Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection And Insurance Company Podcast

Welcome to the Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company podcast. As Hartford Steam Boiler approaches it’s 150 anniversary in 2016 we’re commemorating The Sultana steamboat disaster that occurred 150 years ago on April 27, 1865. The explosion of 3 of the ship’s 4 boilers and the tragedy that ensued is one of the pivotal events that motivated our founders to start HSB, with the mission of preventing accidents like this in the future. The 376 person capacity vessel was carrying 2,400 passengers - the majority were Union soldiers released from Confederate prisoner of war camps in Andersonville and Cahaba who were finally going home. More than 1,700 men, women and children died. The Sultana remains America's largest maritime disaster, greater than the legendary sinking of The Titanic. But, because of the timing and circumstances at the end of the Civil War - a week after the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, a day after the shooting of his assassin John Wilkes Booth - The Sultana Disaster