America's deadliest maritime disaster barely made the news
In April 1865, the steamboat Sultana — legally certified to carry 376 passengers — held roughly 2,100 people, mostly just-freed Union POWs, when a boiler exploded on the Mississippi. At least 1,168 died, more than the Titanic. It happened days after Lincoln's assassination, and the story was buried beneath that bigger headline.
— Wikipedia contributors, Sultana (steamboat) — Historical record