home Visa Wreck of the ship "Eastland". American excursion steamer Eastland

Wreck of the ship "Eastland". American excursion steamer Eastland

"Eastland" (July 24, 1915)

An American excursion steamer, leaving the pier, capsized on board. The number of victims exceeded 1000 people.

Great Lakes located in the territory Canada And USA, including Lake Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie And Ontario, occupy almost a quarter of a million square kilometers. They are interconnected by rivers and artificial canals, water from Lake Superior and lakes Michigan flows into lakes Huron, Erie And Ontario, from there along the river St. Lawrence- V Atlantic Ocean . The Great Lakes are connected not only to the ocean, but also to rivers Hudson And Mississippi.

August 9, 1910 city newspaper Cleveland (Ohio) « Cleveland plain dealer" placed the following advertisement: " $5,000 reward offered! The steamship Eastland was launched in 1903. This is a steel ocean-going vessel. It has a length of 82 meters, a beam of 11 meters, and a draft of 4.3 meters. The vessel is equipped with two propellers driven by two powerful triple expansion steam engines, to which steam is supplied by four boilers; its ballast tanks hold 800 tons of water.

The material of which the steamboat is built, its type and its powerful engines make it the strongest, fastest and safest vessel for travel on the Great Lakes. All this is well known to those familiar with maritime affairs.

However, there are thousands of people who know absolutely nothing about ships, the laws and regulations of their operation, and their inspection by the United States Government. In order to intimidate these people, someone spread a rumor that the Eastland steamer allegedly could not be considered a safe ship.

Unfortunately, we do not know who spread such ridiculous rumors, but their purpose is clear to us. Therefore, as proof of our rightness and out of respect for the feelings of 400 thousand people who over the past four years have enjoyed walks on this floating palace (and without a single problem), we are offering the above award to anyone who introduces us to a marine engineer, shipbuilder, ship engineer or any other person of sufficient qualification who will express his opinion on the quality of our ship and declare that the steamer Eastland is not a seaworthy vessel and will not withstand any storm that may arise either on the lakes or on the ocean».

However, no one came for the promised reward. " Eastland" was still cruising the Great Lakes. Since its construction in 1903, this steamship has been considered the most beautiful, comfortable and fast ship on the Great Lakes. Residents of lakeside towns called it “ Queen of speed" It was an excursion steamer with a displacement of 1960 tons, with very sharp contours of the underwater hull. Despite the relatively low power of steam engines (1300 horsepower), it could reach a speed of up to 22 knots. Shipyard " Jenks Shipbuilding Company" V Port Huron built " Eastland", was very proud of him.

The ship was registered at the port Chicago, from where he made excursion day trips to the cedar cape on the lake Michigan or week-long trips to the lake Erie. Then his home port became Cleveland.

« Eastland"was especially popular among young people - there was a steam organ on the upper deck, under which, while sailing in good weather there were dances. There were legends about this organ; they said that in calm weather its sound could be heard 5 miles away.

During 1913 the owners of " Eastland“They sold 200 thousand tickets for it. The following year the ship returned to the lake Michigan. « Eastland" Commanded by the captain Harry Petersen. He completed the 1914 navigation, like all previous ones, without a single damage.

In the summer of 1915 " Eastland» was chartered for excursions on the lake Michigan by the company Western Electric Company».

At 7 a.m., Saturday, July 24, to the pier on the river Chicago, where moored " Eastland”, excursionists began to flock. These were mostly workers and company employees with children and friends. Almost all passengers carried baskets of picnic provisions.

The morning turned out to be sunny, matching the mood of the tourists. The departure was scheduled for 7:40 am. Despite the early hour, the sounds of ragtime were heard from the upper deck, masterfully performed on a steam organ by a famous musician Michigan.

The ticket cost only 75 cents. The board of the company allowed children under ten years of age to board the ship without a ticket. " Eastland"was designed to transport thousands of people during the daytime. Captain Petersen often took on board one and a half thousand, if the owners insisted on it. This time 2,500 tickets were sold.

Probably the captain Petersen I didn’t know about this, since the controllers didn’t keep a count of the passengers at the gangway. Of course, the captain saw that there were many more people boarding the ship than was normal, but he did not stop boarding. Thus, on " Eastland"there were 300 more passengers than " Titanic»...

« Eastland" stood at the river pier Chicago on the starboard side, a steam tug was moored at its bow, which was supposed to take it out of the river into the open space of the lake Michigan. The whistle sounded and the ship's sailors pulled in the gangplank. The captain stood in the doorway of the wheelhouse and was ready to give the command to the chief engineer Eriksen start the cars.

« Eastland" heeled more and more, people, losing their support, began to slide to the left side. Those excursionists who at that moment were below deck in the cabins were pressed against the longitudinal bulkheads, others ( they were the majority), who were standing on the upper decks, were knocked into heaps and pressed against the port side railings.

Hundreds of passengers remained in cabins and in the corridors of the lower decks. Almost everyone at the top was thrown into the water. Some managed to grab benches, boxes, and boards floating in the water in time. In the dirty water of the river Chicago people fought helplessly, they clung, bit, scratched and drowned each other.

« Eastland"continued to fall onto the left side. The strong hemp mooring lines, which never had time to be released, stretched like strings and tore the mooring bollards and shore bollards out of the ground. Finally, the steamer capsized on board, covering hundreds of people floating on the water.

A roar and hissing was heard - it was steam engines falling off the foundation, and water flooded the fireboxes. For several minutes the river in this place was covered with a white veil of steam. The hiss of steam and the whistle of air escaping from the interior drowned out the screams of people.

« Eastland"lay down on the left side on the river bottom. Only 6 minutes passed... And only after another 10 minutes did boats begin to arrive at the scene of the disaster water police and tugs. Police and fire trucks rushed to the pier. But they could only save those who were still floating on the water.

Became a real hero William Bright - captain of the ship " Missouri" Seeing that " Eastland" capsized on board, he took a taxi and rushed to the pier where the disaster occurred. Bright I couldn’t get through the crowd that had gathered on the embankment, so I went up to the second floor of the house that stood opposite the pier. From the window he saw that hundreds of people floating in the water could not climb onto the slippery side of the lying steamer. Among them there were many wounded and maimed. People drowned in front of rescuers. Bright leaned out of the window and shouted to the police: “ Take the ash from the fireboxes of the three tugs and pour it onto the right cheekbone of the Eastland"! After that, he called the nearest weaving factory: “ Urgently deliver fifty blankets to where the Eastland lies!“Ashes and blankets spread on the slippery side of the ship made it possible for many to crawl out of the water.

Rescue efforts did not last long. Everyone who was pulled ashore alive was given first aid or sent to the hospital.

IN Chicago mourning was declared. For many days, the corpses of the dead were fished out of the river and removed from the overturned hull. Eastland" Several hundred dead were pulled from the ship when acetylene was used to cut through its starboard side. Even more corpses were found when the ship was put on an even keel and the water was pumped out of it.

