On this day, April 27, 1865, the worst maritime disaster in U.S. history took place on the Mississippi River near Memphis when the steamship Sultana exploded, killing 1,700 passengers (200 more than the Titanic).
Among those aboard were 2,100 Union POWs returning home from the Civil War, packed six times the normal capacity for a steamship that was authorized for only 376 passengers and crew.
And the cause of this explosion? While officially determined to be the result of insufficient water in the boiler, overcrowding may have played a deadly role in this tragic accident.
