Note 156 — Chapter III
Reading edition
Between 1816 and 1848 no less than 233 steam-boats employed on American waters exploded, some of them involving terrible disasters, the lowest number during that period being one annually, but sometimes there were as many as ten, twelve, and thirteen in the course of a year. The loss of life in each accident averaged eleven persons, being a total of 2563 human beings killed, besides 2097 persons wounded. In one terrible explosion, that of the Louisiana, on the New Orleans levee, nearly 200 persons lost their lives. See St. Louis Republican and Insurance Reporter (U.S.A.).