In the official press USA It was reported that the disaster claimed the lives of 835 people. But this is not true, since the indicated figure was announced in Chicago on the third day after the disaster. The ship was raised five days later, and several hundred more corpses were removed from it.

American investigative doctor from Chicago stated at a press conference that he personally counted 1,300 corpses in the city morgue. On July 25, 1915, the city's newspapers carried the following headlines: “2,100 people drowned when “ Eastland"capsized at the pier." " The ship had an increased center of gravity and began to collapse while still mooring at the pier». « All previous disasters did not end with such a number of victims!» « The history of Eastland is a history of mistakes and failures!»

Disaster " Eastland" is the biggest disaster in the history of shipping on the Great Lakes, and it is no coincidence that American historians call this ship " Titanic» Great Lakes.

When the steamer was lifted from the bottom of the river, for some time they did not know what to do with it. Finally, the Americans decided to convert it into a reserve training ship navy USA, and called " Wilmette"It served until 1946.

Twenty years after the disaster, the American press shed some light on the true cause of death " Eastland" August 7, 1935 newspaper " American Press" published the following message: " Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a ruling by a visiting court that the St. Joseph Chicago Steamship Company, former owner of the steamship Eastland, which sank on the Chicago River on July 24, 1915, was not responsible for the deaths in the disaster. The court finds that the ship was seaworthy, but responsibility fell on the engineer who negligently filled her ballast tanks incorrectly».

←

There are problems when only semejnyj-yurist.ru can help. Sometimes life forces you to file for deprivation of parental rights, divorce, or deprivation of property. Life is a cruel thing and sometimes the solution to a problem should be entrusted only to a professional.

One of the most major shipwrecks on inland waters in US history occurred on the Chicago River, Illinois. On July 24, 1915, the steamship Eastland capsized, killing approximately 850 people. The photo shows the ill-fated overturned ship.

At 7:18 a.m. on July 24, 1915, the crew of the excursion steamer Eastland was preparing to set sail. The crew tightened the gangplank, forcing late passengers to jump aboard directly from the dock on the Chicago River.

Despite the cool, damp weather, the 2,573 passengers and crew crowded on board the Eastland and the atmosphere was festive. Late passenger E.V. Sladky headed to the promenade deck to join colleagues at Western Electric Company's Hawthorne Works plant in the nearby town of Cicero. The Eastland was one of five ships chartered to transport Western Electric workers and their families on a day trip from downtown Chicago to the park, 38 miles (about 60 kilometers) across Lake Michigan to the southeast. More than 7,000 tickets were sold.

Among the passengers aboard the Eastland were George Sinelar, a Western Electric foreman, and his wife and five children. James Novotny, a company cabinet maker, with his wife and two children. Anna Quinn, 22, and her neighbor and colleague at Western Electric clerk Caroline Homolka, 16, carefully selected their outfits. After all, that day was a very important event of the year for many of the young workers. Not only a rare Saturday off, a break from the production and installation of telephone equipment, but also an opportunity to meet other young single employees.

The Eastland was scheduled to depart first, so passengers were told to arrive early. A few minutes after 7 a.m., men, women and children were seated at a rate of 50 per minute. Two federal inspectors monitored the landing and kept a count of passengers. “Eastland,” according to documentation, was designed for 2,500 people plus crew. A light rain began and then many women, especially with children, came down from the decks. An orchestra was playing in the wardroom and people were dancing. On the upper deck, passengers were walking around looking for free sun loungers, some leaning on the deck railings and greeting their arriving friends.

Between 7.10 and 7.15, the Eastland, filled with passengers, began to list away from the pier. This phenomenon did not bother those on the ship, but attracted the attention of the port captain and some people standing on the pier. A couple of moments later, the 83-meter ship tilted even more.

At 7:23 a.m. the ship continued to roll away from the pier. Water entered through open passages into the engine room. There the crew realized what was happening and quickly climbed the stairs to the upper deck.

At 7:28 the ship tilted 45 degrees. The piano on the promenade deck rolled toward the wall, almost crushing two women, and the refrigerator crushed one or two girls and pinned it to the wall. Water poured through open portholes into the cabins below deck. The most terrible disaster in the history of the Great Lakes, it was to claim more lives than the sinking of the Titanic and Louisiana.

Few of the passengers knew that the Eastland had full set lifeboats, rafts and life jackets. Everything is according to the law. But this is precisely what created a serious danger.

Istria's sinking of the Titanic in 1912 sparked an international "lifeboat for all" campaign among maritime safety officials. The US Congress passed a law requiring the presence of lifeboats for 75 percent of passengers, and in March 1915, US President Woodrow Wilson signed the famous La Follette Maritime Act.

While the legislation was being debated, the chief executive officer of the Detroit & Cleveland Navigation Company said that some shallow-draft vessels on the Great Lakes could capsize if overloaded near their upper decks. But few people heard him...

The Eastland, originally designed for 6 boats, was equipped with 11 lifeboats, 37 life rafts (about 500 kg each) and a large number of life jackets (about 3 kg each). All this was designed for 2570 passengers plus the ship's crew. Most of life-saving equipment was stored on the upper decks. And no tests were carried out on the stability of the ship during overload, despite the fact that the ship already had bad moments in its biography.

"Eastland" - built in 1902, designed to serve excursion services for 500 people on the lakes, as well as transport people back to Chicago. The vessel lacked a keel, had heavy superstructures and spars, and poorly designed ballast tanks to maintain stability. Frequent modifications increased the speed and carrying capacity of the vessel - but not its stability! "Eastland" became less stable on the water after numerous modifications.

“They said about the ship that it was like a bicycle, unstable when loading and unloading, but stable on the way,” wrote transport historian and economist George Hilton. His book, Eastland: The Titanic's Legacy, published in 1995, launched a thorough investigation. Safety inspectors checked the ship only during the journey, and not at the berths, and therefore gave an opinion on its safety.

In July 1904, the ship nearly capsized with almost 3,000 people on board. Two years later, it tilted heavily (then there were 2,530 people on the ship). Soon, the Eastland acquired a reputation as an unsafe ship, a “skinny vessel,” to put it colloquially. “The passengers seemed to be more aware of the danger of the ship than the managers and inspectors,” Hilton wrote.

At the same time, an official from the St. The Joseph-Chicago Steamship Company, which bought the Eastland for $150,000 in 1914, admitted at an inquest a few days after the tragedy that “I knew little about the ship, I knew that they bought it at a reasonable price. I just signed blank checks."

The most important parameter of vessel stability is the metacentric height. Floating objects are like inverted pendulums, with a center of gravity and the ability to spin and roll in both directions before leveling off. The distance between a ship's fully upright position and its maximum roll (the point at which it will capsize) is its metacentric height.

Of the Eastland, Hilton wrote: "For such a vessel, where the distribution of passengers varied greatly, the normal practice would have been to provide a metacentric height of two to four feet (70-140 cm) when fully loaded."

Changes made to Eastland before July 24 lowered the metacentric height to four inches (10 cm).

