On the night of June 14, 1838, the steamship Pulaski was crusing north from Charleston, South Carolina, to Baltimore, Maryland, when its starboard boiler exploded, killing a number of passengers immediately and destroying the central portion of the ship, which sunk quickly after and claimed roughly 128 lives. Solely 59 survived.
On the time, the Pulaski catastrophe was maybe the best ocean-faring disaster in American historical past, and its casualties included a former United States Congressman from New York, William B. Rochester. A recent newspaper account tells of the harrowing minutes following the explosion. Lifeboats had been lowered to the water, two of which rapidly took on water, with one sinking after a “fruitless try and bail her.” Reminiscences light with time, and the wreck, its victims, and all that was misplaced remained hidden off the Carolina coast.
