This is a special guest post by USS Eastland historian and founder of the Eastland Memorial Society , Karl Sup , on this the 100th anniversary of the greatest ship disaster in America. Today, we honor the men, women and children who perished, survived and rescued others. One hundred years ago on Saturday, July 24, 1915, the passenger ship Eastland was docked in downtown Chicago on the Chicago River preparing to depart for a Lake Michigan cruise to Michigan City, Indiana and the Western Electric employee picnic. Soon after 2,500-plus passengers boarded the ship, it began to list; first to starboard, then to port while still moored to the wharf. The Eastland rolled onto its port side, spilling passengers into the river and trapping others underwater in the interior cabins, mostly women and children. The disaster claimed 844 lives. This tragedy remains relatively obscure in American history, even though it resulted in the largest death toll of any Great Lakes disaster. At that time, there...