more people died on the Sultana than on the Titanic, which inspired hundreds of books, numerous documentaries, and one of the highest-grossing movies ever made. And the Sultana didn’t just fade from view over time; it was forgotten almost immediately. “Only a few days ago 1,500 lives were sacrificed to fire and water, almost within sight of the city,” a Memphis journalist lamented. “Yet, even now, the disaster is scarcely mentioned—some new excitement has taken its place.”
