Mystery of the Morro Castle

During the 1930s, the Morro Castle and her sister Oriente were cruise ships operated by the Ward Line running cruises to Havana and other sunny destinations.  Newport News Shipbuilding built the ships in 1930.

1:1250  model of Morro Castle by Albatross.

Morro Castle is remembered today for a disastrous fire that killed 135 people and brought a smoldering wreck to an Asbury Park beach for all to see.

 The story is bizzare.  The ship was on a return voyage from Cuba when she encountered a nor’easter.  On September 7, 1934, her captain, Robert Willmott, was found dead in his cabin.   Command of the ship passed to chief officer William Warms.  Overnight, the ship plodded through the storm with high seas and strong winds.

Early in the morning of the eighth, a fire was discovered onboard.  Within 20 minutes, the fire burned through the main electrical cables and plunged the ship into darkness. The crew was not up to the task of firefighting and within an hour the superstructure, including the bridge and radio room was ablaze.  A single SOS was sent.

In a scene reminiscent of the loss of the Arctic in the 1850s, crewmen were the first to the lifeboats and most of those evacuated were crew.  Many passengers huddled in the aft sections of the ship and had few options but to wait for rescue and risk the fire or jump into the stormy seas.  Three liners responded to the distress call and plucked survivors from the water and the six lifeboats that were launched. 

Two funnels and two masts-- the classic look of a modern liner.

The beached wreck was local tourist attraction and remained there until March 1935.  Morro Castle was a total loss.  There are several theories about the cause of the fire.  Some speculate that the radio operator, George Rogers, set the fire so that he could be a hero.  Other experts suggest that faulty wiring, or flammable chemicals stored in the closet in the area the fire began were to blame.  Whatever the cause, the forward movement of the ship into the wind only fed the blaze and the failure of the crew to take immediate action to alert all of the passengers and off-duty crew for an organized evacuation led to the loss of life.

Morro Castle leaving port. 

Subsequent investigations into the disaster led to reprimands of the crew and led to increasingly stringent fire safety regulations for passenger vessels.  Surely William Francis Gibbs had this disaster in mind when he planned two of the most famous American liners, America and United States.

Morro Castle (1930-1934) built for Ward Line by Newport News Shipbuilding, Newport News, VA.  11,520 GRT.  508 feet long, 70.9 feet wide.  Steam turbo-electric transmission geared to twin screw.  Service speed 20 knots.  489 Total Passengers.

Pride of the Canadian Pacific's Atlantic Fleet

Outside of these interested in steamships, few people have heard of the Empress of Ireland, which sank in the St. Lawrence River in May 1914.   This tragic accident took the lives of 1,012 passengers and crew in the space of fourteen horrific minutes. 

The loss of the Empress remains Canada’s worst maritime disaster and if one considers the both St. Lawrence and Chicago Rivers as part of the Great Lakes, it surpasses the capsizing of the Eastland in Chicago (also in 1914) for number of passengers lost.  Beyond the riverside port of Rimouski and homeport of Liverpool, the sinking did not capture the public’s attention and the tragedy was overshadowed by the bloodshed and devastation of the Great War a few months later.  It is an important story to tell and one that has come alive in the twenty-first century.

1:1250 model of the Empress of Ireland by Rainer Gouls.

The Empress of Ireland was launched in the winter of 1906 at Fairfield Shipbuilders on the Clyde.  Commissioned by the Canadian Pacific Railroad’s Atlantic service, she was built alongside her sister ship, the Empress of Britain, as the company’s flagship.  Neither ship was close to the largest or fastest ships on the North Atlantic, but they were the decidedly larger and more luxurious than their fleet mates and certainly competitive with other vessels designated on the run to Canada.

Empress of Britain postcard ca. 1910.

CPR was a newcomer to the Atlantic passenger trade acquiring fifteen vessels—and their crews—from the Elder Dempster Line in 1903.  In a single move, CPR eliminated a competitor and established a comprehensive transportation system.