Within two minutes of the ship listing 45 degrees to the left, it capsized. As journalist Carl Sandburg described the event for the International Socialist Review, "like a dead jungle monster, shot through the heart."

Small boats try to rescue people standing on the outside of the USS Eastland after it capsized in the Chicago River. (photo)

By half past seven in the morning, the Eastland ship lay on its side, submerged 6 meters in dark water. It was still moored. The ship capsized so quickly that there was not even enough time to deploy life-saving equipment. When it capsized, many passengers simply climbed over the starboard railing and climbed onto the side sticking out of the water, protecting themselves. They weren't even wet. One of them was Sladky. And also the ship's captain, Harry Pedersen.

They were lucky.

“When the ship simply fell sideways into the water, the passengers on the upper deck were as clear as ants from a table,” Harlan Babcock, a reporter for the Chicago Herald, described the events. - “Instantly, the surface of the river turned black with writhing, crying, frightened, drowning people. Crying children flopped around in the water like bottle caps.”

About 10,000 people walked along the embankment that day. Greens and meat sellers, buyers, Western Electric workers waiting for the ship. Frightened eyewitnesses rushed to help, some began to jump into the river and save the drowning people. (According to one eyewitness, one man was about to drown himself, but when he saw the terrible sight, he jumped into the water and swam to save people.) Others grabbed whatever they could find and threw it to the drowning people: boards, ladders and chicken cages made of wood. Some cells hit people in the head, causing them to lose consciousness and drown. Parents grabbed their children and went down with them - or, on the contrary, they released their children and they disappeared into the water. “My God, the screams were terrible, they still ring in my ears,” a warehouse worker told a reporter.

Helen Repa, a nurse from Western Electric on her way to a field trip, heard screams several blocks from the pier. The trolleybus in which she was traveling got into a traffic jam. When the mounted policeman told her that the excursion boat had capsized, Turnip thought it was one of the ships chartered for the picnic. Since she was wearing a nurse's uniform, she quickly jumped into a passing ambulance. “People were swimming, trying to get out. There were so many of them that they covered the entire surface of the water,” Helen later recalled. “It was just really scary.”

Arriving at the embankment, Helen climbed aboard the Eastland and saw how some passengers were pulled out of the water and others through the windows. Many were wounded and bleeding. The wounded were taken to a nearby hospital, which quickly became overcrowded. Turnip sent a hospital worker to call the large department store Marshall Field & Company and ask for 500 blankets. She then called restaurants and asked for hot soup and coffee to be delivered to the hospital.

After survivors began to arrive at the port, Repa decided to send the lightly wounded home. “I just went out into the street, stopped cars and put people in there to be taken home. Not a single driver refused me,” she later wrote.

By 8 am, almost all the survivors were pulled out of the water. Then came the dark time to search for and retrieve the corpses.

“The crowd and confusion were everywhere,” said Helen Repa. Rescuers, first responders and curious passers-by filled the scene. By noon, rescuers and divers finally reached the bodies of those drowned in the side cabins. “The bodies afterwards were all women’s and children’s,” she said.

Seven priests came for confession and unction. "There was little work for them," one reporter wrote. “The results of the Eastland tragedy can be summed up in two words: dead or alive.”

The orderlies were running around with stretchers, constantly carrying bodies. Journalist Gretchen Krohn wrote in the New York Times: “All the bodies were very hard, so the stretchers seemed superfluous. And one more thing... The bodies of the majority were, alas, small, children’s.” “Sometimes,” she continued, “they would put two bodies on one stretcher. Death sealed the last farewell embrace of most of the dead.” Due to the shortage of ambulances, trucks from the American Express Company were brought in. They also carried dead bodies.

News of the tragedy quickly spread throughout the city, and the families of Western Electric workers feared the worst. Young Blanche Homolka and Alice Quinn, whose older sisters had gone on an excursion in a good mood, waited for their relatives at the bus stop for many hours while the passengers of the sunken ship got out dirty in torn clothes. The girls waited in vain; Caroline Homolka and Anna Quinn died.

While the corpses were being recovered, the nearby weapons depot of the Second Regiment was converted into a morgue. The corpses were stacked in rows of 85 bodies. The identification began. Before midnight, people began to be let in, 20 people at a time, looking for relatives among the bodies. Also, curious people entered there, as well as looters who removed jewelry from the bodies.

When Chicagoans awoke Sunday, the force of the disaster was especially visible in the densely populated Polish, Czech and Hungarian neighborhoods near the Hawthorne Works plant in Cicero. One by one, the houses were draped in black crepe de Chine and the families mourned.

In just two and a half months, the Louisitania was destroyed by a torpedo. 785 passengers died. In 1912, 829 passengers and 694 crew members died aboard the Titanic. But both disasters occurred on the high seas.

In the case of Eastland, 844 people died. In dirty river water, within the city, 6 meters from the pier. 70 percent of those killed were under 25 years of age.

Victims of the Eastland shipwreck in Chicago. Photograph, 1915. (photo)

About 500,000 people came to watch the tragedy, gathering on bridges and river banks. Boat owners charged those wishing to take a ride past the overturned ship 10-15 cents. Throughout the country, this story was on the front pages of newspapers for many days.

Thursday, July 28th, was the day of the funeral in Chicago. There weren't enough hearses for everyone, so Marshall Field & Company provided 39 of their trucks. 52 gravediggers worked 12 hours a day, and still could not cope with the volume of work. About 150 graves had to be dug in Bohemian National Cemetery alone. By the end of the day, approximately 700 Eastland victims had been buried.

Among them were the Sindelar family: George, a company foreman; his wife Josephine and their five children ranging in age from 3 to 15 years. Their simple white coffins were haphazardly arranged in a Ford T.

By July 29, all the victims in the morgue were identified, except for the boy, who was called “Number 396,” and then the police morgue workers gave him the nickname “Kid.” At the cemetery, two boys recognized their friend in the corpse. It was Willie Novotny, he was seven years old. No one claimed his body because his father (James, a company cabinetmaker) and mother (Agnesa) died on Eastland, along with his eldest daughter, 9-year-old Mamie.

The boy's grandmother identified him when she came and brought him new brown trousers. “If it’s Willie, he’s wearing the same pants. He went for a walk in a new suit, and a second pair of the same trousers was attached to it. Here are the second trousers."

“The little boy has acquired a real name,” wrote the Chicago Daily Tribune.
When the Novotny family was buried on July 31, more than 5 thousand people came to the funeral. The funeral procession stretched for almost two kilometers.

The investigation and search for those responsible began immediately. The Eastland's captain, Harry Pedersen, chief engineer Joseph Erickson and other crew members were taken into custody on Saturday. This was also done for their safety, in fear of lynching by angry citizens who had gathered at the site of the disaster.

Seven investigations were carried out over three days. Cook County officials have accepted jurisdiction over the case. After questioning witnesses and crew members, Cook County Prosecutor McLay Hoyne told reporters: “The US Steamboat Inspectorate inspectors are entirely to blame for this incident. It's time to check the inspectors. Chicago should... demand it."

