Steamboat Crash

On Monday evening last, about eight o'clock, the steamers Nathaniel Holmes, bound from Pittsburgh to St. Louis, and the David Gibson, from New Orleans for Cincinnati, came in collision a short distance below Petersburg, Ky., and two miles above, and in sight of Aurora, with such force as to sink the former instantly, and the latter in a few minutes. The Holmes had a heavy cargo of nails, iron, and general merchandise. The Gibson had over six hundred hogsheads sugar for Cincinnati.

The night was dark, and the wind was blowing violently when the collision occurred, and it is supposed that smoke obscured the lights so that neither pilot saw the approaching boat until too near to prevent the accident. The Holmes was cut in pieces and sunk instantly. The Gibson swung around and was run for the shore, but before reaching it she sank, the cabin floated off.

The Daily Press, Cincinnati, Ohio, March 30, 1859