The Forgotten Bodies in the Water; the S.S. Eastland- Sections III and IV



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.

No comments:

Post a Comment