1844 USS Princeton Explosion

A champagne cruise, a gleaming warship, and a crowd of Washington power brokers waiting for the thunder of a new supergun. Moments later, the deck of the USS Princeton lay shattered, and five leading figures were dead. We take you from the political stakes of John Tyler’s embattled presidency to the engineering choices that made the Peacemaker cannon a ticking bomb, revealing how spectacle outran science and left a lasting scar on naval innovation.

We share how Tyler, cut off from his own party, turned to foreign policy to secure a legacy, and how Secretary Abel Upshur’s push for steam power and screw propellers birthed the ambitious Princeton. You’ll hear why John Ericsson’s methodical designs mattered—vibrating lever engines, anthracite-fired boilers, and shrink-fitted hoops on the Oregon gun—and how Captain Robert Stockton’s copycat Peacemaker skipped the hard parts, hiding slag, voids, and weak welds beneath a heavy barrel. The Mount Vernon salute becomes the episode’s hinge: a single blast that exposed the limits of 1840s metallurgy, the danger of rushed demos, and the cost of ego at the helm.

From state funerals and public shock to Congressional backlash and a freeze on steamship funding, we map the national fallout. The Franklin Institute’s investigation cuts through the fog with hard science, explaining why process and testing—not bravado—keep people safe and technologies credible. The Princeton’s legacy isn’t just a cautionary tale for naval historians; it’s a mirror for modern tech hype cycles, where big promises can overshadow materials, methods, and math. If you care about how bold ideas become reliable systems, this story belongs on your playlist.

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Special thank you to Lunarfall Audio for producing and doing all the heavy lifting on audio editing since April 13, 2025, the Murder of Christopher Meyer episode https://lunarfallaudio.com/

