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Lloyd's Steamboat Directory and
Disasters on the Western Waters - 1856


  [211]                   EXPLOSION OF THE ANTHONY WAYNE
                               --------------------

        The ANTHONY WAYNE was an old steamer belonging to the regular line
    of Buffalo and Sandusky packets.  On Sunday morning, at half past one
    o'clock, April 28, 1850, while making one of her usual trips, this boat
    exploded, on Lake Erie, opposite the mouth of Vermillion river, and
    eight miles from the shore.  Within twenty minutes after the explosion,
    the steamer sunk, the hull parting from the hurricane deck, and leaving
    the latter afloat on the lake.  The surviving passengers and crew re-
    mained on this fragment of the wreck until daylight, when the schooner
    ELMIRA, Capt. NUGENT, came up and took them off, together with the
    wounded, and all the dead bodies which could be recovered.  There were
    eighty-four persons on the ANTHONY WAYNE, about half of whom were saved
    alive, though some of these were badly wounded.
        LIST OF KILLED. - MYRON TITUS, of Dayton, Ohio; M. HART, Perrys-
    ville, Ohio; wife and child of JOHN ELLIS, Mount Hope, Mich.; J. W.
    DOTY, Warsaw, Ill.; J. J. ELMORE, and J. BURCHARD, engineers; HENRY
    STURGES, steward, Mount Clemens, Mich.; G. FRANKLIN, firemand, of
    Detroit; A. J. MEADE, bar-keeper; WILEY ROBINSON, JOHN WILLIAMSON, and
    HENRY KELLY, cooks; two waiters, colored; ALEXANDER CARTWRIGHT, deck-
    hand; JOHN BRAINARD, and JAMES O'NEIL, firemen; WHITNEY PARSONS,
    porter; HENRY BLANE, deck-hand; JOHN FALKNER; HENRY McDONOUGH, and
    several others, names unknown.
        DANGEROUSLY WOUNDED. - J. H. JOSLER, Crittenden County, Vt.;
    ROBERT SHAY, Dayton, Ohio; JOHN TERRY, Louisville, Ky; C. G. LAWRENCE,
    Angelica, N.Y.; A. W. GRAY, Stillwater, N.Y.; a son of Mr. ELLIS, Mount
    Hope, Mich.
        SLIGHTLY WOUNDED. - JOHN BEADLEY, Cleveland, Ohio; MATTHEW
    FAULKNER, Sheffield, Mass.
        The case of Mr. ARCHER BRACKNEY, one of the passengers is mourn-
    fully interesting.  He was on his way from Lafayette, La., to Phila-
    delphia, with the remains of his wife and child, recently deceased.
    Both the corpses were enclosed in one box.  When the explosion took
    place, he succeeded in dragging his two living children from their
    berths, and with them plunged into the water.  Finding himself unable
    to support the two children on the surface, he looked around for some
    piece of the wreck which might be useful in preserving their lives.

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  [213]                   EXPLOSION OF THE ANTHONY WAYNE
                               --------------------

    A floating object attracted his attention; it was the box which con-
    tained the bodies of his wife and child.  On this he placed his little
    boy and girl, and endeavored to keep the box in an upright position,
    but the surges caused it to pitch and roll in such a manner, that his
    son, in spite of all his efforts, was washed off and drowned.  He now
    turned all his attention to the preservation of the other child, and
    finally succeeded in gaining the floating part of the wreck with his
    little daughter, and both were saved.

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