WORLD SHIP SOCIETY

Jim Kalafus, a recognized expert on ship disasters, presented a program on the strange misfortunes that befell the MORRO CASTLE and two ships named MOHAWK within the span of a decade in the same stretch of water off the New Jersey coast. The story began in January 1925 when the Clyde-Mallory liner MOHAWK was caught in storm-of-the-century-type squalls off central New Jersey and caught fire. A day later, the MOHAWK slipped into calmer water inside the Delaware breakwater where everyone aboard was safely evacuated before the ship sank. A new ship, also called MOHAWK, was soon built.

The story of Ward Line’s MORRO CASTLE parallels the first MOHAWK, but ends with significant loss of life. Heading north in the same stretch of water off the New Jersey coast in September 1934, the MORRO CASTLE encountered heavy winds and caught fire. The ship was totally abandoned by the time its burning hull drifted towards the Asbury Park shoreline.

Lastly, we heard the story of the second MOHAWK, chartered by Ward Line to replace the MORRO CASTLE on the New York-to-Havana route. While heading south on her maiden voyage in January 1935, the ship sailed into a blizzard. Passengers braved the sub-zero temperatures on the promenade deck to see the hulk of the MORRO CASTLE still beached at Asbury Park. An hour later, the MOHAWK’s steering system jammed and it swerved into the path of the Norwegian freighter TALISMAN. The MOHAWK sank within 40 minutes and at least 33 people perished.

Jim is a founder and editor of Gare Maritime, a compendium of research on the LUSITANIA and MORRO CASTLE disasters containing photos, biographies of passengers and crew, first-hand accounts by survivors and interviews with their families.