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Speaker 1: The Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. Hello,

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Speaker 1: and Welcome to this Day in History Class, a show

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Speaker 1: that shines a light on the ups and downs of

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Speaker 1: everyday history. I'm Gay Bluesier, and today we're looking at

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Speaker 1: one of the worst peacetime disasters in US history, including

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Speaker 1: the surprising effect it had on the sitting President's love life.

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Speaker 1: A quick warning, though, today's episode features descriptions of graphic violence,

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Speaker 1: including self harm, and maybe upsetting for some listeners. The

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Speaker 1: day was February twenty eighth, eighteen forty four. An American

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Speaker 1: naval canon exploded during a peacetime demonstration, killing six spectators

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Speaker 1: and wounding many others. The accident occurred on what was

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Speaker 1: essentially a pleasure cruise down the Potomac River, itching to

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Speaker 1: show off his recently completed warship, the USS Princeton. US

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Speaker 1: Navy Captain Robert Stockton had organized several afternoon excursions for

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Speaker 1: Washington's social elite. By February twenty eighth, he had already

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Speaker 1: taken out dozens of newspaper reporters and members of Congress

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Speaker 1: on earlier trips, but the cruise that day was meant

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Speaker 1: to be the grandest of all. The guest list included

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Speaker 1: none other than the President himself, John Tyler, as well

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Speaker 1: as former First Lady Dolly Madison, most of Tyler's cabinet,

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Speaker 1: a number of congressional leaders, and dozens of other important guests.

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Speaker 1: In total, nearly four hundred people boarded the Princeton that day,

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Speaker 1: and every one of them would later wish they hadn't.

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Speaker 1: President Tyler attended the event during a difficult time in

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Speaker 1: his life, both personally and professionally. He had ascended to

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Speaker 1: the presidency three years earlier, following the untimely death of

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Speaker 1: Whig President William Henry Harrison, to whom he had been

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Speaker 1: vice president, and while Tyler had hoped to secure a

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Speaker 1: full term in the presidential election that fall, he hadn't

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Speaker 1: made many allies during his time in office. In fact,

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Speaker 1: he had vetoed so many bills passed by the Whig

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Speaker 1: Congress that he was eventually kicked out of his own party.

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Speaker 1: He then tried going back to his old party, the Democrats,

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Speaker 1: but they didn't want anything to do with him either.

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Speaker 1: Tyler's status as a political pariah is likely part of

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Speaker 1: the reason he agreed to Stockton's cruise. Rubbing elbows with

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Speaker 1: a ship full of political dignitaries probably seemed like a

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Speaker 1: good way to reconcile with former allies and maybe win

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Speaker 1: some endorsements for the upcoming election. That said, Tyler seems

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Speaker 1: to have had more on his mind that day than

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Speaker 1: just politics. He was also looking for love. Following the

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Speaker 1: death of his wife, Letitia in eighteen forty two, Tyler

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Speaker 1: began courting Julia Gardner, the youngest daughter of a wealthy

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Speaker 1: New York lawyer, Colonel David Gardner. On the day of

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Speaker 1: the cruise, Julia had not yet responded the widowed President's

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Speaker 1: latest marriage proposal. It's possible Tyler hoped to tip the

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Speaker 1: odds in his favor with a big, fancy boat trip,

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Speaker 1: as he had not only invited Julia, but her father

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Speaker 1: an elder sister, as well as for Tyler's would be

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Speaker 1: love boat, the Princeton. It sailed under the command of

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Speaker 1: his friend and political supporter, Captain Robert F. Stockton. Since

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Speaker 1: eighteen thirty eight, Stockton had lobbied for the creation of

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Speaker 1: a new state of the art warship, a kind of

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Speaker 1: proof of concept for how to modernize the Navy. His

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Speaker 1: proposals had always been rejected by the higher ups in

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Speaker 1: his department, but after President Tyler backed the project, it

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Speaker 1: was full steam ahead. The goal was to build a

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Speaker 1: warship that would put the US on par with the

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Speaker 1: British Navy. To do this, Stockton recruited a renowned Swedish

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Speaker 1: inventor and engineer named John Ericson to help with the design.

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Speaker 1: The ship's construction began in Philadelphia in eighteen forty one

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Speaker 1: and was completed two years later. The final product was

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Speaker 1: every bit as innovative as Stockton had hoped. The average

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Speaker 1: warship of the day had clunky paddle wheels and an

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Speaker 1: exposed engine, features which not only limited the ship's range

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Speaker 1: but also made obvious targets for enemy fire. In contrast,

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Speaker 1: the USS Princeton relied on a set of screw propellers

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Speaker 1: powered by an engine that was safely concealed within the hull.

