Maritime Safety
Ship stability, lifesaving equipment, fire, evacuation, and the rules that followed preventable loss.
Investigations
The Lines Were in the Fire
When LST-353 exploded at Pearl Harbor in 1944, nearby landing ships needed to separate. Fire made some of their forward mooring lines unreachable, helping turn one explosion into a harbor-wide disaster.
Thirty Men Were Enough
Before Vasa sailed in 1628, thirty men ran back and forth across the deck in a stability test that was stopped when the ship rolled dangerously. Vasa foundered on its maiden voyage.
They Marked the Empty Boats
When Prinsendam burned in the Gulf of Alaska in 1980, rescuers saved everyone. Then one lifeboat was still missing—and the passenger lists could not prove who was left.
They Thought They Had Ten Minutes
USS Forrestal’s firefighters believed they had about ten minutes before a burning bomb could explode. The Korean War-era weapon detonated after roughly ninety-four seconds.
The Life Preservers Had Passed Inspection
General Slocum passed federal inspection in May 1904. Forty-one days later its fire hose failed, its lifesaving equipment proved dangerously defective, and more than 1,000 people died.
The Lifeboats Never Left the Deck
SS Eastland carried extra lifesaving equipment when it capsized beside a Chicago wharf in 1915. More than 800 people died before a single lifeboat could leave the deck.