New Albany, IN Explosion of the LUCY WALKER, Oct 1844

EXPLOSION OF THE LUCY WALKER, OCT. 25, 1844.

This event is especially remarkable on account of the unusual complication of calamities, (if we may so speak,) which attended it ; the explosion, the burning and the sinking of the vessel, all occurring within a few minutes. The Lucy Walker, Capt. Vann, was descending the river, and when about four miles below New Albany, Indiana, some part of the machinery got out of order, and the boat was stopped to make repairs. During this pause, the water in the boilers was measurably exhausted, and about five minutes after the engine ceased working, three of the boilers exploded with tremendous violence and terrible effect.

The principal force of the explosion took an upward direction ; and the consequence was that all that part of the boat situated above the boilers was blown into thousands of pieces. The U. S. snag-boat Gophar, Capt. L. B. Dunham, was about two hundred yards distant at the time of the explosion. Capt. Dunham was immediately on the spot, rescuing those who had been thrown into the water, and affording all other assistance in his power. Having been a spectator of the scene, with all its horrors, this gentleman has furnished a narrative, to which we are indebted for many of the facts related in this article. He states that such was the force of the explosion, that, although the Lucy Walker was in the middle of the river, many fragments of wood and iron were thrown on shore. At the moment of the accident, the air appeared to be filled with human beings, with dissevered limbs and other fragments of human bodies. One man was blown to the height of fifty yards, as the narrator judges, and fell with such force as to pass entirely through the deck. Another was cut in two by a piece of the boiler Many other incidents, equally distressing and horrifying, are related. Before Capt. Dunham could reach the spot where the wreck lay, he saw many persons who had been blown overboard perish in the water. But it was his good fortune to save the lives of a large number, by throwing them boards and ropes, and pulling them on board with boat-books. Immediately after the explosion, the ladies' cabin took fire and burned with great rapidity, but before it was consumed, the steamer sunk in twelve feet water. Thus the whole tragedy was completed within a few minutes.

The screams and exclamations of the ladies and the other survivors are represented as awful and distressing in the extreme. However, most of the females escaped ; a very few of them are supposed to have been drowned, but none of those who survived were injured. The books of the boat were destroyed ; of course it will ever be impossible to ascertain all the names or the number of those who perished. There were at least fifty or sixty persons killed or missing, and fifteen or twenty wounded, some of them very seriously. Capt. Dunham took off the wounded and left them at New Albany, where they were suitably provided for by the hospitable and benevolent citizens of the place.

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