Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. The cause of the fire that destroyed the paddle steamer General Slocum in New York City's East River was probably a carelessly discarded match or cigarette. What other cause contributed to the high death toll on 15 June 1904, and led to a prison sentence for the ship's captain?
2. Collision with the collier Storstad was the immediate cause of the sinking, in 14 minutes, of the liner Empress of Ireland, en route from Canada to Liverpool, on 29 May 1914. What weather phenomenon contributed to the collision?
3. The pleasure ship Eastland was about to take some 2500 employees of Western Electric and their families on a trip along the Chicago River to a nearby picnic site when she capsized beside the dock on 24 July 1915. She was known to be top heavy and often had listed to one side or the other before, but what addition to her upper decks might have been an ironic contributory cause to her demise?
4. The cause of the problem for three of these ships was an enemy torpedo during World War II. Which of the four instead met her fate by collision during World War I?
5. The fire aboard the luxury liner Morro Castle spread quickly in the early morning of 8 September 1934, amid confusion on the bridge, where the first mate had taken over from the recently-deceased captain; panic amongst both passengers and crew and ineptitude amongst the latter. Many factors contributed to the spread of the fire, but its cause is unclear. One theory points a finger at a crew member once hailed as a hero. Which one?
6. The fire that destroyed the Great Lakes steamer Noronic in Toronto Harbour during the night of 17 September 1949 started in a linen closet, but the cause has never been established (though a discarded cigarette is suspect). What feature of the ship's décor was one cause of the fire's rapid spread?
7. Fault for the collision between T/N Andrea Doria and MV Stockholm off Nantucket Island on 25 July 1956 has never been established, despite the large amount of testimony from many witnesses heard after the event. One likely cause was the failure (or misinterpretation, by one crew or both) of what piece of equipment?
8. The cause of the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, other than that it occurred in bad weather on Lake Superior on the night of 10 November 1975, has never been agreed upon. Of the following, which has *not* been advanced as a cause of the sinking?
9. Shortly after leaving the port of Zeebrugge, Belgium on 6 March 1987, the passenger and car ferry MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsized. Why?
10. On 13 January 2012, the Italian cruise ship MS Costa Concordia ran aground off an island in Tuscany. What caused the ship to hit a reef and roll onto her side?
Source: Author
spanishliz
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bloomsby before going online.
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