Steamboat Moselle
Explosion
From Historical Recollections of Ohio by Henry Howe
"The new and elegant steamboat, Moselle, Capt. Perkin left the wharf in Cincinnati, April 25, 1838 (full of passengers) for Louisville and St. Louis; and, with the view of taking a family on board at Fulton, (Fulton was located opposite Brooklyn Kentucky) about a mile and a half above the quay, proceeded up the river and made fast to a lumber raft for that purpose.
Here the family was taken on board; and, during the whole time of their detention, the captain had madly held on to all the steam that he could create, with the intention, not only of showing off to the best advantage the great speed of his boat, as it passed down the river the entire length of the city, but that he might overtake and pass another boat which had left the wharf for Louisville, but a short time previous.
As the Moselle was a new brag boat, and had recently made several exceedingly quick trips to and from Cincinnati, it would not do to risk her popularity for speed, by giving the another boat (even though that boat had the advantage of of time and distance) the most remote chance of being the first to arrive at the destined port.
The Moselle had but just parted from the lumber raft to which she had been fast, her wheels had scarcely made their first revolution, when her boilers burst with an awful and astounding noise, equal to the most violent clap of thunder. The explosion was destructive and heart-rending in the extreme; heads, limbs and bodies were seen flying through the air in every direction, attended with the most horrible shrieks and groans from the wounded and dying.
The boat, at the time of the accident, was about thirty feet from the shore, and was rendered a perfect wreck. It seemed to be entirely shattered as far back as the gentlemen's cabin; and her hurricane deck, the whole length, was entirely swept away. The boat immediately began to sink and float with a strong current down the river, at the same time receding farther from the shore, while the passengers, who yet remained unhurt in the gentlemen's and ladies' cabins, became panic-struck, and most of them, with a fatuity which seems unaccountable, jumped into the river. Being above the ordinary business parts of the city, there were no boats at hand, except a few large and unmanageable wood-floats, which were carried to the relief of the sufferers, as soon as possible, by the few persons on the shore.
Many were drowned, however, before they could be rescued, and many sunk, who were never seen afterward. The boat sunk about fifteen minutes after the explosion, leaving nothing to be seen but her chimneys and a small portion of her upper works."
For a list of those known to have died or were missing, see Moselle Deaths
For more on steamboat deaths on the Ohio River, see Jim Reis'
article
Steamboat Deaths.