Those old steamers were dangerous. There is a steamer that gives day and evening cruises out of New Orleans. You can learn a lot of steamer history while taking one of those cruises.
Mark Twain, in “Life on the Mississippi” writes about a similar disaster, caused when two brothers who were rival steamboat captains got into a race and one the boats’ boiler burst.
The original lyrics to “Oh Susanna!” contain a reference to a steamboat accident:
The bullgine bust, the horse ran off, I really thought I’d die;
I shut my eyes to hold my breath—Susanna, don’t you cry.
as well as less politically correct language. “Bullgine” was the sailors term for a steam engine.