Patrick Jennings Announced as General Session Speaker
The National Board announces Patrick Jennings, principal engineer for the Hartford Steam Boiler Insurance and Inspection Company, will address the 84th General Meeting April 27, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. His presentation is entitled, 150th Anniversary of the Sultana Explosion.
As a principal engineer, Mr. Jennings’ primary focus is on boilers and boiler-related technology. As a member of the engineering and standards team, he works with underwriting and claims to support insurance operations. In addition, he provides technical support to the inservice inspection organization.
Mr. Jennings has worked for Hartford Steam Boiler for three years. Before that he worked for a large boiler manufacturer and has 28 years’ experience in the industry. He sits on the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, Section I, subgroup for solar boilers; and contributes to other ASME boiler and pressure vessel subgroups and committees. He has a B.S. in mechanical engineering, is the author of 14 technical papers, has one patent, and maintains a National Board inservice commission.
Mr. Jennings is an expert on the Sultana tragedy, arguably the United States’ greatest maritime disaster, in which three of the steamboat’s four boilers exploded on April 27, 1865, and killed over 1,800 persons – most of whom were Union soldiers returning home at the end of the Civil War.