Burning of the Henry Clay Near Yonkers–While on Her Trip From Albany to New York on Wednesday Afternoon July 28th, 1852.–The rapid spread of the flames forced the passengers into the water. Mothers and children, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters were drowned together, whilst trying to save each other. Little children buffetted the waves in vain for a few moments, and then sunk to rise no more. Persons on board about 500 of which number nearly 100 are supposed to have perished.
Medium
Hand-colored lithograph
Dimensions
Image: 7 9/16 × 13 1/2 in. (19.2 × 34.3 cm) Sheet: 10 1/16 × 14 15/16 in. (25.5 × 38 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of Adele S. Colgate, 1962
Accession Number
63.550.101
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the summer of 1852, struck the Hudson River when the steamboat *Henry* caught fire near Yonkers during its voyage from Albany to New York Nathaniel Currier's hand-colored lithograph vividly captures the chaos: flames engulf the vessel as passengers leap into turbulent waves, with mothers clutching children and families desperately trying to save one another. Of the roughly 500 aboard, nearly 100 perished making it one of the era's most harrowing maritime disasters and sparking public outcry over steamboat safety regulations. Currier, a pioneering American lithographer and co-founder of the...