U.S. Secretary of Commerce William Redfield, sent to Chicago by President Wilson, took control of the Eastland ship, enlisting the support of U.S. District Judge (and future Major League Baseball commissioner) Gore Landis Kenesaw, in whose courtroom the Eastland hearings were held.

Despite a quick investigation, the case was settled only after 24 years.

In the end, Erickson, the chief engineer, was largely found to be at fault for the poor maintenance of the ballast tanks in the ship's hold, which led to the capsize. Erickson, who was originally represented by Clarence Darrow, died during the protracted investigation. That made him, from the point of view of Hilton, who was reviewing thousands of pages of maritime and legal documents about the Eastland disaster, a convenient scapegoat.

Although the evidence strongly suggests that Pedersen was negligent, he was not prosecuted. Shipping company employees were not involved either. All criminal charges were dropped and the ship's owners avoided any legal action.

The culprit, Hilton concluded, was a poorly designed ship that was overloaded due to increased safety measures after the Titanic disaster.

Civil lawsuits related to the 800 deaths dragged on for two decades. Maritime law limited insurance liability to the cost of the Eastland vessel, 46 thousand US dollars. Lawsuits brought by the salvage company hired to tow the vessel from the scene and the coal company that supplied the fuel won. In the end, the victims and their families received little or nothing.

Ted Wachholz, president of the Eastland Disaster Historical Society, has his own theory about why Eastland ranks American history a much smaller place than the Titanic or Lusitania. “There was no one rich or famous there. These were all hardworking ordinary people from immigrant families,” Wachholz said.

The material was prepared by Yuri Kirillov - based on an article from the site

The story of this sad incident, which, a year after the sinking of the Empress of Ireland liner, shocked the United States and Canada, is best to begin with short excursion into the history of the Great Lakes and shipbuilding in the region.

It is also known from school geography that these lakes represent a unique and largest cluster fresh water on the globe. Located in Canada and the United States, this lake system includes Lake Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie and Ontario. The area of the lakes covers almost a quarter of a million square kilometers, which is equal to the territory of the British Isles. The Great Lakes are interconnected by rivers and artificial canals; water from Lake Superior and Lake Michigan flows into Lakes Huron, Erie and Ontario, from where along the St. Lawrence River into the Atlantic Ocean. These "fresh seas" are connected not only to the ocean, but also to the Hudson and Mississippi rivers.

The first shipbuilders and fishermen on the Great Lakes were the Algonquin, Huron, Iroquois, Ottawa, Chippie and Winnebug Indians. According to scientists, the first Europeans to visit the “fresh seas” of America were probably the Scandinavian Vikings and fishermen of Brittany. The initial period of colonization of the banks of the St. Lawrence River, which began in 1535, is associated with the names of French navigators Jacques Cartier, Samuel Champlain and Robert La Salle.

Today, the Great Lakes are considered one of the busiest shipping areas on earth. There are more than twenty major seaports, of which the most visited by European ships are Toronto, Buffalo, Oswego, Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee, Chicago and Duluth.

To reach the Great Lakes, oceangoing ships pass through Montreal, pass through seven locks on the St. Lawrence Canal, and enter Lake Ontario. After that, they go through eight locks of the Welland Canal, which bypasses Niagara Falls, rise to a height of 99.5 meters and fall into Lake Erie. From here the path is open to them in lakes Huron, Michigan and Superior. Any ship can enter the Great Lakes if its length does not exceed 222.5 meters, width - 23 meters, draft - 7 .9 meters.

Anyone who comes to the Great Lakes for the first time cannot help but be surprised by the unique architectural form of local ships. Since the birth of industrial shipbuilding, new ships of original designs and the most bizarre shapes, never seen before in Europe, began to appear here. It began in 1843, when Americans built the first iron railroad on Lake Erie. gunboat"Michigan", unlike any of the warships then existing in the world. In 1868, the first iron packet boat on the lakes, "Merchant", was launched in Buffalo, also super-original in design. Less than a year had passed since a large cargo steamer launched from the slipway in Cleveland, with the steam engine located in the stern and the wheelhouse slightly aft of the stem. This was the first wooden ore carrier in the history of shipbuilding. They called it "Forest City". However, the prototype of modern Great Lakes bulk carriers was the Onoko, also built with a machine in the stern and a wheelhouse in the bow, but made of iron. Nicknamed the "floating shoebox", she proved to be an exceptionally durable vessel and brought considerable profit to her owners. Onoko sank aground in 1915.

Another type of cargo ship unique to the Great Lakes was the so-called "whale". Its design was developed by Alexander McDougall, a blacksmith by profession, who came to the shores of Lake Superior in the seventies of the last century from Scotland. Here he became the captain of a ship, saved up some capital and opened a shipyard in Duluth, where he began building his strange-looking, but, as it turned out, very durable seaworthy cigar ships.

The length of these steel ships was 77-84 meters, width - no more than 11 meters, draft - no more than 4 meters. appearance they really looked like a huge cigar and had a low freeboard. Like the Onoko, the steam engine was located in the stern, and the wheelhouse was in the form round tower, reminiscent of the conning tower of a destroyer, in the very nose. These ships had a spoon-shaped nose, the tip of which resembled the nose of a pig, for which they were nicknamed “pigs.” In the “patch” itself two anchor fairleads were made. In the stern there was a small cabin with a circular cross-section in plan, where the crew quarters were located. On the sloping deck, which had a huge slope and resembled the back of a whale, several narrow hatches were made, battened down with steel covers that did not reach the sides by 3-4 meters. The height of the hatch coamings did not exceed six inches. McDougall knew perfectly well the nature of the steep waves of the “fresh seas”. These floating "cigars", taking 2,800 tons of ore into their holds, could travel at fifteen knots without experiencing particularly strong rolling in a moderate storm. Water rolled freely along and across the “whale’s back”, and due to the rounded shape of the deck superstructures, resistance to its hull was minimal. Ships designed by McDougall were successfully used in winter as icebreakers: thanks to the shape of their bow, they could freely overcome meter-long ice.

A former Scottish blacksmith built 44 “whales” in 1888-1898 (not counting barges of a similar shape). At the end of the last century, their fame spread throughout the world, McDougall's "pigs" were successfully exploited not only on the Great Lakes, but also along the Atlantic coast of America, they were met in the Gulf of Mexico and the Black Sea, they circumnavigated the world.

In 1893, an enterprising Scot built a passenger "whale", which he named "Christopher Columbus". This ship had a capacity of 1511 register tons, a length of 110.3 meters, a width of 13 meters, and its 3 thousand horsepower steam engine provided a speed of about 18 miles per hour. During the Chicago World's Fair, it operated regularly from Buffalo, bringing more than a thousand visitors to the fair each time. From 1909 to 1933, the Christopher Columbus served the Chicago-Milwaukee passenger line. It was scrapped only in 1936.

