A ship sank.
Sorry about that. It happens.
844 people died.
Oh my God, terrible.
In a river.
?
The ship sank in 20 feet of water in a river.
How?
While still tied to the dock.
What!? How is that possible?
One hundred years ago today the S.S. Eastland, a Great Lakes cruise ship was at dock in the Chicago River. The Eastland had been hired by Western Electric to treat its employees to a cruise and picnic on an island.
It was a highlight of many of these young people's lives.
Passengers, many women and children, began boarding about an hour before departure. Forty minutes later all 2,572 people were on board. Then, at precisely this time, 7:28 am local time, the ship rolled over into the Chicago River trapping 844 under deck.
At dock. In a river. In 20 feet of water. In a huge city. 844 dead. How could this happen?
The Eastland sat too high in the water. Look at that. You don't have to be an engineer to see that that ship is sitting too high to be stable. It was incredibly poor design. WHO would design a ship to sit in the water like that? Everyone recognized it. Someone took out an advertisement in a Chicago newspaper offering a sum of money to anyone who could prove the Eastland was safe. It had had previous roll-over close calls. Once in the middle of one of the Great Lakes. Another ship passed and its wake nearly toppled the Eastland.
The Johnstown Flood, Triangle Shirtwaist, the Iroquois Theater--of all the disasters in early industrial America, the Eastland is the most outrageous.
Sorry about that. It happens.
844 people died.
Oh my God, terrible.
In a river.
?
The ship sank in 20 feet of water in a river.
How?
While still tied to the dock.
What!? How is that possible?
One hundred years ago today the S.S. Eastland, a Great Lakes cruise ship was at dock in the Chicago River. The Eastland had been hired by Western Electric to treat its employees to a cruise and picnic on an island.
It was a highlight of many of these young people's lives.
Dead.
Dead.
Dead.
Dead.
All dead.
The Eastland sat too high in the water. Look at that. You don't have to be an engineer to see that that ship is sitting too high to be stable. It was incredibly poor design. WHO would design a ship to sit in the water like that? Everyone recognized it. Someone took out an advertisement in a Chicago newspaper offering a sum of money to anyone who could prove the Eastland was safe. It had had previous roll-over close calls. Once in the middle of one of the Great Lakes. Another ship passed and its wake nearly toppled the Eastland.
The Johnstown Flood, Triangle Shirtwaist, the Iroquois Theater--of all the disasters in early industrial America, the Eastland is the most outrageous.
