1866 HANDWRITTEN MANUSCRIPT LETTER DISCUSSING THE HURRICANE AND SHIPWRECK OF THE FAMED PADDLE-WHEEL STEAMER THE EVENING STAR TO HIS BROTHER ABOARD THE CUSHING

On offer is a super maritime letter handwritten by Fred O. Hichbe of Stockton, Maine, Nov. 4, 1866, 2-1/2 pp, 8vo. He writes to his brother Will who is a sailor aboard a ship called the Cushing [Fred's father may well be the Captain as Fred relates details the Father has passed on regarding the difficulty of the voyage], probably an officer who suffers the hurricane that caused the famous loss of the paddle steamer Evening Star which Fred relates to Will as it appears Will was on the same route from New York to New Orleans. HISTORICAL NOTE: Early on the morning of October 3rd, 1866, the paddle-wheel steamer, Evening Star, en route from New York City to New Orleans, went down in a ferocious hurricane off the Atlantic Coast. At the time, it was the biggest marine disaster in America's history. Of the 278 passengers and crew that shipped with her, only 17 survived. The passengers included an incredible mix of Civil War veterans, business men, families, circus performers, magicians, entertainers, a full French opera and ballet troupe, and, (depending upon which newspaper report you read), from twenty-five to ninety-five young courtesans, also en route to New Orleans, where they were to become members of two newly established houses of ill-fame. VG