Coll, Dr. James F. 51. 54 Duncan Avenue, Jersey City, New Jersey. Perished on the Morro Castle September 8, 1934. His fifth wife, Dorothy, 23, and daughter, survived the disaster.
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The SS Morro Castle was a luxury cruise ship of the 1930s that took its final voyage from Havana on 5 Sep 1934. By the morning of the 7th, the clouds had thickened & the winds had shifted to easterly, the first indication of a developing nor'easter. Throughout that day, the winds increased & intermittent rains began, causing many to retire early to their berths. Early that evening, Capt Robert Willmott had his dinner delivered to his quarters where he later complained of stomach trouble; he died of an apparent heart attack shortly thereafter and command of the ship passed to the Chief Officer Wm Warms.
Overnight, the winds increased and by 3 a.m. on 8 Sept, as the ship was sailing off Long Beach Island a fire was detected in a storage locker within the 1st Class Writing Room on B Deck. Within the next 30 mins, the Morro Castle became engulfed in flames. As the fire grew the Acting Captain attempted to beach the ship, but the growing need to launch lifeboats & abandon ship forced him to give up this strategy. Within 20 minutes of the fire's discovery it had burned through the ship's main electrical cables causing total darkness, all loss of power and no use of the radio to send out an SOS transmission. The ship became hot to the touch & the billowing smoke made it hard to breathe or see. The stir amongst the passengers was to either jump or burn; while the thought of jumping was unappealing due to the impending nor'easter.
The passengers all moved toward the stern while most of the crew members moved to the forecastle. While some crew members actually tried to fight the fire, others members tossed objects overboard to those who had jumped to use as flotation devices. Many passengers died because they didn't know how to use a life preserver. Or they were hit by the objects thrown overboard by the crew and knocked unconscious causing them to drown or their necks broken killing them instantly. Only 6 of the 12 life boats were launched that day and on them were only 85 people, most appearing to be crewmembers.
The first rescue ship to arrive on the scene was the SS Andrea F. Luckenbach, and then two other ships eventually arrived the SS Monarch of Bermuda & the SS City of Savannah. A fourth ship to participate in the rescue operations was the SS President Cleveland, which launched a motor boat that made a cursory circuit around the Morro Castle &, upon seeing nobody in the water along her route, retrieved her motor boat & left the scene.
The Coast Guard vessels Tampa & Cahoone positioned themselves too far away to see the victims in the water & rendered little assistance. And their aerial station at Cape May, NJ failed to send their float planes until local radio stations started reporting that dead bodies were washing ashore on the New Jersey beaches.
********
The SS Morro Castle was a luxury cruise ship of the 1930s that took its final voyage from Havana on 5 Sep 1934. By the morning of the 7th, the clouds had thickened & the winds had shifted to easterly, the first indication of a developing nor'easter. Throughout that day, the winds increased & intermittent rains began, causing many to retire early to their berths. Early that evening, Capt Robert Willmott had his dinner delivered to his quarters where he later complained of stomach trouble; he died of an apparent heart attack shortly thereafter and command of the ship passed to the Chief Officer Wm Warms.
Overnight, the winds increased and by 3 a.m. on 8 Sept, as the ship was sailing off Long Beach Island a fire was detected in a storage locker within the 1st Class Writing Room on B Deck. Within the next 30 mins, the Morro Castle became engulfed in flames. As the fire grew the Acting Captain attempted to beach the ship, but the growing need to launch lifeboats & abandon ship forced him to give up this strategy. Within 20 minutes of the fire's discovery it had burned through the ship's main electrical cables causing total darkness, all loss of power and no use of the radio to send out an SOS transmission. The ship became hot to the touch & the billowing smoke made it hard to breathe or see. The stir amongst the passengers was to either jump or burn; while the thought of jumping was unappealing due to the impending nor'easter.
The passengers all moved toward the stern while most of the crew members moved to the forecastle. While some crew members actually tried to fight the fire, others members tossed objects overboard to those who had jumped to use as flotation devices. Many passengers died because they didn't know how to use a life preserver. Or they were hit by the objects thrown overboard by the crew and knocked unconscious causing them to drown or their necks broken killing them instantly. Only 6 of the 12 life boats were launched that day and on them were only 85 people, most appearing to be crewmembers.
The first rescue ship to arrive on the scene was the SS Andrea F. Luckenbach, and then two other ships eventually arrived the SS Monarch of Bermuda & the SS City of Savannah. A fourth ship to participate in the rescue operations was the SS President Cleveland, which launched a motor boat that made a cursory circuit around the Morro Castle &, upon seeing nobody in the water along her route, retrieved her motor boat & left the scene.
The Coast Guard vessels Tampa & Cahoone positioned themselves too far away to see the victims in the water & rendered little assistance. And their aerial station at Cape May, NJ failed to send their float planes until local radio stations started reporting that dead bodies were washing ashore on the New Jersey beaches.
