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Ashes Under Water: The SS Eastland and the Shipwreck That Shook America

Michael McCarthy

really liked it 4.00 · Rating details · 220 ratings · 28 reviews

The untold story of the worst disaster on the Great Lakes in U.S. History. On July 24th, 1915, Chicago commuters were horrified as they watched the SS Eastland, a tourism boat taking passengers across Lake Michigan, flip over while tied to the dock and drown 835 passengers, including 21 entire families. Rockefeller, Morgan, and Carnegie had bought into the ship business in ...more

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ebook, 320 pages

Published October 7th 2014 by Lyons Press (first published January 1st 2014)

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Mar 15, 2018 Jocelyn Green added it · review of another edition

Shelves: american-history, nonfiction

Very well written. This volume is pretty heavy on the courtroom trial aspect, and I would have liked more of the aftermath outside the courtroom, but I can learn about that in different books. Ashes Under Water is a worthwhile contribution to the record of what happened with the SS Eastland.

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Nov 10, 2014 Jeanette rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This is a well written history of the SS Eastland. The detail over decades is an example of intensive research related in chronological progression. It includes the earlier variables of ships and reasons/examples of Lake Michigan transport between Chicago and various Michigan state coast ports. It's nearly a 5 star.

This non-fiction book is a difficult read. It includes many technical steamship engineering aspects, and beyond that comprehensive levels of trade and business stats. But it also cov This is a well written history of the SS Eastland. The detail over decades is an example of intensive research related in chronological progression. It includes the earlier variables of ships and reasons/examples of Lake Michigan transport between Chicago and various Michigan state coast ports. It's nearly a 5 star.

This non-fiction book is a difficult read. It includes many technical steamship engineering aspects, and beyond that comprehensive levels of trade and business stats. But it also covers to minutia the lives of the Captain and the Chief Engineer.

Because I knew many details of the Eastland and its eventual tragedy from people who had actually been there or heard from parents their roles in the aftermath- it was especially interesting to me. But it would appeal to any who want to understand how extreme industrial progress and need for new raw products for uses in production pushed both knowledge and also dangerous levels of attempted speed to accomplish goals. This was the era of strongest industrial progress in the entire world's history which did occur within the American Midwest during the 50 years prior to the Eastland's disaster. Especially these Lake Michigan routes primed transport for ores and other raw materials to feed towards new products of manufacture. I myself remember the Christmas Tree ships coming from Michigan. Also the immense numbers of appliance and other home use products manufacturers.

Just as so many in this particular telling, I too am a two state dweller. Knowing South Haven, St. Joseph and numerous other locations of this tale well. Every year I see numerous new to me remnants of past century Chicago frolickers all around my Cass County lake. But especially in Berrien County where so much evolved for this Eastland history.

I knew that they raced too, very dangerously, just like some Mississippi ships did. But I had no idea about the Eastland vs. the City of South Haven and that part was enthralling to me. Especially since there had been so many close calls in port and out with the level of balance before that segment of time in which the racing occurred.

Completely unknown to me too was the part Clarence Darrow played within Chicago. None of his exploits surprised me at all though, because I knew he left a legacy for punitive lawsuits. And the advancement to the ideas too that if anything at all ever goes wrong it is always someone else's fault and therefore grounds for blaming to damages.

But in the Eastland case and in several other maritime fields of use, these chances and these jobs to run those ships!! Well, I always thought coal mining was probably the most dangerous profession of all. But now, I doubt it.

Like fires in theaters, and factory floors- the laws and structures of occupancy certainly needed vast changes and regulation. But in these cases of ships and uses for ships, the entire form and methods of power source needed to be completely revamped. In Chicago, Western Electric's name will forever be coupled with the tragedy of the Eastland. It is to this day the most horrific result. 853 and so many gone who were their family's bread winners and/or the very young and so innocent, just trying for a day of joy.

Oftentimes in the last 20 years, I have wondered why there is not better ferry transport or cruise ship tours between lower to upper Lake Michigan or from Wisconsin or Illinois to Michigan's upper Penn.

