{"product_id":"book-nfdo","title":"America’s Worst Maritime Disasters: The History of the Deadliest Shipwrecks in American History","description":"\u003cp\u003eThere have been countless numbers of shipwrecks over the course of history, but few have had as great an impact as the sinking of the SS \u003cem\u003eCentral America \u003c\/em\u003ein a hurricane in September 1857. The California Gold Rush was in full swing, state of the art steamer ships were used to transport the discovered gold back east, and the \u003cem\u003eCentral America \u003c\/em\u003ewas one of them. On its fateful voyage, the ship was carrying nearly 600 passengers and a huge haul of up to 20 tons of gold worth an estimated $2 million at the time. The loss of life was a big enough calamity, but the \u003cem\u003eCentral America \u003c\/em\u003ehad gone down with so much gold that it scared the American public, which was already beginning to deal with a financial downturn that culminated in the Panic of 1857. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhile it might have generated the type of publicity and reaction of the Johnstown Flood of 1889 or the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 under normal circumstances, the explosion and sinking of the \u003cem\u003eSultana \u003c\/em\u003eon April 27, 1865 has become something of a historical footnote. Perhaps the cruelest irony of the disaster is that the \u003cem\u003eSultana \u003c\/em\u003ewas packed full of men who had survived every conceivable trial and tribulation of the war, from wounds and sicknesses to being prisoners. Having lost hundreds of thousands, America was almost numb to the loss of a couple of thousand more, especially when many of the dead were soldiers themselves, and in a sense, it was left for future generations to try to unravel what went wrong and to pay tribute to the men who died on that dark night.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOn June 15, 1904, an annual gala in New York City was held on the passenger ship \u003cem\u003eGeneral Slocum \u003c\/em\u003eas it steamed up the East River, with about 1,400 people from St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church. Consisting mostly of German immigrants, the boat was packed with women and children, and when a small fire started on the ship shortly after the trip began, faulty equipment was unable to put it out.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Findaway World, LLC","offers":[{"title":"Audiobook","offer_id":49795246260528,"sku":"BDnfdo","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0879\/2784\/9264\/files\/732105-nfdo-Square.jpg?v=1746900025","url":"https:\/\/downpour.com\/products\/book-nfdo","provider":"Downpour","version":"1.0","type":"link"}