Eliza Battle
Marker: recorded wreck position (Date not recorded).
Key facts
| Name | Eliza Battle | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Ship type | steamboat, paddle steamer | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Nearest coast | United States | Natural Earth (public domain) |
| Position | 32.2436, -88.0124 | Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0) |
About the wreck
The Eliza Battle was a Tombigbee River steamboat that ran a route between Columbus, Mississippi, and Mobile, Alabama, in the United States during the 1850s. She was destroyed in a fire on the river near modern Pennington, Alabama, on March 1, 1858. It was the greatest maritime disaster in Tombigbee River history, with an estimated 33 people killed, out of roughly 60 passengers and a crew of 45. The disaster and its aftermath caused the Eliza Battle to enter southwestern Alabama folklore as a ghost ship, with numerous purported sightings of the burning ship from just north of Pennington to Nanafalia downriver. The story of the disaster and associated folklore has been fictionalized in several published short stories, most notably in "The Phantom Steamboat of the Tombigbee" in 13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey.
Location
- Recorded position: 32.2436, -88.0124 (Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0); may be approximate)
- Nearest coast: United States
Wreck positions on this site are for interest only and are not for navigation. Many wrecks are war graves or legally protected: never disturb human remains or remove artefacts, and check local law before diving.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Eliza Battle (revision 1370651286), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; condensed by selecting paragraphs; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.
Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).
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