Steamboats on Missouri rivers meant high profits because they moved more freight faster than the earlier pirogues, keel boats, and flat boats. Balanced against this lucrative trade was the capricious nature of river channels, with shifting channels, movement of silt and sand, and rapid variation in flow. Crumbling banks, fallen trees, or ice could sink boats in an instant.
One such loss was the steamboat Pawnee in Perry County on February 1, 1839. The Pawnee was a veteran craft on the river, and among other trips had moved volunteer troops to New Orleans during the Second Seminole War. Carrying passengers and freight, including lead from the mines to the west, the boat left St. Louis on January 27, 1839.
The boat reached St. Mary’s River at Chester, Illinois, on the 30th and proceeded to Waters Landing, where the captain deemed flow was too low to run at night. She continued to Bailey’s Landing east of Perryville and was sounding the channel when the stern caught on a gravel bar. The bow swung toward Illinois, and she was stuck. The crew offloaded lead to the Missouri side, and with exertion managed to swing the bow around. However, it caught on the bar and lay broadside on two anchors. Spars were set on the lower side and the crew continued heaving on both anchors and spars. After 8 p.m., ice floes began and increased all night. The next day, the steamboat Clyde arrived, pulled alongside, and made fast to the Pawnee’s bow. Two hours of pulling by the Clyde and heaving on the anchors by the crew failed to free her.
Passengers moved to shore and efforts continued on the spars and anchors, but ice accumulation on the upstream side hampered their efforts. Then, the crew bent three chains together, attached them to a rock on shore, and pulled. Ice accumulation interfered with the chain. Crewmen continued to attempt using the chain to move the boat for three days. Ice softened by February 7th, and the boat moved nearly its length.
Removal of additional freight, moderation of the weather, and building up a strong head of steam resulted in some movement by 4 p.m. on February 9. By 5 p.m. the boat had moved 30 yards, but again struck the bar. However, by 7 p.m. on the 9th, the captain noticed the guards at the hurricane deck were too low. He checked the hold and found two to three feet of water. Pumping began, and the captain, mate, and carpenter found a hole amidships on the larboard side. Cargo blocked the area, moving it revealed a hole large enough to thrust an arm through. The hole opened when the boat last hit the bar and struck a log or rock.
All available hands began moving furniture and the remaining cargo. Water filled the hold by 8 a.m. on the 10th, so the crew removed the engine, the boilers, chimneys, and as much remaining cargo as possible. The hull deemed a total loss, the officers sent for an official to file their protest.
The loss of the Pawnee was one of over 1000 steamboat wrecks on Missouri rivers: an estimated 300 steamboats on the Missouri River and 700 between Hannibal and Cairo. The Pawnee was fortunate, though, in that no one perished in the wreck.
