William Nee; Sandy, a slave of J. Adams; Sam, a slave of Captain Cannon; James Welch; James Flynn; Patrick McCarthy; twenty or thirty other emigrants, whose names could not be ascertained; H. Rea, New Orleans; Thomas Harrison, Missouri; Frederick A. Wood, New Orleans; Samuel Corley, Ky.; Crocket Harrison, Missouri; George, a slave, and a negro child.
During the night, thirty bodies, all of strangers, were brought to the watch-house of the second municipality. Capt. Cannon, of the Louisiana, was on the wharf at the time of the explosion. He bad stopped for a moment, to speak to an acquaintance, and this delay probably saved his life. A lady and her two children escaped from the wreck of the boat as it was sinking.
The effects of this disaster, unexampled in the history of steam navigation, were visible in every circle of society at New Orleans. Dismay was in every countenance, and the whole city seemed to be in mourning for the numerous dead; while every heart was deeply affected with sympathy for the surviving friends, and for all who were suffering in body or mind from the effects of the dreadful catastrophe.