WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT: Rare glass-plate negatives, found in the Tribune's basement archive, capture the aftermath of one of Chicago's worst maritime disasters: the sinking of the SS Eastland in 1915. To view a digital graphic novel of the disaster, <a href="http://graphics.chicagotribune.com/news/local/eastland">click here</a>. In this photo, a victim is carried up the SS Eastland as the steamship lies on its side in the Chicago River after slowly rolling over and drowning 844 people July 24, 1915. — Chicago Tribune historical photo
WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT: Rare glass-plate negatives, found in the Tribune’s basement archive, capture the aftermath of one of Chicago’s worst maritime disasters: the sinking of the SS Eastland in 1915. To view a digital graphic novel of the disaster, click here. In this photo, a victim is carried up the SS Eastland as the steamship lies on its side in the Chicago River after slowly rolling over and drowning 844 people July 24, 1915.

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The Eastland disaster: Rare Tribune photos

By Marianne Mather | mmather@chicagotribune.com | Chicago Tribune

PUBLISHED: July 16, 2015 at 1:54 p.m. | UPDATED: May 25, 2022 at 2:26 a.m.

<img loading="" class="lazyload size-article_feature" data-sizes="auto" alt="WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT: Rare glass-plate negatives, found in the Tribune's basement archive, capture the aftermath of one of Chicago's worst maritime disasters: the sinking of the SS Eastland in 1915. To view a digital graphic novel of the disaster, click here. In this photo, a victim is carried up the SS Eastland as the steamship lies on its side in the Chicago River after slowly rolling over and drowning 844 people July 24, 1915.” title=”WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT: Rare glass-plate negatives, found in the Tribune’s basement archive, capture the aftermath of one of Chicago’s worst maritime disasters: the sinking of the SS Eastland in 1915. To view a digital graphic novel of the disaster, click here. In this photo, a victim is carried up the SS Eastland as the steamship lies on its side in the Chicago River after slowly rolling over and drowning 844 people July 24, 1915.” data-src=”/wp-content/uploads/migration/2015/07/16/VTS5IH2H3REE5OOYAOJGM4AFDY.jpg”>

WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT: Rare glass-plate negatives, found in the Tribune’s basement archive, capture the aftermath of one of Chicago’s worst maritime disasters: the sinking of the SS Eastland in 1915. To view a digital graphic novel of the disaster, click here. In this photo, a victim is carried up the SS Eastland as the steamship lies on its side in the Chicago River after slowly rolling over and drowning 844 people July 24, 1915.

A man carries a person wrapped in blankets after the SS Eastland disaster July 24, 1915, in Chicago. Local stores, hotels and restaurants opened their doors to survivors, wrapping them in blankets and giving them food until they found a way home.

Rescue workers pull a victim from the Chicago River after the SS Eastland rolled over on its side and drowned 844 people July 24, 1915. The Tribune reported the next day, “Bodies would be picked up with grappling hooks. The man at the rope would announce the fact sort of perfunctorily. Then they would draw alongside and after a few pulls would lift another lifeless form, crumpled and stiff, over the boat side and start for Reid, Murdoch & Co.’s big building, which had been turned into a temporary morgue.”

Two women in mourning are escorted by a police officer after the SS Eastland disaster in Chicago.

Stranded passengers wait on the hull of the SS Eastland on July 24, 1915, as the tugboat Kenosha serves as a floating bridge to let survivors reach safety after the Eastland steamship rolled over on its side. The Tribune wrote, “… the biggest factor in the business of life saving was the Kenosha. Apparently its captain realized what was coming before the Eastland’s own officers.”

Rescuers stand on top of the SS Eastland as the steamship lies on its side in the Chicago River after slowly rolling over and drowning 844 people July 24, 1915. The Tribune wrote on July 25, “It lay like a toy boat of tin wrecked in a gutter, its starboard half rising clear of the water.”

Rescue workers attempt to find survivors and victims on the SS Eastland while the ship lies on its side in the Chicago River after slowly rolling over on the morning of July 24, 1915.

Rescue workers pull a person out of the water and onto the boat Racine, while the SS Eastland, background, lies on its side in the Chicago River after slowly rolling over and drowning 844 people on July 24, 1915.

A diver helps search for people in the Chicago River during the SS Eastland disaster July 24, 1915. The Tribune reported of the perils the divers faced, “Many feet below, a diver, tangled in the wreckage, was fighting for his own life.”

Rescuers recover a body from the SS Eastland disaster on the Chicago River on July 24, 1915.

A diver and rescuers during the SS Eastland disaster on the Chicago River on July 24, 1915.

Rescue workers transport a victim off the hull of the SS Eastland and onto another boat after the Eastland rolled on its side and drowned 844 people July 24, 1915.

The Second Regiment Armory, on Washington Boulevard, served as a temporary morgue for victims of the SS Eastland steamship disaster July 24, 1915.

Men use acetylene torches to cut through the steel of the SS Eastland to recover bodies.

Divers search for victims of the SS Eastland disaster in the Chicago River.

A crowd of people gather during the SS Eastland disaster July 24, 1915, in Chicago. The Tribune wrote on July 25, “The crowds looked on in silence. … It was too big to grasp. They didn’t seem to want to go away. They just stared hour after hour.”

Rescuers search for bodies after the SS Eastland, right, rolled over on its side in the Chicago River on July 24, 1915. The Tribune reported the next day, “The flotilla of small boats, steam, motor, and row, skipped around over that one block of watery grave. The fishers for the dead had become accustomed to it long before noon.”

Mourners gather as a victim of the SS Eastland disaster is transported to a waiting car.

A group of people look over wood boxes in a tent set up near the Chicago River, where the SS Eastland rolled on its side and killed 844 people.

A group of men stand on the hull of the SS Eastland as it lies on its side in the Chicago River, circa July 1915.

Two men point to the speed controls on the SS Eastland after the ship was righted following the disaster in August 1915.

A stern side view of the SS Eastland shows the decks raised out of the water Aug. 13, 1915. “The overturned excursion steamer Eastland yesterday was lifted to an angle of 70 degrees, and still it failed to right itself. It had been expected the boat would right itself after being raised to 45 degrees,” the Tribune reported. The steamer was finally righted Aug. 14.

A man sits at the base of a stairway in the interior of the SS Eastland after it was drained and righted in August 1915. The Tribune reported that “… the frenzied victims were trapped by the staircases. The rush broke the newel posts and four spindles of the stair railing. The stair leads from the cabin to the promenade decks.” Most of the bodies were found in this location.

The Tribune reported, “Besides the arcs and the 125 electric tungsten lamps, which employes of the Commonwealth Edison company had strung along the upper side of the Eastland and through its interior, ten search lights played on the hull from the roof and tower of the Reid-Murdoch company warehouse on the opposite side of the river.”

A group of men investigate the SS Eastland disaster. During the investigation, Coroner Peter M. Hoffman told his jury, “You are to make a thorough and impartial investigation and put the blame where it belongs.”

The SS Eastland, almost fully upright, in the Chicago River after it rolled onto its side July 24, 1915. The ship was fully righted by Aug. 14, 1915.