October 20, 2022
Brian’s new book examines the worst maritime disaster in the history of Long Island Sound.
Retired partner Brian O’Connor’s new book, Death by Fire and Ice: The Steamboat Lexington Calamity, was published October 15, 2022 by the U.S. Naval Institute Press.
The book tells the story of the steamboat Lexington that caught fire and sank on Long Island Sound in January 1840, with approximately 147 people on board. The tragedy remains the worst maritime disaster in the history of Long Island Sound.
Detailing the rise of steam navigation in the United States and the public outcry that followed the Lexington disaster, the book examines the debate in Congress during the nineteenth century over its power to regulate steamboat safety and the balance it struck between the need to insulate the nation’s shipping industry from liability for lost cargo while also protecting passengers.