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History Mystery: Eastland steamer disaster took 800 lives in 1915

BY DIANE GILES

dgiles@kenoshanews.com

Last week’s History Mystery question:

On the morning of July 24, 1915, the tugboat Kenosha sat in the Chicago River and played a part in the unfolding of what disaster that took 800 lives?

The answer:

The summer morning of July 24, 1915, was turned into a day of terror and subsequent sadness when the excursion steamer Eastland overturned just 20 feet from the wharf between the Clark Street and LaSalle Street bridges on the Chicago River.

The steamer was one of the boats hired to take employees of the Western Electric Co. and their families on an excursion to Michigan City, Ind., for a huge picnic. Seven thousand tickets had been sold for the annual event, most to young factory workers.

The Eastland was the first ship to be loaded, and as people filled the four decks it began to list slowly from side to side.

The ship began loading at 6:30 a.m., and at 7 a.m. a tug was requested to escort the ship out into the lake. The tug Kenosha responded and took its place alongside the Eastland’s bow.

Ten minutes later the steamer was filled to capacity. An orchestra began playing on the promenade deck and nearby passengers began dancing.

No one panicked even though the ship began to increasingly list to port and began taking in water through the port gangways. Twice during the loading the ship had righted itself.

When a refrigerator toppled over with a crash and a piano slid across the deck at 7:28 a.m., the 2,573 passengers and crew suddenly realized that disaster was upon them.

Sailors know what to do when a ship capsizes: They crawl over the ship with the roll. Many of the crew did just that, but the passengers either didn’t know what to do or didn’t have the time to react.

The Kenosha’s skipper, Capt. John O’Meara, ordered the tug’s line off the pilings and put onto the wharf, allowing the terrified humans on the starboard side of the ship to use the tug as a bridge to the wharf.

In 20 feet of river water, and in view of thousands of witnesses, 844 people lost their lives, either trampled or drowned. Many were trapped in the lower decks.

All the members of 22 different families were among the dead.

The cause of the disaster had much to do with the steamer’s design: It was thin and tall, making it unstable in the water.

Ironically, after the sinking of the Titanic three years earlier, legislation required adequate lifeboats and rafts for every passenger vessel. The three lifeboats and six life rafts weighing about 14 tons were added three weeks before to the top deck of the Eastland and made it even more top heavy.

Because it capsized so quickly, the order to launch the lifesaving equipment was never given.

Today, a historical marker near the LaSalle Street bridge in Chicago commemorates the terrible event, one of the worst maritime disasters in American history.

This week’s mystery:

In what year did Kenosha County draw its first female jurors?

History Mystery appears weekly in the Kenosha News. The answer to today’s question will run next Tuesday.