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The S. S. Eastland
Jul. 24th, 2008 08:29 amOn this date in 1915, one of the greatest maritime disasters in U. S. history occurred, with the events taking place literally in the heart of downtown Chicago. The steamer S. S. Eastland, with 2,752 passengers on board, was getting under way for a Saturday morning excursion across Lake Michigan, taking employees of the Western Electric company from a pier between Clark and LaSalle Streets on the north side of the Chicago River to a company picnic in Michigan City, Indiana.
At approximately 7:20 AM, the brow was taken in and the ship’s master, Captain Harry Pedersen, started to take in lines preparatory for departure. The ship, always “tender” (seaman-speak for “unstable”) listed to port. Despite efforts to ballast, the list persisted, and at 7:30 the ship rolls 90 degrees to port then sinks. 841 people onboard die, including several entire families.
Ironically, the dead were in some regards the last victims of the Titanic sinking. As a result of that disaster, in 1915, the U. S. Congress passed a law (the Seaman's Act) increasing the required number of lifeboats from 95% of passengers to 105% of passengers. Eastland’s owners, the St. Joseph and Chicago Steamship Company, added three life boats and six life rafts. The July 24 cruise was the first with this additional weight high in the ship and a full load of passengers. The unstable Eastland rolled over even as the passengers rushed to starboard.
A note here on ship stability. Ships float by balancing two forces, gravity and bouyancy. Gravity pulls the ship down, and acts through the center of gravity, or CG. Bouyancy pushes the ship up, and acts via the center of bouyancy, CB. When a ship is perfectly straight up and down, CG is directly above CB. In stable ships, as the ship rolls, CB moves with the roll, while CG stays put. This movement creates a force, or "righting arm" which twists the ship back to an even keel. In a tender ship, this righting arm is small, and the ship will take on random lists, then slowly recover. In an unstable ship, CG will either move (weight shifting) or end up farther off centerline in the direction of the list. Once this happens, the vessel will roll over quite rapidly. The higher the center of gravity, the more likely a small list will put CG out past CB, and the more likely the ship will sink.
Going back to the events of 1915, the ship was partially blocking the Chicago River, then the main port of the city, so she had to be moved. On August 14, 1915, the ship was refloated and taken out of the river under tow. Eastland was sold to the Navy, rechristened the U.S.S. Wilmette, and used for training. In 1921, she participated in the sinking via gunfire of the captured German U-Boat UC-97 on Lake Michigan. Wilmette was retired in 1940, but re-activated for training duties in early 1941. After WWII, she was sold for scrap and broken up.
Eastland on Wikipedia
At approximately 7:20 AM, the brow was taken in and the ship’s master, Captain Harry Pedersen, started to take in lines preparatory for departure. The ship, always “tender” (seaman-speak for “unstable”) listed to port. Despite efforts to ballast, the list persisted, and at 7:30 the ship rolls 90 degrees to port then sinks. 841 people onboard die, including several entire families.
Ironically, the dead were in some regards the last victims of the Titanic sinking. As a result of that disaster, in 1915, the U. S. Congress passed a law (the Seaman's Act) increasing the required number of lifeboats from 95% of passengers to 105% of passengers. Eastland’s owners, the St. Joseph and Chicago Steamship Company, added three life boats and six life rafts. The July 24 cruise was the first with this additional weight high in the ship and a full load of passengers. The unstable Eastland rolled over even as the passengers rushed to starboard.
A note here on ship stability. Ships float by balancing two forces, gravity and bouyancy. Gravity pulls the ship down, and acts through the center of gravity, or CG. Bouyancy pushes the ship up, and acts via the center of bouyancy, CB. When a ship is perfectly straight up and down, CG is directly above CB. In stable ships, as the ship rolls, CB moves with the roll, while CG stays put. This movement creates a force, or "righting arm" which twists the ship back to an even keel. In a tender ship, this righting arm is small, and the ship will take on random lists, then slowly recover. In an unstable ship, CG will either move (weight shifting) or end up farther off centerline in the direction of the list. Once this happens, the vessel will roll over quite rapidly. The higher the center of gravity, the more likely a small list will put CG out past CB, and the more likely the ship will sink.
Going back to the events of 1915, the ship was partially blocking the Chicago River, then the main port of the city, so she had to be moved. On August 14, 1915, the ship was refloated and taken out of the river under tow. Eastland was sold to the Navy, rechristened the U.S.S. Wilmette, and used for training. In 1921, she participated in the sinking via gunfire of the captured German U-Boat UC-97 on Lake Michigan. Wilmette was retired in 1940, but re-activated for training duties in early 1941. After WWII, she was sold for scrap and broken up.
Eastland on Wikipedia
