SS Sultana: "The Titanic of the Mississippi"

(Wikipedia) The SS Sultana was a Mississippi River steamboat paddlewheeler destroyed in an explosion on 27 April 1865. This resulted in the greatest maritime disaster in United States history. An estimated 1,800 of the 2,400 passengers were killed when three of the ship's four boilers exploded and the Sultana sank near Memphis. This disaster received somewhat diminished attention, as it took place soon after the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln and during the closing weeks of the Civil War. Continued