Coll, Dr. James F. 51. 54 Duncan Avenue, Jersey City, New Jersey. Perished on the Morro Castle September 8, 1934. His fifth wife, Dorothy, 23, and daughter, survived the disaster.
********
The SS Morro Castle was a luxury cruise ship of the 1930s that took its final voyage from Havana on 5 Sep 1934. By the morning of the 7th, the clouds had thickened & the winds had shifted to easterly, the first indication of a developing nor'easter. Throughout that day, the winds increased & intermittent rains began, causing many to retire early to their berths. Early that evening, Capt Robert Willmott had his dinner delivered to his quarters where he later complained of stomach trouble; he died of an apparent heart attack shortly thereafter and command of the ship passed to the Chief Officer Wm Warms.
Overnight, the winds increased and by 3 a.m. on 8 Sept, as the ship was sailing off Long Beach Island a fire was detected in a storage locker within the 1st Class Writing Room on B Deck. Within the next 30 mins, the Morro Castle became engulfed in flames. As the fire grew the Acting Captain attempted to beach the ship, but the growing need to launch lifeboats & abandon ship forced him to give up this strategy. Within 20 minutes of the fire's discovery it had burned through the ship's main electrical cables causing total darkness, all loss of power and no use of the radio to send out an SOS transmission. The ship became hot to the touch & the billowing smoke made it hard to breathe or see. The stir amongst the passengers was to either jump or burn; while the thought of jumping was unappealing due to the impending nor'easter.
The passengers all moved toward the stern while most of the crew members moved to the forecastle. While some crew members actually tried to fight the fire, others members tossed objects overboard to those who had jumped to use as flotation devices. Many passengers died because they didn't know how to use a life preserver. Or they were hit by the objects thrown overboard by the crew and knocked unconscious causing them to drown or their necks broken killing them instantly. Only 6 of the 12 life boats were launched that day and on them were only 85 people, most appearing to be crewmembers.
The first rescue ship to arrive on the scene was the SS Andrea F. Luckenbach, and then two other ships eventually arrived the SS Monarch of Bermuda & the SS City of Savannah. A fourth ship to participate in the rescue operations was the SS President Cleveland, which launched a motor boat that made a cursory circuit around the Morro Castle &, upon seeing nobody in the water along her route, retrieved her motor boat & left the scene.
The Coast Guard vessels Tampa & Cahoone positioned themselves too far away to see the victims in the water & rendered little assistance. And their aerial station at Cape May, NJ failed to send their float planes until local radio stations started reporting that dead bodies were washing ashore on the New Jersey beaches.
********
The SS Morro Castle was a luxury cruise ship of the 1930s that took its final voyage from Havana on 5 Sep 1934. By the morning of the 7th, the clouds had thickened & the winds had shifted to easterly, the first indication of a developing nor'easter. Throughout that day, the winds increased & intermittent rains began, causing many to retire early to their berths. Early that evening, Capt Robert Willmott had his dinner delivered to his quarters where he later complained of stomach trouble; he died of an apparent heart attack shortly thereafter and command of the ship passed to the Chief Officer Wm Warms.
Overnight, the winds increased and by 3 a.m. on 8 Sept, as the ship was sailing off Long Beach Island a fire was detected in a storage locker within the 1st Class Writing Room on B Deck. Within the next 30 mins, the Morro Castle became engulfed in flames. As the fire grew the Acting Captain attempted to beach the ship, but the growing need to launch lifeboats & abandon ship forced him to give up this strategy. Within 20 minutes of the fire's discovery it had burned through the ship's main electrical cables causing total darkness, all loss of power and no use of the radio to send out an SOS transmission. The ship became hot to the touch & the billowing smoke made it hard to breathe or see. The stir amongst the passengers was to either jump or burn; while the thought of jumping was unappealing due to the impending nor'easter.
The passengers all moved toward the stern while most of the crew members moved to the forecastle. While some crew members actually tried to fight the fire, others members tossed objects overboard to those who had jumped to use as flotation devices. Many passengers died because they didn't know how to use a life preserver. Or they were hit by the objects thrown overboard by the crew and knocked unconscious causing them to drown or their necks broken killing them instantly. Only 6 of the 12 life boats were launched that day and on them were only 85 people, most appearing to be crewmembers.
The first rescue ship to arrive on the scene was the SS Andrea F. Luckenbach, and then two other ships eventually arrived the SS Monarch of Bermuda & the SS City of Savannah. A fourth ship to participate in the rescue operations was the SS President Cleveland, which launched a motor boat that made a cursory circuit around the Morro Castle &, upon seeing nobody in the water along her route, retrieved her motor boat & left the scene.
The Coast Guard vessels Tampa & Cahoone positioned themselves too far away to see the victims in the water & rendered little assistance. And their aerial station at Cape May, NJ failed to send their float planes until local radio stations started reporting that dead bodies were washing ashore on the New Jersey beaches.
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