SS Morro Castle burnt and shipwrecked off the coast of

New Jersey, 1934

By mid-morning, the ship was totally abandoned and its burning hull drifted ashore, coming to a stop

in shallow water off Asbury Park, New Jersey.

c
Coast Guard members rush to haul in a survivor from the surf in Spring Lake, New Jersey.

Survivors are treated in the Spring Lake, New Jersey firehouse.

Smoke billows from the burning midsection of the ship as it drifts toward shore.

The ship comes to rest on the beach at Asbury Park, New Jersey.
Firefighters work to extinguish the still-smoldering wreck.
New York Daily News photographer Larry Froeber is brought back to shore after collapsing and

burning his hands while shooting the fire.

Men climb aboard the wreck to search for bodies.
Although there were 42 water hydrants on board, the system was designed with the assumption that

no more than six would ever have to be used at any one time. When the emergency aboard the

Morro Castle occurred, the crew opened virtually all working hydrants, dropping the water pressure

to unusable levels everywhere.

The deluxe staterooms on B Deck.
The inquiries concluded that there was no organized effort by the officers to fight and control the fire

or close the fire doors. More damning was the conclusion that, with a few notable exceptions, the

crew made no effort to direct passengers to safe pathways to the boat deck.
SS Morro Castle.
The wreck of the Morro Castle in the process of being pushed out to sea by salvage engineers.
The wreck is towed away to be scrapped, six months after the fire. March 14, 1935.