David White (steamboat)

David White was a Mississippi River steamboat that exploded her boilers opposite Port 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. Built in 1859 in Louisville, during the American Civil War she served in the Mississippi River Marine Brigade and was worth about $45,000.