III. The Effects
of the Disaster
Chicago was and still is today a
melting pot of many different people.
This disaster brought that fact to light with the Red Cross counting 28
nationalities among the victims; with Germans, Bohemians, and Poles being the
nationalities that were most affected by the disaster.[1] The Bohemian
National Cemetery in Chicago, prepared nearly 150 graves.[2] On July 28,
Chicago and the town of Cicero, where the plant was, observed a day of
morning. Cicero held a town wide funeral
and ordered all stores and plants to close at 9 a.m.[3] Most of those who fell victim to this disaster were
under the age of 30. In fact, seventy
percent of those who were killed were between the ages of fifteen and thirty.[4] Roughly,
fifty-six percent of the victims were women. The picnic was a great social
gathering for young people, much like the Christmas party was to the older
workers.[5] Since workers
were encouraged to bring their whole family there were many children aboard the
ship and many under the age of five who lost their lives. In total, twenty-four kids under the age of
five drowned in the Chicago River.[6] The Red Cross
victim report listed that only fifty-seven percent of the victims where Western
Electric employees.[7]
The Eastland had a greater loss of life among passengers then both the Titanic and the Lusitania. The Titanic and the Lusitania’s overall numbers are higher when the crew is combined
with the total number of passengers lost.
The Eastland’s loss of life
among passengers was 841 and 3 crewmembers for a grand 844 lives lost. The Titanic’s
loss of life was 829 passengers and 694 crewmembers for a total of 1,523
lives lost.[8] The Lusitania’s loss of life was 788 passengers and 402 crewmembers for a
grand 1193 lives loss.[9] When combining the numbers the Titanic is the ship with the greatest
loss of life. Nevertheless, when looking
at just the passengers the Eastland
disaster took more lives than either the Titanic
or the Lusitania.
The
Western Electric Company was not the only thing that was devastated by
the Eastland. There were many communities, families, and
friends that lost a great deal in the disaster.
Shortly after the Eastland capsized,
a journalist went to the Hawthorne area and discovered that on one block, “That
every household had lost someone and that one house stood empty because all of
its inhabitants had drowned.”[10] The American Red
Cross-Chicago Chapter revealed that twenty-two entire families succumb to the
disaster and that 660 families lost at least one member to the Eastland.[11] The largest
family wiped out in the disaster was the Sindelar family. They lost a total of eight members, George
and Josephine, their five children, and Mrs. Sindelar’s sister, Regina Dolezal.[12]
IV. History of
the Eastland
The Eastland was built and designed in Port
Huron, Michigan by the Jenks Ship Building Company and was commissioned by The
Michigan Steamship Company. Work began
in October of 1902 and was completed on May 6, 1903, when it was launched into
the Black River in Port Huron, Michigan.
It was the first and only passenger ship ever built by the Jenks Ship
Building Company. After the disaster,
some concluded that the Eastland was
amateurishly built from the onset.
However, this was not the case, the designing of the Eastland was thoroughly professional.[13] Ownership changed a few times over the
years. The group that had commissioned
the Eastland, The Michigan Steamship
Company, originally intended the ship to bring people from Chicago, Illinois to
South Haven, Michigan and then both the people and fruit back to Chicago.[14] In the winter of 1907 the Eastland was sold to The Lake Shore
Navigation Company. It was then used to
transport people from Cleveland, Ohio to Cedar Point amusement park in
Sandusky, Ohio and Toledo, Ohio.[15] The next owner was The St. Joseph-Chicago
Steamship Company, the owners during the disaster, bought her for the advent of
the 1914 season. People were now being
shuttled between St. Joseph, Michigan and Chicago, Illinois and fruit was again
making the return trip from St. Joseph to Chicago.[16]
The Eastland had a history of being a hard
ship to navigate and had many near misses, the New York Times reported on the history of the Eastland on July 25, 1915. Additionally, the Times reported that during the Eastland’s
first season in Cleveland, 1908, the ship nearly turned over when passengers
rushed to one side. Ironically, the
passengers were on a company picnic for the Sherwin-Williams Company when it
listed heavily but did not turn over.
According to the Times, the
worst episode in Cleveland was on June 6, 1913 when the Eastland ran ‘aground in the mud’
and passengers were stuck on the ship until 2am. On at least two other occasions, the Eastland ‘ran on the beach’. People would fear the worst when she was late
and ‘vesselmen worried every time she needed to clear a break water.’ Also, in the same article Captain N. B.
Nelson, a Federal Inspector of steamships, claims the ship was in perfect
condition during the spring of 1913.
Yet, the ship was not allowed more than five miles from the shore when
carrying 2,000 passengers. Such a
restriction was because the Eastland
only carried eight lifeboats, which was insufficient for the number of
passengers in which she carried.[17] Former Captain Claude M. Ennes added
The ship itself was thoroughly seaworthy. I would have sailed her around the
world. She wasn’t top heavy. I have had her loaded to Government capacity
and have run into the stiffest kind of northeast gales, and never had the
slightest trouble, but she was cranky, like all lean-hull vessels, and required
constant watching.[18]
When the Eastland
is referred to as ‘top-heavy’ former Captains, crewmembers, and owners a like
blame it on other rival ship owners.