One of Canadian Pacific’s’ selling points was that a passenger could travel from Liverpool to Tokyo and never leave a Canadian Pacific conveyance.  The railroad spanned North America from Quebec to British Columbia, and a small fleet of passenger and cargo vessels served each port.  CPR’s Atlantic vessels were, like other companies, larger and faster than those on other sailing routes.  The Empresses were intended to attract both first class passengers to travel in the comfort of the rail & ship service but also emigrants coming to Canada.  The main innovation of the Empresses was to accommodate third-class passengers in cabins rather than dormitories, as was the standard of the day.

Empress of Ireland in harbor.  White Star Line's Ceramic is in the background.  Harbor accessories by Triang-Minic.

The Empress of Ireland made her maiden voyage from Liverpool to Quebec in late June, 1906.  She made 95 voyages over the next eight years.  On May 28, 1914, she was outbound from Quebec on the start of her 96^th voyage.  Under the guidance of the pilot, she gradually picked up steam on the calm seas of the St. Lawrence.  The sight of land surely must have calmed passengers nervous to be at sea.  So did the ubiquitous presence of lifeboats and a scheduled lifeboat drill.  There was no worry of another disaster like that of the Titanic unfolding. 

By unknown. from the collection of Matthews, James Skitt, Major (1878-1970) [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.  City of Vancouver Archives.

Shortly after midnight, the Empress stopped off Rimouski to exchange mail and drop off the pilot.  As she steamed away, she was in the hands of her captain, George Kendall.  Kendall was an experienced sailor and esteemed officer, but was new to the captaincy of the Empress.   As the she was underway, a blanket of fog descended upon the St. Lawrence.

The Empresses were built with classic steamship design of two funnels and two masts.  The booms are extended for handling cargo.

A few miles downriver, and invisible to the Empress is the Norweigian collier, Storstad.  At 1:38 AM, the lookout sights a mastlead light ahead.  Kendall ordered a change of course, but the die was cast.  Despite signals from foghorns the ships were lost in the fog and on a collision course.  The Storstad slammed into the Empress and she immediate began flooding at the rate of 50,000 gallons a minute.  No ship could survive such a wound. 

Within minutes, the wireless operator sent out distress calls, and then the power failed.  The Empress began listing sharply.  Those awake on the upper decks—mostly crewmen and men in the smoking rooms—were able to reach the few lifeboats that were launched.  There simply was not time for an evacuation.  Fourteen minutes after the collision, the Empress was gone. Those who were not pulled into a lifeboat succumbed to hyperthermia.  Some people in the water were found and pulled out by the Storstad and vessels from Rimouski.  Due to the fog, many were not spotted until it was too late.  Of the 1,477 passengers and crew aboard, 465 were rescued, mostly crewmembers who were awake. 

Captain Kendall.  Agence Rol [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

Among the survivors was Captain Kendall, washed from the bridge.  An inquiry absolved him of blame, but he never commanded another CPR liner.  The bulk of his later career was at a desk as Marine Superintendent.

Because the Empress of Ireland sank in a known location in shallow water, she was within reach of divers in 1914.  Salvers blasted a hole in the hull to retrieve the mail and a shipment of currency.  She lay neglected until the 1960s when SCUBA divers began exploring the wreck and salvaging items.  The wreck was picked over off an on until protected as historic site in the late 1990s. 

Location of the wreck of the Empress of Ireland.  NOAA [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The Empress of Britain sailed as a troopship during the war and resumed commercial sailings during the early 1920s.  In 1924, the ship was renamed Montroyal.   She was sold for scrap in 1930 and replaced with a newer Empress of Britain in 1930.

RMS Empress of Ireland (1906-1914) built by Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Govan, Scotland.  14,191 GRT, 570 feet long, 65 feet wide.  Steam quadruple expansion engines geared to twin screw.  Service speed 18 knots.  1,580 total passengers (350 first class, 350 second class, 1000 third).

The Ship with Tallest Stack

The Ivernia was one many vessels in Cunard’s intermediate fleet.  These ships catered to immigrants and budget minded travelers whom did not demand swift passage or luxurious accommodations.  These vessels also transported larger quantities of cargo than the express liners.  Ivernia sailed on the Liverpool to Boston run and sometimes Treiste to New York. 

