The following post are a paper that I wrote for my senior seminar class last year. It is a paper about a ship that sunk in the Chicago River. I am going to post the paper in parts just as I wrote it, this posting contains the introduction and Part I.
On July 24, 1915, The Western Electric Company charted
the Eastland, the Theodore Roosevelt, the Petoskey, the Maywood,
the Racine, and the Rochester to take 7,300 workers and their family
members from the Cicero, Illinois plant to a picnic in Michigan City, Indiana. The
passengers boarded the ship on the south bank of the Chicago River between
Clark and LaSalle Street, closer to LaSalle Street.[1] The excursion across Lake Michigan never took place due
to the tragedy that unfolded on the Eastland, when it capsized
trapping hundreds below deck and killing, according to George Hilton, 844
people. The Eastland disaster is the greatest loss of life in the city of
Chicago’s history. The Chicago River is
only twenty feet deep at the site of the disaster this helped minimize the loss
of life. To this day, it is uncertain to
whose shoulders the blame rests. Could
the lack of knowledge by the ship owner have caused the capsizing of the
ship? Was it due to being top-heavy, human error, a faulty
ballast system, or was it a combination of all three? In addition, Why is the Eastland all but
forgotten when it comes to disasters, in the City of Chicago? The following essay will examine these
questions and try to solve the mystery of why the Eastland capsized on that terrible day.
The
following is broken up into six sections; Background and Capsizing, Immediate
Aftermath, The Effects of the Disaster, History of the Eastland, Theories of Why it Capsized, and Why it is
Forgotten. This is because it will help
the reader have a better understanding of the material. By presenting the information in such an
organized manner, the reader is able to receive a more detailed and clearer
picture of the disaster. Finally, this
will facilitate one to make a more educated assessment of the disaster, the
cause, and the effects.
I.
Background
and Capsizing
The annual picnic was to be a
pleasurable trip for the workers of the Western Electric Company, as it was in
the past. The picnic began in 1881 as a
small, in-town occasion. However, this
changed in 1911 when workers founded the Hawthorne Club, with the goal of
“bringing the employees of various departments into closer association with
each other.” [2] Even though it
had no official affiliation to the company, the group had the support of many
of Western Electric’s senior management.
The Hawthorne Club organized different events from lectures to banquets,
and it was in charge of all social functions for the Western Electric Company
Hawthorne plant. The Hawthorne Club soon
turned its attention to the company picnic, which became the club’s main occasion
of the summer. The Hawthorne Club took
control of planning the 1912 picnic and for the first time in the history of
the picnic, they held the picnic out of town.
Three thousand five hundred workers attended the picnic held in Michigan
City, Indiana.[3] The picnic
continued to grow to include family and friends and just one year later the
number of people who attended the picnic practically doubled. In 1915, the picnic had reached a record
number of attendees. In addition, the
Hawthorne Club staged parades on company grounds in order to help promote the
picnic. The company had cut hours of
workers earlier in the year and there was a need for a morale boost, which the
parades provided. Some made claims that
when it came to buying tickets for the picnic, they had no choice. Additionally, some workers felt that they not
only have to attend the picnic but also had to buy multiple tickets in order to
keep their job at the plant. However,
this was not the case.[4] A few employees
believed that they had lost their jobs do to the fact that they had not
attended the picnic the previous year.
Superstitions such as these were quite common during this time.
Superstitions played a role in
everyday life in 1915; the immigrants who came to Chicago brought many of these
superstitions from the Old World.
Immigrants would cling to their old beliefs, as defense mechanisms in an
age of transition and change. A visitor
would notice the city streets as fortunetellers dotted the shops. There for it is not surprising that superstitions
played a role in the trip for the Eastland
as well.
The day before the excursion while
packing lunches for the picnic. Louise
Jahnke, the young bride of Paul Jahnke, had a horrible feeling that “something
would happen to the boat.”[5] After a night
filled with restlessness and weird dreams, the Jahnkes prepared for their trip,
but not before making a few arrangements.
The Jahnke’s approached their landlord and gave her their key and fifty
dollars, in case something were to happen to them. If something were to happen, Paul’s mother
would be able to stay in the apartment.