Transcript

Bigger Isn’t Always Better

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Being bigger is not always better. Oftentimes, being just big enough, or even maybe on the smaller size, is enough to get the job done. I mean, after all, those larger cannons have a tendency to explode prematurely, ending the party in disaster. Like what happened on the USS Princeton way back in 1844. So, what happened? I'm Andrew, and this is History's A Disaster. Today we're diving into the explosion on the USS Princeton way back in 1844. And tonight's episode is brought to you by Flippy Bands, the hot new craze sweeping the nation. You can stretch them, you can flip them, and they always come back to the same fun shape. Shapes like giraffes in iguanas. Flippy Bands. Fun not just for kids, but for adults too. John Tyler was the United States' 10th president. He was the accidental president. His excellency, as his numerous opponents would call him, he was not well liked by, well, most other politicians, including those of his own political party. Tyler was elected vice president in the 1840 election on the Whig Party ticket. He was the nation's 10th vice president under William Henry Harrison and would become president after Harrison died in office 31 days after taking the oath, making him the shortest serving president. His death, which was also the first death of a president in office, caused a bit of a turmoil in Washington. At the time, the Constitution wasn't very clear on what happens when a president dies. Does the vice president become the president or does he simply take on his duties? Well, that little debate was settled when Tyler took the presidential oath of office and set the Tyler precedent by which any future vice presidents would become the president on the death of the commander-in-chief. While he was connected to the Whig Party, he really didn't agree with most of their policies. Being a Southern aristocrat, and not gonna go further into that, he put the state's right to self-governance above the federal government. He wanted states to have more autonomy and the federal government to have less control over them. Something that didn't really align with the Whig Party agenda. This would all come to an ugly head after he vetoed two bills the Whigs were pushing pretty hard for. One bill that would re-establish a national bank, and another one concerning tariff legislation. After this, the Whigs kicked him out of the party. He was now a president without a party, and a cabinet that was stacked with Whigs that were all pissed off at him. He was just left with his Secretary of State Daniel Webster, who was still sticking by his side. With all of the turmoil going on, he knew he'd never get anything done domestically. But being bound and determined to leave his mark on history and hoping to get re-elected for a second term, he set his sights on foreign policy. Something he would go on to have success with. Tyler and Webster would settle the long-standing border dispute with British North America, now Canada. They also put the Sandwich Islands under U.S. protection from anyone who would attempt to colonize or subvert the island's native government, which would set the groundwork for the islands to eventually become the state of Hawaii. Daniel Webster played a crucial part in all of this. The only bit of contention between the two was the annexation of Texas. Tyler viewed the annexation as important and damn near vital to his re-election. Lebster? Not quite too sure about that. Texas allowing slavery was something of a problem for the northern states. So there was some concern about bringing Texas in. They would eventually agree that maybe Webster should step down, and he resigned in 1843. So Tyler appointed his Attorney General, Hugh Ligari, as interim Secretary of State, who died shortly after taking over. So next, he appointed Secretary of the Navy, Abel Upshur, to the role. While Upshur had no foreign policy experience, he was all in on annexing Texas and expanding the country's borders. While serving as Secretary of the Navy, he was given the task of modernizing and building up the Navy. A brutal task that would require reforming the way the Navy ran, along with building new and more modern steamships. Something the old-time Navy men were strongly against. Once he was able to get most of his plans approved through Congress, he got to work building more ships for the Navy and experimenting with ironclad ships. One of the most promising and highly endorsed projects was the USS Princeton. The Princeton would be the world's first ship to use screw propellers powered by two vibrating lever steam engines, which were fed by three iron boilers designed by the Swedish engineer John Eriksson. The ship was 164 feet long with a beam of 30.5 feet and a 17-foot draft with a total weight displacement of 672 tons. So it wasn't a very big ship, but while she had a steam engine, this was not her only method of movement. She was fully rigged for sale. The steam engine was used primarily as an auxiliary method or in conjunction with the sails to give it extra speed in combat. She had a collapsible smokestack that could be put up and down, although it did not need to be up for the steam engines to work. Ericsson had put in fan blowers to help with this, plus it burned anthracite, which made it nearly smokeless compared to other steamships of the time that burned coal and threw off a lot of smoke, which would also give it another edge in battle. Speaking of battle, she was armed with 1242-pound carronades, which are the short barrel cannons normally found on ships and made from wrought iron. And one really long gun, which was also designed by Ericsson. This gun was a smooth bore muzzle loader made of wrought iron and was built by the Mercy Ironworks in Liverpool, England. It could fire a 225-pound 12-inch shot 5 miles away using a 50-pound charge. To be able to withstand the amount of charge needed to fire this monster of a cannon, they shrank iron bands around the bridge to reinforce it. The Oregon gun, as ship captain Robert Stockton named it, Ericsson called it the Orator, was shipped to the United States in 1841, where it was