James T. Lloyd's Steamboat Directory and Disaster on the Western Waters was the first general reference available on the subject of American riverboats. Published in 1856, few histories on steamboating were as deep and as broad as Lloyd's book. By his own admission, Lloyd's work was the first to detail the "full accounts of all the steamboat disasters since the first application of steam down to the present date."
This edition reproduces Lloyd's book in its entirety and contains a new introduction that will provide newly interested readers of steamboat history with a general overview of steamboating on the western waters during Lloyd's time. The new introduction includes background information on the structure of western steamboats, steamboat personnel, steamboat passengers, and the nature and causes of steamboat disasters.
Long out of print, Lloyd's directory will be a valuable reference guide for steamboat enthusiasts, students of American history, librarians, archivists, local historians, and those interested in inland waterway travel and transportation history.
