The tragedy of Morro Castle is a disaster on a liner, arranged by a national hero of the USA

The best way to make money during the prohibition years is alcohol. This simple maxim was adopted in 1930 by the American company Ward Line, operating in the maritime transportation market. The dealers organized a weekly flight to Cuba, where rum and women were equally available.

Dollars flowed like a river. In less than four years, the luxury liner Morro Castle has made 173 super-profitable flights to Havana. But the 174th was cut short by a terrible mystical tragedy. Someone poisoned the captain and set the ship on fire. More than a hundred people were killed. The culprit of the disaster was calculated only after 19 years, and it turned out to be a man who was awarded the medal "For Bravery" for his actions during the fire.

On the evening of September 7, 1934, Morro Castle was finishing another voyage on the "drunk line" New York - Havana. There were less than five hours left before the end of the voyage, but first the captain had to give a traditional banquet on the occasion of the end of the cruise.

However, Robert Wilmott did not honor the passengers with his presence in the cabin at the captain's table. The captain was not feeling well and ordered the watchman to apologize for him and serve dinner in the cabin. An hour later, the ship's doctor diagnosed the death of the captain from poisoning. He was found half-naked in the bathtub.

The news of Wilmott's death spread throughout the ship. The music and laughter stopped, the banquet was canceled, and the passengers went to their cabins.

At three o'clock in the morning, New York firefighter John Kempf woke up to the smell of burning. He jumped out into the corridor, ran around the deck and found a fire in the ship's library. A metal cabinet filled with papers was burning with a strange blue flame. John rushed to the hydrant, but there was no pressure. The man began knocking on the cabin doors, while the fire was growing rapidly. For some unknown reason, the fire protection system did not work.

The first mate, William Worms, who was acting captain, turned out to be extremely stupid. Instead of immediately sending an SOS signal, he waited for more than 15 minutes, hoping that the fire would be extinguished. In addition, Worms did not send any of his assistants to direct the extinguishing of the fire. The passengers themselves clumsily fought the fire. For this, in fact, Worms received two years in prison.

There was a team to match Worms. Chief Engineer Eban Abbott did not appear on the bridge at the alarm signal, nor was he in the engine room. It turned out that he had organized the descent of the lifeboat and got into it himself. His example was followed by many crew members. They were saving their own skins.

Almost the entire ship was already on fire. The head of the ship's radio station, George Rogers, risking his life, got to the radio room and in the suffocating smoke managed to knock out a distress signal and transmit the coordinates of the dying ship. He also showed people the way to the boats and tried to somehow calm the panic.

By dawn, only a few people remained on the completely burned out and still smoking liner. A rescue ship of the US Navy Tampa approached Morro Castle. The burnt-out liner was taken in tow to be delivered to New York. But during transportation, the weather deteriorated sharply, and the tow rope snapped. Morro Castle drifted for more than ten hours before it was stranded near the beach of the Asbury Recreation Park in New Jersey.

The next morning, hundreds of people, hearing about the tragedy, came to the beach to take a look at Morro Castle. The owners of the park charged $ 10 for the right to get on board the liner. Visitors were given respiratory masks, lanterns and fire boots.

Subsequently, some businessman offered the founders of the Ward Line company to sell the skeleton of the ship for a hundred thousand dollars — he intended to arrange a horror attraction there. But the owners of Morro Castle preferred to scrap the ship — reputation is more expensive.

As a result of the tragedy, 134 people were killed (there were more than 500 passengers and crew members on board). The expert opinion on the criminal case consisted of 12 volumes. William Worms lost his boatmaster's license and was sentenced to two years in prison, Eban Abbott received four. George Rogers, in turn, overnight became a national hero, Congress awarded him a gold medal "For Bravery".

Soon Rogers left the naval service and went to his hometown, where he began working as the head of a radio workshop in the police department. His fame gradually faded, and until 1953 he disappeared from the radar. Until he was on the front pages again, but in a completely different light.Rogers was accused of murdering 83-year-old typesetter William Hummel and his adopted daughter Edith. Shocking facts were unexpectedly revealed during the investigation. Rogers turned out to be a pyromaniac and the culprit of the death of the liner Morro Castle, he also poisoned Captain Wilmott.

It was found that an hour before the ship left Havana, the captain, seeing the head of the radio station with two bottles of some chemicals, ordered them to be thrown overboard. Wilmott and Rogers had been feuding for a long time, and a crazy radio operator, as it turned out, decided to poison the captain. He put a powerful poison in the food, and when Wilmott died, he set fire to the ship with time bombs. He turned off the fire detection system and spilled gasoline.

Rogers was given a life sentence. Four years later, he died in prison from a heart attack.