The mysterious tragedy of the passenger ship SS Morro Castle. The Mystery of Morro Castle - Other Vessels. My radio is already smoking

11-07-2007

I looked online for information about the 1934 fire on the American steamship Morro Castle, described by Skryagin in his book, as promised, dear Editor. Regarding the detective component, no evidence of Skryagin’s speculations, except for the usual reporter’s lies, could be found, and this, however, is completely uninteresting at a level above the philistine. Who today is interested in all sorts of dirty tricks of a detective nature that took place seventy years ago?

The ship's captain was not poisoned, but died of a heart attack; as for arson, there is no convincing evidence of it. The fire started in the latrine next to the library, not in the library, and not from the mythical incendiary device, but from God knows what.

One of the credible articles about Morro Castle is on the passenger history website http://www.garemaritime.com/features/morro-castle/01.php

In particular, it says:

"Stories of poisoning and intrigue later circulated, but Wilmott"s final recorded words ("could you mix me up an enema?" delivered by telephone) and the fact that he was found toppled over into his bathtub with his pants around his ankles strongly suggest that he died of a heart attack or a stroke while trying to force a bowel movement; the doctors who were summoned agreed that it most likely was a heart attack."

("There were rumors of poisoning and conspiracy, but Wilmot's last words on the phone, 'Will you give me an enema,' and the fact that he was found slumped in the bathtub with his pants down to his knees strongly suggests that he died of a heart attack or stroke while he was fighting with constipation; the doctors who were called came to the conclusion that, most likely, it was a heart attack.")

Nevertheless, interesting information can be extracted from the history of the fire at Morro Castle. There are three dubious points in this case: why the passenger ship, equipped with the latest technology, burned like a sheaf of straw, why the crew led by the chief engineer fled the ship, forgetting about the passengers, and why the passengers behaved like bestials, pushing away from the lifeboats women and children.

As for the fire, there are no special secrets here. To some extent, designers are also black marketers, since the most important thing in design work is to sell the project. No, they did everything right - both automatic fire extinguishing and alarm systems, but they “forgot” to tell the customer that all this hardware is worthless without constant checks of the functionality of fire-fighting devices and without persistent training of the crew on actions in case of fire. You can't call a fire brigade at sea. The phrase “merely worth” is key here, since they could not value their project with such a sum.

There is an interesting circumstance associated with the assessment by designers of emergency situations during the operation of design objects. All such cases are divided into “design” and “beyond design”. The instructions describe “design-specific” situations, those that designers consider more probable, other situations are considered “beyond design-specific”, and the designer is simply silent about them. An off-design situation occurred on the Morro Castle when savvy passengers broke down the windows, creating the conditions for the ship to be transformed into a forge. The secret here is simple, and it lies in the field of farcing (we will call it “free market” and “market economy” for brevity. Almost everything can be provided for, but it will cost a lot of money. It is cheaper for the customer to insure the vessel, and as for the lives of passengers, then this is the tenth thing for a black marketeer.

It is curious that when reading descriptions of the death of Morro Castle, I constantly had associations with the Chernobyl accident. This is far from accidental; all misfortunes are based on almost the same reasons. At Chernobyl, the designers "forgot" to tell the reactor operators that under certain circumstances the reactor could be blown to pieces by an atomic explosion, or, in the language of these shy designers, "an uncontrolled chain reaction using prompt neutrons could occur in the reactor."

There is one more subtlety in the relationship “customer-designer-operator (ship crew)”. The project is ordered, of course, by the customer, someone sitting in an office, and not on board a ship or at a nuclear power plant. Its explosions and fires are of more theoretical interest; it won’t have to burn or explode. Designers rarely die, leaving this honorable right to the operators (team).
There is an unspoken opinion that the one who is the first to die will be able to figure out how this can be avoided. And indeed, where the operators are sane, they quite often find and, as best they can, correct the mistakes of the designers.

Here we come to question number two: what kind of team was it on Morro Castle?

Based on information gleaned from the Internet, I believe that the team consisted of morally corrupt people who had lost their human appearance due to their proximity to the same farce.

Prohibition on the mainland and the absence of it in Cuba, where the ship only sailed, created a very specific situation. The ship resembled a floating brothel, transporting those who wanted to drink and copulate on the cheap. Everything cost $75, round trip (excluding gender discourse). Prostitutes were constantly present on the ship, but, mysteriously, they were constantly not included in the passenger list. Moreover, the ship was sailing without interruptions, as required by the laws of farce, and if the sailor (the command staff was allowed leave) wanted to rest or visit relatives, he had to resign. The staff turnover was horrendous, so what fire drills are there!

Again, I remember Chernobyl, and the stories of one of the heads of the station about how fun they were having, organizing cultural trips for employees to the Black Sea shore, where almost everyone got drunk to the point of being a white beast. As for moral character, the Chernobyl nuclear workers dragged everything they could from the plant. In June 1986, when eliminating the consequences of an accident, I needed metering pumps, which, as I assumed, must have been at the station. After an intense interrogation of one of the engineers, who had to be intimidated by the KGB, he admitted that he had stolen the motor and gearbox from the dispenser in order to New Year rotate the Christmas tree in your apartment. The investigation was unable to find any other dispensers in my person.

The crew of the Morro Castle, from the chief engineer to the last bilge sailor, was preoccupied with the income from smuggling and from the prostitutes whom they illegally brought to the ship in Havana. They had no time for fire drills.

The crew of a ship, as well as a nuclear power plant, must consist of honest people with certain moral principles. otherwise the ship will sink and the station will explode. Not without the help, if not the main role, of owners and designers.

Finally, why did the Morro Castle passengers behave like pigs? The reason here, I think, is clear to everyone - these were mainly pigs who decided to snort on the cheap and finally realize their American dream.

An American liner was set on fire by a pyromaniac and burned to the ground off the coast of New Jersey. 134 people died.

Morro Castle, a Ward Line liner, was the latest word in science and technology. Its turboelectric installation provided an economical speed of 25 knots. "Morro Castle" could easily compete with the German liners "Bremen" and "Europe" - winners of the "Blue Ribbon of the Atlantic". The owners of the Ward Line hoped that the new ship would bring them good profits on the so-called “drunk line” New York - Havana. Thousands of Americans, who found Prohibition a burden, flocked to Cuba with its almost free rum and available women. Particularly popular among them were the famous cabaret “La Tropicana” and three thousand bars scattered throughout Havana.

