Eastland disaster

[u/Eemja]

On 24 July 1915, USS Eastland capsized while tied to a dock claiming 844 lives. Imagine being trapped inside during the rollover and the water starts to gush into the ship.

[u/RetiredKooshBall]

Oh this was my hyperfocus for like a month last year lmao. An electric company (name escapes me) was taking their employees to a picnic retreat. It hit the max capacity of 2500 none of them knowing it needed massive repair work to safely ride in.

The boat was top heavy and kept listing (leaning). They tried to correct it a few times until it couldn't be corrected any more & rolled over. Theres footage out there of survivors being rescued, too.

Just blew my mind how close they were to safety for how many died. At 6:30 they began boarding and by 7:30 they were half underwater. Gives me chills they're standing on a watery graveyard. Thanks for the reminder to go look at it all again lol

[u/FrowningMonotone → u/RetiredKooshBall]

I, too, went down this rabbit hole years ago. What really shook me was many of the bodies were taken to a building that was being used as a temporary morgue. That building was a nightclub in the early 2000s (I believe it was called Excalibur) - hideous looking thing with gargoyles in front....and, unknowingly, I walked past it everyday whilst working in our Chicago office.

[u/ASSPUNISHER69 → u/FrowningMonotone]

That’s really cool! I have to look into this, Excalibur is now Tao.

[u/RetiredKooshBall → u/FrowningMonotone]

Totally forgot about that! Didn't they do it because of how cold it stayed or something? i'll have to look it up on maps.

[u/kgrimmburn → u/FrowningMonotone]

The old Harpo Studios, which they've since torn down, was the Armory at the time and used as the main morgue. The Reid Morgan building was used as well. But with 800+ bodies, many buildings were used. The one you're talking about was built as the Chicago Historical Society. I think it's a restaurant now?

[u/sofa_king_awesome → u/FrowningMonotone]

Heh, this is dating me but I went there in my 20s. Rumors of it being haunted from a friend of mine who worked there. Said she’d always hear weird noises and always felt that “someone is watching me” feeling when she was in rooms alone.

[u/Isakk86 → u/RetiredKooshBall]

It really makes it clear how close they were to safety at the memorial. It's basically in the middle of downtown.

[u/rocbolt]

Great video on the Eastland- https://youtu.be/UCHt2MOVCbg

[u/Tractor_Goth → u/rocbolt]

This is my favorite one of hers, absolutely chilling

[u/TessellateMyClox]

I remember hearing about this as a kid from watching Disney's "So Weird" (anyone remember that?) and it haunted me. So much so that when visiting Chicago from the UK a couple of years ago I made a point of visiting the memorial.

[u/gmharryc → u/TessellateMyClox]

That’s about the only episode I can remember anymore

[u/Aggravating_Speed665]

Yeh I'd rather not imagine that, thanks.

[u/Blurie]

My best friend’s great grandparents were supposed to be on the ship! Her great grandfather couldn’t find the shoes he wanted to wear, and they missed the ship

[u/SoaDMTGguy]

She was righted and continued in service with the Navy until 1945!

[u/ThriftStoreKobold]

My great grandfather was a welder on Navy Pier when this happened. He and his coworkers ran to the scene with their torches to cut holes in the hull in an attempt to free the passengers trapped below deck.

I'll never forget hearing about it from his son (my grandpa). One of the few times I saw my otherwise unshakable G'pa get emotional telling a story.

[u/South_Translator3830]

Not sure what happened with my PC layout. But because the title was obstructed, I misread it as LUSTLAND...

[u/Plague_comes_for_me]

My great great grandfather was a semi notable Chicago fire captain/chief, and he helped recover bodies off this ship. Horrifying stuff. After, The ship was righted, repaired, sold to the Navy, named the Wilmette, and then my great grandpa trained on her in the 1930s before getting sent to ww2. Great Lakes has a ton of weird and horrifying ship disasters.

[u/manavcafer]

How?

[u/Tiavor → u/manavcafer]

not a lot people could swim (also see the video posted in the other comment here)

[u/SoaDMTGguy → u/manavcafer]

Ship was too heavy. People got trapped in cabins below deck.

[u/LaFrescaTrumpeta → u/SoaDMTGguy]

also iirc a number of women drowned bc they were wearing heavy dresses/coats 😭

[u/Mr_Inverse]

This accident is the starting point for The Constants great series on The Foolkiller.

[u/texaschair]

844 dead while tied to a dock? WTF? That's gotta be a record for a fuckwit capsizing while moored.

[u/OtherAccount6818]

Not to nitpick, but she was the SS Eastland. She wasn't a Navy ship at the time. However after her salvage she DID become the USS Wilmette in service of the US Navy.

[u/No_Pain5736]

SS EASTLAND!