Capsized!: The Forgotten Story of the SS Eastland Disaster

By Patricia Sutton

New York Public Library's "100 Best Books for Kids"
Kirkus Reviews' "Best Books of 2018"

2019 Society of Midland Authors Literary Award Honoree

2019 Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People List

2019 Cybils Literary Award Winner

A 2019 Cooperative Children's Book Center's Choice

Wisconsin Writers Contest 2018 Winner of the Tofte/Wright Children's Literary Award

On July 24, 1915, the SS Eastland, filled to capacity with 2,500 passengers and crew, capsized in the Chicago River while still moored to the pier. Happy picnic-goers headed for an employee outing across Lake Michigan suddenly found themselves in a struggle for their lives. Trapped belowdecks, crushed by the crowds attempting to escape the rising waters, or hurled into the river from the upper deck of the ship, roughly one-third of the passengers, mostly women and children, perished that day.
The Eastland disaster took more passenger lives than the Titanic and stands today as the greatest loss of life on the Great Lakes. Capsized! details the events leading up to the fateful day and provides a nail-biting, minute-by-minute account of the ship's capsizing. From the courage of the survivors to the despair of families who lost loved ones, author Patricia Sutton brings to light the stories of ordinary working people enduring the unthinkable.
Capsized! also raises critical-thinking questions for young readers: Why do we know so much about the Titanic's sinking yet so little about the Eastland disaster? What causes a tragedy to be forgotten and left out of society's collective memory? And what lessons from this disaster might we be able to apply today?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Chicago Review Press
• Release date: Jul 1, 2018
• ISBN: 9781613739464

Patricia Sutton

Patricia Sutton is a writer and former elementary school teacher based in Madison, Wisconsin. She has an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Hamline University and is the author of two other books. She especially enjoys researching and writing narrative nonfiction for kids.

Book preview

picnic

PROLOGUE

Promising to be the fastest steamship to sail the Great Lakes, the SS Eastland drew the families of Port Huron, Michigan, to the banks of the Black River on May 6, 1903. On a Tuesday afternoon, shops and offices around town closed, and a school holiday sent children streaming into the streets at noon. Buildings were draped in red, white, and blue bunting, a brass band played Sousa marches, and curious onlookers climbed trees or sat on the roofs of nearby buildings for a better look. More than 6,000 citizens turned out to witness the launch of the first passenger ship built by the Jenks Shipbuilding Company. After watching eight months of progress on the town’s newest vessel, they came to celebrate the send-off.

At precisely 2:15 PM, two sharp blasts sounded from the ship and the Eastland began to awaken, moving just a bit, shifting and stirring from a still position. Factory whistles shrieked, tugboat horns blared, and church bells rang out to herald the moment. The captain’s wife, Mrs. Frances Pereue, stepped forward and struck a beribboned bottle of champagne against her steel bow.

As the crowd clapped and cheered, the Eastland slid sideways down the rails into the river, sending a cascade of water splashing to the shore. The ship rolled to a 45-degree angle and stopped, holding a precarious lean. People gasped, watching and waiting to see what would happen next.

Then the Eastland righted itself to the roar of the excited spectators.

The Eastland at the Jenks shipyard.

Launch of a Great Lakes steamship.

She came right back up, just as nice and steady as a church, remarked shipbuilder Sidney Jenks. Steady as a church.

A year later, on a sweltering summer evening, the Eastland transported its cargo of tired picnickers home to Chicago, from the beaches of South Haven, Michigan. July 14, 1904, was the hottest day on record, and nearly half of the 2,300 passengers packed the upper hurricane deck, hoping for a cool lake breeze.

Nautical terms and diagram of the Eastland at the pier.

Captain Frank Dority headed full speed toward Chicago, but only a mile and half from the Michigan shore the Eastland suddenly tilted to the left, or port, side. In the engine room, chief engineer William Eeles estimated a 15-degree lean and knew that he had to use the large ballast tanks at the bottom of the ship to straighten it. First, he had to empty water from tanks number 1 and 2. Then he opened the valves on the opposite side of the lean, the starboard side, and lake water gushed into tank number 4. The weight of the water should have balanced the Eastland, bringing the ship to an even keel.

But nothing happened.

Screaming passengers scrambled to the high side of the ship, slipping and falling and reaching for anything to hold on to—a railing, a bench, a wall.

Grab the life preservers! someone hollered.

For nearly 10 minutes, the Eastland continued its lean and the engineer struggled to gain control. Crew members’ faces turned pale and serious, and Captain Dority grew more impatient with the passing of each minute.