From January 1930 to the fall of 1934, Morro Castle made 173 super-profitable voyages to Cuba. Every Saturday afternoon, a thousand passengers left New York Harbor. The liner headed for Havana and, after exactly two days of sailing and 36 hours of stay in the Cuban port, returned to New York again. For four years, this schedule of movement was never disrupted even by the famous West Indian hurricanes - the true scourge of navigation in the Caribbean.

On that voyage, the liner was commanded by the most experienced captain of the Ward Line company, Robert Wilmott, who faithfully served its owners for three decades.

On the evening of September 7, 1934, Morro Castle completed its 174th voyage from Havana to New York. Five hours later, abeam the lightship Ambrose, he was supposed to set a new course and, having made his way through the crowd of steamships on the East River, approach the Ward Line pier. The captain was already waiting in the cabin for passengers who had gathered for the traditional “captain’s banquet” in honor of the end of a fun voyage.

But Wilmott did not honor the passengers with his presence in the cabin at the captain's table.

“Watchman! Let them announce at the banquet that the captain is not feeling well and offer his sincere apologies. I'll have dinner served in my cabin. Call me when we’re abeam Scotland.”

These were the last words of Robert Wilmott. An hour later, the ship's doctor De Witt van Zijl confirmed his death from poisoning with some strong poison... The captain was found half-naked in the bathtub.

The news of the captain's death spread throughout the ship. The music stopped, the laughter and smiles on their faces disappeared. The banquet was canceled, and the passengers began to disperse to their cabins.

The senior mate, William Worms, took over as captain. Over the 37 years he spent at sea, he went from cabin boy to captain. In addition, he had a New York Harbor pilot's certificate. Worms decided to remain on the bridge until the ship arrived at the port, since the weather forecast received on the radio indicated that the Morro Castle near the Scotland lighthouse would enter the band of a force eight storm and would encounter two or three strong squalls from the mainland.

The ship's clock showed 2:30 a.m. when John Kempf, a 63-year-old firefighter from New York, woke up to the smell of burning. He ran out into the corridor. The ship's library room was on fire. The metal cabinet where writing instruments and paper were stored was engulfed in some strange blue flame. Kempf tore off the carbon dioxide fire extinguisher hanging on the bulkhead, unscrewed the valve and directed a stream of foam into the slightly open closet door. The flames changed color and burst out of the cabinet, scorching the fireman's eyebrows. Then Kempf rushed to the nearest hydrant, unrolled the hose and unscrewed the valve, but there was no pressure in the line. Kempf rushed to wake up the sleeping second class passengers. The lower deck corridor was also engulfed in flames. Fire always spread from bottom to top, but here, on the ship, it almost instantly rushed down...

The silence of the night was suddenly broken by heartbreaking screams. People, choking from the smoke, jumped out into the corridors in panic. Meanwhile, the occupants of the cabins where the smoke had not reached were still sleeping. And when fire alarms rang across all decks of the liner, it was already too late - the corridors and passages were engulfed in flames. The exit from the cabins was cut off by a fire curtain. Those who did not have time to leave their cabins unwittingly found themselves in salons whose windows and portholes overlooked bow liner.

The fire continued to pursue those trapped in the saloons of decks A, B and C. The only chance to escape is to break the windows and jump onto the deck in front of the ship's superstructure. And people broke the thick glass of the square portholes with chairs and jumped down onto the deck. Thus, almost all of the front windows were knocked out. "Morro Castle" continued to race at twenty knots. The longitudinal corridors of both sides of the liner now resembled a wind tunnel. 20 minutes after the fire started, the flames were buzzing throughout the entire liner.

The ship was doomed. But this was not yet understood on the navigation bridge and in the engine room. For unknown reasons, the fire detection system and the automatic fire extinguishing system did not work. Although Captain Worms was immediately notified of the fire, he thought more about the upcoming difficulties of mooring in the cramped New York harbor and was confident that the fire would be extinguished.

For the first half hour of the fire, Worms was in a state of some strange stupor, and only the failure of the autopilot forced him to change the course of the ship and turn away from the wind.

The trial report on the Morro Castle fire, which was later heard in New York, noted that the behavior of Captain Warms and his assistants was reminiscent of the play of tragic actors, creating panic and confusion by their actions. It was also strange that Chief Engineer Abbott, called by telephone from his cabin, did not appear on the bridge. They didn’t see him in the engine room either. It turned out that at that moment he organized the launching of the lifeboat from the starboard side. Journalists saw him in it (albeit with a broken arm) when a few hours later the boat reached the shore.

For unknown reasons, Worms did not assign any of his assistants to lead the firefighting effort. The passengers themselves tried to put out the fire. In a panic, they rolled out hoses, opened hydrants and poured water into the smoke. But the fire came - people had to seek salvation. Thus, almost all the hydrants were open, and although the mechanics had already turned on the pumps, there was almost no pressure in the main fire line. There was nothing to put out the fire.

Meanwhile, Worms transmitted commands to the mechanics by machine telegraph. For ten minutes, "Morro Castle" continually changed course, described zigzags, went into circulation, spinning in place... and the wind turned the fire into a giant raging fire.

After the last command, the diesel generators were stopped, and the liner plunged into darkness... The engine room was filled with smoke. It was no longer possible to stay there. Mechanics, mechanics, electricians and lubricants left their posts. But only a few of them managed to find salvation on the upper decks of the ship...

Worms ordered the SOS signal to be sent only fifteen minutes after he was informed that the fire could not be extinguished. At this time, Morro Castle was twenty miles south of Scotland Lighthouse, approximately eight miles from the coast.

Assistant Chief of the ship's radio station George Alagna rushed to the radio room, which was located not far from the ship's bridge. But the flames blocked his path, then Alagna shouted through the open porthole of the control room to the radio operator to send an SOS signal. The head of the ship's radio station, George Rogers, did not have time to transmit the distress signal to the end - spare acid batteries exploded in the radio room. The cabin was filled with acrid fumes. Choking from sulfur fumes and almost losing consciousness, the radio operator found the strength to once again reach for the key and convey the coordinates and a message about the tragedy that had unfolded at sea.

At 3 hours 26 minutes, the radio operator on watch of the nearby English liner Monarch of Bermuda tapped out a message received through the headphones: “CQ, SOS, 20 miles south of the Scotland lighthouse.” I can't send any more. There's a flame underneath me. Get help immediately. My radio is already smoking.”

