That Time A Cannon Blew Up And Decapitated A Navy Secretary

USS Princeton was a state-of-the-art death machine. She could travel faster than any other steamship thanks to the first of a kind propeller. She was meant to be as deadly as she was fast, armed with two 12-inch, 225-pound wrought iron guns called the Peacemaker and the Oregon. President Tyler, below deck, proposed a toast to the three great guns: the Princeton, her Commander and the Peacemaker. The third round proved deadly. In the worst peacetime disaster of its time, the cannon exploded, killing several aboard, including Julia’s father and two members of Tyler’s cabinet including the Secretary of the Navy. Tyler was halfway up the ladder to the upper deck when the explosion occurred. Julia Gardiner fainted when she heard of her father’s death.