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Speaker 1: The one hundred and sixty four foot long warship had

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Speaker 1: another advantage as well. It was a hybrid. In addition

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Speaker 1: to its coal fired boilers, the Princeton could also be

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Speaker 1: run under sail. It even featured a collapsible smokestack meant

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Speaker 1: to reduce wind friction and boost its speed. However, Captain

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Speaker 1: Stockton and his team didn't stop at a revolutionary propulsion system.

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Speaker 1: They also equipped the Princeton with more firepower than any

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Speaker 1: other ship in the fleet. Two twelve inch wrought iron

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Speaker 1: cannons were placed on her deck. Nicknamed the Peacemaker and

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Speaker 1: the Oregon, the twin cannons had been specially designed to

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Speaker 1: launch cannon balls weighing more than two hundred pounds with

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Speaker 1: a downrange accuracy of nearly five miles. Tyler and his

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Speaker 1: cabinet had been promised a ship that would elevate the

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Speaker 1: country's naval power, and for a time it looked like

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Speaker 1: Captain Stockton had delivered just that. Of course, Stockton wasn't

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Speaker 1: satisfied with just a single warship. He wanted to get

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Speaker 1: enough funding to build a whole fleet of them, and

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Speaker 1: to get the nation's political elite on board with that idea,

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Speaker 1: he arranged three afternoon cruises down the Potomac. The most

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Speaker 1: important of these was scheduled for February twenty eighth, when

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Speaker 1: President Tyler and most of his cabinet members had agreed

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Speaker 1: to attend. The nearly four hundred guests were met by

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Speaker 1: Stockton at a dock in Alexandria, Virginia, at about eleven

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Speaker 1: o'clock that morning. They were welcomed by the Marine Corps band,

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Speaker 1: which played the Star Spangled banner on deck as everyone boarded.

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Speaker 1: It was a clear, sunny day, surprisingly warm for late February,

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Speaker 1: and everyone was in high spirits as the Princeton's set

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Speaker 1: sail toward Mount Vernon, the residence of former President George Washington.

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Speaker 1: Along the way, Captain Stockton entertained his guests by firing

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Speaker 1: two shots from the Peacemaker cannon. John Ericsson had argued

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Speaker 1: against firing the cannons that day, claiming they hadn't been

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Speaker 1: sufficiently tested and were still too dangerous to use. However,

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Speaker 1: Ericson wasn't on deck that morning, allowing Stockton to proceed

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Speaker 1: with the demonstration unimpeded. For the initial two shots, the

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Speaker 1: peacemaker performed perfectly. According to the New York Herald, Everyone

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Speaker 1: on board gasped and cheered as the cannonballs roared into

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Speaker 1: the distance, quote striking the water and rebounding five or

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Speaker 1: six times till the eye could no longer follow its progress.

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Speaker 1: Following the spectacle, Captain Stockton led his guests below deck

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Speaker 1: to enjoy a decadent meal of hand roasted fowl and

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Speaker 1: plenty of fine wine and champagne. At the table, President

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Speaker 1: Tyler offered a cheerful toast, saying quote to the three

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Speaker 1: big guns, the Peacemaker, the Oregon, and Captain Stockton. After lunch,

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Speaker 1: the band resumed playing, and an impromptu singalong began. At

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Speaker 1: some point during the reverie, it was suggested that a

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Speaker 1: third cannon ball should be fired in honor of George

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Speaker 1: Washington as the ship sailed past his old home at

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Speaker 1: Mount Vernon. Stockton was hesitant at first, but ultimately gave

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Speaker 1: in to the request. Most of the cabinet, several senators

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Speaker 1: and congressmen, and many of their wives too, gathered topside

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Speaker 1: on the Princeton's bow to watch the third firing. They

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Speaker 1: waited for President Tyler to join them, but when word

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Speaker 1: was sent that he'd been detained below deck, it was

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Speaker 1: decided to proceed without him. The onlookers stood behind Stockton

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Speaker 1: at the base of the Peacemaker as the gunners packed

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Speaker 1: it with roughly forty pounds of gunpowder and then loaded

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Speaker 1: it with a two hundred and twenty eight pound cannon ball.

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Speaker 1: As patriotic music swelled from below. The order was given

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Speaker 1: to fire, and a moment later the cannon exploded, fire

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Speaker 1: and molten iron flew across the deck in all directions.

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Speaker 1: When the thick smoke finally cleared, those who had survived

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Speaker 1: the blast found themselves surrounded by dead bodies and severed limbs.