Droves of us would use them, as the ones in operation are few (very limited to only two places on the Michigan coast) and highly expensive to use, especially for automobile transport.

Hopefully, someday someone will devise a safer way across the Great Lakes. And after hearing from a spouse's relative about how he pulled out people using oars and floating anything- seeing these pictures- I understand completely why he never forgot it. ...more

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Nov 17, 2014 Marian Cheatham rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Not many of us would have the tenacity, patience, or energy to research one particular subject for twelve years, but that was precisely what Michael McCarthy, author of Ashes Under Water: The SS Eastland and the Shipwreck that Shook America, did. He accomplished the seemingly impossible feat of compiling a mass of new information and facts about the 1915 disaster, its aftermath, and the civil trial that followed.

But don’t, for a minute, think that this book is a boring litany of statistics. It ...more

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Aug 28, 2018 David Allen Hines rated it really liked it · review of another edition

The Eastland was an excursion steamer on the Great Lakes that in 1915 inexplicably capsized while loading passengers dockside in the Chicago River, killing hundreds of people. I have read quite a bit on the Eastland tragedy, yet I still learned new things from this book. First, I did not know that prior to the capsizing, the ship had a history of listing and being top-heavy. I did not know the ship which in photos even to the layman today looks narrow and top-heavy, was designed by a firm that o The Eastland was an excursion steamer on the Great Lakes that in 1915 inexplicably capsized while loading passengers dockside in the Chicago River, killing hundreds of people. I have read quite a bit on the Eastland tragedy, yet I still learned new things from this book. First, I did not know that prior to the capsizing, the ship had a history of listing and being top-heavy. I did not know the ship which in photos even to the layman today looks narrow and top-heavy, was designed by a firm that only produced one passenger ship and that its ballast system was questionable. I was not aware that famed attorney Clarence Darrow represented the owners, captain, engineer of the ship at a federal criminal hearing and got them exonerated, yet proceeded to distance himself from the case and didn't even mention it in his memoirs.

This book starts out with much background information, and frankly, some of the initial chapters go off on tangents and that can be frustrating. And if you want a detailed depiction of the actual capsizing, while the book covers the actual event, it is not in a lot of detail and does not go on for many pages. There are also not many photos of the accident included in the book. The real focus of this book is on the criminal hearing after the accident and it goes into great detail on the case as presented by the prosecutors and the defense raised by Darrow. Despite having read other books on the Eastland incident, this was the first detailed account of this court hearing on the case I have read.

If your interest lies in the details of the actual day of the disaster and photos of the incident, this is probably not the best book for you. But if you want to enhance your understanding of the context of the incident, in how the ship came to be built, its early days sailing, and want an in-depth account of the criminal hearing afterwards, this book provides a great deal of interesting information that is just glossed over in other books on the Eastland disaster. ...more

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Jul 17, 2015 Jessica rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: class-lis-528-lea, american-history, history, maritime, disasters, modern-history, non-fiction, chicago

My 100th book of the year finished on the 100th anniversary of the Eastland Disaster.

This book takes the reader on two parallel journeys, one with Erickson, the Chief Engineer of the doomed vessel and the other with the Eastland itself, from the moment of its design all the way through the sinking, the trial and with a brief coda about its post-disaster career.

"Ashes Under Water" was a fascinating read. ...more

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Jul 31, 2015 Charlie Newfell rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Excellent book on a little-known tragedy. How many people know that more passengers died on the Eastland than the Titanic 3 years earlier? And...the Eastland never left the dock.

Thoroughly researched and well-told, this account covers all of the details in an easy to read telling. The tragedy and the book will stay with you for some time. Highly recommended!

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Feb 02, 2019 A.J. Goode rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Excellent, detailed look at everything that led up to the Eastland Disaster, and an intricate timeline of the investigation that followed. McCarthy shows us the people and lives destroyed by this tragedy that has been mostly forgotten by the American public. Fantastic, heartbreaking read.