Louise also left a poignant letter attached to their will and stated
that she was leaving her bracelet and rings to her mother.[6]
Louise was not the only one to have
a premonition about the ill-fated trip that was before them. A visiting tourist, Mrs. J. B. Burroughs, woke
in the middle of the night from a dream, in which “a ship turned over on its
side, and hundreds of corpses lying in a row.”[7] Additionally,
there was an eighteen-year-old Western Electric employee, Josie Markowski, who moonlighted
as an amateur fortuneteller. The week
leading up to the excursion she was suffering from ‘flashes of dread’
throughout the week. The morning of the
trip she told a friend’s mother that something awful was going to happen on the
trip and that, she did not want to go to the picnic. Her friend’s mother laughed at her and told
her to go on the trip and to stop thinking about the disaster as she might bring
it on the boat with her.[8] These stories
leave an eerie feeling, as if a higher power was warning them not to make the
journey and to warn others of pending danger.
The excursion started at 5:30am when
Martin Flatow, port agent for the St. Joseph-Chicago Steamship Company, went
out to the river and discovered that it was 0.1 feet below its normal depth. Because the Eastland was a little heavier than it was in 1914 and sat a litter
lower in the water, Flatow decided to move the Eastland a little more eastward where the wharf was a little lower,
thus making the ship easier to load.[9] The bow of the
ship was sixty feet west of the Clark Street Bridge, and was unable to sail on
her own from the position from which she was setup to load. The Eastland
was moored with five lines that included three in the front and two in the
back. The only location passengers were
able to boarded the ship was at the stern of the ship, only one gangplank was
used. The ship began boarding at 6:40am.
It was estimated that there was already
five thousand people waiting to go on the excursion, double the number that the
Eastland could hold. The ship begin to list immediately to
starboard which is expected as this was the side of the ship that was being
boarded. The ship was boarded at a rate
of 50 passengers per minute, which is a very fast pace with only one gangplank.[10]
Immediately below and as labeled
Figure 1 is a picture of eager passengers waiting to board one of the many
ships for the excursion on July 24. It
was taken early in the morning, around 6:30 a.m. Many of these individuals were aboard the Eastland when it sank. As the picture shows there is a large group
of people waiting to get down to the riverfront. In addition, there is a police presence, to
help control and direct the crowd of people.
This picture does not show all the people that were going to attend the
picnic, as the last ship was to leave around 2:30 p.m. There are also many people down on the dock
boarding the ship at this time. In addition, in the background one is able
to see that there are still many people coming to the dock. Therefore, this picture is not an accurate
representation of the quantity of passengers waiting to embark on the excursion.
Figure 1 People gathering to board the ships
at 6:30 a.m.
Immediately
below and labeled Figure 2 is an artist painting of the view from the Wells
Street bridge, which is just one block west of where the Eastland capsized. Even
thought the painting is eleven years before the disaster it helps one to visualize
what the area looked like around the time of the disaster.
Figure 2 Artist painting of the Eastland
docked just south of the Wells Street Bridge.
On the deck of the Eastland, no one seemed very concerned
about the ship listing back and forth, as this was nothing out of the ordinary.
Captain Harry Pedersen had no fears that there was something wrong so
why would the passengers worry? Nevertheless,
at 7:19am the engine room was a buzz because Joe Erickson, the Chief engine
room officer, and the engine room crew thought that they had they begun to gain
control of the listing Eastland. As water continues to rush into the starboard
ballast tanks, the ship began to right herself.
Erickson was correct, the ship was returning to zero degrees, or even
keel. When a ship is parallel with the
water it is considered to have a zero degree list. A ship must lean port or starboard to have a
list other than zero, when this happens a ship has a list of said degrees port
or starboard. The Captain of a ship
wants the ship to have a zero degree list.
