SOME EIGHTY PASSENGERS traveling on the steamboat Henry Clay lost their lives the fateful afternoon of July 28, 1852. Among them were wellknown celebrates of their time, including the architect Alexander Jackson Downing. Speculation quickly arose that a race with a rival steamboat, Armenia, had been the true cause of the tragedy. Working from eyewitness accounts and court records, the author tells for the first time the full story of the catastrophe and its aftermath.