UM Today | Preventing unintended disaster
March 1, 2021 — A light rain fell on the morning of July 24, 1915, as the final passengers boarded the Eastland in Chicago, eager to enjoy a Saturday picnic at a park across Lake Michigan. The ship prepared to leave with its 2,573 passengers, and crucially, 11 lifeboats and 37 life rafts. The ship, however, was designed to carry only six lifeboats. An extra 40,000-pound burden of life rafts now hung from its decks because U.S. President Woodrow Wilson recently signed an act requiring more lifeboats on every ship to prevent another disaster akin to the Titanic, where many perished from a ...
Source: news.umanitoba.ca