At this time, Harbormaster Adam Weckler told Captain Pedersen that he ‘could
have’ the bridge whenever he wanted. Weckler would open the bridge when Captain
Pedersen was ready to leave. At once, Captain
Pedersen gave his First Mate the order to ‘stand-by’, which meant they were
ready to cast-off.[13] At 7:20 a.m. the
ship had reached its passenger capacity of two thousand five hundred people, only
forty minutes after it begin loading. With
crewmembers of the Eastland drawing in the gangplanks, E.W. Sladkey came upon
the ship and was encouraged to jump on the ship by some of his fellow workers. Sladkey was happy to oblige his coworkers and
as if on cue the boat begin to list. It
was as if the last passenger had made a big difference in the boat’s stability.[14]
Harbormaster Weckler was walking
away towards Clark Street, but he stopped once he saw the ship list again. Weckler stared at the ship for a few minutes when
he noticed, Charles Lasser casting off the mooring lines. Weckler forced his way through the crowd to
get to Lasser, Weckler told him to stop casting off the lines.[15] Weckler understood
that the boat was probably overloaded, and seemed to be having some trouble
with the ballast. Weckler then stormed
back toward the wheelhouse, and once he got within earshot of Pedersen, Weckler
began yelling to “trim her up,” as the ship was now listing 10 degrees port. Weckler informed Pedersen that the ship would
not leave until she was trim.
The ship began to take on water
through the scupper; Erickson ordered to his men to “Stop the engines! ALL STOP NOW!”[16] Still passengers
took little notice of the ship as they were enjoying themselves. At a list of 20 degrees portside, the ships
refrigerator tipped over along with glass bottles from the bar, this still did
not create a panic on the ship.[17] Crewmembers
began asking the passengers to move to the starboard side of the ship and they
began doing so without any complaints or panic.
At 7:25, the ship temporarily returns to even keel. However, the panic that had just set in as
water come aboard was now subsided. The
band picked back up their instruments and began playing again as if nothing
happened.[18] The ship began a
port list again 20 degrees then 25 degrees then 30 degrees, while crewmembers continued
to escort people to the starboard side of the ship. An onlooker, Mike Javanco, anticipated what
was about to happen to the ship and called out “Get off! Da Boat’s turin’ over!” One of the passenger on the ship yelled back
“Go on, Dago! You’re crazy.”[19] The ship was now
listing 35 degrees to port, and then suddenly righted herself as if it changed
her mind about tipping over. However, at
7:30, the boat began to list again this time to 45 degrees to port, and the
band stopped playing in the middle of a note. As chairs and other non-stationary objects
began to move, passengers starting grabbing for the nearest stationary object
and were holding on for dear life.
Others who had nothing to grab on to went sliding toward the water. Members of the crew went running to
companionways, and began exiting the doomed ship. They left the helpless passengers to fend for
themselves.[20]
Both on the ship and on the docks a
sudden panic came over the passengers and the on-lookers. Captain Pedersen, finally coming to the
realization that the situation was utterly unpromising, yelled down to have a
crewmember open his gangway. Passengers
begin jumping out the half open door, and panic spread like a wild fire among
the passengers and crew. The crew and
passengers were jumping off the starboard side on to the wharf or into the river. Nevertheless, it was too late. All of the jumping simply just made matters
worse, as the already lighter starboard side was getting lighter as people
jumped. On the dock, an eerie feeling came
over the crowd as they watched the Eastland
list back and forth. Traffic stopped and
the passengers on other ships looked on in horror. The band on the Roosevelt stopped in the middle of a song as people froze aboard
the ship.
The ship continued a port list
reaching fifty degrees. At this time on
the ship, the only crewmember met his death.
The piano slid off the stage and killed Willie Guenther, a member of the
band, instantly as it crushed him against the wall. Water came pouring into the ship, making the
weight of the ship even more unbalanced then it already was, this only sped up
time until the ship made its deadly fate.
It was everyone for themselves at this point; the strong were overtaking
the weak as they tried to get off the ship through any opening they could find. This ship had reached a point of utter and
complete chaos.
From this point, there was no chance
for the ship to right herself. One of
the first people to come to this conclusion was Joseph R. Lynn, the assistant
harbormaster. At 7:24, Lynn went down to
the wharf to test the three moored lines on the front of the Eastland. He then used the building around the ship to estimate
the port list and concluded that the ship was doomed. He then proceeded up the Clark Street Bridge
stairs to Weckler and explained that the fate of the ship was hopeless. Lynn then proceeded to call the Chicago Fire
Department. John Lescher, a Chicago
Policeman overlooking the boarding of the ships, came to the same conclusion as
Lynn. Lescher ran to the Clark Street
Bridge and up the stairs, and turned in an alarm to the police department.[21] Before the ship was
even in the water help was on the way.