Ivernia dwarfs the USS Olympia in this scene. 

Ivernia carried the largest single funnel ever fitted to a ship, measuring 60 feet from base to top. Her overall design was similar to her near-sisters Saxonia and Carpathia.  Her practical design of a single funnel and four masts indicates that she carried more cargo than the larger express liners.  All four masts are positioned above cargo hatches and each is equipped with four booms for loading and unloading freight and baggage.

1:1250 model by Mercator.

Captain William Turner was in command when she was torpedoed by UB-47 and sank in 1917.  For the second time, Turner swam away from a sinking ship and was rescued.  Turner was accused of failing to sail Lusitania on a zig-zag pattern to avoid a U-boat attack.   When torpedoed, Turner claimed Ivernia was sailing on a zig-zag course.  Nevertheless, his career effectively ended.  While he was not dismissed from employment, Turner never took another vessel to sea.

SS Ivernia (1900-1917) Built for Cunard Line by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson, Ltd., 1900.  13,799 GRT, 600 feet long, 64 feet wide.  Steam quadruple expansion engines geared to twin screw.  Service speed 15 knots.  1,964 passengers (164 first class, 200 second class, 1,600 steerage).

Kaiserin Auguste Victoria

A year after the popular liner Amerika was launched a near sister was completed in Stetin.  Christened by the Empress of Germany, the new vessel thundered down the ways named Kaiserin Auguste Victoria (not to be confused with the Augusta Victoria of 1889) and was briefly the world’s largest liner.  

Kaiserin Auguste Victoria was built on the classic four masts and two funnels configuration.  1:1250 model by HL

As with Amerika, HAPAG was primarily concerned with the comfort and luxuries available to first class passengers.  The severe vibration of the Deustschland in addition to the expense of running the liner at high speed made HAPAG shy of competing on the basis of record-breaking crossings.  Much like White Star they sought swift, reliable, and economical service whilst providing top-notch service. 

Kaiserin Auguste Victoria.  Internet Archive Book Images [No restrictions], via Wikimedia Commons

One of the new vessel’s novelties was a special grillroom, or a la carte restaurant managed by the Ritz Carlton Company.  First class passengers paid extra to dine here (creating in essence a deluxe class) but were refunded a portion of their fare if they chose to dine exclusively in this establishment rather than the dining saloon.  In this exclusive enclave diners read gold-trimmed menu cards and dined on exotic dishes including whole roast oxen and grilled antelope.  One needed look no further for gilded age excess.  Little wonder that Teddy Roosevelt chose Kaiserin Auguste Victoria to embarked on his post-presidential safari!

Passing a freighter at sea.

HAPAG brochures highlighted such luxuries for its first class passengers.  For its third class and steerage tickets, the vessel offered clean, safe, and reliable emigrant service.  For all travelers, publicist stressed the technological side of the ship.  In the days before jets, ocean liners were among the most marvelous symbols of speed and might.  The public was impressed by length, width, tonnage, and speed.  They also (especially after the Titanic disaster) were keen to know about safety features. 

Kaiserin Auguste Victoria docked awaiting passengers and cargo.

Kaiserin Auguste Victoria was outsized (and outrun) by the Lusitania when she entered service in 1907.  Nevertheless, she remained a popular ship on the Atlantic run until the First World War.  She remained in Hamburg until Germany surrendered, when she became a prize of war and was charted by the US Shipping Board to bring the veterans home.  In 1921 she sailed under the Cunard flag while the line’s vessels were being refurbished for peacetime service. 

The vessel was bought by the Canadian Pacific Steamship Line and became Empress of Scotland.  She worked the Hamburg-Southampton-Cherbourg-Quebec service from 1922 until 1930.  She was sold for scrap in 1931.

Kaiserin Auguste Victoria (1906-1918, Empress of Scotland 1922-1930) built for HAPAG by Vulkan Shipyard, Stettin, Germany 1906).  24,581 GRT, 705 feet long, 77 feet wide.  Steam quadruple expansion engines geared to twin screw.  Service speed 17.5 knots.  As built:  2,996 passengers (652 First Class, 286 Second Class, 216 third class, 1,842 steerage).