![]() SS Eastland in Cleveland, Ohio (1911)
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History | |
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Name | Eastland |
Owner | Michigan Steamship Company |
Route | South Haven, Michigan – Chicago, Illinois |
Ordered | October 1902 |
Builder | Jenks Ship Building Company |
Launched | 6 May 1903 |
Christened | May 1903 by Francis Elizabeth Stufflebeam |
Maiden voyage | 16 July 1903 |
Nickname(s) | "Speed queen of the Great Lakes" |
Honors and awards |
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Fate | Sold during 1905 to the Michigan Transportation Company |
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Name | Eastland |
Owner | Michigan Transportation Company |
Operator | Chicago-South Haven Line |
Route | South Haven – Chicago route |
Fate | Sold 5 August 1906, to the Lake Shore Navigation Company of Cleveland, Ohio |
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Name | Eastland |
Owner | Lake Shore Navigation Company of Cleveland, Ohio |
Route | Cleveland-Cedar Point route |
Fate | Sold during 1909 to the Eastland Navigation Company of Cleveland, Ohio |
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Name | Eastland |
Owner | Eastland Navigation Company of Cleveland, Ohio |
Route | Cleveland-Cedar Point route |
Fate | Sold on 1 June 1914 to the St. Joseph-Chicago Steamship Company of St. Joseph, Michigan. |
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Name | Eastland |
Owner | St. Joseph-Chicago Steamship Company of St. Joseph, Michigan |
Route | St. Joseph, Michigan, to Chicago route |
Fate | Raised after accident in October 1915 and sold at auction on 20 December 1915 to Captain Edward A. Evers, sold on 21 November 1917 to the Illinois Naval Reserve. |
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Name | USS Wilmette |
Acquired | 21 November 1917 |
Commissioned | 20 September 1918 |
Recommissioned |
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Decommissioned |
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Renamed | Wilmette on 20 February 1918 |
Reclassified |
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Stricken | 19 December 1945 |
Honors and awards |
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Fate | Sold for scrap on 31 October 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 |
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Propulsion | Two shafts |
Speed | 16.5 knots (30.6 km/h; 19.0 mph) |
Capacity | As Eastland: 2,752 passengers |
Complement | As USS Wilmette: 209 |
Armament |
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Notes |
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SS Eastland was a passenger ship based in Chicago and used for tours. On 24 July 1915, the ship rolled over onto its side while tied to a dock in the Chicago River.[1] In total, 844 passengers and crew were killed in what was the largest loss of life from a single shipwreck on the Great Lakes.[1][2]
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.