Disaster on the Potomac: The Last Run of the Steamboat Wawaset - Hardcoverby Alvin F. Oickle (Author) For passengers of the steamboat Wawaset, August 8, 1873, began with a pleasant cruise from Washington, D. C., down the Potomac River. As the Wawaset came into sight of a small Virginia landing, fire broke out below decks, and frantic passengers leapt from the flames only to be pulled down by the swift waters. Author Alvin F. Oickle puts a human face to the tragedy as he profiles some of the seventy five who perished, among