At the beginning of this century, the Eastland was considered one of the fastest and most popular passenger steamships among the population that plied the Great Lakes. But his fate turned out to be tragic.

On August 9, 1910, the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper published the following advertisement.

"A reward of $5,000 is offered! The steamship Eastland was launched in 1903. It is a steel ocean-going vessel. It has a length of 82 meters, a beam of 11 meters, a draft of 4.3 meters. The ship is equipped with two propellers driven by two powerful triple expansion steam engines, supplied with steam from four boilers. Its ballast tanks hold 800 tons of water. The material from which the steamer is built, its type and its powerful engines make it the strongest, fastest and safest vessel for travel on the Great lakes. All this is well known to those who are familiar with maritime affairs. However, there are thousands of people who know absolutely nothing about ships, about the laws and regulations of their operation, and about their inspection by the United States Government. In order to intimidate these people, someone disbanded rumors that the steamer "Eastland" supposedly cannot be considered a safe ship. Unfortunately, we do not know who spread such ridiculous rumors among the people, but their purpose is clear to us. Therefore, as proof of our rightness and out of respect for the feelings of 400 thousand people who over the past four years have enjoyed walks on this floating palace (and without a single problem), we are offering the above award to anyone who introduces us to a marine engineer, shipbuilder, engineer or any other person of sufficient qualification who will express his opinion on the quality of our ship and declare that the Eastland is not a seaworthy vessel and will not withstand any storm that may arise either on the lakes or on the ocean."

A day passed, a second, a week, a month, but no one came to claim the announced reward, and the newspaper editor waited in vain for the appearance of “a specialist with sufficient qualifications.” The Eastland continued to operate its cruise voyages on the Great Lakes. Soon the advertisement in the newspaper was forgotten.

Since its construction in 1903, this steamship has truly been considered the most beautiful, comfortable and fast ship on the Great Lakes. Residents of lakeside towns invariably called him the “Queen of Speed.”

It was an excursion steamer with a displacement of 1960 tons, with very sharp contours of the underwater hull. Despite the relatively low power of steam engines (1,300 horsepower), it could reach speeds of up to 22 nautical miles per hour. The Jenks Shipbuilding Company shipyard in Port Huron, which built the Eastland, was very proud of it.

The steamship was assigned to the port of Chicago, from where it made daytime excursion voyages to Cedar Point on Lake Michigan or week-long voyages to Lake Erie. Then Cleveland became his home port. As already mentioned, the Eastland was a favorite of passengers on the Great Lakes. Especially among young people. Apparently, this was explained by the fact that on its upper deck there was a steam organ, to which dances were held during the voyage in good weather. There were legends about this organ; they said that in calm weather its sound could be heard 5 miles away.

During 1913, the owners of Eastland sold 200 thousand tickets for it. The following year, the Queen of Speed returned to her native Lake Michigan - the ship now belonged to the St. Joseph Chicago Steamship Company. It was still commanded by Captain Harry Petersen. He completed the 1914 navigation, like all previous ones, without a single scratch on board.

In the summer of 1915, the Eastland was chartered for excursions on Lake Michigan by the Western Electric Company.

At 7 o'clock in the morning, on Saturday, July 24, excursionists began to flock to the pier on the Chicago River where the Eastland was moored. These were mostly workers and employees of the company with children and friends: women in hats with feathers and flowers, men in straw hats with black ribbons, girls with ribbons and bows in their braids, and most of the boys were dressed in sailor suits for the occasion of the voyage. Almost all passengers carried wicker baskets containing picnic provisions.

The morning promised a clear sunny day, everyone was in a festive, high spirits. After all, it’s not every month that you have such luck - to take a trip across the lake, and even on the most beautiful ship! Departure was scheduled for 7:40 am. Workers and employees of the electric company had been waiting for this pleasure trip on the Eastland for a long time; they had long dreamed of getting out of the huge smoky city and breathing in the fresh air of Lake Michigan. Despite the early hour, deafening sounds of ragtime were heard from the upper deck of the ship, masterfully performed by a famous musician of the city on a steam organ.

A ticket for the tour cost only 75 cents. The board of the company allowed children under ten years of age to board the ship without a ticket. The Eastland was designed to carry thousands of people on daytime flights. Captain Petersen often accepted fifteen hundred on board if the owners kindly asked him to do so. This time 2,500 tickets were sold. Apparently, Captain Petersen did not know about this, since the controllers did not count the passengers at the gangway - they simply tore up the tickets. Of course, Petersen saw that much more people boarded the ship than was normal, but he did not stop boarding. Thus, there were 300 more passengers on the Eastland than on the Titanic.

The Eastland was docked on the Chicago River on its starboard side, with a steam tug moored at its bow, which was supposed to take it out of the river into the expanse of Lake Michigan. The whistle sounded and the ship's sailors pulled in the gangplank. Captain Petersen stood in the doorway of the wheelhouse and was ready to give the command to Chief Engineer Eriksen to start the machines.

As soon as the stern clamping end was released, the ship barely noticeably trembled with its elegant hull and began to slowly fall onto the port side. At first no one paid attention to this. The roll increased with every second. Benches and sun loungers moved to the edge of the port side along the upper deck, furniture began to move below and in the salons, and heavy boxes with ice stored for drinks crawled into the buffets. A woman screamed on the upper deck, then another... The Eastland tilted more and more, people, losing their support, began to slide to the left side. Those excursionists who at that moment were below deck in the cabins were pressed against the longitudinal bulkheads, others (the majority of them) who were standing on the upper decks were knocked into heaps and pressed against the port side railings.

Why did the Eastland begin to list not to the starboard side, with which it was moored at the pier, but to the opposite side?

Anyone who has traveled on river vessels, seen off or met them, has probably noticed that when approaching the pier, passengers accumulate at the side on which the ship moored or departed from the pier. This is quite natural: people say goodbye or look in the crowd for those who meet them. Often in such cases, the command is given to passengers: “Please move away from the board!”

"Eastland" began to list on the side farthest from the pier for the reason that its pleasure voyage was designed for one day and no one saw off the excursionists. What interest does it have for passengers to look from the ship at a pier that they have already seen? It was more interesting to look at the river and see what was happening there. Perhaps at that time some steamship was passing along it or something was happening that attracted the attention of the passengers. One way or another, the Eastland began to list on the opposite side from the pier.

When the list reached 30 degrees, even those who had never been on the ship understood what was happening. Fear turned to panic. Hundreds of people rushed from the lower decks up the ladders. A crush began in the aisles, corridors and stairwells. Screams, screams, and crying of children were heard everywhere, the roar of cabinets and cupboards being torn from their places, and the sound of breaking glass could be heard. Hundreds of passengers remained in cabins and in the corridors of the lower decks. People fought in cramped spaces like fish caught in a net. Almost everyone at the top was thrown into the water. Dozens of women and children were floundering in the river, and others fell on their heads from above. Some managed to grab benches, boxes, and boards floating in the water in time. The fear of death began to speak in people, the animal instinct awoke. The drowning people struggled helplessly in the dirty water of the Chicago River, clinging, biting, scratching and drowning each other.

