Let me introduce our first guest. He is the director americas of the u. S. Monitor center in newport news, and im sure many of you have been there, if you have not, you need to go, its an amazing collection of material that they have there. Hes the author of 17 books, to that would be interesting to all of you is the csis virginia, sink before surrender, and the monitor voice, the core of the union first. He has received many awards, including the National Trust for president award for Historic Preservation and many others. His top today is the ship that save the nation, please welcome mr. Quarstein. Thank you. On march 8, 1862, there was a terrible day for the union. It turned the tide in favor of the confederacy when the css virginia emerged from the Elizabeth River and sunk two major union warships. The cumberland and the congress. The union navy was in disarray, people were in the white house looking out the curtains, down the potomac, fearing this super weapon, as they would call
Off north carolina. This was part of a seminar the. Without further ado, let me introduce our first speake he has received many awards including the National Trust for Historic Preservations president s award for Historic Preservation and many, many others. His talk today is the ship that saved the nation, the monitors recovery and conservation. Please welcome mr. Quarstein. [ applause ] thank you. Well, you know, on march 8th, 1862 it was a terrible day for the union. In fact, it turned the tide, it appeared in favor of the confederacy when the css virginia emerged from the Elizabeth River and sunk two major union warships, the cumberland and the congress. The union navy was in disarray. People were in the white house looking out the curtains, down the potomac, fearing that this super weapon, as they would have called the merrimack, as southerners called the virginia, would be there soon and the war would finally end in a confederate victory. But all was to change as if magic, because
Climate change is continuing. It said fonts, sea levels are set to rise. Find the how can we respond technically, you can do lots. We have platforms here. Sometimes that survives hurricanes, find it friendly and results efficient, is living on water, a viable solution . Logins, technology. We need it now at scale can afford the many people dream of living, buying the water, and most big cities on located on the coast. Dont mind rivers pumping into a Governmental Panel on Climate Change says the welsh must brace itself for a one to, to meet, to rise in sea levels by the year 2100 utah cities continue to expand. Could we soon be living on the wall to its an idea that architects have been pursuing for decades. Big architects have plates with this theme. But i think the changes know that you go from dream to reality is because of the necessity. Because now with the whole organization with Climate Change, we need new solutions. Kuhn old house has committed himself to realizing this vision a
I spent over a dozen years looking into this story, and i had worked at the wall street journal for over 20 years and i had never encountered a story of this magnitude or drama. As i began looking into it what i found was that this has to be one of the most deadly, least known shipwrecks in america. And i uncovered a tale that was so horrible and so surprising i could not let it go. In a a lot of ways the story would not let me go, either. So were in july 1915, almost exactly 100 years ago. A large steamship. Think of the flatiron building on its side. That is virtually the exact size that eastland was. A flatiron building turned on its side quickly capsizes. Although it is tied to its dock. Yet, it capsize. 844 people die. Within minutes. 844 people. That is more passengers than died on the titanic, much more famous accident. 22 entire families died on the eastland. Mothers, aunts, 22 whole family units gone, wiped out in the Chicago River. Now, i do not know how many of your for real
When they got to cabin partitions, they got to steel and scratched their fingers bloody trying to escape. This little girl, eleanor, was the only survivor of her entire family. Her entire family was killed. There were many orphans on the eastland. Many children were orphaned. For me, one of the as i say the photo of the little girl was one that drove me. I am touched by the number of children, orphans, and eastland children who are here. This is one. 2001 when i was initially starting the research, i was fortunate to meet someone who had been on the eastland. I had always wanted to and there was a woman named libby. She was nearly 100 in 2001. She was going to recollect being on the eastland. She was 10 at the time the ship went down and survived. I went to the talk, like this gathering, and i had hoped to interview her. I was deep in the research and wow what a great source to have. When i went to the talk, she was not talking and was not lucid enough to speak. She stood by the podium