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.