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Nov 22, 2014 Brian Bolten rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

The scene is the Chicago office of Clarence Darrow, a lawyer who was well-known for taking the side of the underdog, the under-privileged, the labor union against the bosses. He would shortly become nationally famous for his work on defense in the Leopold and Loeb case, and later for his defense in the Scopes Monkey Trial. But at this point, the summer of 1915, he was at a low ebb in his career, having just escaped charges of bribery and jury tampering in Los Angeles. Darrow had many clients fro The scene is the Chicago office of Clarence Darrow, a lawyer who was well-known for taking the side of the underdog, the under-privileged, the labor union against the bosses. He would shortly become nationally famous for his work on defense in the Leopold and Loeb case, and later for his defense in the Scopes Monkey Trial. But at this point, the summer of 1915, he was at a low ebb in his career, having just escaped charges of bribery and jury tampering in Los Angeles. Darrow had many clients from the humble worker up to the architect Frank Lloyd Wright. He never knew who would come to his door.

"One day, the figure in Darrow's doorway was slight, gaunt. The short man looked frightening. He wasn't world-weary, like Darrow's other supplicants; he was traumatized. His cheeks were sunken. His eyes, dark sockets. He was sickly, skeletal. He introduced himself as Joseph Erickson. He was the chief engineer of the "Eastland", and he was in trouble."

The above excerpt is taken from the recently published book "Ashes Under Water: the S.S. Eastland and the Shipwreck that Shook America" by Michael McCarthy, historian and a former Feature Editor of the Wall Street Journal. Mr. McCarthy's book is about the fate of the S.S. Eastland when she capsized literally feet from her dock on the Chicago River on July 24, 1915, resulting in the death of 855 passengers. I can fully recommend this book, not only as a good read. But it is history written the way I love to read it: not just a dry collection of names and dates, but a living, breathing story of people with aspirations and motivations, some of them good and some of them bad, but all of them fascinating. And McCarthy has given us the full range of such characters. In his pages we find heroes, villains, and everything in between: lawyers, bystanders, and first responders. Most poignantly of all we find victims, including 22 whole families, who boarded the Eastland that morning expecting a day of pleasure at a company picnic, but who instead met their deaths.

The S.S. Eastland began her life in 1903 as a steamer built to take advantage of the rapidly expanding economic base of the Great Lakes region. In the first part of his book, McCarthy details the need for a ship to carry the tons of fruit being produced to the many summer resorts in the area along with passengers to these places. But as she was being constructed, her owners wanted her designed for speed and large passenger capacity. Hence she was designed with a length of 275 feet and a beam of 38 feet. "Fast ship, or no ship," versus the fact that the rivers she would be traveling were just too small for such a leviathan sized craft. "In other words, too much ship, too little water." We then see the accidents that followed the Eastland from one set of owners to the next each one overlooking the difficulties in handling a ship that was clearly top heavy and which acquired a reputation as a "cranky" sailor. Along side of this we see the rise of young Joseph Erickson from a young Norwegian immigrant into an excellent engineer, the downturns in the career of Clarence Darrow, and the blossoming of the families who would all be brought together by a terrible tragedy.

In Part Two, McCarthy takes us through the story of the disaster itself. We see how the Captain Harry Pederson a man with little experience and his chief engineer, Joseph Erickson, an honest, hard working man, each go through their paces on the morning of July 24, 1915 taking on over 2500 passengers of the Western Electric Company bound for a company holiday picnic. These were hard working people who were dressed in their best holiday attire: "Most of the women, in their twenties and their thirties, crowded near the dock with long-sleeve embroidered linen dresses. Their hats brimmed with apples, sprays of lilac. shirrings of striped taffeta silk, poppies wound in wreathes, and black velvet bows." And we see how the ship slowly lists to port, taking all of these and hundreds of others to their doom. Most of the passengers had gone below decks to avoid the cold drizzle and thus were smashed beneath tons of furniture as it came crashing down on them while the ship rolled on its side in a mere 20 feet of water, just a few feet from the dock and as water rushed in though doors and hatches. In vivid detail McCarthy tells the story of families wiped out, and first responders driven to despair by the horrors they encountered.