Eastland continued to fall to port. The strong hemp mooring lines, which never had time to be released, stretched like strings and tore the mooring bollards and shore bollards out of the ground. Finally, the steamer capsized on board, covering hundreds of people floating on the water. A roar and hissing could be heard from its interior—steam engines had been torn from the foundation, and water had flooded the furnaces. For several minutes the river in this place was covered with a white veil of steam. The hiss of steam and the whistle of air escaping from the interior drowned out the screams of people. "Eastland" lay on its left side on the bottom of the river. Only 6 minutes passed... And only after another 10 minutes did water police boats and tugboats begin to arrive at the scene of the disaster. Police and fire trucks rushed to the pier. But they could only save those who were still floating on the water.

But it was not the policemen and firefighters who proved themselves to be heroes here. The hero turned out to be a certain William Bright, captain of the steamship Missouri. He had just moored his vessel at the Northern Michigan Shipping Company. Seeing that the Eastland had capsized, he took a taxi and rushed to the pier where the disaster occurred. Bright was unable to break through the crowd gathered on the embankment and climbed to the second floor of the house opposite the pier. From the window he saw that hundreds of people floundering in the water could not climb onto the slippery side of the lying steamer. Among them there were many wounded and maimed. People drowned in front of rescuers. What could the captain do to save these people, being on the second floor of the house? He leaned out of the window, as if from the wheelhouse of his steamship, cupped his hands into a bullhorn and shouted to the police: “Take the ash from the fireboxes of the three tugboats and pour it on the right cheekbone of the Eastland!” After that, he asked the owners of the house where the telephone was and called the nearest weaving factory: “Urgently deliver fifty blankets to where the Eastland lies!” Ashes and blankets spread on the slippery side of the ship made it possible for many to crawl out of the water.

Rescue efforts did not last long. Everyone who was seen on the water or inside the part of the steamer protruding above the river level alive was pulled ashore, given first aid or sent to the hospital.

Chicago is in mourning. For many days, the corpses of the dead were fished out of the river and removed from the overturned hull of the Eastland. Several hundred dead were pulled from the ship when acetylene was used to cut through its starboard side. Even more corpses were found when the ship was put on an even keel and the water was pumped out of it.

How many lives did this disaster claim?

The official US press cited the figure as 835 people. But this is not true, since the indicated figure was announced in Chicago on the third day after the disaster. The ship was raised five days later, and several hundred more corpses were removed from it. An American investigative doctor from Chicago said at a press conference that he personally counted 1,300 corpses in the city morgue. On July 25, 1915, the city's newspapers published the following headlines:

“2,100 drowned when the Eastland capsized at the pier.”

“The ship had an increased center of gravity and began to collapse while still on the moorings at the pier.”

“All previous disasters did not end with such a number of victims!”

"The ship sank in just six minutes!"

“What the diver saw inside the sunken steamer plunged him into unconsciousness!”

“The history of Eastland is a history of mistakes and failures!”

The Eastland disaster is the worst disaster in the history of shipping on the Great Lakes, and it is no coincidence that American historians call this ship the “Titanic” of the Great Lakes.

When the steamer was lifted from the bottom of the river, for some time they did not know what to do with it. It was a pity to scrap it: the hull, steam engines, boilers and interior spaces remained in good condition and could be restored without much difficulty. There was no point in putting her back into service as a passenger ship, since no one would take a ticket for her. The Americans acted in a businesslike manner: they converted it into a training ship of the US Navy Reserve, and under the name "Wilmette" it served until 1946.

Exactly 20 years have passed since the great drama in Chicago. And finally, the American press shed some light on the true cause of the death of the Eastland. The Cleveland Plain Dealer published the following report on August 7, 1935: "The Eastland case has come to light. The United States Court of Appeals affirms its decision in the 1915 steamboat disaster. Chicago, August 7, American Press. Today the United States Court of Appeals affirmed ruling by a mobile court that the St. Joseph Chicago Steamship Company, the former owner of the steamship Eastland, which sank on the Chicago River on July 24, 1915, was not responsible for the deaths of people in the disaster. The court found that the ship was seaworthy , but the responsibility fell on the mechanic who negligently filled his ballast tanks incorrectly."

After the Titanic sank in 1912, the United States passed the Sailors Act, which required ships to be equipped with an adequate number of lifeboats. The passenger steamer Eastland was modified to accommodate the required number of lifeboats, but this added more weight to the already super-heavy ship. The inevitable disaster that followed ironically killed more passengers on the Eastland than on the Titanic, and the disaster occurred not on the open sea, but on the city river, and so close to the pier that you could throw a stone to it.

Let's remember how and why this happened...

Photo 2.

Photo 3.

After the Titanic sank in 1912, a campaign called “lifeboats for all” was launched by maritime officials around the world. In March 1915, President Woodrow Wilson introduced the Sailors' Act, which was passed on the initiative of Senator La Follette and required ships to be equipped with lifeboats for 75% of passengers. Lawmakers ignored warnings that ships on the Great Lakes were not built to handle the extra weight.

Eastland complied with the law and was equipped with eleven lifeboats (she was designed to carry only six) and thirty-seven life rafts weighing half a ton each, as well as sufficient life jackets to ensure the safety of all passengers and crew. The stage for tragedy was set.

Photo 4.

On the fateful day of July 24, 1915, workers of the Western Electric Company and their families sailed to the lake for their annual picnic. 2,573 passengers and crew filled the Eastland at its berth on the Chicago River in a festive mood. Orchestras played, friends and acquaintances greeted each other. No one seemed alarmed when the ship began to list to port. Some reports indicated that a crowd had gathered on one side to pose for a photo. At 7:28 p.m., Eastland listed 45 degrees. The mechanic desperately tried to hold the ship by opening one of the ballast tanks. But it was already too late. The Eastland capsized while anchored just six meters from the jetty, in just six meters of water, trapping hundreds of men, women and children beneath the vessel's bowels. It happened so suddenly that there was simply no time to use rescue equipment.

Photo 6.

Some lucky passengers simply walked ashore on the overturned hull of the ship without even getting their feet wet. But for many more people, that day became a nightmare of screaming and struggling not to go under. Onlookers gathered at river bank, jumped into the water to help, or threw everything that could keep them afloat into it, right into the mass of drowning people.
Rescuers managed to pull out forty people alive. But for the 844 others nothing could be done except to retrieve their bodies and send them to the Second Regiment armory for identification. Twenty-two families were completely killed. Most of the dead were under twenty-five. Although more passengers died on the Eastland than on the Titanic (not counting the crew), the event remains little known to the public.

Photo 7.

There were no rich or famous people on board."

Explains Ted Wachholz, president of the Eastland Disaster Historical Society.

Photo 8.

