Unrecorded by BAL

(STEAMBOAT DISASTER.). [HALL, JAMES.]. Report of the Committee Appointed by the Citizens of Cincinnati, April 26, 1838, to Enquire into the Causes of the Explosion of the Moselle, and to Suggest Such Preventive Measures as may be best Calculated to Guard Hereafter Against Such Occurrences. Cincinnati: Alexander Flash, 1838. 1st ed. 8vo. 76 pp. Frontispiece plate. Removed. Outer leaves soiled. $325.00

Rinderknecht 49728. "...affords a most awful illustration of the danger of steam navigation, when conducted by ignorant or careless men..." --from the report by James Hall, for the committee. Not noticed by BAL, although BAL does record contributions by Hall during the early 1840s to steamboat reports. The Moselle was a new steamboat on the St. Louis-Cincinnati route with a reputation for speed. It was destroyed on April 25, 1838, when all four of its boilers simultaneously exploded. The report contains a scientific discussion by John Locke on means of modifying steamboats to avoid such disasters. A rare, early Western report.