In less than one minute, the Chicago
River became polluted with bodies of those whom jumped or were thrown from the
ship. Harry Miller, a crewmember,
watched a woman with a baby in her arms go overboard and he decided to go after
her. He would later state to the New York Times,
I jumped in
after her to get her. In less than a
second, [passengers] began dropping in all around me. There must have been hundreds of them that
jumped in. The water was thick with
them. One hit me on the shoulders and
drove me under.[22]
The
ship took less than two minutes to capsize into the Chicago River. Fred G. Fischer, who was a traffic police
officer assigned to watch over the loading process, stated “[the Eastland] just turned over like an egg
in the water” the ship made little to no splash in the water.[23] The time was
7:30 a.m. nearly, an hour after the ship began boarding. The day for everyone involved went from
pleasure to a day of remorse. George
Dubeau, a passenger on the S.S. Theodore
recalled:
It was a
terrible sight—men and women and children being plunged into the water and all
screaming. In one minute, the water was
full of people with only their heads above water and calling to be saved—that
is, those who did not sink at once. [24]
Immediately below and as labeled
Figure 3 is a picture of both survivors and rescuers standing on the
hull of the Eastland after the ship
capsized in the Chicago River, and as rescue attempts continue.
Figure 3 View of both survivors and rescuers on the hull of
the Eastland
[1] George W Hilton, Eastland:
Legacy of the Titanic. (Stanford: Stanford University
Press, 1995), pg vii.
[2] Jay Bonansinga, The Sinking of the Eastland: America’s Forgotten Tragedy. (New York: Citadel Press, 2004), pg 29.
[3] Bonansinga, The Sinking of
the Eastland, pg 29.
[5] Chicago Tribune 7/27/15, cited in
Bonansinga,
The Sinking of the Eastland, pg 21.
[6] Bonansinga, The Sinking of the Eastland, pg 20-22.
[7] Bonansinga, The Sinking of the Eastland, pg 22.
[8] Chicago Tribune July 27, 1915, pg 7
cited in Bonansinga, The Sinking of the Eastland,
pg 22.
[10] Hilton, Eastland: Legacy of the Titanic, pg 95.
[11] Chicago
Daily News, published in the newspaper between July 24-August 13, 1915. Courtesy of the Chicago History Museum, Chicago Daily News negatives
collection, DN-0064970.
[12] John Chuckman, “Steamer Eastland– Wells Street Dock – Later Sunk– 1908,” http://chuckmanchicagonostalgia.wordpress.com/2009/10/15/steamer-eastland-wells-street-dock-later-sunk-1908/, October 15, 2009 (accessed November 1, 2010).
[13] Hilton, Eastland: Legacy of the Titanic, pg 102.
[14] Hilton, Eastland:
Legacy of the Titanic, pg 103, also cited in Bonansinga, The Sinking of
the Eastland, pg 54-6.
[15] Bonansinga, The Sinking of the
Eastland, pg 56.
[16] Hilton, Eastland: Legacy of the Titanic, pg 104, also cited in Bonansinga,
pg 58.
[17] Transcript of
testimony, Coroner's inquest, pg 3. Cited in Bonansinga, pg 59.
[18] Bonansinga, The Sinking of the
Eastland, pg 62.
[19] Chicago Tribune, 7/25/15, pg 12
cited in Bonansinga, The Sinking of the Eastland, pg 66.
[20] Bonansinga, The Sinking of the
Eastland, pg 66-69.
[21] Chicago
Evening Post, July 27, 1915, pg 4. Cited in Hilton, Eastland: Legacy of the Titanic, pg 113.
[22] New York Times, “Saw Hundreds Fall to Death in River; Deck Hand Tells of the Panic --
Stairways Jammed -- Swimmers Dragged Under.” July 25, 1915, pg 1
[23] Chicago
Evening Post, July 27, 1915, p 4. Cited
in Hilton, Eastland: Legacy of the
Titanic, pg 109.
[24] Ted
Wachholz, Images of America; The Eastland Disaster. (Chicago: Arcadia Publishing, 2005), pg 45.
[25] Chicago Daily News, July 26, 1915. Courtesy of The Chicago History Museum, Chicago Daily News negatives
collection, DN-0064944.
Gotta love good old chicago history! They used the excaleber night club building as a mortuary among other place for the masses of victims.
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