The Morro Castle: Tragedy at Sea

by Hal Burton

The Strange Fate of the Morro Castle

Genres: History, Nonfiction, 20th Century

1 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1972

Reviews

[Dougie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chilling. Well told.

[Selena · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are so many horrible disasters at sea and this was one that I had never heard of. Happening not too long after the Titanic disaster (and General Slocum disaster), you would be hard pressed to imagine a fire on a cruise ship caused by carelessness (or insanity?). But no, a fire did ignite in the middle of the Morro Castle on its way back from Cuba to NYC. And of course, the majority of the crew fended only for themselves leaving a great deal of passengers in the dark and cold waters or to burn in their staterooms. The heroics of fisherman coming from NJ was amazing to read - they reacted when the Coast Guard wouldn't. I can't wait to read more books about this disaster - especially if more insight is given to the mysterious radio operator (and his pyromaniac tendencies).

[Christian Deysson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Whatever can go wrong aboard a passenger cruise ship went wrong on the Morro Castle: Weapon smuggling, bitter personal quarrels among top officers, a highly psychotic radio officer, a paranoid captain who ends up dying from food poisoning amid a hurricane, a catastrophic fire aboard set by a reckless and murderous arsonist... and the smoke detection system as well as all hydrants inactivated by the crew's pure negligence. If this were fiction, the plot would be way to thick. But that's how things went on the Morro Castle's last and fatal cruise in September 1934.

[Steven Ferre · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating overview of an almost forgotten disaster, the aftermath of which impacts ship design and outfitting to this day. Ever wonder why today's ocean liners and cruise ships look so sterile? It's because the burning of this ship with its art deco rooms full of flammable upholstery and wooden paneling was so horrific that subsequent ships had to be basically fireproof. so now everything is metal and fiberglass. ugh.

Even more interesting is the mental state of the arsonist employee who started the fire. A good read.