Alagna managed to get into the burning radio room. Both radio operators made their way through the half-burnt bridge and went down the right ladder to the main deck. From there the only way the only way to escape was to the tank. It was already crowded there: almost all the officers and sailors of the Morro Castle were looking for salvation there. Among them was Captain Worms...

The next day, September 8, 1934, the central newspapers of the United States came out with special editions - the focus was on the events of the past night on board the Morro Castle. Sailor Leroy Kesley spoke of helpless passengers who "resembled a line of blind men desperately searching for the door." Kesley explained to journalists why the hoists jammed on many boats when descending from the Morro Castle, told how the liner, which was still running, towed the boats behind it, how, very close to it, huge pieces of thick glass from the cabin windows, which had burst from the heat, fell into the water with a hiss, how they cut the people in the boat in half... Later the sailor recalled: “From the boat I saw a terrible sight. The burning ship continued to move away... its black hull was engulfed in orange flames of fire. Women and children, huddled closely together, stood at its stern. A cry reached us, plaintive, full of despair... This cry, similar to the groan of a dying person, will be heard by me until my death... I could only catch one word - “farewell.”

Eyewitnesses of the disaster from among the rescued passengers wrote that those who found refuge at the stern of the ship had no chance to leave the burning liner on boats. Only those who looked down without fear, where the cold water of the ocean seethed 10 meters below, could be saved.

During the investigation, it turned out that about twenty people managed to escape from the burning liner by swimming, overcoming 8 nautical miles of the raging sea. A sixteen-year-old Cuban ship's cabin boy managed to do this without a life jacket.

By dawn on September 8, a small group of crew, led by Captain Worms, remained on the already completely burned out and still smoking liner. Rogers and his deputy, second radio operator George Alagna, were also there.

To stop the ship from drifting downwind, the right main anchor was released, and when the US Navy rescue ship Tampa approached the Morro Castle, the towing had to be abandoned. Only by 13:00 were those remaining on the liner able to saw through the anchor-chain link with a hacksaw. Captain third rank Rose ordered a tug to be put on the liner's forecastle to deliver the burnt ship to New York. But by evening the weather worsened sharply and a northwest storm began. Soon the tow rope broke and wound around the Tampa's propeller. The Morro Castle began to drift into the wind until it ran aground off the coast of New Jersey, three dozen meters from the beach at Ashbari Recreation Park. This happened on Saturday at 8 pm when there were a lot of people there.

The news of the tragedy had already spread throughout New York and its suburbs, and the latest news broadcast on the radio attracted thousands of people to this unusual incident.

The next morning, 350 thousand Americans gathered in Ashbary Park, all highways and country roads were clogged with cars. The park's owners charged $10 to board the still-smoldering liner. Thrill-seekers were given respiratory masks, flashlights and fire boots so that they could enjoy visiting the burned-out Morro Castle “without risking their lives.” The governor of New Jersey was already making plans to turn the wreck of the liner into a permanent “horror attraction.” But the Ward Line company responded with a categorical refusal. She chose to sell the burned-out Morro Castle building, which at one time cost $5 million to build, for $33,605 to a Baltimore firm for scrap metal.

The investigation into the death of the Morro Castle, carried out by experts from the US Department of Commerce, who published 12 volumes of this case, established the following: the first three boats lowered from the burning ship could have carried more than 200 passengers. These boats were to be manned by 12 sailors. In fact, there were only 103 people in them, of which 92 were crew members. Everyone knew for sure that the liner left Havana with 318 passengers and 231 crew members on board, and that of the 134 dead, 103 were passengers. In addition to the dead, hundreds of people, having received severe burns, remained disabled for life...

America was shocked by the cowardice, mediocrity of Worms and the meanness of Abbott.

The newly appointed captain of the Morro Castle, Worms, lost his boating license and received two years in prison. Mechanic Abbott's mechanic's diploma was taken away and he was sentenced to four years in prison. For the first time in the history of American shipping, the court sentenced the indirect culprit of the fire, a person who was not on the ship. It turned out to be the vice-president of Ward Line, Henry Kabodu. He received a year of probation and paid a fine of $5,000. According to the claims of the victims, the owners of Morro Castle paid 890 thousand dollars.

But this tragic story also had its heroes - the sailors of the Monark of Bermuda, City of Savannah and Andrea Lackenbach, the Tampa tug, and the Paramont boat, who saved about 400 people.

And, of course, the main character of the events described was radio operator George Rogers. The mayors of New York and New Jersey gave lavish banquets in his honor. The US Congress awarded Rogers a gold medal for bravery.

In the homeland of the hero - in small town State of New Jersey Bayonne - a parade of the state military garrison and police took place on this occasion. Hollywood is thinking about the script for the film “I will save you people!” Rogers triumphantly traveled through many states, where he spoke to the American public with stories about the drama on Morro Castle.

In 1936 Rogers left naval service and settled in his hometown. There he was gladly offered the position of head of the radio workshop in the city police department.

Nineteen years later, Rogers was again the number one sensation.

In July 1953, former Morro Castle radio operator George Rogers was arrested by police on suspicion of the brutal murder of 83-year-old typist William Hummel and his adopted daughter Edith. An American hero ended up in a prison detention cell.

After deliberating for 3 hours and 20 minutes, the jury found him guilty of murder and sentenced him to life imprisonment.

The investigation found that Rogers - former employee American police - a most dangerous person for society, a murderer, a swindler, a thief and a pyromaniac.

During the investigation, facts suddenly began to emerge that shocked not only the inhabitants of Bayonne, but the entire United States. It turned out that the “national hero” was now credited with the poisoning of Captain Wilmott and the arson of Morro Castle.

During the analysis of the case, having analyzed a number of circumstances preceding the fire, interviewing witnesses and eyewitnesses, experts recreated the picture of the Morro Castle disaster. An hour before the liner left Havana, Captain Wilmott, seeing the head of the radio station carrying two bottles with some chemicals, ordered him to throw them overboard...

The police learned that Wilmott and Rogers had been feuding for a long time. The fact that the captain was poisoned did not raise doubts among experts, although there was no direct evidence (the corpse burned during the fire).

Shipbuilding experts and chemists suggested that Rogers set fire to the ship using time bombs in two or three places. He turned off the automatic fire detection system and released gasoline from the emergency diesel generator tank from the upper deck to the lower ones. That's why the flames spread from top to bottom. He also took into account the storage location of signal flares and rockets. This explained the rapid spread of fire on the boat deck. The arson scheme was thought out professionally and competently.

