t might be
beached before the flames drove them overboard. The endeavor to do this
brought out some examples of magnificent heroism among captains, pilots,
and engineers, who, time and again, stood manfully at their posts, though
scorched by flames, and cut off from any hope of escape, until the boat's
prow was thrust well into the bank, and the passengers were all saved. The
pilots, in the presence of such disaster, were in the sorest straits, and
were, moreover, the ones of the boat's company upon whom most depended the
fate of those on board. Perched at the very top of a large tinder-box, all
avenues of escape except a direct plunge overboard were quickly closed to
them. If they left the wheel the current would inevitably swing the boat's
head downstream, and she would drift, aimlessly, a flaming funeral pyre
for all on board. Many a pilot stood, with clenched teeth, and eyes firm
set upon the distant shore, while the fire roared below and behind him,
and the terrified passengers edged further and further forward as the
flames pressed their way toward the bow, until at last came the grinding
sound under the hull, and the sudden shock that told of shoal water and
safety. Then, those on the lower deck might drop over the side, or swarm
along the windward gangplank to safety, but the pilot too often was hemmed
in by the flames, and perished with his vessel.

[Illustration: FEEDING THE FURNACE]

In the year 1840 alone there were 109 steamboat disasters chronicled, with
a loss of fifty-nine vessels and 205 lives. The high-pressure boilers used
on the river, cheaply built, and for many years not subjected to any
official inspection, contributed more than their share to the list of
accidents. Boiler explosions were so common as to be reckoned upon every
time a voyage was begun. Passengers were advised to secure staterooms aft
when possible, as the forward part of the boat was the more apt to be
shattered if the boiler "went up." Every river town had its citizens who
had survived an explosion, and the stock form into which to put the
humorous quip or story of the time was to have it told by the clerk going
up as he met the captain in the air coming down, with the debris of the
boat flying all about them. As the river boats improved in character,
disasters of this sort became less frequent, and the United States, by
establishing a rigid system of boiler inspection, and compelling engineers
to undergo a searching examination i