Grant Donaldson, former Chief Engineer, who also argued this opinion
when he stated to the New York Times,
“There was a popular opinion she was top-heavy, but that was due to reports of
rival boat owners.”[19] Donaldson did not believe she was
‘top-heavy.’ One thing is for sure the Eastland
was a cranky ship, which kept her crewmembers busy.
Cranky is
how one would have to describe the Eastland
on a return trip from South Haven; when the
ship was at maximum capacity with 2,907 passengers the ship begin to list to
its starboard side as it was coming down the Chicago River. The ship eventually righted herself, but the
event caused a few people to complain and led to a government inspector
lowering the maximum capacity from 2,907 to 2,400.[20] In 1909, a school superintendent in Chicago
wrote “Many women and children will someday pay the tragic penalty of
overcrowded boats” he continued, “It is only a question of time when there will
be a disaster on one of these excursion boats that will stagger Chicago.”[21] By 1910, the Eastland had gained a bad reputation as an excursion ship. The reputation was so bad that The Lake Shore
Navigation Company took out an advertisement in the Cleveland Plain Dealer and
the Cleveland Leader that read:
$5,000 Reward
The Steamer Eastland is built
entirely of steel and is ocean type in construction. Her water compartments when filled carry 800
tons of ballast. She is 269 feet long,
has a beam of 36 feet and draws 14 feet of water. She has twin screws, driven by two powerful
triple expansion engines, supplied with steam from four Scotch boilers.
The material she is built of,
the type of her construction, together with the power in her hold, makes her
the staunchest, fastest and safest boat devoted to pleasure on the Great
Lakes. All this is well known to people
acquainted with marine matters. However,
there are thousands of people who know absolutely nothing about boats, the
rules and regulations for their running, and inspection and licensing of the
same by the US government.
In hope of influencing this
class of people, there have been put into circulation stories to effect that
the Steamer Eastland is not safe.
Therefore, in justice to
ourselves and in fairness to the 40,000 people that have enjoyed themselves
during the past four seasons on this palatial craft (and without a single
mishap), we offer the above reward to any person that will bring forth a naval engineer,
a marine engineer, a shipbuilder, or anyone qualified to pass on the merits of
a ship who will say that the Steamer Eastland is not a seaworthy ship, or that
she would not ride out any storm or weather any condition that can arise on
either lake or ocean.[22]
There was not one single person who tried to claim the reward, but it did not stop people from having doubts about the ship’s safety. However, in 1913 an independent maritime engineer, John Devereux York wrote a letter to U.S. government inspectors. York’s letter reached the steamship inspection agency while the world was still reeling from the tragedy of the Titanic. The letter stated, “You are aware of the condition of the S.S. Eastland, and unless structural defects are remedied to prevent listing, there may be a serious accident.”[23] Unfortunately, two short years later, York’s predictions were proven correct.
[1]
Gordon Ann D Gordon, Investigating the
Eastland Accident, (In Chicago History, v. 10, no. 2, p. 74-85.: Chicago
Historical Society, Summer 1981.) pg 75.
[2] Wacholz, Images of America,
pg 103.
[3] Wacholz, Images of
America, pg 107.
[4] Gordon, Investigating the Eastland Accident, pg 75.
[5] Hilton, Eastland: Legacy of the Titanic, pg 95.
[6] Gordon, Investigating the Eastland Accident, pg 75.
[7] Hilton, Eastland: Legacy of the Titanic, pg 95
[8] Eastland
Disaster Historical Society. “A Titanic Comparison.”
http://www.eastlanddisaster.org/titaniccomparison.htm. (accessed September
14, 2010.)
[9] Peter
Engberg-Klarstrom, Mike Poirier, and Hildo Thiel. “Survivor/Dead Breakdown.”
May 1, 2005.
http://www.rmslusitania.info/pages/breakdown.html. (accessed November 1,
2010).
[10] Gordon, Investigating the Eastland Accident, pg 75.
[11] Gordon, Investigating the Eastland Accident, pg 75.
[12] Wacholz, Images of
America, pg 104.
[13] Hilton, Eastland: Legacy of the Titanic, pg 25.
[14] Hilton, Eastland: Legacy of the Titanic, pg 15.
[15] Hilton, Eastland: Legacy of the Titanic, pg 55.
[16] Hilton, Eastland: Legacy of the Titanic, pg 64.
[17] New York Times, “Eastland Began Badly.;
Had Many Mishaps at Cleveland and Bankrupted Owners.” July 25, 1915, pg 2.
[18] New
York Times, July
25, 1915, pg 2.
[19] New
York Times, July
25, 1915, pg 2.
[20] Hilton, Eastland: Legacy of the Titanic, pgs 55-59. Also cited in Bonansinga, The sinking of the Eastland, pg 46.
[21] Chicago Tribune, July 25, 1915, pg
8. Cited in Bonansinga, pg 47.
[22] Cleveland
Plain Dealer, August 9, 1910, pg 10; Cleveland Leader, August 9, 1910, pg 3.
Cited in Hilton Eastland: Legacy
of the Titanic, pgs 58-59.
[23] Chicago
Tribune, July 26, 1915, pg 2. Cited
in Bonansinga, The Sinking of the
Eastland, pg 52.
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