There have been three naval military disasters where the loss of life was greater than the 1,500 lives lost in the sinking of the Titanic. The stories are incredible. Over the next three programmes I’ll talk about them, beginning with the riverboat sinking on the Mississippi River in 1865 just as the American Civil War drew to a close – the worst maritime disaster in American history.

Tag words: Titanic; American Civil War; Andersonville; Yankee prisoners; Dr John M Howell; Griggs Holbrook; Secretary of War; Edwin M Stanton; General William Tecumseh Sherman; Confederate; Charleston Harbour; Captain Henry Wirz; Jefferon Davis; Old Capitol Prison; Cahaba; Alabama River; Vicksburg; Mississippi River; Camp Fisk; Sultana; Memphis; 23rd Arkansas Cavalry; Franklin Hardin Barton; shipwreck; President Lincoln; John Wilkes Booth;