Another example of naive intervention

Introduction

This essay’s purpose is for an example of interventionism and the ultimate iatrogenic/cost. I first learned about the S.S. Eastland from Mark Spitznagel and I give full credit to the rest of my education on the incident to eastlandmemorial.org. This is not a summary of the incident, but specifically highlighting the naive intervention and the resulting cost. The lesson from this is to prioritize risks in a “what to avoid” way, which can be conducted through “what-if analysis.” It is harder to sell “what I avoided for you” rather than “what I did for you,” however, the former can be strikingly more valuable.

1914 Prediction:

After the Titanic catastrophe, Arnold Augustus Schantz petitioned against increasing lifeboat requirements for Great Lakes vessels. He stated that the additional weight requirements would cause many Great Lakes vessels to become top heavy and prone to capsizing.

Iatrogenic modifications

St. Joseph-Chicago Steamship Company outfitted the S.S. Eastland with 6 additional life rafts and 3 additional lifeboats in June 1915 while the ship was in for other repairs. The rules-based regulation following the Titanic required retrofitting of a complete set of lifeboats on Eastland. This additional weight may have made her even more top-heavy than she already was (tall and thin to begin with, for speed).

Other than the lifesaving equipment, the modifications performed on the Eastland for the 1915 season also included the rearrangement of certain compartments for usability, and the replacement of decking with tons of concrete in the ‘tween deck dining room and the main deck near the aft gangways. This modification, in particular, reduced the metacentric height of the ship.

S.S. Eastland’s pre-existing “top-heavy condition was now amplified and precarious at best when fully loaded.”

Disaster strikes

Saturday, July 24, 1915: Docked in downtown Chicago on the Chicago River for a Lake Michigan cruise to Michigan City, Indiana for a Western Electric employee picnic. Soon after 2,500 passengers boarded, the ship it began to list (sway at an angle).

At 7:28 AM, the list had reached 45 degrees. The furnishings, piano, dishes, iceboxes, lemonade stand and appliances fell over with loud crashes and slid across the decks. The passengers began to panic. Many began to crawl out of gangways or other openings on the starboard side as the Eastland gently continued to list to port until it finally settled on its port side at 7:30.

The Eastland rolled onto its side, spilling passengers into the river and trapping others underwater in the interior cabins, mostly women and children. The disaster claimed 844 lives.

The majority of those preparing to board the ships were actual employees of Western Electric. Because the company picnic was an important social event, a great many of the employees in attendance were young, single adults in their late teens or early 20’s.

An eyewitness described the scene:

“I shall never be able to forget what I saw. People were struggling in the water, clustered so thickly that they literally covered the surface of the river. A few were swimming; the rest were floundering about, some clinging to a life raft that had floated free, others clutching at anything that they could reach–at bits of wood, at each other, grabbing each other, pulling each other down, and screaming! The screaming was the most horrible of all.”

841 passengers, 2 from the Eastland’s crew, and 1 died in the rescue effort. Although the Titanic, which sank over three years prior in 1912, had a higher total death toll of 1,523, the Titanic had a lower death toll of passengers than the Eastland, as crew deaths of the Titanic totaled 694.

Anecdotes

Rumors of past instability had followed the Eastland. As a result, The Eastland Navigation Company placed a half-page newspaper advertisement in the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Cleveland Leader on August 9, 1910. The ad offered a $5,000 dollar reward to anyone who could “bring forth a naval engineer, a marine architect, a shipbuilder, or any one qualified to pass on the merits of a ship who will say that the Steamer Eastland is not a seaworthy ship, or that she would not ride out any storm or weather any condition that can arise on either lake or ocean.” There is no record showing that anyone ever came forward to claim the reward.

At 6:53, the ship began to list again, port list resumed at 7:20, at which time water began coming into the ship through the gangway openings on the port side. Even so, no great panic occurred among the passengers. In fact, some began to make fun of the way the ship was swaying and leaning.

There were also early indications

1904

Near catastrophe occurred with 3,000 passengers aboard. The incident occurred in full view of South Haven and the public was alarmed.

1912

Another severe listing in Cleveland.

References

The Eastland. Eastland Memorial Society. https://web.archive.org/web/20090122125939/https://www.eastlandmemorial.org/eastland2.shtml

Eastland disaster. Eastland Disaster – Eastland Disaster. (n.d.). https://eastlanddisaster.org/history/eastland-disaster