# 472 women, 290 children, and 82 men died in 20 feet of water! (SS Eastland disaster) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 24, 2011, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/472-women-290-children-and-82-men-died-in-20-feet-of-water-ss-eastland-disaster/590198 "2011-07-24T19:45:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2011, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/472-women-290-children-and-82-men-died-in-20-feet-of-water-ss-eastland-disaster/590198/1 "2011-07-24T19:45:17Z")
96 years ago on this day one of the country’s biggest maritime tragedies happened right in downtown Chicago. [The SS Eastland disaster.](http://bit.ly/qWg58D) On July 24, 1915, 844 people (472 women, 290 children, and 82 men) died in the Chicago River, in 20 feet of water, just yards from shore. This disaster still boggles my mind every time I think about it. When I worked in the Loop I used to walk by [the memorial](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Eastland_Disaster_Plaque.jpg) every day and wonder how it could have happened. I’ve even read the very thorough [The Sinking of the Eastland](http://www.largeprintreviews.com/eastland.html) and still don’t understand how such a thing could have happened. [Chicago Tribune story](http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-0723-eastland-anniversary-story,0,2013664.story) [Wikipedia link](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Eastland) I posted this in SDChicago but it should be better-known so I’m re-posting here. A mod can close it if that’s not allowed. ---
**Author:** ![code\_grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@code\_grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/code_grey)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2011, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/472-women-290-children-and-82-men-died-in-20-feet-of-water-ss-eastland-disaster/590198/2 "2011-07-24T20:07:03Z")
from wikipedia: > [@](#): > > On the fateful morning, passengers began boarding the Eastland on the south bank of the Chicago River between Clark and LaSalle Streets around 6.30 a.m., and by 7:10, the ship had reached its capacity of 2752 passengers. The ship was packed, with many passengers standing on the open upper decks, and began to list slightly to the port side (away from the wharf). The crew attempted to stabilize the ship by admitting water to its ballast tanks, but to little avail. Sometime in the next 15 minutes, a number of passengers rushed to the port side, and at 7:28, the Eastland lurched sharply to port and then rolled completely onto its side, coming to rest on the river bottom, which was only 20 feet below the surface. Many other passengers had already moved below decks on this relatively cool and damp morning to warm up before the departure. Consequently, hundreds were trapped inside by the water and the sudden rollover; others were crushed by heavy furniture, including pianos, bookcases, and tables. Although the ship was only 20 feet from the wharf, and in spite of the quick response by the crew of a nearby vessel, the Kenosha, which came alongside the hull to allow those stranded on the capsized vessel to leap to safety, a total of 844 passengers and four crew members died in the disaster. Many were young women and children. so most people survived, that being at the dock anyway. I think this has more of a “collapsed building” feel than a classical disaster at sea. “Et in Arcadia ego”. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2011, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/472-women-290-children-and-82-men-died-in-20-feet-of-water-ss-eastland-disaster/590198/3 "2011-07-24T20:20:03Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > [snip]On July 24, 1915, 844 people (472 women, 290 children, and 82 men) died in the Chicago River, in 20 feet of water[snip], But how many times did it happen? ---
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2011, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/472-women-290-children-and-82-men-died-in-20-feet-of-water-ss-eastland-disaster/590198/4 "2011-07-24T20:25:34Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > But how many times did it happen? Once, for 20 minutes? ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2011, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/472-women-290-children-and-82-men-died-in-20-feet-of-water-ss-eastland-disaster/590198/5 "2011-07-24T20:52:10Z")
Thanks for posting this, **Equipoise**. I’d never even heard of this disaster before. Is there any explanation for why so many more women than men died? ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2011, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/472-women-290-children-and-82-men-died-in-20-feet-of-water-ss-eastland-disaster/590198/6 "2011-07-24T21:31:15Z")
**MsWhatsit** -My guess would be that the men would be more likely to give up the inside seats to the women in children before the ferry departed. So they were outside and escaped more easily. Also, the women would’ve been wearing several layers of clothes, with long skirts around their legs, dragging them down. And women and small children of the time were less likely to know how to swim. Most women, even at the beach, would just go in to their knees due the the heavy bathing costume of the day. StG ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2011, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/472-women-290-children-and-82-men-died-in-20-feet-of-water-ss-eastland-disaster/590198/7 "2011-07-24T21:31:25Z")
Heavy waterlogged clothing, and not knowing how to swim. Remember, swimming as a fun thing is relatively recent, back then most women waded and dabbled toes … and if you are either out shopping or with kids you may be burdened down as well, and heaven forbid you strip off any heavy waterlogged clothing, you might expose a body part. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2011, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/472-women-290-children-and-82-men-died-in-20-feet-of-water-ss-eastland-disaster/590198/8 "2011-07-24T22:10:54Z")