tested, reinforced, and tested again until they were satisfied it was solid and wasn't going to blow up on them. And of course, even back in 1844, this is America. And what would be more American than having not one giant cannon, but two? Captain Stockton wanted a second long gun to be mounted on the ship. So he designed and built a second 12-inch muzzle loader he called Peacemaker in New York. And by design, I mean he completely copied most of the design of the Oregon gun. Because obviously, it had to be bigger, so he added almost a foot to the diameter of the barrel. And those wimpy little hoops around the breech, yeah, we don't need those, those have to go. We'll just make the breech thicker and weld a couple little bands on, and it'll be alright. Besides, it'll be made of fine American steel. Not that shady metal they got over there in England. All this would make the gun significantly heavier than the Oregon gun, and of course, nowhere near as strong. Stockton rushed the peacemaker's construction, which was done with older and less reliable forging techniques than the Oregon, and slammed it on the Princeton with barely test firing the gun to make sure it could handle the stress. Once the ship was launched in September of 1843, Stockton sailed it up and down the coastline between New York and Washington, showing it off as he threw lavish parties aboard her. He was extremely proud of his new ship he dreamed would be the first of a modern fleet he would lead. In January, the large guns were installed on the ship, so now he can really show the guests he was entertaining what the ship could do. In February, he threw more parties, firing off the Peacemaker to the astonishment of the partygoers as they sailed up and down the Potomac. The first three parties built up enough buzz about the Princeton around town that everyone wanted to see the new ship. So on the 28th, there was nearly 400 people lining up to take a trip down the Potomac aboard the Princeton. Among the guests was most of the nation's top dignitaries, including John Tyler, most of his cabinet members, Maryland Attorney Virgil Maxie, Captain Beverly Kennan, who was the chief of the Navy Bureau of Construction and Equipment, the Mayor of Washington, the Mexican Minister to the United States, Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton, John Tyler Jr. and William Waller, Tyler's son and son-in-law, New Hampshire Senator Levi Woodbury, New Jersey Congressman George Sites, and David Gardiner, a one-time senator from New York who belonged to one of the state's wealthiest and oldest families. He was accompanied by his two daughters, Julia and Margaret. As the ship went past Fort Washington in mid-afternoon, Stockton fired off the peacemaker to everyone's enjoyment before inviting them below decks. The cabins below deck were built with removable walls that could be taken off to form a huge dining hall. Long buffet tables loaded down with a vast assortment of food and drinks, including wine and champagne, awaited the guests. As they all ate and drank, the peacemaker was fired off again. Afterwards they partied and more wine was drunk. Most of the guests were starting to feel the effects of the free-flowing wine. As they neared Mount Vernon, Navy Secretary Thomas Gilmer asked the peacemaker be fired again as a salute to George Washington, which was a common tradition at the time. When the gun was primed and ready to go, most of the guests headed to the deck. President Tyler remained below along with others. On deck, Stockton took his place behind the cannon, which was pointed to the Virginia side of the Potomac, his foot on the bed of the gun. Upsher, Gilmer, Kennan, Maxie, and Gardner stood on the port side, within eight feet of the Peacemaker. Stockton pulled the cord, igniting the fuse, and there was a roar and billow of smoke. As it fired, the peacemaker blew up three feet in front of the breach. It sent chunks of wrought iron screaming through the air. The blasts destroyed 20 feet of bulwark along both sides of the cannon. Most of the guests on deck had no idea what happened. The thick smoke from the blast obscured the scene. It wasn't until the smoke thinned that they could see piles of dozens of men laid out on the deck, either dead or knocked unconscious from being so near the blast. Three of the bodies blackened by the smoke of powder belonged to Gilmer, Upshur, and Gardner. At least one of the chunks from the burst peacemaker weighing close to a ton had struck them down. Nearby were the bodies of Maxie and Kennan. Maxie had lost both arms and a leg in the blast. Senator Gardner and Commodore Kennan survived for 30 minutes after the explosion. Neither would end up surviving. Gardner was hardly breathing before he passed. Kennan's chest had been caved in and died of suffocation. Upsur and Gilmer, who were bleeding from the ears, died immediately. The bodies of the five men lying where they fell almost in a row, with the Secretary of State crumpled across Gilmer's extended left arm, were quickly covered with a flag that had been flying from the ship's rigging. Two of the ship's gunners and one of President Tyler's slaves was killed in the blast as well. Nine sailors and two officers were seriously injured and needed medical attention. Several guests were lightly injured with bruises, concussions, and temporary loss of hearing. Stockton managed to survive. None of the large chunks had hit him. However, his face and hands were badly burnt and he had taken some shrapnel to the leg. After he was taken to his cabin to get his wounds treated, he returned to take command of the situation. Within a half hour of the explosion, the steamer that had brought the guests to the Princeton arrived and started to take aboard the frightened and shaken guests. President Tyler and Stockton remained behind for several hours until all the bodies could be recovered and taken ashore, to the waiting crowds of hundreds that had gathered to try and catch a peek at the tragedy. The next day on the 29th, the bodies of the five dignitaries killed were laid out in the east room of the White House. At the president's order for a public memorial and state funeral, thousands came out to file past