Sultana Steamboat Disaster Commemorative Coin Act of 2021

On April 27, 1865, the Sultana, a Mississippi River paddlewheel steamboat, exploded killing nearly 1,200 of the 2,137 passengers and crew on board. Based on the number of recorded casualties, this event is the worst maritime disaster in United States history.

The Sultana was launched on January 3, 1863, and was built for speed and capacity. Its four tubular, fire-tube boilers could generate twice as much steam per fuel load as conventional fuel boilers at that time. However, these advantages came with shortcomings in safety. In a tubular boiler system, the water levels had to always be maintained. Any slight dip in the water would cause sediment build up around the boilers or lead to hot spots on the boilers leading to metal fatigue. Both occurrences greatly increased the risk of explosion. Additionally, the Sultana was built with highly flammable lightweight wood that was covered with paint and varnish. The likelihood of any such explosion would be devastating.

Those aboard the boat were mostly paroled Union soldiers having been taken prisoners of war and sent to the notoriously overcrowded Confederate prisons of Cahaba in Alabama and Andersonville in Georgia. These men largely hailed from the States of Ohio, Tennessee, Indiana, Michigan, Kentucky, and West Virginia. The POWs that survived these prisons at the end of the Civil War in April 1865 were marched to Vicksburg, Mississippi, for their return north.

The Union army was paying the Sultana’s captain $5 for each enlisted man and $10 for each officer taken aboard. The Sultana originally was only built for a capacity of 376 people, and now found itself crowded with 2,137 people.

Bound for Cairo, Illinois, and forcing itself against the strong Mississippi River current, the Sultana was ten miles upriver from Memphis, Tennessee, at 2 a.m., when the strained boilers exploded. Many were killed instantly by the explosion; many others were killed by fire, falling timbers, shrapnel, searing steam from the boilers, and drowning.

The remains of the Sultana took about twenty minutes to burn to the waterline and resting in the mud on the Arkansas-side of the Mississippi River. It is believed to be buried today under twenty feet of soil beneath a soybean field near Marion, Arkansas, in Crittenden County.

Many of the dead were buried in Memphis cemeteries. Bodies of the deceased that could be identified were taken home where cemetery markers pay tribute.

The Sultana disaster was overshadowed in the press by other major events surrounding the end of the American Civil War, including the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln on April 15, 1865, and subsequently, the killing of President Lincoln’s assassin, John Wilkes Booth, on April 26, 1865, just one day before the Sultana disaster.

A small group in Marion, Arkansas, formed the Sultana Historical Preservation Society and opened a modest museum in 2015. The Society, a 501(c)(3) organization, is now planning a new Sultana Disaster Museum to be located in the center of the City of Marion, at the site of the original Marion Public School gymnasium, a Works Progress Administration era building opened in 1939.

The commemorative coins will contribute to additional funding for the future Sultana disaster museum, while recognizing and remembering this historical tragedy and those who perished in the explosion.

Denominations— In recognition and remembrance of the tragedy of the Sultana Steamboat explosion of 1865, which is the greatest maritime disaster in United States history, the Secretary of the Treasury (hereafter in this Act referred to as the “Secretary”) shall mint and issue the following coins:

Legal tender— The coins minted under this Act shall be legal tender, as provided in section 5103 of title 31, United States Code.

Numismatic items— For purposes of sections 5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all coins minted under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic items.

Selection— The designs of the coins minted under this Act shall be—

Quality of coins— Coins minted under this Act shall be issued in uncirculated and proof qualities.

Period for issuance— The Secretary may issue coins, to the public, minted under this Act only during the 1-year period beginning on January 1, 2023.

Sale price— The coins issued under this Act shall be sold by the Secretary at a price equal to the sum of—

Marketing and educational campaign— The Secretary shall develop and execute a marketing, promotion, and educational program to promote the collecting of the coins authorized under this Act.

In general— All sales of coins minted under this Act shall include a surcharge as follows:

Distribution— Subject to section 5134(f) of title 31, United States Code, all surcharges received by the Secretary from the sale of coins issued under this Act shall be promptly paid to the Sultana Historical Preservation Society, Inc., for the purpose of establishing and maintaining a new Sultana disaster museum.

Audits— The surcharge recipient under subsection (b) shall be subject to the audit requirements of section 5134(f)(2) of title 31, United States Code, with regard to the amounts received under subsection (b).

Limitation— Notwithstanding subsection (a), no surcharge may be included with respect to the issuance under this Act of any coin during a calendar year if, as of the time of such issuance, the issuance of such coin would result in the number of commemorative coin programs issued during such year to exceed the annual commemorative coin program issuance limitation under section 5112(m)(1) of title 31, United States Code (as in effect on the date of the enactment of this Act). The Secretary of the Treasury may issue guidance to carry out this subsection.

minting and issuing coins under this Act will not result in any net cost to the United States Government; and

no funds, including applicable surcharges, are disbursed to any recipient designated in section 7 until the total cost of designing and issuing all of the coins authorized by this Act (including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, winning design compensation, overhead expenses, marketing, and shipping) is recovered by the United States Treasury, consistent with sections 5112(m) and 5134(f) of title 31, United States Code.