Another version of the newspaper article describing the wreck.
HANNIBAL JOURNAL AND WESTERN UNION
Hannibal, Mo.
December 04, 1851

STEAMBOAT ACCIDENT
The Die Vernon and Archer came in collision about 2 o’clock Thursday morning, at Enterprise Island, five miles above the mouth of the Illinoit (sic) river. The latter boat was cut down to the water’s edge, and sunk in less than twenty minutes, to her cabin floor, the boat and cargo a total loss.
Report says that twenty-five to thirty lives were lost---all deck hands and deck passengers on the Archer. Ten persons, women and children of two families are missing. The captain of the Die Vernon and the officers of the Archer are unable to say how many, and perhaps the exact number never will be known.
The Archer has no cabin, and therefore had of course, few or no passengers above the first deck. The officers are all safe. The Die Vernon sustained little or no injury, and after laying by the wreck for four hours, rendering every assistance, arrived in port shortly after daylight on Thursday morning.
The accident is said to have been entirely accidental, and blame can be attached to no one.
For a version of this unhappy occurrence, we refer to the statements of the pilots of the boats, below.
We have ascertained the names of the following persons lost:
Deck Passengers
James Smyers, Sen., James Smyers, Jr.,
Jane Smyers Margaret Ann Smyers
Mary Smyers Sarah Smyers
Caroline Smyers Ellen Smyers
Susan Dick
An Irish family, consisting of seven or eight persons; an American of three or four, and five or six other deck passengers, all drowned.
Ten of the deck hands and firemen belonging to the Archer are also missing—killed or drowned.
The clerk of the boat has not the names of any of the deck passengers registered, and having lost the book containing the names of the deck hands and firemen, is unable to give even these. He thinks the total number missing may be safely set down at twenty-eight to thirty.
Mr. Blakesley, the pilot of the Die Vernon, says, when I first saw the Archer I was at the head of Enterprise Island the Archer being then about half way between two islands. Seeing the boat coming, I immediately rang my bell, giving two taps, as a signal that I would keep my boat to the left. I heard no answer. I then worked the bat slow, still holding on in the same position as indicated by my signal. At this point I heard from the Archer to stop her – my boat. I immediately commenced backing my boat, when after three revolutions back the two boats came in collision.
Such is the statement of Mr. Blakesley, and it is proper for us to say that those statements were made in the presence of both these gentlemen, and no exception was taken to them by either party.
Samuel Smyers, the unfortunate boy, twelve or thirteen years of age, and Miss Sarah Dick, a lone and unprotected female, survivors from the wreck of the ill-fated Archer, are now in the city, probably destitute of means, and several hundred miles from their friends. Would not the cause of humanity be served by a contribution from our citizens, sufficient to defray their expenses to their friends in Pennsylvania? The boy Smyers has lost his father, mother, and five brothers and sisters and every article of furniture and clothing possessed by his parents. Miss Dick was taken from the wreck in her night clothes, and is entirely destitute. Her sister-in-law, and perhaps brother, were both drowned. We bespeak for these unfortunates a donation sufficient to send them to their friends.
In reference to the unfortunate event recorded above we have just conversed with the pilots of both boats, viz: Mr. L. B. Goll, the pilot of the Archer, and Mr. Willis Blakesley, the pilot of the Die Vernon. Their statements are as follows:
Mr. Goll, the pilot of the Archer, says tht his boat was ascending the river, the time being about half-past 1 A.M., when he discovered the Die Vernon coming down at the head of Enterprise Island. He attempted to ring his bell, to give the descending boat the usual signal, when, finding the bell foul and not ringing, he became afraid to meet the descending boat in the middle of the river. I then called on the mat of the Archer to clear the bell, and while he was so doing I attempted to run by boat out of the regular channel to avoid a collision. At this moment the descending boat struck us. Mr. Goll states further, that when he found the bell defective, and the signal could not be made, he then adhered to the old established rule, claiming the shore or upper bar for his boat. He says, moreover, that the confusion on board his boat, and the escarpment being very loud and close to the pilot house, totally precluded him from hearing any requests made by the descending boat. – St Louis Times