The Morro Castle, a Ward Line liner, was the latest word in science and technology. Its turboelectric installation provided an economical speed of 25 knots. "Morro Castle" could easily compete with the German liners "Bremen" and "Europe" - winners of the "Blue Ribbon of the Atlantic". The owners of the Ward Line hoped that the new ship would bring them good profits on the so-called “drunk line” New York - Havana. Thousands of Americans, who were burdened by Prohibition, flocked to Cuba with its almost free rum and available women. Particularly popular among them were the famous cabaret “La Tropicana” and three thousand bars scattered throughout Havana.
From January 1930 to the fall of 1934, Morro Castle made 173 super-profitable voyages to Cuba. Every Saturday afternoon, a thousand passengers left New York Harbor. The liner headed for Havana and, after exactly two days of sailing and 36 hours of stay in the Cuban port, returned to New York again. For four years, this schedule of movement was never disrupted even by the famous West Indian hurricanes - the true scourge of navigation in the Caribbean.

On that voyage, the liner was commanded by the most experienced captain of the World Line company, Robert Wilmott, who faithfully served its owners for three decades.
On the evening of September 7, 1934, Morro Castle completed its 174th flight on the route Havana - New York. Five hours later, abeam the lightship Ambrose, he will set a new course and approach the Ward Line pier. But first, the captain had to give a traditional banquet for passengers in honor of the end of a fun voyage.
However, Wilmott did not honor the passengers with his presence in the cabin at the captain's table. “Watchman! Let them announce at the banquet that the captain is not feeling well and offer his sincere apologies. I'll have dinner served in my cabin. Call us when we're abeam Scotland."
These were the last words of Robert Wilmott. An hour later, the ship's doctor De Witt van Zijl confirmed his death from poisoning with some strong poison... The captain was found half-naked in the bath.
The news of the captain's death spread throughout the ship. The music stopped, the laughter and smiles on their faces disappeared. The banquet was canceled, and the passengers began to disperse to their cabins.
The senior mate, William Worms, took over as captain. Over the 37 years he spent at sea, he went from cabin boy to captain. In addition, he had a New York Harbor pilot's certificate. Warms decided to remain on the bridge until the ship arrived at the port, since the weather forecast received on the radio indicated that the Morro Castle near the Scotland lighthouse would enter the band of a force eight storm and encounter two or three strong squalls from the mainland.
The ship's clock showed 2:30 a.m. when John Kempf, a 63-year-old firefighter from New York, woke up to the smell of burning. He ran out into the corridor. The ship's library room was on fire. The metal cabinet where writing instruments and paper were stored was engulfed in some strange blue flame. Kempf tore off the carbon dioxide fire extinguisher hanging on the bulkhead, unscrewed the valve and directed a stream of foam into the slightly open closet door. The flames changed color and burst out of the cabinet, scorching the fireman's eyebrows. Then Kempf rushed to the nearest hydrant, unrolled the hose and unscrewed the valve, but there was no pressure in the line. Kempf rushed to wake up the sleeping second class passengers. The lower deck corridor was also engulfed in flames. Fire always spread from bottom to top, but here, on the ship, it almost instantly rushed down...
The silence of the night was suddenly broken by heartbreaking screams. People, choking from the smoke, jumped out into the corridors in panic. Meanwhile, the occupants of the cabins where the smoke had not reached were still sleeping. And when fire alarms rang across all decks of the liner, it was already too late - the corridors and passages were engulfed in flames. The exit from the cabins was cut off by a fire curtain. Those who did not have time to leave their cabins unwittingly found themselves in the salons, the windows and portholes of which overlooked the bow of the liner.
The fire continued to pursue those who were driven into the salons of decks “A”, “B” and “C”. The only chance to escape is to break the windows and jump onto the deck in front of the ship's superstructure. And people broke the thick glass of the square portholes with chairs and jumped down onto the deck.
"Morro Castle" continued to race at twenty knots. The longitudinal corridors of both sides of the liner now resembled a wind tunnel. 20 minutes after the fire started, the flames were buzzing throughout the entire liner.
The ship was doomed. But this was not yet understood on the navigation bridge and in the engine room. For unknown reasons, the fire detection system and the automatic fire extinguishing system did not work. Although Captain Worms was immediately notified of the fire, he thought more about the upcoming difficulties of mooring in the cramped New York harbor and was confident that the fire would be extinguished.
For the first half hour of the fire, Worms was in a state of some strange stupor, and only the failure of the autopilot forced him to change the course of the ship and turn away from the wind.
The trial report on the Morro Castle fire, which was later heard in New York, noted that the behavior of Captain Warms and his assistants was reminiscent of the play of tragic actors, creating panic and confusion by their actions. It was also strange that Chief Engineer Abbott, called by telephone from his cabin, did not appear on the bridge. They didn’t see him in the engine room either. It turned out that at that moment he organized the launching of the lifeboat from the starboard side. Journalists saw him in it (albeit with a broken arm) when a few hours later the boat reached the shore.
For unknown reasons, Worms did not assign any of his assistants to lead the firefighting effort. The passengers themselves tried to put out the fire. In a panic, they rolled out hoses, opened hydrants and poured water into the smoke. But the fire came - people had to seek salvation. Thus, almost all the hydrants were open, and although the mechanics had already turned on the pumps, there was almost no pressure in the main fire line. There was nothing to put out the fire.
Meanwhile, Worms transmitted commands to the mechanics by machine telegraph. For ten minutes, the Morro Castle kept changing course, describing zigzags, going into circulation, spinning in place until the wind turned the fire into a giant raging fire.
After the last command, the diesel generators were stopped, and the liner plunged into darkness... The engine room was filled with smoke. It was no longer possible to stay there. Mechanics, mechanics, electricians and lubricants left their posts. But few of them managed to find salvation on the upper decks of the ship...
Worms ordered the SOS signal to be sent only fifteen minutes after he was informed that the fire could not be extinguished. At this time, Morro Castle was twenty miles south of Scotland Lighthouse, approximately eight miles from the coast.
Assistant Chief of the ship's radio station George Alagna rushed to the radio room, which was located not far from the ship's bridge. But the flames blocked his path, then Alagna shouted through the open porthole of the control room to the radio operator to send an SOS signal. The head of the ship's radio station, George Rogers, did not have time to transmit the distress signal to the end - spare acid batteries exploded in the radio room. The cabin was filled with acrid fumes. Choking from sulfur fumes and almost losing consciousness, the radio operator found the strength to once again reach for the key and convey the coordinates and a message about the tragedy that had unfolded at sea.
At 3 hours 26 minutes, the radio operator on duty of the nearby English liner Monarch of Bermuda tapped out a message received through the headphones: “CQ, SOS, 20 miles south of the Scotland lighthouse.” I can't send any more. There's a flame underneath me. Get help immediately. My radio is already smoking.”