"At the bottom of page 14, the police chief asked Erickson precisely who within the company knew what would stop any stability issues on the Eastland. He replied, 'Why the general manager and the secretary, they all knew.' Next to that passage, in the pitiful penmanship that was signature-Darrow, were two words: Owners knew."

With those two words McCarthy, with the skill of a master story-teller, takes us into Part Three: the twisted world of the courtroom. With richly detailed portraits of the men involved, McCarthy shows us a veritable rogues gallery of characters: Darrow, the sloppy and unkempt man who was a brilliant lawyer, who agreed to take on the case of the gaunt man who appeared in his doorway. We are shown the owners of the ship who lied and dissembled repeatedly all throughout the trial. We see how the judge, Clarence Sessions slowly began to favor the defense against the prosecutors who called a dizzying array of marine experts. Darrow realized that he would have to save all of these men from the charge of conspiracy in order to keep his client, Joseph Erickson from being made into a scapegoat. So he attempts all kinds of fancy legal footwork to discredit the experts until he can bring the focus around to the simple honesty of his client. The six pages wherein McCarthy takes the reader through Joseph Erickson's account of his experience in the Eastland disaster are frankly riveting.

All of this is drawn against the background of a nation dealing with the unsettling changes brought about by the industrial revolution to American society. This was a new and strange world brought about by telephones, automobiles, and the changing roles of women and men and who would be he source of income within these new family structures. And this is all brought tragically to life in McCarthy's pages with the Red Cross Tolls, wherein we see the bulletins of the Red Cross giving details of the unidentified among the dead pulled from the hull of the Eastland. And this went on while a shocked nation hung on every detail of the trial in the newspapers from all over the country. Drawing on court documents, and previously unpublished letters, Mike McCarthy has written for the first time the complete story of a tragedy which would shortly be forgotten as our country was swallowed up into the even greater tragedy of the Great War. More than that, it is a fascinating character study of a slice of our country and our people just at our entrance onto the world stage. ...more

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Dec 19, 2020 Sarah rated it really liked it · review of another edition

In 1915, the SS Eastland capsized while tied to its dock in the Chicago River. Over 800 people died.

Michael McCarthy hypothesizes that virtually no one in America today has heard of this disaster. I certainly hadn't, and my first reaction upon learning of it was to think that Chicago saw more than its share of bizarre disasters in the early twentieth century. But, I digress.

Ashes Under Water is the story of the Lake Michigan steamships, and of one in particular - the Eastland - that was beset by ...more

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Jul 10, 2020 Karen rated it liked it · review of another edition

The information presented, when you think about it, is very interesting, heartbreaking, appalling. And it sounds like exactly the kind of book I love. BUT I felt like he didn't capture the emotion, didn't pull me into the story. Disappointing. ...more

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Oct 07, 2020 Kenneth Aspan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Little known maritime disaster on the Chicago river

Detailed account of the little known ship the Eastland which listed fatally and killed many Western Electric employees. The book recounts the disaster faithfully, and covers the Clarence Darrow famed court case afterward.

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Mar 07, 2018 Rod rated it liked it · review of another edition

I really knew nothing of this tragedy. He did a lot of research and added a lot of details on the people involved. This is a good read for anyone who has an interest in the Great Lakes or South Haven.

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Jul 31, 2015 K Walker rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This was a really interesting book about ship sinking that took place in 1915 in Chicago. The ship was boarding employees and their families from the Western Electric Company for the annual picnic. The ship had a problem with being top heavy at times but had had only one serious incident in its 12 year life prior to this, but that one was minor compared to this one. Ironically, the sinking of the Titanic and the change in the law requring enough life boats for all passengers and crew members may ...more

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Aug 21, 2015 Marv rated it liked it · review of another edition

SPOILER ALERT: This book is a detailed but narrative review of original sources, both popular and legal, of one of the most horrific accidents in American history. The book was obviously an obsessive labor of love for the author, who obviously was seeking to ensure that the victims of this tragedy would not be forgotten. It details how a ship can capsize at anchor, killing hundreds and hundreds of passengers, and yet no legal blame be assigned for it nor damages paid to the victims' families. It ...more

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Sep 12, 2016 Deidra Witschorke rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Another excellent historical accounting of the shipping/maritime industry in early America.

