SS Eastland
SS Eastland in Cleveland, Ohio (1911) | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| United States | |
| Name | Eastland |
| Owner | Michigan Steamship Company |
| Route | South Haven, Michigan – Chicago, Illinois |
| Ordered | October 1902 |
| Builder | Jenks Ship Building Company |
| Launched | May 6, 1903 |
| Christened | May 6, 1903 by Francis Elizabeth Stufflebeam |
| Maiden voyage | July 16, 1903 |
| Nickname(s) | "Greyhound of the Lakes" |
| Fate | Company restructured in 1905 to the Michigan Transportation Company |
| United States | |
| Name | Eastland |
| Owner | Michigan Transportation Company |
| Operator | Chicago-South Haven Line |
| Route | South Haven – Chicago route |
| Fate | Sold August 5, 1906, to the Lake Shore Navigation Company of Cleveland, Ohio |
| United States | |
| Name | Eastland |
| Owner | Lake Shore Navigation Company of Cleveland, Ohio |
| Route | Cleveland-Cedar Point route |
| Fate | Company restructured in 1909 to the Eastland Navigation Company of Cleveland, Ohio |
| United States | |
| Name | Eastland |
| Owner | Eastland Navigation Company of Cleveland, Ohio |
| Route | Cleveland-Cedar Point route |
| Fate | Sold on June 1, 1914 to the St. Joseph-Chicago Steamship Company of St. Joseph, Michigan. |
| United States | |
| Name | Eastland |
| Owner | St. Joseph-Chicago Steamship Company of St. Joseph, Michigan |
| Route | St. Joseph, Michigan, to Chicago route |
| Fate | Raised after accident in August 1915 and sold at auction on 20 December 1915 to Captain Edward A. Evers, sold on 21 November 1917 to the Illinois Naval Reserve. |
| United States Navy | |
| Name | USS Wilmette |
| Acquired | November 21, 1917 |
| Commissioned | September 20, 1918 |
| Recommissioned |
|
| Decommissioned |
|
| Renamed | Wilmette on February 20, 1918 |
| Reclassified |
|
| Stricken | December 19, 1945 |
| Honors and awards |
|
| Fate | Sold for scrap on October 31, 1946 to Hyman Michaels Company of Chicago and scrapped, scrapping completed in 1947 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Passenger Ship |
| Tonnage | 1,961 gross |
| Displacement | 2,600 (estimated) |
| Length | 265 ft (81 m) |
| Beam | 38 ft 2 in (11.63 m) |
| Draft | 19 ft 6 in (5.94 m) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion | Two shafts |
| Speed | 16.5 knots (30.6 km/h; 19.0 mph) |
| Capacity | As Eastland: 2,500 passengers, 70 crew (1915) |
| Complement | As USS Wilmette: 209 |
| Armament |
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| Notes |
|
SS Eastland was a passenger ship based in Chicago. On July 24, 1915, the ship capsized while tied to a dock in the Chicago River. In total, 844 passengers and crew were killed in what is the largest loss of life from a shipwreck on the Great Lakes.
After the disaster, Eastland was salvaged and sold to the United States Navy. After restorations and modifications, Eastland was designated a gunboat and renamed USS Wilmette. She was used primarily as a training vessel on the Great Lakes, and was scrapped after World War II.