When it became clear that everyone who could be saved was already safe, provided with blankets to keep them warm, it was the turn of the divers - a job as grim as it was necessary. Over the next 24 hours, bodies were caught from the river, which was blocked downstream by a net. Divers made their way inside the ship, into the water-filled compartments. Many had to be replaced after a few hours of work - the human psyche could not withstand such a number of corpses. Captain Don Donovan, who had seen a lot, however, spent whole days in the water - someone had to pull the bodies out of even the most remote compartments.

Seventeen-year-old volunteer Henry Bowles climbed into the most dangerous places a sunken ship, where experienced professional divers did not dare to venture. Perhaps only teenagers have such reckless courage.

Photo 9.

Photo 10.

They say that the waters of the river in this place are also restless - sometimes a person passing along the Clark Bridge hears screams and noise, as if many people are struggling in the water, trying to get out. The man, in bewilderment and horror, rushes to the handrails - but the water is calm, there is no one.

Others saw and heard water splash out in a large wave onto part of the embankment near the cafe - as if something huge had suddenly fallen into the water. Those who were bolder came closer to the shore and looked into the water, and later told how, instead of their own reflection, they saw strangers’, dead faces. Strange stories they also talked about the ship itself immediately after it was lifted from the river and laid on the shore to dry before the necessary repairs. People passing by spoke of eerie sounds and flickering lights. However, Captain Edwards, who was assigned to be on the ship, was a sensible man and not at all cowardly. He also heard strange sounds, but was much less afraid of ghosts than of living and understandably unfriendly townspeople. He explained the eerie sounds in the night by the creaking of drying boards and chuckled at passers-by shouting in panic: “Look, look, the light is on there!” Of course, there was a light on - the captain couldn’t sit in the dark in the evenings!

Photo 11.

To what has been said, we can only add that neither the captain of the ship nor its owners were subsequently found guilty of the tragedy by the court. The proceedings in courts at various levels that lasted until 1936 were unable to name a single cause of the tragedy. Most likely, it was not there - the reason was a combination of many factors.

Photo 12.

Photo 13.

Newspapers across the country reported this horrific story with little sensationalism For example, 1,200 people died or 300 were missing. However, newspapers were the best source of information and quickly the number of victims decreased.Everyone wanted to know the cause of the disaster. What was the mistake and what contributed to the incorrect construction of the ship, faulty equipment, negligence of the captain and engineer, bribery and greed. Naturally the whole load " responsibility" was placed on completely different shoulders.The possible reasons leading to the death of Eastland are still disputed.Some would like to say that she is simply a "capricious ship" and should never have sailed.Evidence proved that she sailed for twelve years without incident if the ballasts contained water.Who is responsible for the ballasts and keeping the ship even the keel is also discussed.Trying to find an answer to the question of why the SS Eastland capsized has never been resolved.Even after nearly twenty years of criminal and civil investigations, no one has been brought to justice.

Photo 14.

After repairs, the ship was sold to the Illinois National Reserve, renamed "Wilmette" and used first as a training ship, then as a combat ship in the First World War. During the modernization of the ship as a combat vessel, Four 4-inch guns, Two 3-inch guns, Two 1-pounder guns were installed, the deck was completely re-equipped, as well as the interior of the ship.

Class and type: passenger ship
Type: Steamboat
Tonnage: 1961 Gross (Gross is a now rarely used counting unit, equal to 144 items.)

Displacement: 2600 tons.
Length: 265 m
Width: 38ft 2in
Project: 19 feet 6 inches
Installed power: two to three steam engines, four boilers (coal-fired)
1750 hp
Drive: Two shafts
Speed: 16.5 knots
Capacity: Like Eastland: 2752 passengers
Addendum: As USS Wilmette: 209

Armament: Like USS Wilmette:
Four 4-inch guns
Two 3-inch guns
Two 1-pounder guns
Notes: Two chimneys, two masts

Photo 15.

Photo 16.

Photo 17.

Photo 18.

Photo 20.

Photo 21.

Photo 22.

Further fate.

After the First World War, the ship, given its merits, as well as the hull IX-29 (similar to a transport) on February 17, 1941, continued training personnel to perform manning duties, firing guns on armed merchant ships. Training on this ship continued until the end of World War II, until the threat of a German attack was eliminated submarines on the Transantlactic trade route.

In August 1943, the Wilmette had the honor of transporting President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Admiral William D. Leahy, James Byrnes and Harry Hopkins on a 10-day cruise to McGregor and White Bay, during which the war strategy was planned.

Wilmette was decommissioned on November 28, 1945, and her name was stricken from the Navy list on December 19, 1945. In 1946, Wilmette was offered for sale. Finding no takers, on October 31, 1946, she was sold to the Hyman Michaels Company for scrapping, which was completed in 1947.

Conclusion.

This is the difficult fate that befell the ship Wilmette. The ship, which previously, due to such incredible coincidence of circumstances, had claimed so many lives, and one could not believe in its continued existence, decided to continue its journey in the form of a warship. His merits may not be so impressive, but perhaps thanks to him, the personnel who walked along the thin razor’s edge along the Transantlactic route were subsequently trained on him, saving more than one hundred lives.

And we'll find out what happens The original article is on the website InfoGlaz.rf Link to the article from which this copy was made -

An American excursion steamer, leaving the pier, capsized on board. The number of victims exceeded 1000 people.

The Great Lakes, located in Canada and the United States, including Lake Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie and Ontario, cover almost a quarter of a million square kilometers. The Great Lakes are connected by rivers and artificial canals; water from Lake Superior and Lake Michigan flows into Lakes Huron, Erie and Ontario, and from there along the St. Lawrence River into the Atlantic Ocean. They connect not only to the ocean, but also to the Hudson and Mississippi rivers.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Eastland was considered one of the fastest among passenger steamships plying the great lakes.

On August 9, 1910, the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper ran the following ad: “$5,000 reward offered! The steamship Eastland was launched in 1903. This is a steel ocean-going vessel. It has a length of 82 meters, a beam of 11 meters, and a draft of 4.3 meters. The vessel is equipped with two propellers driven by two powerful triple expansion steam engines, to which steam is supplied by four boilers. Its ballast tanks hold 800 tons of water. The material of which the steamboat is built, its type and its powerful engines make it the strongest, fastest and safest vessel for travel on the Great Lakes. All this is well known to those familiar with maritime affairs. However, there are thousands of people who know absolutely nothing about ships, the laws and regulations of their operation, and their inspection by the United States Government. In order to intimidate these people, someone spread a rumor that the Eastland steamer supposedly could not be considered a safe ship. Unfortunately, we do not know who spread such ridiculous rumors, but their purpose is clear to us. Therefore, as proof of our rightness and out of respect for the feelings of 400 thousand people who over the past four years have enjoyed walks on this floating palace (and without a single problem), we are offering the above award to anyone who introduces us to a marine engineer, shipbuilder, ship engineer or any other person of sufficient qualification who will express his opinion on the qualities of our ship and declare that the steamer Eastland is not a seaworthy vessel and will not withstand any storm that may arise either on the lakes or on the ocean."