Alagna managed to get into the burning radio room. Both radio operators made their way through the half-burnt bridge and went down the right ladder to the main deck. From there, the only way to escape was to the tank. It was already crowded there: almost all the officers and sailors of the Morro Castle were looking for salvation there. Among them was Captain Worms...
The next day, September 8, 1934, the central newspapers of the United States came out with special editions - the focus was on the events of the past night on board the Morro Castle. Sailor Leroy Kesley spoke of helpless passengers who "resembled a line of blind men desperately searching for the door." Kesley explained to journalists why the hoists jammed on many boats when descending from the Morro Castle, told how the liner, which was still running, towed the boats behind it, how, very close to it, huge pieces of thick glass from the cabin windows, which had burst from the heat, fell into the water with a hiss, how they cut the people in the boat in half...
The sailor later recalled: “From the boat I saw a terrible sight. The burning ship continued to move away... Its black hull was engulfed in orange flames of fire. Women and children, huddled closely together, stood at its stern. A cry reached us, plaintive, full of despair... This cry, similar to the groan of a dying person, will be heard by me until my death... I could only catch one word - “farewell.”
Eyewitnesses of the disaster from among the rescued passengers wrote that those who found refuge at the stern of the ship had no chance to leave the burning liner on boats. Only those who looked down without fear, where the cold water of the ocean seethed 10 meters below, could be saved.
During the investigation, it turned out that about twenty people managed to escape from the burning liner by swimming, overcoming 8 nautical miles of the raging sea. A sixteen-year-old Cuban ship's cabin boy managed to do this without a life jacket.
By dawn on September 8, a small group of crew, led by Captain Worms, remained on the already completely burned out and still smoking liner. Rogers and his deputy, second radio operator George Alagna, were also there.
To stop the ship from drifting downwind, the right main anchor was released, and when the US Navy rescue ship Tampa approached the Morro Castle, the towing had to be abandoned. Only by 13:00 were those remaining on the liner able to saw through the anchor-chain link with a hacksaw. Captain third rank Rose ordered a tug to be put on the liner's forecastle to deliver the burnt ship to New York. But by evening the weather worsened sharply and a northwest storm began. Soon the tow rope broke and wound around the Tampa's propeller. The Morro Castle began to drift into the wind until it ran aground off the coast of New Jersey, three dozen meters from the beach at Ashbari Recreation Park. This happened on Saturday at 8 pm when there were a lot of people there.
The news of the tragedy had already spread throughout New York and its suburbs, and the latest news broadcast on the radio attracted thousands of people to this unusual incident. The next morning, 350 thousand Americans gathered in Ashbary Park, all highways and country roads were clogged with cars. The park's owners charged $10 to board the still-smoldering liner. Thrill-seekers were given respiratory masks, flashlights and fire boots so that they could enjoy visiting the burned-out Morro Castle “without risking their lives.”
The governor of New Jersey was already making plans to turn the wreck of the liner into a permanent “horror attraction.” But the Ward Line company responded with a categorical refusal. She chose to sell the burned-out Morro Castle building, which at one time cost $5 million to build, for $33,605 to a Baltimore firm for scrap metal.
The investigation into the death of Morro Castle, conducted by experts from the US Department of Commerce, who published 12 volumes of this case, established the following: the first three boats lowered from the burning ship could have carried more than 200 passengers. These boats were to be manned by 12 sailors. In fact, there were 103 people in them, of which 92 were crew members. Everyone knew for sure that the liner left Havana with 318 passengers and 231 crew members on board, and that of the 134 dead, 103 were passengers.
In addition to the dead, hundreds of people, having received severe burns, remained disabled for life... America was shocked by the cowardice, mediocrity of Worms and the meanness of Abbott. The newly appointed captain of the Morro Castle, Worms, lost his boating license and received two years in prison. Mechanic Abbott's mechanic's diploma was taken away and he was sentenced to four years in prison.
For the first time in the history of American shipping, the court sentenced the indirect culprit of the fire, a person who was not on the ship. It turned out to be the vice-president of Ward Line, Henry Kabodu. He received a year of probation and paid a fine of $5,000. According to the claims of the victims, the owners of Morro Castle paid 890 thousand dollars.
But this tragic story also had its heroes - the sailors of the Monark of Bermuda, City of Savannah and Andrea Lackenbach, the Tampa tug, and the Paramont boat, who saved about 400 people. And, of course, the main character of the events described was radio operator George Rogers. The mayors of New York and New Jersey gave lavish banquets in his honor. The US Congress awarded Rogers a gold medal for bravery.
In the hero's homeland - in the small town of Bayonne, New Jersey - a parade of the state military garrison and police took place on this occasion. Hollywood is thinking about the script for the film “I will save you people!” Rogers triumphantly traveled through many states, where he spoke to the American public with stories about the drama on Morro Castle.
In 1936, Rogers left the naval service and settled in his hometown. There he was gladly offered the position of head of the radio workshop in the city police department.
Nineteen years later, Rogers was again the number one sensation. In July 1953, former Morro Castle radio operator George Rogers was arrested by police on suspicion of the brutal murder of 83-year-old typist William Hummel and his adopted daughter Edith. An American hero ended up in a prison detention cell. After deliberating for 3 hours and 20 minutes, the jury found him guilty of murder and sentenced him to life imprisonment.
The investigation established that Rogers, a former American police officer, is a most dangerous person for society, a murderer, a swindler, a thief and a pyromaniac. During the investigation, facts suddenly began to emerge that shocked not only the inhabitants of Bayonne, but the entire United States. It turned out that the “national hero” was now credited with the poisoning of Captain Wilmott and the arson of Morro Castle.
During the analysis of the case, having analyzed a number of circumstances preceding the fire, interviewing witnesses and eyewitnesses, experts recreated the picture of the Morro Castle disaster. An hour before the liner left Havana, Captain Wilmott, seeing the head of the radio station carrying two bottles with some chemicals, ordered him to throw them overboard. The police learned that Wilmott and Rogers had been feuding for a long time. The fact that the captain was poisoned did not raise doubts among experts, although there was no direct evidence (the corpse burned during the fire).
Shipbuilding experts and chemists suggested that Rogers set fire to the ship using time bombs in two or three places. He turned off the automatic fire detection system and released gasoline from the emergency diesel generator tank from the upper deck to the lower ones. That's why the flames spread from top to bottom. He also took into account the storage location of signal flares and rockets. This explained the rapid spread of fire on the boat deck. The arson scheme was thought out professionally, with knowledge of the matter...
On January 10, 1958, Rogers died in prison from a myocardial infarction.

