Tyler may be remembered as many things, an unrepentant pro slavery man, the last vestige of ante bellum southern society, a traitor to the country, but there was one thing he was good at, and that was entertaining.
Sadly, even though this was his strength, it's also something that he's negatively remembered for.
On the deck of "The Peacemaker", a massive warship, John Tyler threw a party for a bunch of diplomats, senators and much of his cabinet. The party was kicked off by having the Peacemaker fire off a bunch of rounds from its huge 12 inch diameter cannon.
After the guests had watched the display for an hour or so, they went below deck for dinner and more champagne (Tyler's favorite drink)
After more merriment, Tyler gave several toasts and then the dinner was started. A while later, they noticed they were passing Mount Vernon and requested a final gun salute to George Washington. As if from some novel, the Captain of the ship initially refused saying "No more guns tonight", but the Secretary of Navy pulled rank and insisted that there would be more guns that night.
As you can imagine, something horrible happened. The massive cannon exploded, killing the secretary of Navy, a couple members of Tyler's cabinet, a diplomat and the father of his future bride to be (30 years younger than him) who was in attendance (Tyler comforted her in her grief and they later married)
Tyler was spared from the explosion because he stayed below deck to listen to a song his son in law was signing.
Amazingly, this wasn't the low point in history of Tyler's career. That would come later where he actually joined the confederacy in betrayal of his country.
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