On July 24, 1915, 844 people died when the ss eastland tipped over in the Chicago River. It was the largest loss of life from a single shipwreck in the Great Lakes.
The SS Eastland was a passenger ship made in Chicago and was used for tours. The ship was made in 1902 and named in 1903. Before the Eastland disaster, the ship had consistent problems with balance and in 1904 its capacity was lowered from 3,000 people to 2,800 people. On July 1, 1912, another incident occurred when the ship leaned nearly 25 degrees while boarding passengers in Cleveland.
On July 24, 1915, the SS Eastland and four other passenger steamers were hired to take employees from Wester Electric in Cicero, Illinois to a picnic in Michigan city, Indiana. Passengers started boarding the SS Eastland on the south bank of Chicago River around 6:30 am. By 7:10 am, the ship had reached its capacity of 2,572 people. Most passengers were standing on the open decks when the ship started leaning slightly toward the port side. The crew tried to balance the ship by adding water to its ballast tanks, but it didn’t work. At 7:28 am, the SS Eastland had leaned sharply to the port and then rolled completely on its port side, meaning barely half of the ship was submerged. Because most passengers had moved below deck, hundreds were trapped in the ship by the water and the sudden rollover. Some were crushed by large furniture like pianos, bookcases, and tables. The crew of the nearby ship quickly pulled along the hull to help stranded passengers leap over safely. However, 844 passengers on the ship passed away.
Afterwards, the bodies were taken to temporary morgues opened in the area for identifying the bodies. Many people do not know of the Eastland disaster mostly because of the amount of passengers who perished and the few who survived have not been known to talk about the incident.
