On the 8th of May, 1837, the large Louisville and New Orleans packet, the Ben Sherrod, caught fire on her upward trip, while she was engaged in an exciting race with the steamer Prairie. It was one o’clock at night, and the boat was about fourteen miles above Fort Adams, ploughing her way up the Mississippi with great velocity. The Prairie was just ahead of her, in sight, and the crew of the Ben Sherrod were determined, if possible, to go by her. The firemen were shoving in the pine knots, and sprinkling rosin over the coal, and doing their best to raise more steam. They had a barrel of whisky before them, from which they drank often and freely until they were beastly drunk. The boilers became so hot that they set fire to sixty cords of wood on board. and the Ben Sherrod was soon completely enveloped in flames. The passengers, three hundred in number, were sound asleep, not thinking of the awful doom that awaited them. When the deck hands discovered the fire, they basely left their posts and ran for the yawl, without giving the alarm to the passengers. Capt. Castleman attempted for a time to allay the excitement and confusion, by telling them the fire was extinguished. Twice he forbade the lowering of the yawl, which was attempted. The shrieks of nearly three hundred and fifty persons now on board, rose wild and dreadful, which might have been heard at a distance of several miles. The cry was, “To the shore! to the shore !” and the boat made for the starboard shore, but did not gain it, as the wheel ropes soon burnt. The steam was not let off, and the boat kept on up the river. The scene of horror now beggared all description. The yawl, which had been filled with the crew, had sunk, drowning nearly all who were in it; and the passengers had no other alternative than to jump overboard, without even taking time to dress. There were ten ladies who all went overboard without uttering a single scream; some drowned instantly, and others clung to planks; two of the number were all that were saved. Several passengers were burnt alive. One man by the name of Ray, from Louisville, Kentucky, jumped overboard, and hung to a rope at the bow ef the boat, until rescued by the yawl of the steamer Columbus, which arrived at the scene half an hour after the boat took fire. Mr. Ray’s face and arms
were much burnt while clinging to the boat. He lost twenty thousand dollars in specie. The steamboat Alton arrived half an hour after the Columbus, but from the carelessness or indiscretion of those on her, was the means of drowning many persons who were floating in the water. She came down under full headway among the exhausted sufferers, who were too weak to make any further exertion, and by the commotion occasioned by her wheels drowned a large number. A gentleman by the name of Hamilton, from Limestone county, Alabama, was floating on a barrel, and sustaining also a lady, when the Alton came up, washing them both under. The lady was drowned, but Mr. Hamilton came up and floated down the river fifteen miles, when he was rescued by the steamer Statesman. Mr. McDowell sustained himself some time against the current, so that he floated only two miles down the river, and then swain ashore. His wife, who was floating on a plank, was drowned by the steamer Alton. Mr. Rundell floated down the river ten miles, and was taken up by a flat-boat at the mouth of Buffalo creek; lie saved his money in his pantaloons’ pocket. Mr. McDowell lost his wife, son, and a lady named Miss Frances Few, who was under his protection; also a negro servant. Of those who escaped, we have seen and conversed with James P. Wilkinson, Esq., Mr. Stanfleld, of Richmond, Virginia, and Daniel Marshall, Esq., of Moscow, Indiana. The scene, as described by them, was truly heart-rending; while some were confined to their berths, and consumed by the flames, others plunged into the river to find watery graves. One lady, who attached herself to Mr. Marshall, and had clung to him while they floated four or five miles, was at length drowned by the waves of the Alton, after imploring the boat’s crew for assistance and mercy. Mr. Marshall was supported by a flour barrel. Only two ladies out of ten who were •ñ board were saved; one of these was Mrs. Castleman, the Captain’s wife; the other was Mrs. Smith, of New Orleans.
It was said by some of the passengers, that the captain of the Alton did not hear the cries of those who implored him for assistance as he passed, it being midnight; but there can be no excuse for the monster who commanded the Prairie, for leaving a boat in flames without turning around and affording the sufferers relief. lie reported her on fire at Natchez and Vieksburg.
