The Pulaski explodes; from page 170 of the book The Tragedy of the Seas; or, Sorrow on the ocean, lake, and river, from shipwreck, plague, fire and famine (1848) by Charles Elms
History
United States
NamePulaski
Builder John A. Robb & Co.[1]
Launched1837
Out of service1838
FateSunk by internal explosion 14 June 1838
NotesApprox. 128 lost; 59 saved
General characteristics
Class and typeSteam packet

The Steamship Pulaski disaster was the term given to the June 14, 1838, explosion on board the American steam packet Pulaski, which caused her to sink 30 miles off the coast of North Carolina with the loss of two-thirds of her passengers and crew. About 59 persons survived, and 128 were lost.[2] Her starboard boiler exploded about 11 p.m., causing massive damage as the ship was traveling from Savannah, Georgia, to Baltimore, Maryland; she sank in 45 minutes.[3]

The disaster

The packet steamer Pulaski, bound for Baltimore, Maryland, departed Charleston, South Carolina on June 14, 1838, under Captain DuBois, with a crew of 37 and 131 passengers on board.[4]

That night at about 11 p.m., when the ship was 30 miles off the coast of North Carolina, the starboard boiler exploded, destroying the middle of the ship. Some passengers were killed immediately. Knocked out by the explosion, the first mate Hibbard assessed the small boats and put three in the water. Because two had been over exposed to sunlight, they were in poor condition, and one sank immediately. Ten persons got in one boat and eleven, including Hibbard in another. They started rowing away from the sinking ship, which went down in 45 minutes. Others clung to makeshift floats made from the wreckage.[5]

Survivors

Among the 128 persons lost in the sinking was former United States Congress Congressman William B. Rochester from New York, and Jane (Cresswell) Lamar, wife of banker and shipper Gazaway Bugg Lamar of Savannah, five of their six children, and a niece. Her husband and their eldest son Charles Augustus Lafayette Lamar were the only members of the immediate family to survive.[2]

The Delaware Gazette newspaper later ran a story about the fortunes of two alleged survivors: Charles Ridge, left penniless after the shipwreck, became engaged to heiress Miss Onslow, whom he had saved from the shipwreck.[6] But neither of these persons was listed among the survivors in a June 27 North-Carolina Standard article published two weeks after the wreck.[2]

Search for wreckage

In January 2018 divers reported that they believed they had found wreckage of Pulaski 40 nautical miles (74 km; 46 mi) off the North Carolina coast.[7] This was confirmed several months later, when salvage divers recovered items from the wreckage.[8]

Depiction in media

  • The Pulaski disaster figures prominently in Eugenia Price's 1985 novel To See Your Face Again, the second book of her Savannah Quartet.
  • Surviving Savannah is a historical fiction novel based on this tragedy written by Patti Callahan, published in 2021.[9]

References

  1. ↑ "Pulaski (Steamship:1837)". catalogs.marinersmuseum.org. Baltimore, Maryland. 1837. Retrieved 2021-05-23.
  2. 1 2 3 "Heart-rending Catastrophe", The North-Carolina Standard, 27 June 1838, from Office of the Wilmington Advertiser
  3. ↑ Price, Mark (19 June 2018). "1838 shipwreck of 'Pulaski' from Savannah was 'the Titanic of its time.' Divers just made an eerie discovery". Charlotte Observer. Retrieved 27 November 2022.
  4. ↑ McLeod, Hugh (June 1919). "The Loss of the Steamer Pulaski". The Georgia Historical Quarterly. 3 (2): 63–95. JSTOR 40575609. Retrieved 27 November 2022.
  5. ↑ Warnes, Kathy. "The Steamship Pulaski's Passengers Survive Her Sinking and Fall in Love". Magic Masts and Sturdy Ships. Retrieved 27 November 2022.
  6. ↑ Story "Courtship on a Fragment of the Pulaski" from "Daring Exploits and Perilous Adventures: Being a Record of Thrilling ..." .pp.267-269
  7. ↑ "Wreckage of Pulaski Found", Charlotte Observer 19 January 2018
  8. ↑ "It was one of the nation’s deadliest maritime mysteries. NC explorers solved it this week.", Miami Herald 9 May 2018
  9. ↑ McMichael, Kareem (15 June 2022). "RISING TO THE SURFACE: Ships of the Sea Museum brings Pulaski disaster to light". Connect Savannah. Retrieved 27 November 2022.

35°43′48″N 74°45′18″W / 35.730°N 74.755°W / 35.730; -74.755

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