1915 Chicago maritime disaster

[grumpy grizzly]

On this date in 1915, 844 passengers and crew perished in the largest loss of life disaster from a single shipwreck on the Great Lakes. The Eastland was chartered by Western Electric's Hawthorne Works in Cicero, Illinois for a company picnic in Michigan City, In. Most of the passengers were Czech immigrants from Cicero, 220 of them perished. Passenger boarding began at 6:30 AM at the birth on the Chicago River between Clark and LaSalle, by 7:10 the ship reached its capacity of 2,572 passengers. Most passengers were on the open upper decks and the ship began to list slightly to port, which is away from the wharf. Crew members attempted to stabilize by adding ballast but at 7:28 the vessel lurched sharply to port and then rolled completely on its side onto the river bottom, which was only 20' below the surface. Many passengers had moved inside to escape the cool and damp morning, and thus were trapped below decks. At this time the ship was only 25' away from the wharf, and despite rescue efforts from a nearby vessel, the Kenosha, 844 people perished. Many of the bodies were taken to a cold storage warehouse which later became Harpo (Oprah) studios. Many families suffered multiple deaths, some families were wiped out.