A man in a canoe near the scene of the disaster refused to save any who were floating in the water, unless they promised to pay him handsomely for his services. So rapid were the flames that not even the register of the boat was saved; hence it was impossible to get a full list of the lost. One of the officers of the boat informed us, that out of seventy-eight deck passengers not more than six were saved. This was one of the most serious calamities that ever occurred on the Mississippi river, there being at least one hundred and seventy families deprived by it of some dear and beloved member, and over two hundred souls being hurried by it out of time into eternity, with scarce a moment’s warning. During the burning of the Ben Sherrod eight different explosions occurred; first, barrels of whiskey, brandy, &c.; then the boilers blew up with a fearful explosion, and lastly, forty barrels of gunpowder exploded, which made a noise that was heard many miles distant, scattering fragments of the wreck in all directions, and producing the grandest sight ever seen. Immediately after, the wreck sunk out of sight just above Fort Adams. A large quantity of specie, which was on its way to the Tennessee Banks, was lost. One gentleman placed his pocketbook, containing thirty-eight thousand dollars, under his pillow, and though he managed to escape, he lost all his money. One scene was distressing in the extreme; a young and beautiful lady, whose name was Mary Ann Walker, on hearing the cry of fire, rushed out of the ladies’ cabin in her loose night-clothes in search of her husband, at the same time holding her infant to her bosom; in her endeavors to get forward her dress caught fire, and was torn from her back to save her life. After witnessing her husband fall into the flames in the forward part of the boat, and unable to reach him, she leaped with her child into the water, seized a plank, and was carried by the current within forty yards of the Columbus, but just as she seized a rope thrown to her, both mother and child sank to rise no more. One young man, who had reached the hurricane deck in safety, hearing the cries of his sister, rushed back to the cabin, clasped her in his arms, and both were burnt to death. One of the clerks, one of the pilots, and the mate were burnt to death. All the chambermaids and women employed in the boat perished; only two negroes escaped out of thirty-five that were on the boat.
Lost-Three children and father of Captain Castieman; Mrs. McDowell, of Belfont, Ala.; Mrs. Gamble and three children, of New Orleans; Miss Frances Few, of Belfont, South Alabama; Mr. Frances, burnt to death.
PASSENGERS SAVED-James Smith, lady and son; Thomas Cook, W. H. Cloud, Wm. Beattie, Amos Brundelt, Thomas Larmer, Samuel Ray, Lister Sexton.
Great praise is due to Captain Austin of the Statesman, and Captain Littlejohn of the Columbus, for their humane efforts to save the passengers of the Ben Sl±errod, for had they acted as the Captain of the Alton, not a soul would have been saved to tell the tale of that calamity. Mr. Wm. Stamp’s family did everything in their power to relieve the wants of the sufferers, and they will long be remembered for their kindness to the strangers in that trying time.
LIST OF SAVED-G. Stanfleld; Mr. Gamble and his son, of New Orleans; Ephraim Stanfield, Richmond, Virginia; Rosamond P. Andrews, A. H. Hartley, Arkansas; John Lowney, Indiana; Hugh Simpson, and Constantine Mahan, Tennessee; P. H. Watkins, Bedford county, Virginia; Thompson Duvall, Shelby county, Indiana; Matthew M. Orme, Natchez; Thomas W. Blagg, Alabama; J. S. Lowe, Tennessee; Charles W. Andrews, Yates county, New York; John Montgomery and James 0. Phillips, Indiana; J. W. Brent, Pecan Point; John Dasua, E. Bushman, E. II. Barnes and J. M. Williams, Indiana; John Blanc, New Orleans; John A. Davis, Florence, Alabama; Erastus Griggs, Marietta, Ohio; A. Randall, Rocky Springs, Mississippi; James P. Wilkinson, Richmond, Virginia; Canton Macon, Cincinnati; Wm. Wallace, New York; Mrs. Smith, of Mobile.
LIST OF OFFICERS PICKED UP BY THE COLUMBUS-Captain C. G. Castleman and lady; George Stiles, clerk; Wm. Bell, first engineer; Stephen Hooks, second engineer; Charles Greenlee, pilot; Samuel Big, second mate; John Hill, carpenter; P. Rice, Jacob Lightstroff, John Eggman, A. Goddin, Amos Burby, Brilly John, M. P. Hard, Charles Simms, Fred. Cowen, Willis Caidwell, John CaIdwell, John Johnson, Jacob Rose, Edward Fleece, B. McDaniel, Moses Caidwell, Charles Anderson, Peter Sevier, Andrew Moore, Joseph Cooper, Joseph Fisher, arid John Clark.
A gentleman, Mr. Cook, floated down the river several miles before he was picked up. ile hailed the wretched and despicable character who had put off in a yawl from the shore, and begged his assistance. The scoundrel, who was intent in picking up baggage, boxes, &c., asked with the utmost sang froid, “How much will you give me ?” To the entreaties of others for help, he replied, “Oh, you are very well off there; keep cool, and you’ll come out comfortable.”
Poor Davis, the pilot at the wheel, was consumed; he was one in a thousand, preferring to die rather than leave his post in the hour of danger. Just before he left New Orleans, he was conversing with another pilot about the burning of the St. Martinsville; said he, “If ever I should be on a boat that takes fire, and don’t save the passengers, it will be because the tiller ropes burn, or I perish in the flames.” And just such men as Davis are to be found among the western boatmen; many have stood by their posts in the hour of danger, and perished rather than flinch from their duty.