The Eastland Disaster Killed More Passengers Than the Titanic and the Lusitania. Why Has It Been For

[rangerrebew]

The Eastland Disaster Killed More Passengers Than the Titanic and the Lusitania. Why Has It Been Forgotten?
Chicago’s working poor were expecting a day in luxury. They instead faced a horrific calamity on Lake Michigan
 
By Susan Q. Stranahan
 

At 7:18 a.m. on July 24, 1915, the crew of the Great Lakes excursion steamer Eastland prepared for that morning’s journey and hauled in its gangplank, forcing a tardy passenger to leap aboard from the wharf along the Chicago River.

Despite the cool, damp weather, 2,573 passengers and crew crowded aboard the Eastland, the atmosphere festive. The latecomer, E.W. Sladkey, headed to the promenade deck to join coworkers from the Western Electric Company’s Hawthorne Works factory in nearby Cicero. The Eastland was one of five vessels chartered to carry Western Electric workers and their families on a day-long outing from downtown Chicago to a park 38 miles across Lake Michigan to the southeast. More than 7,000 tickets had been sold.

Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/eastland-disaster-killed-more-passengers-titanic-and-lusitania-why-has-it-been-forgotten-180953146/#qJmhHbiXxLE94BOz.99
 

[Sighlass]

The Eastland Disaster Killed More Passengers Than the Titanic and the Lusitania. Why Has It Been Forgotten?

Nice use of deception there... more were killed on the Titanic, but I guess crew does not count.

Eastland - 844 passengers died (no mention of crew?)

Lusitania - 785 passengers (no mention of crew?)

Titanic - 829 passengers (plus 694 crewmembers)

The blame, Hilton concluded, rested in a poorly designed boat that had been rendered top-heavy as a result of the post-Titanic safety measures.

IOWs, government regulations of putting X number of lifeboats on top didn't help in this instance, making the boat more top heavy.

[Smokin Joe]

Nice use of deception there... more were killed on the Titanic, but I guess crew does not count.

Eastland - 844 passengers died (no mention of crew?)

Lusitania - 785 passengers (no mention of crew?)

Titanic - 829 passengers (plus 694 crewmembers)

IOWs, government regulations of putting X number of lifeboats on top didn't help in this instance, making the boat more top heavy.

From the article, the 'black gang' as stokers were once referred to (from coal dust and lubricants and sweat) realized what was happening and left the engineering spaces, which likely saved many. Then, too, a short trip steamer would not require the crew an ocean going vessel would, either to run the ship or to cater to the passengers 24/7 for a week or more.

The takeaway for me ( and I recall people having to wear hearing protection because the back-up alarms on mining equipment were too loud to be around without it--OSHA stuff) is that mandating safety equipment on a one size fits all basis contributed to the disaster by treating a lake steamer like an ocean going vessel of deeper draught and different construction. Not that the Eastland was a particularly well-designed vessel.

(Which, ultimately, is one of the reasons I am strongly in favor of fewer Federal edicts and more localized control. One size does not fit all.)

[dfwgator]

IOWs, government regulations of putting X number of lifeboats on top didn't help in this instance, making the boat more top heavy.

There's no problem so great that the government can't make even worse.

[Fishrrman]

Interesting article at the source.

However, the Sultana disaster of 1865 was far worse, but is largely forgotten because the nation at the time was preoccupied with the Lincoln assassination:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sultana_(steamboat)

[Smokin Joe]

Interesting article at the source.

However, the Sultana disaster of 1865 was far worse, but is largely forgotten because the nation at the time was preoccupied with the Lincoln assassination:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sultana_(steamboat)

The Sultana Disaster involved kickbacks, too.