1852 — Dec 14, steamboats collide, Western World rolls over, MS Riv., Princeton Landing, MS-12

— 25 De Bow’s Review, Vol. XIV, New Series, Vol. I, 1853, p. 294.
–10-15 Republican Compiler, Gettysburg, PA. “Terrible Steamboat Disaster,” Dec 27, 1852.
— 12 Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. 1972, p. 196.
— 12 Bragg. Historic Names…on the Lower Mississippi River. “Island No. 93…”, 1977, p143.
— 12 Lytle and Holdcamper. Merchant Steam Vessels of the [U.S.] 1807-1868. 1952, p. 234.
— 12 Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994…Steamboats…MS River System. 1994, p. 484.

Narrative Information

Bragg: “In 1852 the sidewheel steamer Western World collided with the H.R.W. Hill near Princeton Landing. Twelve lives were lost in the accident, and the wreck of the disabled Western World drifted all the way down to Island No. 93 before it finally sank.” (Bragg. Historic Names…on the Lower Mississippi River. “Island No. 93…”, 1977, p. 143.)

Way: “Western World. SW p wh b [Sidewheel packet, wood hull, built] Elizabethtown, Pa., 1848. 338 tons. Four boilers… Ran Pittsburgh-New Orleans. Came in collision with H.W.R. Hill…just above Princeton Miss., Dec 14, 1852. The Western World turned turtle with loss of 12 lives. Part of the wreck floated 15 miles. A lengthy lawsuit resulted, and Capt. Norton eventually collected $30,000 damages. It is said she had been lengthened at Cincinnati several years before her loss….” (Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994…Steamboats…MS River System. 1994, p. 484.)

Newspaper

Dec 18: “Louisville, Dec. 18.—The steamer Western World, from St. Louis for New Orleans, recently came in collision with the H.R.W. Hill, at Grand Lake. The Western World’s cabin parted, and she sank in about ten minutes. The vessel and cargo will prove a total loss. She had sixty cabin and one hundred deck passengers, and about twenty-eight of the latter, and several hands belonging to the boat, were drowned.

“P.S.—A dispatch from Memphis states that the collision occurred at the bend of the river, below Princeton, on Tuesday morning. It is supposed that ten or fifteen lives were lost, as when the Hill struck the Western World, she was deeply laden. The Hill’s bow ran upon the other, carrying over the upper guards. Being together in that condition, they floated downstream for an hour and a half, during which time the officers and crew of the Hill used every endeavor to save those on board. They were then cut loose, when the Western World capsized. She was freighted with 1,400 bbls. Flour, a large quantity of corn and sixty or seventy head of cattle, all of which was lost….” (Republican Compiler, Gettysburg, PA. “Terrible Steamboat Disaster,” 12-27-1852.)

Sources

Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. Boston: Mariners Press Inc., 1972.

Bragg, Marion. Historic Names and Places on the Lower Mississippi River. Vicksburg, MS: Mississippi River Commission, 1977. Accessed 9-15-2020 at: ftp://ftp.library.noaa.gov/noaa_documents.lib/NOAA_related_docs/US_Army/Mississippi_River_names_1977.pdf

De Bow, James Dunwoody Brownson (Ed.). De Bow’s Review, Vol. XIV, New Series, Vol. I, New Orleans and Washington City, 1853. Digitized by Google at: http://books.google.com/books?id=FCQoAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=false

Lytle, William M., compiler, from Official Merchant Marine Documents of the United States and Other Sources; Holdcamper, Forrest H. (Editor, and Introduction by). Merchant Steam Vessels of the United States 1807-1868. “The Lytle List.” Mystic, CT: Steamship Historical Society of America (Publication No. 6), 1952. Accessed 8-16-2020 at:
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015018039084&view=1up&seq=8&size=125

Republican Compiler, Gettysburg, PA. “Terrible Steamboat Disaster” [Western World], 12-27-1852. At: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=2924777

Way, Frederick Jr. (Author and Compiler), Joseph W. Rutter (contributor). Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994: Passenger Steamboats of the Mississippi River System Since the Advent of Photography in Mid-Continent America (Revised). Athens OH: Ohio University Press, 1999.