There's a lesser known shipping disaster more tragic than sinking of The Titanic
When it comes to shipwrecks, there's only one that automatically comes to mind isn't there?
The RMS Titanic has been a huge part of the public's conscience ever since it sank in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean in 1912, with it being estimated that more than 1,500 people lost their lives.
Be it the numerous movies, TV shows and documentaries or the Titan sub incident, it's the most famous shipwreck out there.
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However, there was a ship sinking considered to be the worst US maritime disaster that many people aren’t aware of.
And it is 'as great as that of the more famous Titanic and yet much more intriguing', according to the museum dedicated to it.
On April 27, 1865, the Sultana steamboat exploded and sank whilst travelling up the Mississippi River, killing an estimated 1,800 people.
It took to the sea just weeks after the Civil War had ended, and the vessel was packed with Union soldiers who'd been released from Confederate prison camps.
The ship had a legal capacity of 376 passengers, but on board, it had over 2,100 people, according to the The Sultana Disaster Museum.
This was partly due to the fact that the government had agreed to pay $5 for each enlisted man and $10 for each officer who made the trip, which led Captain James Cass Mason and Chief Quartermaster Reuben Benton Hatch to purposefully overload the boat, as per The Sultana Association.
According to NPR, Jerry Potter, author of 'The Sultana Tragedy', said: “At 2 a.m., one of the boilers exploded, resulting in two other boilers exploding.
“And the entire centre of the boat erupted like a volcano.
“It was like a tremendous bomb going off in the middle of where these men were.
“And the shrapnel, the steam and the boiling water killed hundreds.”
It was a combination of fire, drowning and exposure that killed those onboard.
However, many of the Sultana survivors ended up on the Arkansas side of the river, which was under Confederate control during the war - and many of them were saved by local residents.
It was just 25 soldiers of over 2,500 that survived the incident.
Potter claims that there were many reasons that the disaster didn’t get much attention, adding: “The war had just ended a few weeks before.
“Lincoln had just been assassinated.
“And the boat was filled with enlisted men primarily.”
The Sultana Disaster also occurred around the time of the surrender of Robert E. Lee at the battle of 'The Battle of Appomattox Court House'.
The Sultana Disaster Museum is open in the US for tourists to learn about what happened.
Mia Williams