Over 1000 people died in a boat fire in 1904 in NYC , biggest NYC disaster until 9/11 > **[PS General Slocum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PS_General_Slocum)** > > The PS General Slocum\[note 1\] was a sidewheel passenger steamboat built in Brooklyn, New York, in 1891. During her service history, she was involved in a number of mishaps, including multiple groundings and collisions. > On June 15, 1904, General Slocum caught fire and sank in the East River of New York City. At the time of the accident, she was on a chartered run carrying members of St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church (German Americans from Little Germany, Manhattan) to a church picnic. An e... ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2011, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/472-women-290-children-and-82-men-died-in-20-feet-of-water-ss-eastland-disaster/590198/9 "2011-07-24T23:21:58Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > Over 1000 people died in a boat fire in 1904 in NYC , biggest NYC disaster until 9/11 > > [PS General Slocum - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PS_General_Slocum) My grandmother, who was born in 1900, told me she had memories of the disaster. They brought some of the drowned ashore at a pier in the South Bronx near where she lived, and she witnessed it. I’m sure it would have made a powerful impression on a four-year-old girl. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2011, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/472-women-290-children-and-82-men-died-in-20-feet-of-water-ss-eastland-disaster/590198/10 "2011-07-25T00:07:13Z")
As I read in the book, _The Sinking of the Eastland_ more people were crushed or suffocated below decks than actually drowned. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2011, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/472-women-290-children-and-82-men-died-in-20-feet-of-water-ss-eastland-disaster/590198/11 "2011-07-25T00:19:52Z")
20 feet or 20,000 feet, if you can’t swim and the water is deeper than your height… 1,800 people lost their lives on the [Sultana](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Sultana), near Memphis, TN; more than died on the _Titanic_. ---
**Author:** ![banjoDavid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3d9bf3/32.png) [@banjoDavid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/banjoDavid)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/472-women-290-children-and-82-men-died-in-20-feet-of-water-ss-eastland-disaster/590198/12 "2011-07-26T09:35:20Z")
The Eastland was raised and renamed the Wilmette. It was used as a training ship at Great Lakes during World War 1, and, in 1921, was part of a crew that towed and sunk the captured German U-boat USS Ex-UC97 20 miles off of Winnetka, in 250 feet of water. From The Captain’s Shipwreck Book of South-West Lake Michigan by Dale Bennett ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/472-women-290-children-and-82-men-died-in-20-feet-of-water-ss-eastland-disaster/590198/13 "2011-07-26T11:38:44Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > 1,800 people lost their lives on the [Sultana](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Sultana), near Memphis, TN; more than died on the _Titanic_. I wonder if they thought of raisin the Sultana? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/472-women-290-children-and-82-men-died-in-20-feet-of-water-ss-eastland-disaster/590198/14 "2011-07-26T12:46:30Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > I wonder if they thought of raisin the Sultana? The Mississippi moves around so much that the boiler was found in a guy’s pea field in the twentieth century. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/472-women-290-children-and-82-men-died-in-20-feet-of-water-ss-eastland-disaster/590198/15 "2011-07-26T12:55:10Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > The Mississippi moves around so much that the boiler was found in a guy’s pea field in the twentieth century. My humour is wasted. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/472-women-290-children-and-82-men-died-in-20-feet-of-water-ss-eastland-disaster/590198/16 "2011-07-26T13:05:48Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > My humour is wasted. ☹ I _thought_ you might be whooshing me…I still don’t get “raisin the Sultana”, though. Dad was there in WWII and said you guys had a…different…sense of humor. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/472-women-290-children-and-82-men-died-in-20-feet-of-water-ss-eastland-disaster/590198/17 "2011-07-26T13:09:41Z")
The joke was pretty crook when I had to explain it 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/472-women-290-children-and-82-men-died-in-20-feet-of-water-ss-eastland-disaster/590198/18 "2011-07-26T15:24:07Z")
**carnivorousplant** - A sultana is a golden raisin. StG ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/472-women-290-children-and-82-men-died-in-20-feet-of-water-ss-eastland-disaster/590198/19 "2011-07-26T15:32:46Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > My humour is wasted. ☹ I was amused. Even if your humor is a little dry… ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/472-women-290-children-and-82-men-died-in-20-feet-of-water-ss-eastland-disaster/590198/20 "2011-07-26T15:34:09Z")
> [@Zyada](#): > > I was amused. Even if your humor is a little dry… But I appreciate your joke 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/472-women-290-children-and-82-men-died-in-20-feet-of-water-ss-eastland-disaster/590198.md?page=2)