The Pulaski Tragedy

by James Wudarczyk - 2004

For nearly a century between 1811 and 1910, steamboats plied the Pittsburgh rivers. In their heyday, the steamboats were essential to the economic welfare of the country. While we tend to have a romantic image of these stern-wheelers and paddle wheelers leisurely cruising on the rivers, little could be further from the truth. Cargo, people, and animals were often jammed on these boats. In their time, the steamboats were fast and relatively economic, and many could travel when the rivers dropped to a low of one foot of water. This enabled the boats to get very close to the shore, as travelers, farmers, and merchants hailed the boats from the shore lines. A plank from the boat to the shore eliminated the need for docks.

At one point, three cities dominated the steamboat construction trade: Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and Louisville. In his comprehensive study, Louis C. Hunter, author of Steamboats on the Western Rivers: An Economic and Technological History, indicates that between 1811 and 1880, Pittsburgh produced 1,760 vessels of the total 5,898 manufactured with a tonnage of 355,711 against a total tonnage of 1,089,735. This statistic indicates that Pittsburgh produced 29.8% of all vessels during this period with 32.6% of the tonnage. During certain years, the percentage of vessels produced at Pittsburgh was actually much higher. Pittsburgh was also very well established with machine shops that produced or repaired boilers, engines, parts, and equipment for the steamboat industry. The large amount of river traffic with these boats belching black or white smoke helped give the city its reputation as “hell with the lid blown off.”

While the steamboat industry seemed to peak around 1880, it is believed that a few old steamers continued in operation in the 1920’s and 1930’s, but these were little more than relics of the past. The steady and more efficient railroad traffic, as well as diesel towboats and barges eroded the available cargo. Thus, the steamboat faded into a lost chapter of history.

The rich history of this industry has been largely lost over the years. In Joseph A. Borkowski’s A Miscellaneous History of Lawrenceville, the author notes, “There were two steamboats available to the people of Lawrenceville – The New Castle and The Pulaski.” The source also noted, “The Pulaski is a temperance boat, and no gambling is allowed on the boat.” This brief mention also states that as of 1838, the boat was credited with making fourteen trips.

Most of what we know about the Pulaski comes from Fred Way’s The Allegheny and Lloyd’s Steamboat Directory of 1856. Way wrote, “Pulaski. A packet built at Pittsburgh in 1837 with Dr. Robert Wray of Pittsburgh as owner and Capt. James Varner as master. She ran that season down the Ohio River and was up the Cumberland River far as Nashville. That fall she went in the Allegheny River trade, arrived at Franklin on November 26th and went on Tionesta. Capt. John Hanna was her master. In 1838 she made fourteen trips to Franklin and occasionally went above to Brokenstraw Creek, which is just below, Warren. In 1839 she was still in that trade. On the night of May 5, 1843, the Forest, downbound from Warren, struck this boat about 20 miles above Pittsburgh, sank her. Steampipes let go, scalding many persons-first serious accident on the Allegheny River. She was raised and towed to Pittsburgh by the Allegheny Belle(1st). Burned at the Pittsburgh wharf on March 3, 1844, in a fire of suspicious origin. ”

Lloyd’s account goes into much more detail relating to the collision of the Forrest and Pulaski. “On Friday night, May 5th, 1843, at 11 o’clock, as the steamer Forrest was lying to, to put off a passenger, about twenty miles above the mouth of the Allegheny river, with her head down stream, she was run into by the steamboat Pulaski, which was coming up the river with about one hundred and fifty passengers. The bow of the Forrest struck the side of the Pulaski opposite the boilers. The boilers were thrown down, the steam-pipes separated, and the steam rushed out among the passengers, scalding many of them in a terrible manner. The side of the Pulaski being broken up by the collision, the boat almost immediately sunk, leaving the boiler-deck above water. Five or six persons, names unknown, were thrown overboard and drowned. One of these floated past the Forrest, calling piteously for assistance, but before it could be afforded him the current had swept him away. Another was drawn in under the wheel and drowned. One young man swam ashore after throwing himself from the cabin window of the Pulaski.

The following list of the sufferers was furnished by the officers of the wrecked steamer:

Badly Scalded-Wm. Coon, Erie co., N. Y.; Michael Hawkins, steward of the Pulaski; Sheridan McCullough, of Red Bank, Pa.; James Gibson, Crawford co., Pa.; Joseph Hughes, Jefferson co., Pa.; and _______ Wing.

We have not been able to learn the names of the persons who were drowned.

Accidents were quite frequent on the rivers and there was little in the way of regulation to protect the safety of the passengers. Hunter, in his scholarly treatise, addresses this issue. However, it must be noted Hunter’s “Pulaski” is not the same steamboat referred to by Borkowski, Way, and Lloyd. Louis C. Hunter was referring to a 687-ton low-pressure steamer that was built in Baltimore and which exploded in 1838. According to Hunter, “On the western rivers, even when these disasters occurred within their jurisdiction, municipal authorities usually intervened only to the extent of ordering a coroner’s inquest and in some of the more flagrant cases of carelessness of indicting a steamboat officer. In a few of the worst disasters, such as those of the Moselle, Ben Sherrod, Pulaski, and A. N. Johnson, public meetings were held and committees formed to investigate and report. Association of steamboat engineers, aroused by charges of carelessness and negligence directed at their calling conducted investigations of explosions involving their members.

Like most other chapters in Lawrenceville history, the steamboat era definitely deserves much more study and attention.