In the 1930s, everyone dreamed of getting on this liner, because it sailed straight to a tropical paradise. The fire at Morro Castle was a tragedy for some and a real gift for others. Some even managed to make money on the most realistic horror attraction in the world.

Attraction

The whole world learned about the events at Morro Castle on the night of September 7-8, 1934. The tragedy began with the unusual death of the captain. Witnesses say he was poisoned. And at 2:45 a.m. a fire started on the ship in a secluded place. At this time there were 548 people on board.

Only at 4 am did rescuers reach the smoldering hull of the liner. There were still many people on it. All this time, Morro Castle was drifting on the ocean waves.

Only on the evening of September 8, “Morro Castle” was finally thrown ashore, 60 meters from the beach Asbury Park(New Jersey). New Yorkers quickly learned about the news. Crowds of curious people began to approach the burnt and still smoldering ship. People wanted to see Morro Castle. The day after the tragedy, it was impossible to get to Asbury Park. 350 thousand people gathered here, and all the roads were clogged with cars.

Local businessmen, sensing profit, set a fee of 25 cents for entering the park. They say that no other attraction in history has aroused such interest. By paying extra, you could get on the deck of the still smoldering ship. Thrill-seekers were given firefighter clothing, respirators and flashlights. They were sent for a walk around the burnt skeleton - a more than naturalistic “horror attraction”. Its success was so resounding that the governor of New Jersey even planned to turn the ship's hull into a permanent attraction. But the shipowner was against it and sold the entire ship for scrap.

Years later, it became known that the Morro Castle was set on fire by a pyromaniac radio operator on the ship. He poisoned the captain.

Thus ended the story of the Morro Castle liner, which transported Americans who were only
. See also .

He spent his entire life putting out fires. For John Kempff it was a profession. He worked as a firefighter in New York. Over his 63 years, he fought hundreds of times with fire, when cinemas, department stores, and port warehouses burned in his hometown. After 45 years of honest service, spent on night duty, emergency trips into smoke and flames, the New York Firefighters Union awarded Kempf a ticket to the Morro Castle - the safest and most comfortable ship in the world, as stated in the advertising brochure. For the old man, it was a kind of benefit before retiring for a well-deserved retirement.
(At 2:30 a.m. John Kempf woke up from the smell of burning. His professional instinct told him that something was burning somewhere. Having dressed instantly, Kempf jumped out into the corridor. Acrid black smoke hurt his eyes. The ship's library was burning. A metal cabinet , where writing instruments and paper were stored, was engulfed in some strange blue flame, he tore off the carbon dioxide fire extinguisher hanging on the bulkhead, turned off the valve and directed a stream of foam into the slightly open cabinet door.
The flame spluttered, changed color, and rushed out of the closet, scorching the fireman's eyebrows. Kempf threw down the fire extinguisher and, covering his mouth with a handkerchief, rushed to find the nearest hydrant. Near the library, orange flames were breaking through the black curtain of smoke: they were licking the door of the adjacent room. The fireman rolled out the hose and unscrewed the hydrant valve. But instead of a powerful jet, several rusty drops fell onto the rubber track of the corridor... There was no pressure in the line. Cursing, the old man rushed to bang on the cabin doors. He woke up the sleepy inhabitants of the second class. After running a good hundred meters along the corridor, Kempf rushed to the lower deck to go down into the car and tell the mechanics that it was necessary to connect the fire pumps and give pressure to the line. With bewilderment, the veteran of fire battles saw that the corridor of the lower deck was also engulfed in flames. This was contrary to common sense, contrary to the professional experience of firefighting master Kempf. Fire always spreads from bottom to top, but here, on the ship, it almost instantly rushed down...
As time went. The night silence that reigned at Morro Castle was already broken by heartbreaking screams. People, choking from the smoke, fell and went mad with horror. Meanwhile, the inhabitants of the cabins, where the smoke had not yet reached, continued to sleep. And when fire alarms rang across all decks of the liner, it was already too late - the corridors were engulfed in flames. The exit from the cabins was cut off by a fire curtain. Those who managed to run out into the corridor in time got confused in its numerous passages and branches, and in the end the fugitives found themselves squeezed into the salons, the windows and portholes of which overlooked the bow of the liner. The only chance to escape is to break the windows and jump onto the deck in front of the ship's superstructure. Thus, almost all the portholes were knocked out. "Morro Castle" continued to race at twenty knots. The corridors on both sides of the airliner looked like a wind tunnel. In 20 minutes. After the fire started, the flames hummed throughout the ship, like a blowtorch.
John Kemgaf, having never made it through the fire to the engine room, looked at what was happening with detachment. He knew that the ship was doomed...

CATASTROPHE.

Unfortunately, this was not known either on the bridge or in the engine room. For unknown reasons, the vaunted fire detection system and automatic fire extinguishing system did not work. Although Captain Worms was immediately notified of the fire, he had no idea that anything serious could happen. He thought about the upcoming difficulties of mooring in the cramped New York harbor and was quite confident that the fire would be extinguished.
The trial report on the Morro Castle fire, heard in New York, noted that the behavior of Captain Warms and his assistants resembled the actions of tragic actors, embodying panic and confusion. Perhaps Worms was influenced by the death of Captain Robert Wilmott? Five hours before the fire, the captain of the Morro Castle was found half-naked in a bathtub. His uniform jacket was lying on the bedroom carpet. Convulsions convulsed his blue face, his head hung helplessly on his chest. “The captain is dead. “There are clear signs of poisoning with some strong poison,” the doctor stated. “He recently had dinner,” said the steward who served the captain, “about an hour ago I brought a tray with dinner here, but I have not yet had time to remove it. None of our people, except me, dares to come here, but there is no tray...” Yes, it was a strange, unexpected death, and the senior mate had to, according to the regulations, take control of the ship.
It was also strange that Chief Engineer Abbott, called by telephone from his cabin, did not appear on the bridge. They didn’t see him in the engine room either. It turned out that he organized the launch of the lifeboat on the starboard side. Journalists saw him in it (albeit with a broken arm) when a few hours later the boat reached the shore.
For unknown reasons, Worms did not assign any of his assistants to extinguish the fire. The passengers themselves tried to extinguish it. In a panic, they rolled out hoses, opened hydrants and poured water into the smoke. But the fire was advancing and we had to look for salvation. Thus, almost all the hydrants were open, and although the mechanics had already turned on the pumps, there was no pressure in the lines. There was nothing to put out the fire. Meanwhile with navigation bridge Down through seven decks, Warms, using a machine telegraph, transmitted commands to the mechanics. According to routine, they were entered into the machine log, just as they do now. This is what Captain Worms did, according to the magazine engine room"Morro Castle":

3 hours 10 minutes - full forward with the right car.