However, no one came for the promised reward. The Eastland continued to cruise the Great Lakes. Since its construction in 1903, this steamship has been considered the most beautiful, comfortable and fast ship on the Great Lakes. Residents of lakeside towns called him the “Queen of Speed.” It was an excursion steamer with a displacement of 1960 tons, with very sharp contours of the underwater hull. Despite the relatively low power of steam engines (1300 horsepower), it could reach a speed of up to 22 knots. The Jenks Shipbuilding Company shipyard in Port Huron, which built the Eastland, was very proud of it.

The steamship was assigned to the port of Chicago, from where it made daytime excursion voyages to Cedar Point on Lake Michigan or week-long voyages to Lake Erie. Cleveland then became his home port. The Eastland was especially popular among young people - there was a steam organ on the upper deck, to which dances were held during the voyage in good weather. There were legends about this organ; they said that in calm weather its sound could be heard 5 miles away.

During 1913, the owners of Eastland sold 200 thousand tickets for it. The following year the steamship returned to Lake Michigan. Eastland was commanded by Captain Harry Petersen. He completed the 1914 navigation, like all previous ones, without a single damage.

In the summer of 1915, the Eastland was chartered for excursions on Lake Michigan by the Western Electric Company.

At 7 o'clock in the morning, on Saturday, July 24, sightseers began to flock to the pier on the Chicago River where the Eastland was moored. These were mostly workers and company employees with children and friends. Almost all passengers carried baskets of picnic provisions.

The morning turned out to be sunny, matching the mood of the tourists. The departure was scheduled for 7:40 am. Despite the early hour, the sounds of ragtime rushed from the upper deck, masterfully performed on a steam organ by a famous Michigan musician.

The ticket cost only 75 cents. The board of the company allowed children under ten years of age to board the ship without a ticket. The Eastland was designed to transport thousands of people during daylight hours. Captain Petersen often accepted fifteen hundred on board if the owners insisted on it. This time 2,500 tickets were sold. Probably Captain Petersen did not know about this, since the controllers did not keep a count of the passengers at the gangplank. Of course, the captain saw that there were many more people boarding the ship than was normal, but he did not stop boarding. Thus, there were 300 more passengers on the Eastland than on the Titanic...

The Eastland was docked on the Chicago River on its starboard side, with a steam tug moored at its bow, which was supposed to take it out of the river into the expanse of Lake Michigan. The whistle sounded and the ship's sailors pulled in the gangplank. The captain stood in the doorway of the wheelhouse and was ready to give the command to chief engineer Eriksen to start the cars.

As soon as the stern clamping end was released, the ship barely noticeably trembled and began to slowly fall onto the port side. At first no one paid attention to this. However, the roll increased every second. Benches and sun loungers moved to the edge of the port side along the upper deck, furniture began to move below and in the salons, and heavy boxes with ice stored for drinks crawled into the buffets. A woman screamed on the upper deck, then another... The Eastland tilted more and more, people, losing their support, began to slide to the left side. Those excursionists who at that moment were below deck in the cabins were pressed against the longitudinal bulkheads, others (the majority of them) who were standing on the upper decks were knocked into heaps and pressed against the port side railings.

When the roll reached 30 degrees, fear turned to panic. Hundreds of people rushed from the lower decks up the ladders. A crush began in the aisles, corridors and staircases. Screams, screams, and crying of children were heard everywhere, the roar of cabinets and cupboards being torn from their places, and the sound of breaking glass could be heard. Hundreds of passengers remained in cabins and in the corridors of the lower decks. Almost everyone at the top was thrown into the water. Some managed to grab benches, boxes, and boards floating in the water in time. People struggled helplessly in the dirty water of the Chicago River, clinging, biting, scratching and drowning each other.

Eastland continued to fall to port. The strong hemp mooring lines, which never had time to be released, stretched like strings and tore the mooring bollards and shore bollards out of the ground. Finally, the steamer capsized on board, covering hundreds of people floating on the water. A roar and hissing was heard - steam engines were torn from the foundation, and water flooded the fireboxes. For several minutes the river in this place was covered with a white veil of steam. The hiss of steam and the whistle of air escaping from the interior drowned out the screams of people. "Eastland" lay on its left side on the bottom of the river. Only 6 minutes passed... And only after another 10 minutes did water police boats and tugboats begin to arrive at the scene of the disaster. Police and fire trucks rushed to the pier. But they could only save those who were still floating on the water.

But the real hero was William Bright, captain of the steamship Missouri. Seeing that the Eastland had capsized on board, he took a taxi and rushed to the pier where the disaster occurred. Bright could not get through the crowd gathered on the embankment, so he went up to the second floor of the house that stood opposite the pier. From the window he saw that hundreds of people floating in the water could not climb onto the slippery side of the lying steamer. Among them there were many wounded and maimed. People drowned in front of rescuers. Bright leaned out of the window and shouted to the police: “Take the ash from the fireboxes of the three tugs and pour it on the right cheekbone of the Eastland!” After that, he called the nearest weaving factory: “Urgently deliver fifty blankets to where the Eastland lies!” Ashes and blankets spread on the slippery side of the ship made it possible for many to crawl out of the water.

Rescue efforts did not last long. Everyone who was pulled ashore alive was given first aid or sent to the hospital.

Chicago was declared in mourning. For many days, the corpses of the dead were fished out of the river and removed from the overturned hull of the Eastland. Several hundred dead were pulled from the ship when acetylene was used to cut through its starboard side. Even more corpses were found when the ship was put on an even keel and the water was pumped out of it.

The official US press reported that the disaster claimed the lives of 835 people. But this is not true, since the indicated figure was announced in Chicago on the third day after the disaster. The ship was raised five days later, and several hundred more corpses were removed from it. An American investigative doctor from Chicago said at a press conference that he personally counted 1,300 corpses in the city morgue. On July 25, 1915, the city's newspapers published the following headlines: “2,100 drowned when the Eastland capsized at the pier,” “The ship had an increased center of gravity and began to collapse while still moored at the pier,” “All previous disasters did not end with such a number of victims.” , “The history of Eastland is a history of mistakes and failures.”

The Eastland disaster is the worst disaster in the history of shipping on the Great Lakes, and it is no coincidence that American historians call this ship the “Titanic” of the Great Lakes.

When the steamer was lifted from the bottom of the river, for some time they did not know what to do with it. Finally, the Americans decided to convert it into a training ship for the US Navy Reserve, and under the name "Wilmette" it served until 1946.

Twenty years after the disaster, the American press shed some light on the true cause of the death of the Eastland. On August 7, 1935, the American Press published the following report: “The United States Court of Appeals today confirmed the decision of the visiting court that the St. Joseph Chicago Steamship Company is the former owner of the steamship Eastland, which sank on the Chicago River on July 24 1915 - is not responsible for the deaths of people in the disaster. The court finds that the vessel was seaworthy, but responsibility fell on the engineer who negligently filled her ballast tanks incorrectly.”