In the “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” Gordon Lightfoot told of the wrecks on Lake Superior “When the skies of November turn gloomy.” The same can be said of March on the Tombigbee and Alabama rivers of Mobile.

On March 13, 1836, the steamer Ben Franklin was leaving the Mobile wharf when she was rocked by an explosion that killed about 20 people. On March 1, 1842, 11 died when the Star blew up near Mobile. On March 20, 1844, the Rowena caught fire and burned at Mobile. On March 3, 1845, two people were killed when the Ruby sank after colliding with the Red Rover at Fort Stoddard. On March 1, 1858, the Eliza Battle, while headed from Columbus to Mobile, burned and sank, taking 29 lives. On March 1, 1887, the W.H. Gardner, while traveling from Columbus to Demopolis, burned and sank with the loss of 22 lives. March was a tough month for Mobile boats.

The greatest loss of life on a Mobile steamer also was in March when on March 4, 1850, the Orline St. John, while heading from Mobile to Montgomery, burned and sank with the loss of 41 lives.

In addition to the great loss of life on the Orline St. John, she was said to have been carrying more than $200,000 of gold coins and $50,000 or $60,000 of gold dust from California. That gold worth millions of dollars today has never been accounted for and has been sought by repeated salvage attempts starting in the mid-1950s. Was there really California gold on the steamer? Only a few coins have been found, and the real treasure has been the artifacts such as China plates with the steamer’s name on them.

Sometimes old newspapers can be, if not the most accurate account of events, the most interesting account for they provide the feel of the times in which they were written. Here is the account of the loss of the Orline St. John that appeared in the Spirit of the South, from Eufaula, Alabama, dated March 12, 1850.

Dreadful Disaster on the Alabama River.

The beautiful steamer, Orline St. John, was on Tuesday evening last entirely destroyed by fire, … which sad disaster is embittered by the melancholy fact, that forty two out of the one hundred and two persons on board at the time was lost. Our worthy Marshal, Mr. Thomas Cargill, was on board at the time, returning from New Orleans, whither he had been in pursuit of the swindler, Dr. Nye. It was on the evening of Tuesday last, about an hour before sunset. The boat had just touched at Bridgeport for the purpose of taking on a few passengers. Mr. Cargill had been lying in his berth engaged in reading, when hearing that the smoke of a steamer was in sight and a race to take place, he got up and took a seat outside to witness the chase. This was the means of saving his life, for immediately after there was a bustle – a cry and rushing forward to ascertain the cause of this commotion, he discovered the whole right side of the boat, from the furnaces to the stern, enveloped in flames. There were at the time fifty cords of lightwood, stowed close alongside the boilers. … The boat was plunging forward at the rate of 15 miles an hour, up stream, and the strong current of air thus created, sent the flame, with the instantaneous flash of gunpowder over every portion of the boat that lay aft the furnaces. There was a rush of the passengers to the boiler deck, the pilot, who forgot not his duty in the awful crisis, having steered instantly for the shores – all in front were saved — but humanity shudders at the awful fate. of those who remained behind.

It is almost as incredible as it is appalling, that in so narrow a stream as the Alabama river, forty-two persons should have perished!  Mr. Cargill jumped over-board, and saved himself by swimming to the bank, but having become entangled in the canes which thickly lined the margin of the water, was in imminent danger of being devoured by the flames before he could extricate himself. Mr. Jno. West, of Lumpkin, Ga., was at the time of the fire, with six negroes, whom he was bringing from Texas, home; being unable to swim, and conscious that the more awful death of burning, awaited him, if he tarried on board but a moment, he jumped off at the stern with his negroes, four of whom were swept off and drowned, but he with the remaining two clung to the rudder, and though the flames of the wreck, blazed and rioted just over their heads, yet by dipping themselves continually under the water, rising only if was necessary to take breath, like the Hebrew children of old. They came at last unscathed. There were on board over hundred passengers. The Orline St. John was one of the largest boats on the river, second in size only to the Emperor, yet Mr. Cargill assures us, that in less than two minutes, after the first alarm, every portion of the boat, from the flagstaff, to the rudder, was hopelessly encompassed in the flames.

The Hayneville Chronicle of Hayneville, Alabama, reported on March 16, 1850, that on board “There were two California merchant who had just returned, having with them nearly $500,000 in gold, which I think will be lost, as the boat has this morning floated off in deep water and sank. … There was also $16,000 in California dust in the safe, and I think the actual loss is not far from $600,000. The Captain did all in his power, but no earthly power could have done anything under the circumstances.”

What happened to the gold? There was a later newspaper account that reported the steamer’s captain returned to the site of the sunken steamer with a “diving bell” to recover the boat’s safe and strongboxes. Whether he was successful was not reported. There is a whole world of accounts of the Orline St. John and accounts of searching for its treasure. This column only scratched the surface.

I had dug into this story years ago with Carolyn Kaye and the late Sam Kaye. Last week, Carolyn sent some additional newspaper clippings and suggested it was time to do a column.

Rufus Ward is a local historian.

Rufus Ward is a Columbus native a local historian. E-mail your questions about local history to Rufus at [email protected].

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