Frantic to reverse the listing, a nautical term for leaning, Eeles ran through his actions. Yes, he had first emptied the tanks of water. Yes, he had then opened valves on the starboard side for nearly five minutes. He waited and watched. Then slowly, the Eastland rolled back to center, balancing out. He breathed a sigh of relief. But almost immediately after settling, the ship seesawed in the opposite direction, this time creating an even steeper incline to starboard.

The SS Eastland at full steam.

Engines in check! ordered Captain Dority. His first mate followed directions and immediately reduced the speed by half. The captain turned over the ship’s wheel to his assistant and stormed out of the pilothouse, racing below to the engine room.

Shrieks pierced the evening air with the sudden shift, and passengers once again rushed to climb the steep deck to the opposite side. In the crush, many were shoved, several became seasick, some dropped to their knees to pray. Passengers fainted, and children screamed as they lost their grip and tumbled down the incline. One panicked woman nearly jumped overboard, saved by a stranger who grabbed her just in time. The sound of rushing water came from below.

Crew members headed down to try to close the open portholes on the lower decks. But it was too late. On the main deck, the lake water surged through gangway doors, flooding the bar, knocking over passengers, and pushing them against the hull.

Upon reaching the engine room, Dority demanded answers. The engineer tried to explain that there had been a problem with one of the tanks but that he believed it was corrected. They agreed that the number of people on the upper deck was not helping the situation.

Captain Dority rushed to the crowded hurricane deck, now top-heavy with passengers.

The list will grow no worse, he explained, if you will go below. Many still clung to the railings of the upper decks, afraid to go inside and be trapped if the boat capsized. The crew tried to persuade the crowd to follow the captain’s orders. The Chicago Tribune reported that the passengers refused to obey orders, and finally in order to drive them away from the rail, the fire hose was used. Passengers huddled together belowdecks, securing soggy life preservers, holding tight to loved ones, and anticipating the worst.

After nearly 25 minutes of rolling and lurching, the Eastland finally settled down.

For God’s sake, Captain, cried passenger Henry Welch, why don’t you turn the boat back, even if you think it is safe? Think of the women and children on board. They were still within sight of shore and hours away from their destination.

But Captain Dority would have none of it. He ordered engines full steam ahead.

By 11:30 PM, disheveled passengers disembarked in Chicago, drenched by lake water, still wearing life preservers, promising they would never sail on the ship again. That day the SS Eastland earned the title the Crank of the Lakes.

Over the years there were other incidents. The most notable was in 1907 when the ship nearly capsized again, this time on Lake Erie. But little was reported in the papers, and the steamship company worked hard to keep it that way. Right up to July 23, 1915, the Eastland still experienced stability problems. Twenty miles out into Lake Michigan, the ship reportedly listed to port very suddenly, causing alarm among some passengers. It continued to list for about 200 or 300 feet before righting itself to an even keel. Once the ship corrected, the trip continued without incident, and the Eastland arrived safely back to shore on time.

Years later, in court testimony, shipbuilder Sidney Jenks would repeat the words steady as a church when describing the ship’s launch. He would also admit under oath that "there never was an actual stability test for the Eastland" performed.

Steady as a church, and yet the passengers on a fateful day in 1915 never had a prayer.

SUMMER WOULDN’T BE SUMMER WITHOUT THE PICNIC

We have had picnics before, and not one of them was to be sneezed at, either, but they will all be forgotten after this one.

—Western Electric News, July 1915

July 24, 1915, 12:30 AM

In their darkened bedroom, 13-year-old Borghild Bobbie Aanstad and her little sister Solveig tossed and turned, struggling to sleep, knowing they had to be up early but likely whispering long past their bedtime. Near Bobbie’s bed lay the outfit she had chosen for Saturday’s trip to her uncle’s employee picnic. It was her best dress, white cotton with lace trim, tied in back with a bow, purchased only months earlier

Reviews for Capsized!

[Becki · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A well written and quick read. Everything I look for in a disarter retelling. No made long dialog that the writer can't possibly know about. Just facts presented in a flowing eninteresting matter. Never dull or sappy or exploiting the tragedy.

[jennybeast · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Really well researched and presented book on the SS Eastland Disaster, a ship disaster that I had never heard of. The book is very well laid out, with a great image-text ratio, and a well-paced movement through the day. Works well for 4th-5th grade , if the kids are ok with a very high mortality rate, especially when the dead are children. I also really like how Sutton explores what the life of a Western Electric employee was like, and talks a little bit about why this tragic occasion has not really been remembered. It's very interesting to consider what daily life was like, how employers responded to and cultivated their employees at the time, and how regulation of industry has changed our landscape.