Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2012, All Rights Reserved U.S. Data Repository Please read U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on this page: Submitted by Linda Talbott for the US Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ ========================================================================= U.S. Data Repository NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization. Non-commercial organizations desiring to use this material must obtain the consent of the transcriber prior to use. Individuals desiring to use this material in their own research may do so. ========================================================================= Formatted by U.S. Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== TWELVE WORST MARITIME DISASTERS IN GREAT LAKE HISTORY (based on number of casualties) ------------------------------- 7. Erie: Burned Date: August 9, 1841 Location: Lake Erie, off Silver Creek, N.Y. Type: side-wheel steamboat Hull type: Wooden Owner: Charles M. Reed Master: Capt. Titus Casualties: about 100 - 175* Explosion, possibly caused by turpentine placed near the boiler. Flames quickly engulfed the Erie and it burned to the waterline. Steamers DeWitt Clinton and Lady had been traveling ahead of the Erie and turned back when they spotted the red glow in the sky. From Nelson's Biographical Dictionary.... "One of the most dreadful calamities in the history of lake navigation occurred on the 9th of August, 1841. The steamboat 'Erie,' of Erie, owned by Gen. Reed, and bearing a large party of emigrants, was coming up the lake from Buffalo, and when off Silver Creek was discovered to be ablaze. In an inconceivably brief period of time the boat was burned to the water's edge. Two hundred and forty-nine persons were lost, of whome twenty-six were residents of Erie. Between 120 and 130 bodies rose to the surface and were recovered. The 'Erie' was valued at 75,000. Her cargo was worth about $20,000 and the emigrants, it is calulated, had with them $180,000 in gold and silver." ======================================================================= Sources: "Shipwrecks of the Great Lakes" , Dana Thomas Bowen, 1952 "Great Lakes Shipwrecks and Survivals", Wm. Ratigan "Nelson's Biographical Dictionary and Historical Reference Book of Erie County, Pennsylvania", by Benjamin Whitman - 1896