This weekend we pause to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the RMS Titanic ocean liner’s ill-fated maiden voyage from England to the U. S. By most accounts, when the Titanic sank, she took 1,517 people to a cold, watery grave.
As we now know, most those lost were from the ranks of the poorer steerage passengers. It is one of the most glaring moments in history where social class was strongly determinative of mortality.
The Titanic disaster quickly entered the popular lexicon as a prime example of hubris and detachment. The poignancy of the event was magnified by the vessel’s wreckage having been lost until 1985. In short, it was tailor-made fodder for mythologizing. As occasions of the sort do, the Titanic tragedy spawned many stories of heroics and cowardice.
There’s the mixed tale of presidential aide, Archibald Butt, who may have been a savior to many, or possibly just a bystander. What’s more certain are the efforts of the ship’s engineering room crew. As the Titanic was sinking, passengers were loaded onto lifeboats by the deck crew. The engineering crew stayed at their posts to work the pumps, in hopes of slowing the inevitable. Their selfless actions ensured the power stayed on during evacuation while also enabling the radio system to continue sending distress signals. Because these brave men stayed at their post, more than 700 people were saved, even though it cost the engineers their own.
Although the Titanic disaster is easily the most notable single vessel maritime tragedy, followed distantly by the Lusitania (1,198 lost) and the Maine (266 lost), it was far from the deadliest. That dubious distinction goes to the SS Sultana. On April 27, 1865, the Sultana was seven miles north of Memphis, Tennessee. She held 2,300 just-released Union prisoners of war, plus crew and civilian passengers.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
At approximately 2 a.m., three of the steamship’s four boilers exploded. The vessel quickly sank, taking 1,700 people with her. To date, it is the worst maritime disaster in U.S. history, more costly than even the Titanic. Paradoxically, the Sulatna never received the attention afforded the Titanic. In fact, it hardly registered in the newspapers of the era. This largely owes to the period in which she went down. April 1865 was chocked full of huge news stories. Foremost was the April 9 surrender of Gen. Robert E. Lee at Appomattox.
Five days later President Abraham Lincoln was assasinated. On April 26 his assassin, John Wilkes Booth, was caught and killed. On that same day, Gen. Joseph Johnson surrendered the last large Confederate army. Union troops soon captured Confederate President Jefferson Davis. The war was over. Lincoln was dead. As horrific as the Sultana was, other events just loomed larger.
As one scholar observes, “In a nation desensitized to death, 1,700 more did not seem such an enormous tragedy that it does today.”
Interestingly, the Sultana death toll was almost exactly equal to the number of Union troops killed at the battle of Shiloh (1,758). Her loss can be directly attributed to gross incompetence. The ship was legally registered to carry 376 people. Steaming north of Memphis, she had six times more than that on board. The overload owed to two primary factors: bribes taken by army officers and the overwhelming desire of the former POWs to get home.
Several times over the past few weeks, the Commercial has published editorials with a theme revolving around the need for perspective. Here too, we reiterate that point. Although the Titanic is certainly the best known maritime tragedy, it was far from the worst.
In the clatter of great public outcry it is often difficult to keep focused on that which may be faint, but ultimately more significant. Without lapsing into comparative losses, these two watery disasters each provide pause for thought and opportunities for considered reflection.