Robert Gudmestad

And the Sultana was a well-known boat.

It was a passenger boat.

It was very famous.

And then during the war, it was used as a cargo boat that the U.S.

put into service a lot of steamboats that were carrying cargo for Union soldiers.

You know, ammunition and food and clothing, that kind of thing.

So the Sultana had long been used by the federal government as a transport.

mainly for war material instead of people.

But they're trying to get these men home.

So they're going to go upriver from Memphis.

And that's one of the reasons they pack these guys, the soldiers, onto the boat because they want to get as many home as quickly as they can.

Yeah.

Not paying any attention to any kind of safety codes.

And the boat actually started to tip because there are so many soldiers on it.

And some people speculate that that's one of the reasons that caused the boat to explode is that it was tipping sideways and there was, again, a weakness in the boiler.

And then you have this explosion and massive, tremendous loss of life.

Yeah.

I don't see any lifeboats on those steamships I've seen pictures of.

No, no.

No, steamboats did not have lifeboats.