the open caskets to pay their respects and satisfy their morbid curiosity. The funeral procession left the White House at 11 a.m. on Saturday, March 2nd, marching along Pennsylvania Avenue. Shops and businesses in Washington, Alexandria, and Georgetown closed down, even though it was market day until the procession had passed. Thousands lined the streets to watch the procession as churches along the route tolled their bells. The horses carrying the victims' remains were followed by a battalion of Marines, a squadron of cavalry, a unit of light artillery, mounted and dismounted officer cadres from the Marine Corps, Army and Navy, and General Winfield Scott, commanding general of the army. The horses were arranged in order of the importance of the men whose bodies they bore. Secretary of State Upshur was given the place of honor at the front, followed by Gilmer, Kennan, Maxie, and then Gardner. Immediately following the hearses, again in order of importance, came the president and his cabinet, ex-presidents, House and Senate leaders, congressmen, Supreme Court justices, and so on. The procession's destination was the Congressional Cemetery, where the five men's remains were temporarily interred in a large public vault to the roar of artillery volleys. After the official ceremony, the families quietly arranged for reburial in private plots. In the days following the explosion, President Tyler, while still grieving the loss of his friends and colleagues, had to start damage control. There was enough opponents of the new technology that there was a fear this would be used to put a stop to his plans. Which was rightly so, since within the week, the House Committee on Naval Affairs put a stop to any funding of ships involving steam engines. He also needed to protect Stockton, issuing an official report claiming it was all just an unfortunate accident. An act of God, really. Stockton, still concerned with the hit to his reputation and fearing his dream of command had come to an end, asked that an official inquiry into the construction of the gun be done. He was trying to shift the blame off on someone else. Since, obviously, it had to be someone else's mistake, he couldn't have possibly fucked up. And of course, the inquiry ended up agreeing with this shithead and found him not to blame. After all, according to him, he was the true genius behind the entire design of the ship. That other Swedish guy, whatever his name is, had very little to nothing to do with it at all. In fact, he did so little, he shouldn't even be paid for all the work he put into the ship. And of course, since it meant saving money, Congress listened to that too. So, John Erickson, the true genius and designer of the ship and the architect of the world's first propeller-driven system, was shit out of luck when it came to getting paid. Given the inquiry's judgment, President Tyler followed it up with an order for another gun exactly like the one that blew up to be built under the direct supervision of Stockton. But Stockton's arrogance, and maybe a little bit of guilt, but my money's on arrogance, just could not leave shit alone. He asked the Franklin Institute to do their own investigation into the explosion. The Franklin Institute had the best scientists the country could offer. Their Committee on Science and Art took up the investigation. The committee was chaired by physicist John Henry, who did some pioneering work in electromagnetism. Other committee members were experts in the fields of engineering, metallurgy, and ballistics. They were extremely well qualified to conduct the investigation. After examining the remains of the gun and interviewing several people, including the owners of the foundry that built the peacemaker, they found several problems with the gun and that firing it would have been extremely dangerous. Obviously. They found that the foundry did not have hammers big enough to pound out impurities in a piece of iron that big, which meant there was still slag and air pockets inside the gun that would have seriously weakened its structural integrity. They also cited what hoops Stockton put on the gun just were not enough. Ericsson had heated and shrunk iron hoops onto his gun. This effectively fused them to the gun and would have stopped any cracks that happened. Stockton could not be bothered with all that and welded a few hoots to his gun and called it a day, which did absolutely nothing to stop cracks from forming. So they concluded that guns made to the same specification as the pacemaker should not be made. The technology to make something that big just did not exist yet. While they outright did not blame Stockton for anything, he took it personally. He'd spend the next several years commissioning wrought iron guns, trying to prove the institute wrong. He could not and would never accept any responsibility for the explosion. In 1845, the new pacemaker Tyler had ordered was completed. However, the Navy had such a distrust of it they never used it. It ended up on display at the Boston Navy shipyard. The other gun on the Princeton, the Oregon, was removed and never fired again. It went on display at the Naval Academy at Anneapolis. The explosion set back steamships and large cannons in the Navy by several years. And finally, the Princeton would go on to serve the Navy in routine naval duties. However, it gained a horrible reputation after the incident. So, six years after it was launched, it was completely dismantled when the ship's timber started to rot out from underneath it and sold for scrap. And that was the explosion on the USS Princeton. Thanks for listening, and if you like the show, please consider leaving a rating or review on your app of choice. And you can reach out to the show at history as a disaster at gmail.com with questions, comments, or suggestions, as well as following the show on social media Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, whatever. And share the episode. Your friends will love it. And as always, pen a penguin. Don't fire off a large untested cannon, especially around penguins. They don't like the noise. And chase that dream, live for today, because tomorrow is never guaranteed. Thanks and goodbye.