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This 1842 woodcut appeared in Dixons Letter - Supplement To G.W. Dixon's N. York Polyanthos courtesy Maryland Historical Society Steamboat Medora Explosion On the 14th of April 1842, a pleasant afternoon in Baltimore, the newly finished steamboat, Medora, was prepared for a trial run before being turned over to her prospective owners, the Baltimore and Norfolk Steam Packet Company. The Medora was built to ply the steamboat line between Baltimore, Maryland and Norfolk, Virginia. She was a beautiful side-wheel steamboat built in Baltimore, Maryland by the Virginia and Maryland Steam Navigation Company. Her boiler was built by Brown & Collyer. Her engine was built by John Watchman and The Watchman Fire Company. At 3 o'clock the Medora was in the Baltimore harbor at the south side of the basin at the wharf of the Establishment of John Watchman. At about half past three when the bell rung and her engine started, after only two revolutions of her paddles, her boiler exploded causing a tremendous loss of life which included 28 dead and 40 wounded. The following newspapers tell the story of the Medora explosion and list the many dead and wounded. Baltimore Republican & Argus April 15, 1842 Baltimore American & Commercial Daily Advertiser April 15, 1842 April 16, 1842 April 18, 1842 The Baltimore Sun April 15, 1842 April 16, 1842 April 18, 1842 April 19, 1842 April 20, 1842 April 21, 1842 April 22, 1842 April 23, 1842 April 25, 1842 April 26, 1842 April 27, 1842 April 29, 1842 Newspaper Reports in Other States Adams Sentinal & General Advertiser Gettysburg, Pennsylvania April  18, 1842 Republican Compiler Gettysburg, Pennsylvania April  25, 1842 Bangor Daily Whig & Courier Bangor, Maine April  19, 1842 Alton Telegraph & Democratic Review Alton, Illinois April  30, 1842 Other Accounts of the Medora Explosion The Chronicles of Baltimore... By Col. John Thomas Scharf 1874 © 2002 - 2004 by   D e e   H o r n e y   G a b l e r   for historical and genealogical purposes.