10. Greed crashed the Sultana
Wikimedia Commons
A great maritime disaster, this extraordinary moment in history rivals that of the Titanic. Aboard the Sultana, nearly 1800 people were killed when one of the boilers in the hull exploded. The tragedy struck due to the greed of the Captain. As the story goes, he agreed to transport Union POW that had been freed on his steam boat for a fee that was to be charged per passenger. To increase his profits, he overloaded the boat meant for less than 400 people. According to records, nearly 2500 people were on the boat when it begin to sink. In the photo, it’s pretty apparent there are a few too many people aboard.
