Disaster on the Potomac: The Last Run of the Steamboat Wawaset

For passengers of the steamboat "Wawaset," August 8, 1873, began with a pleasant cruise from Washington, D.C., down the Potomac River. As the Wawaset came into sight of a small Virginia landing, fire broke out below decks, and frantic passengers leapt from the flames only to be pulled down by the swift waters. Author Alvin F. Oickle puts a human face to the tragedy as he profiles some of the seventy-five who perished, among them young mother Alethea Gray and six members of the Reed family. With a fast-paced style and firsthand accounts, Oickle masterfully narrates the last run of the "Wawaset" against the backdrop of a tense post Civil War society.

Product details

• Authors: Alvin F. Oickle
• Publisher: The History Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 01.11.2009
• EAN: 9781596298132
• ISBN: 978-1-59629-813-2
• No. of pages: 128
• Dimensions: 150 mm x 226 mm x 10 mm
• Weight: 227 g
• Series: Disaster
• Subject: Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous