On July 24, 1915, the Eastland, along with the Theodore Roosevelt and the Petoskey, were hired to take employees from Chicago's Western Electric Company to a picnic in Michigan City, Indiana. Passengers began boarding around 6:30 AM. By 7:10, the ship had reached its capacity of 2,500 passengers. It had also developed a list to the port, which the crew attempted to stabilize by admitting water to the ballast tanks. The tug Kenosha was preparing to maneuver Eastland away from the dock, but by 7:28, the Eastland began to roll over, coming to rest in 20 feet of water only 20 feet from the wharf. The Kenosha came alongside the hull to allow passengers to leap to safety. 841 passengers and 4 crew died in the disaster. This can be compared to the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 with a loss of 829 passengers (but 694 crew). July 24 is the 205th day (206th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 160 days remaining. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1915 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Jump to: navigation, search Chicago, colloquially known as the Second City and the Windy City, is the third-largest city in population in the United States and the largest inland city in the country. ... Western Electric (sometimes abbreviated WECo) was a US electrical engineering company, the manufacturing arm of AT&T from 1881 to 1995 . ... Jump to: navigation, search Michigan City is a city located in LaPorte County, Indiana, approximately 50 miles east of Chicago, Illinois and 40 miles west of South Bend, Indiana. ... Jump to: navigation, search The New York Herald reports the disaster. ... 1912 was a leap year starting on Monday. ...

After the Eastland was raised in October 1915, she was sold to the Illinois Naval Reserve and recommissioned as the USS Wilmette stationed at Great Lakes Naval Base. On June 7, 1921, the Wilmette was given the task of sinking the UC-97, a German U-Boat captured during World War I. The guns of the Wilmette were manned by Gunner's Mate J.O. Sabin, who had fired the first American shell in World War I, and Gunner's Mate A.F. Anderson, the man who fired the first American torpedo in the conflict. Jump to: navigation, search 1915 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Jump to: navigation, search June 7 is the 158th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (159th in leap years), with 207 days remaining. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1921 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Jump to: navigation, search World War I was primarily a European conflict with many facets: immense human sacrifice, stalemate trench warfare, and the use of new, devastating weapons - tanks, aircraft, machineguns, and poison gas. ... A modern torpedo, historically called a self-propelled torpedo, is a self-propelled guided projectile that (after being launched above or below the water surface) operates underwater and is designed to detonate on contact or in proximity to a target. ...

In 1946, the Wilmette was offered up for sale. Finding no takers, the government sold her for scrap and she was demolished in 1947. Jump to: navigation, search 1946 was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1947 was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

External Link

• Maritimequest Eastland Photo Gallery