3 hours 10.5 minutes - small forward right.

3 hours 13 minutes - full forward left.

3 hours 14 minutes - full forward left.

3 hours 18 minutes - full back right.

3 hours 19 minutes - full forward right.

3 hours 19.5 minutes - middle forward left.

3 hours 21 minutes - middle back right.

For ten minutes, "Morro Castle" constantly changed course, described zigzags, and spun in place. This was enough for the wind to turn the fire into a giant raging bonfire.
Later, one of the Morro Castle mechanics wrote:

“Having been relieved from my watch at midnight, I lay down on the sofa in the cabin of the junior engineers. I was awakened by cries for help. When I woke up, I felt smoke in the cabin. I opened the door and saw that everything around was on fire. Three times I tried to climb up the ladder, and three times I was pulled down by my legs by those who, like animals, fought in the narrow passage leading to the boat deck. On the left side the flames were raging, in my opinion, stronger. For some reason there were a lot of women there. I saw them die in the fire. There was no way to get to them because of the terrible heat from the fire...”

MY RADIE IS ALREADY SMOKING...

As soon as the fire alarm sounded throughout the ship, the ship's third radio operator, Charles Miki, ran to the cabin where the head of the ship's radio station, George Rogers, and his assistant George Alagna lived. Both were fast asleep. Hearing the report of the fire, Rogers said in a calm, firm voice:
- Return to your post immediately. I'll get dressed now and come.
He sent the second radio operator to the bridge to find out the captain's decision regarding broadcasting a distress signal. For a long time at sea, sending “SOS” is the prerogative of the ship’s commander, and only he alone has the right to do so.
Rogers sat down next to the switched on transmitter.
About three minutes later Alagna ran into the radio room. “They went crazy there on the bridge. They are fussing and no one wants to listen to me,” he said.
Rogers turned on the receiver. The clear Morse code of the steamship Andrei Lakenbuck asked the coast station: “Do you know anything about the burning ship at Scotland Lighthouse?”
The answer was: “No. We didn’t hear anything.” Rogers put his hand on the key and tapped: “Yes, it’s Morro Castle that’s on fire.” I'm awaiting an order from the bridge to give an "SOS". But there was still no order. Alagna ran to the captain for the second time. Rogers, without waiting for his return, at 3 o'clock. 15 minutes, in order to “clear the air,” he sent an emergency signal - “CQ” and KGOV - radio call signs “Morro Castle”.
After 4 min. after that, the radio lost power and the lights on the ship went out - the diesel generators stopped working. Rogers, without wasting a minute, turned on the emergency transmitter and ordered Alagna:
- Run to the bridge again and do not return without permission to “SOS”1
The flames were already surrounding the radio room, approaching the bridge, shrouded in smoke. Choking from coughing, Alagna shouted in Worms' ear:
- Captain! Listen! What about "SOS"? Rogers is already dying there. The radio room is on fire! He won't last long. What should we do? - Is there still an opportunity to send "SOS"?- asked Worms, without taking his eyes off the crowd of people rushing about on the deck. - Yes!
- So pass it quickly!
This phrase was said by Worms exactly a quarter of an hour after he was informed that the fire could not be extinguished.
Finally, having achieved an answer, Alagna ran to the radio room. And although the control room was located not far from the navigation bridge, he did not have time: tongues of flame blocked the path to the door from all sides. Through the curtain of fire, Alagna shouted into the open porthole of the control room:
- George! Let's SOS! Rogers, covering his face with his left palm, rattled the key.
He did not have time to convey the message to the end - the spare acid batteries exploded. The cabin was filled with acrid fumes. Choking from sulfur fumes and almost losing consciousness, the radio operator found the strength to reach the key again and convey a message about the tragedy that was unfolding at sea.
Exactly at 3 o'clock. 26 min. The radio operator on duty of the nearby English liner Monarch of Bermuda tapped out the message received through the headphones: “CQ “SOS” 20 miles south of the Scotland lighthouse dot I can’t transmit any more dot There’s a flame underneath me dot Give help immediately. "SOS" My radio is already smoking.”
Alagna somehow miraculously made his way into the burning wheelhouse. Rogers was unconscious. When Alagna began to shake him by the shoulders, he said quietly:
- Go to the bridge and ask if the captain has any other orders.
- Are you crazy! Everything is burning! Let's run! - shouted the assistant head of the radio station. It was only when Alagna said that Worms gave the command to abandon ship that Rogers agreed to leave his post. He could not run - his legs were covered with blisters from the burns. Still, Alagna managed to drag Rogers out of the burning radio room.

SCAR OR HERO?

