“All of a sudden, the boilers erupted in a mammoth explosion, nearly splitting the Sultana in half” (Billings 1). The Sultana was going upriver on the Mississippi River when the boilers and the steamer stopped working (Billings 1). When all of a sudden a gigantic explosion on the boat killed 1,700 people which is more than the Titanic (Billings 1). The boat was going up river and the boilers and steamer stopped working which caused the explosion (Billings 1). “The strain of the massive weight was affecting the boilers”(Billings 1). The steamers stopped working. The boat was holding six times its weight and going upriver, both of those have to do with the boilers and steamer to stop working a couple of times, and then that caused the boat to blow up (Billings 1). The steamer and all of the boilers would stop working more than once (Billings 1). Union soldiers were on board and the boat was holding six times the weight it should’ve been holding, and that caused the boilers and steamer to stop working a couple of times (Billings 1). Just because the boat was holding too many people and going upriver caused the boilers and steamer to stop working, and because those stopped working the boat exploded (Civil War Vets Are Caught in Steamboat Explosion 1). …show more content…
The people on the boat or the people still alive in the water could see the fire from the explosion (SINKING the SULTANA a Civil War Story of Imprisonment, Greed, and a Doomed Journey Home 91).People including Union soldiers were crying and scared. It's not a well-known disaster but it killed more people than the Titanic and a lot of Union soldiers and the captain died. Family members were waiting for the soldiers to get back but a lot didn’t because the boat