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Speaker 1: One man's arm had been torn from his body and

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Speaker 1: launched across the ship, striking a woman in the head

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Speaker 1: and knocking off her bonnet, and the Secretary of the Navy,

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Speaker 1: the one who'd pressed the hardest for the third firing,

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Speaker 1: was found headless, decapitated by a shard of metal. In total,

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Speaker 1: six men were killed in the explosion, Secretary of the

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Speaker 1: Navy Thomas Glimmer, Secretary of State Able Upshure, Captain Beverly Kennon,

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Speaker 1: Attorney Virgil Maxie, Julia Gardner's father David Gardner, and President

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Speaker 1: Tyler's valet, an enslaved man named Armistead. Twenty others were

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Speaker 1: badly injured, including Captain Stockton, who suffered severe burns to

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Speaker 1: his arms and face. Surveying the horror all around him,

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Speaker 1: he reportedly shouted, my God would that I were dead too.

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Speaker 1: President Tyler had narrowly escaped death himself, as he was

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Speaker 1: reportedly halfway up the steps when someone below deck happened

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Speaker 1: to start singing one of his favorite songs from his youth.

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Speaker 1: Tyler hung back to listen and perhaps to flirt a

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Speaker 1: bit more with Julia Gardner, and that brief delay wound

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Speaker 1: up saving his life. The same could not be said

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Speaker 1: for Julia's father. Though the young socialite fainted when she

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Speaker 1: heard the news of his death, Tyler carried her off

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Speaker 1: the ship himself once it had docked, and had her

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Speaker 1: escorted back to the White House with him. The President

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Speaker 1: had already proposed marriage to Julia on several occasions, but

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Speaker 1: her mother had always dismissed the idea due to their

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Speaker 1: age difference. Tyler was a out thirty years her senior. However,

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Speaker 1: in a somewhat unsettling turn of events, the death of

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Speaker 1: Julia's father led her to view the president as a

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Speaker 1: kind of surrogate, albeit a romantic one. As she later

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Speaker 1: said herself, quote, after I lost my father, I felt

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Speaker 1: differently toward the President. He seemed to fill the place

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Speaker 1: and to be more agreeable in every way than any

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Speaker 1: younger man ever was or could be. And so four

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Speaker 1: months after the tragedy of the USS Princeton. Tyler and

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Speaker 1: Julia were married in a private ceremony in New York City,

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Speaker 1: making him the first US president to marry while in office.

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Speaker 1: Tyler never won the full presidential term he'd been after.

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Speaker 1: In fact, he didn't even run in the eighteen forty

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Speaker 1: four election. He had managed to cheat death, though, and

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Speaker 1: landed the girl of his dreams too, so he still

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Speaker 1: fared quite well all things considered. The same was true

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Speaker 1: for Stockton, who went on to serve in the Mexican

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Speaker 1: American War and was later elected as a Senator. An

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Speaker 1: investigation uncovered a flaw in the Peacemaker's construction that had

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Speaker 1: likely led to its explosion. Apparently, those who had forged

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Speaker 1: the cannon had incorrectly adapted a British hooping technique. When

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Speaker 1: a fixing iron rings to the cannon's exterior, When the

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Speaker 1: third shot was fired, the faulty hoops gave way and

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Speaker 1: the barrel was torn apart. Despite that damning evidence, no

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Speaker 1: one was held responsible for the explosion, and nobody lost

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Speaker 1: their job over it either. President Tyler had personally shielded

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Speaker 1: Captain Stockton from any blame, telling Congress that it wasn't

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Speaker 1: his fault, and that the tragedy was quote invariably incident

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Speaker 1: to the temporal affairs of mankind, or, to put it

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Speaker 1: another way, these things happen, say Levey. Of course, not

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Speaker 1: everyone was willing or able to move on from the event,

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Speaker 1: so cavalierly Commodore William Crane, for instance, was racked with

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Speaker 1: guilt for having signed off on Stockton's project. There were

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Speaker 1: no formal repercussions for his role in the Princeton's creation,

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Speaker 1: and perhaps that's what Crane found so galling. After all,

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Speaker 1: a mistake had been made, yet according to the federal government,

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Speaker 1: no one was responsible for making it. In the end,

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Speaker 1: Commodore Crane held himself accountable. In March of eighteen forty six,

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Speaker 1: he slid his own throat at his office in the

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Speaker 1: Navy Department. Many historians now count him as the final

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Speaker 1: victim of the USS Princeton disaster. I'm Gabelusier and hopefully

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Speaker 1: you now know a little more about history today than

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Speaker 1: you did yesterday. If you'd like to keep up with

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Speaker 1: the show, you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and

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Speaker 1: Instagram at TDI HC Show. He can also rate and

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Speaker 1: review the show on Apple podcasts, or you can write

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Speaker 1: to us directly by emailing This Day at iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks,

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Speaker 1: as always the Chandler Mays for producing the show, and

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Speaker 1: thanks to you for listening. I'll see you back here

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Speaker 1: again tomorrow for another day in History class