An unfortunate habit of steamboats
Steamboats revolutionized travel on the waterways of south Louisiana and did wonders for the economies of the places they visited. Unfortunately, one of their biggest drawbacks was that they had a marked tendency to blow up
Lloyd’s Steamboat Directory, and Disasters on the Western Waters, written in 1856, lists more than 200 steamboat disasters in the early 1800s, mostly on the Mississippi. But south Louisiana streams had their share, and 1845 seemed to be a particularly unfortunate year for Bayou Courtableau, the waterway that led to the old port of Washington.