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Aug 04, 2015 Tim rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This is a very interesting account of a virtually unknown shipwreck. The SS Eastland sank in 1915 while loading passengers at the dock in Chicago. Eight hundred and forty-four passengers drowned - more passengers than died in the sinking of the Titanic, but this wreck is rarely heard about.

The author focuses heavily on the personalities involved, especially chief engineer Joseph Erickson, who ended up being somewhat of a convenient scapegoat although no one was ever held criminally responsible. ...more

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Jan 08, 2015 Larry rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I used to work right across Wacker from where this happened, and walked past the monument countless times. So, as a Chicagoan, this wasn't a new story for me. Still, this was a great read, with the back story going back to the original construction and the history of the ship's listing problems. The courtroom scenes with Clarence Darrow are the narrative heart of the book and don't fail in holding interest. Darrow is one of those people that when the "who would you like to meet from the past if ...more

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Sep 05, 2015 Ed rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

A fascinating, yet profoundly sad, look at a forgotten American tragedy and its aftermath. In 1915 the overcrowded excursion ship, the SS Eastland, rolled over at its mooring on the Chicago River in the center of the city. 844 of the 2500 passengers on board died when they were trapped below deck.
In the aftermath of the tragedy, Clarence Darrow, a decade before the Scopes trial, but already famous as a proponent of progressive causes, successfully defended the unjustly accused chief engineer, a ...more

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Sep 21, 2015 Dave Hoff rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Author did a lot of research of Ship owners, Capts. nd Engrs of the Eastand, the shipyard and the passengers, each with a pivotal role in the trial of who's to blame for a ship rolling over at the dock and 844 lives lost. Clarence Darrow's claim to fame, but real cause not proved. An inadequate piping arrangement of shifting water ballast, not adjusting for the passengers moving from Starboard to Port ?, question of the day. ...more

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Apr 12, 2016 M rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This was an excellent book! The background, on the S.S. Eastland and six principal players, was well researched and presented. It also focused on the poor souls that were lost that day. One page merely contained the words: Gone. Gone. Gone. It was so jarring. I was especially drawn to the courtroom drama and Clarence Darrow's defense strategy for the ship's Chief Engineer, whose only flaw appears to be that he told the truth about what happened that fateful day. ...more

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Dec 22, 2014 Cathy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Michael McCarthy had written a well detailed history of the Eastland disaster in a very compelling style. The background on the building of the boat and the people associated with it made the book hard to put down. This is a must read for anyone who is interested in the history of Chicago, and the effects of putting greed ahead of safety in business.

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Oct 22, 2015 patricia rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

A very interesting account of the sinking of the SS Eastland at the dock in the Chicago River with the loss of 844 lives! Biggiest loss of life on the Great Lakes taking place in early 1900's. Well written historical account by Michael McCarthy. ...more

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Dec 14, 2015 Susan rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

Normally, I really like books on histories disasters. However, I got really bored with this one. The most interesting part had to do with Clarence Darrow. Someday I may give this ebook another chance, but not right now.

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Nov 05, 2015 Jeanne rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Well written and so very interesting. The author helps transport you back in time. Tragedy does not do justice to what happened to all these people.

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Jan 19, 2017 Brad rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Well written account of the Eastland disaster, an event I knew criminally little about. Recommended for anyone interested in Chicago history.

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Jul 31, 2015 Linda rated it liked it · review of another edition

A bit of a slow start for me, but found it to be an interesting part of Chicago History.

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May 19, 2016 Patricia Stewart rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Sad, wonderful book. My grandfather slept through his alarm that day and missed the boat. Otherwise.....?

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Aug 03, 2015 Wally Cwik rated it liked it · review of another edition

Well written chronology of the events of the Eastland disaster. Brought out many facts that I did not previously known.

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CD rated it really liked it
Dec 25, 2014

LouAnn Hoppe rated it it was amazing
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