David White (steamboat)
Mississippi River steamboat
David White was a Mississippi River steamboat that exploded her boilers opposite Point Chicot near Columbia, Arkansas (below Helena) on February 17, 1867. There were an estimated 50 to 65 fatalities. David White was racing Mollie Able at the time of the explosion.
David White was owned by H.G. Shaw, Charles Davis, and John Davis, who had been associated with the Coleman Scouts Confederate spy ring during the American Civil War; Shaw and John Davis were among those killed.
She may have been named for a prominent resident of Madison, Indiana, or a past owner based in St. Louis. David White was originally built as the John Raine. The John Raine was built in 1858 at New Albany, Indiana at the shipyard of Jacob Dowerman and Thomas Humphreys. Originally used for trade between Louisville and Wheeling, John Raine was later operated by the Lightning Line, running from Louisville to New Orleans. During the American Civil War she served in the Mississippi Marine Brigade and was worth about $45,000.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “David White (steamboat)” as mississippi River steamboat. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as mississippi River steamboat. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 23, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q122638979. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1867 and 1858.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
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Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “David White (steamboat)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.