The next day, September 8, 1934, the central newspapers of the United States came out with special editions - the focus was on the events of the past night on board the Morro Castle. Rogers's last radiogram, in bold type, caught my eye. It was to her that four hundred passengers of the “safest ship in the world” owed their salvation. Below the radiogram were interviews received by reporters from those who were the first to reach the shore from the floating hell.
There was also an interview with sailor Leroy Kesley:
“From the boat I saw a terrible sight. The burning ship continued to leave. Its black body was engulfed in orange flames of fire. Women and children, huddled closely together, stood at its stern. A cry reached us, pitiful and full of despair... This cry, similar to the groan of a dying person, will be heard by me until my death. I could only catch one word - “Farewell.”
Many witnesses to the disaster accused Captain Worms and his crew of cowardice. This is what the son of the famous American surgeon Phelps wrote: “I swam under the stern of the ship, holding on to a rope hanging from the side. Paint burned overhead. It bubbled, making some kind of terrible squelching sound. Its falling pieces burned my neck and shoulders. Every now and then in the darkness there were splashes of people falling into the water. Then suddenly I saw a lifeboat. She quickly moved away from the side of the liner. Around her in the darkness, white faces and outstretched hands were visible, and pleas for help were heard. But the boat sailed right over the heads of drowning people. There were only eight or ten sailors in it and one officer with chevrons on his sleeves.” This was a boat, which, as it later turned out, was lowered on the orders of Chief Engineer Abbott, who shamefully abandoned the ship to its fate.
The investigation into the Morro Castle case established that the first three lifeboats lowered from the burning ship could have carried more than 200 passengers. These boats were to be manned by 12 sailors. In fact, there were only 103 people in them, of which 92 were members of the liner’s crew.
America was shocked by the cowardice, mediocrity and meanness of Worms and Abbott.
134 people were burned alive in the fire, and hundreds of people, having received severe burns, were left deformed for life.
The newly appointed captain of the Morro Castle, Worms, lost his navigational diploma and received two years in prison. Abbott's mechanic's degree was taken away and he was sentenced to four years in prison. For the first time in the history of American shipping, the court sentenced the indirect culprit of the fire, a person who was not on the ship. It turned out to be the vice-president of Ward Line, Henry Kabodu. He received a year of probation and paid a fine of $5,000. The US Senate fined the owners of Morro Castle $10,000. According to the passengers' claims, they paid 890 thousand dollars.
But in this tragic story there were also heroic sailors of the “Monarch of Bermuda”, the steamships “City of Sazana”, and “Andrea Lackenback”, the tugboat “Tampa”, the boat “Paramont”, who saved 415 people. And of course, the main character of the events described was George Rogers. Let's face it, he became the No. 1 sensation and the country's national hero. The mayors of New York and New Jersey gave lavish banquets in his honor. The US Congress awarded Rogers a gold medal for bravery.
In the hero's homeland - in the small town of New Jersey - Bayon - a parade of the state garrison and police did not take place on this occasion. In Hollywood, they began to think about the script for the film “I Will Save You People!” Rogers triumphantly traveled through many states, where he spoke to the American public with stories about the drama “Morro Castle.”
This triumph lasted for more than a year. But, being modest and shy by nature, Rogers apparently grew tired of journalists and filmmakers. In 1936, he left naval service and settled in his hometown. There he was gladly offered the position of head of the radio workshop in the city police department.
This, in fact, could be the end of this story. But...

SECOND SIDE OF THE MEDAL

On March 16, 1938, Rogers was arrested by the police for... deliberately blowing up his close friend, police lieutenant Vicente Doyle, with a homemade bomb.

It turned out that more than once Rogers told Doyle: “Yes, in the world, except me, no one knows and will never know the true cause of the death of Morro Castle.” The liner was destroyed by a fountain pen, which was a bomb...”
The policeman became wary; he remembered the former radio operator’s constant hobbies in chemistry. In the archives of his department, he found an old Rogers case related to various explosions and fires, where the latter appeared as an eyewitness. In turn, Rogers realized that he had been found out. One day, Doyle, who was a passionate hunter, received a package in the mail - a homemade hand warmer. The parcel was accompanied by a letter: “Dear Vicente! This is a hunting heating pad for you. It can work both from a battery and from the mains. To check, turn it on to the network." And Doil turned on the homemade product to the network. The lieutenant's hip was crushed and three fingers on his left hand were torn off.
During the analysis of the case, having analyzed a number of circumstances preceding the fire at Morro Castle, interviewing witnesses, experts recreated the picture of the disaster. An hour before the liner left Havana, Captain Wilmott, seeing the head of the radio station carrying two bottles with some chemicals, ordered him to throw them overboard. The police learned that Wilmott and Rogers had long had their own personal scores. The fact that the captain was poisoned, although his corpse was burned during the fire, did not raise doubts among experts, although there was no direct evidence.
Shipbuilding and chemical experts have made a strong case that Rogers set fire to the ship using time bombs in two or three places. He turned off the automatic fire detection system and released gasoline from the emergency diesel generator tank from the upper deck to the lower ones. That's why the flames spread from top to bottom. He also took into account the storage location of signal flares and rockets. This explained the rapid spread of fire on the boat deck. The arson scheme was thought out professionally, with knowledge of the matter...
The “national hero” went to prison.
The matter became scandalous. The Americans did not want to disgrace themselves to the whole world, and soon, thanks to the efforts of Rogers' influential friends, the matter was hushed up.
Rogers again became the ship's radio operator. After the end of the war, he returned to Bayonne, where he opened a private radio workshop.
Fifteen years have passed. In the hot summer of July 1953, on one of the quiet avenues of the sleepy town of Bayonne, a criminal crime was committed - 83-year-old typesetter William Hummel and his adopted daughter Edith were brutally murdered. Traces of the crime led police detectives to the house next door, where former Morro Castle radio operator George Rogers lived (the motive for the murder was Rogers' $7,500 debt). He again ended up in a prison detention cell. The jury found him guilty of murder and sentenced him to life in prison. During the investigation, facts unexpectedly began to come to light that shocked not only the inhabitants of BayO"Nn, but also all the states. Newspapers published the complete “track record” of the “radio hero” who turned out to be a criminal.
The investigation established that George Rogers is the most dangerous person for society: a pyromaniac, a murderer and a thief. Here are a few excerpts from the biography of the “national hero” compiled by investigators: “He is an abnormal criminal who has committed all sorts of atrocities for 20 years. Endowed with a remarkable mind, he was a brilliant specialist in juggling facts. Despite the long list of crimes, he remained untainted for many years. Since childhood, Rogers read many serious scientific journals. Having an excellent knowledge of chemistry, electricity and radio engineering, he more than once experimented with time bombs, all kinds of “infernal machines”, acids and gases.
At the age of 12, he was already brought before the police for lying and theft. In 1914 he was tried for stealing a radio in Auckland and bailed.
After graduating from technical school, Rogers joined the Navy as a radio operator. In 1923, he was fired from service for stealing radio tubes. Rogers repeatedly witnessed large explosions and fires, the causes of which remained unclear. These included the explosion of the Newport Naval Station in 1920, the great fire of the New York City radio building in 1929, and the fire in Rogers' own workshop in 1935 (for which he received $1,175 in insurance compensation)."
And finally, the fire at Morro Castle. The life ending of the “hero”, the arsonist, the pyromaniac, was absolutely ordinary: Rogers died in prison from a heart attack.
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