The SS Noronic | A Short Documentary | Fascinating Horror

[Music] on the 17th of september 1949 a small fire began on board the passenger cruise ship the ss naronik the ship was docked in toronto harbour at the time and yet despite its proximity to shore the blaze would go on to become one of the deadliest in toronto's history it would be the end not just of a magnificent ship but also of many innocent lives the disaster would also mark the beginning of the end for the once massive great lakes passenger cruise industry the ss neuronic was built in 1913 by the western dry dock and shipbuilding company at port arthur for the northern navigation company a business that would go on to become canada steamship lines the 110 meter or 120 yard long ship could carry 600 passengers and 200 members of crew it was nicknamed the queen of the great lakes and quickly became one of the most popular and well-regarded passenger cruise ships operating in that area the ss neuronic deserved her reputation as well as being the largest cruise ship to operate on the lakes she was also the most luxurious designed to carry wealthy tourists she was fitted with a library music room beauty salon and an ornate ballroom which housed a full orchestra walls and ceilings throughout the ship were beautifully decorated with hand-carved wooden panels made from oak teak and cherry wood on the 14th of september 1949 the ss noronit began a seven day cruise of lake erie and lake ontario the ship was captained by 65 year old william taylor who had nearly four decades of experience working with canada steamship lines starting off in detroit the cruise ship made its way along the detroit river to lake erie after crossing the lake and docking in cleveland more passengers joined the ship for the second leg of the journey at this point a total of 574 passengers and 131 crew were on board the first few days of the cruise went smoothly until on the evening of the 16th of september the ss neuronic docked at pier 9 of toronto's ferry port many of the passengers and crew on board disembarked and went to explore the city the ship would be carrying on two prescotts the next day and so they had only the one night to see what they wanted to see in toronto few of those on board wanted to miss the opportunity by midnight however most tourists had returned to the ship exact records of who was on board and who was still out in the city in the early hours of the 17th of september are not available but most sources agree that several hundred passengers were back on board along with only a small number of crew by some estimates there were only 16 crew members on duty overnight at around 2 30 am donald church a passenger who was making his way back from the smoking lounge noticed smoke plumbing from a linen cupboard alarmed mr church tried to open the door but was unable to do so he quickly summoned a member of the ship's crew bellboy ernest o'neill attended and witnessed the smoke but did not alert his fellow crew members instead o'neill unlocked and opened the cupboard immediately flames burst out and began to spread mr church and mr o'neill fetched a nearby fire hose but it malfunctioned and would not dispense any water realising that the situation was out of control the two men fled mr church running to inform his family and mr o'neill to tell the captain of the ship at this stage the ship's whistle was used to sound an alarm but much like the fire hose at the crucial moment it did not work possibly because of damage caused by the heat of the fire the whistle gave only a single brief shriek before falling silent at this point cools were placed to the toronto fire department by people on the shore who could see smoke the fire was spreading rapidly through the ship's narrow wooden corridors by 2 38 am around half of the ship's decks were on fire the ss neuronic had been decorated with vast amounts of wooden paneling that had been oiled and treated for decades providing plenty of fuel for the fire one witness described the ship as going up like a paint factory the flames were visible to firefighters as they approached the scene at 2 41 am their size and intensity caused firefighters to call for extra resources while still on route to the site of the disaster when firefighters did arrive the scene confronting them was chaotic the ship's only exits were on the lowest deck and only two of its gangplanks were currently deployed this left many passengers with no way of leaving the ship witnesses watched numerous passengers jump from the upper decks into the water of the harbour or climbed down ropes hanging from the side of the ship some passengers even smashed open the windows of their cabins and clambered out in order to escape firefighters quickly set up ladders to aid the evacuation many passengers were able to escape using these so many that in one case a ladder leading from an upper deck to a lower one broke under their weight while firefighters rescued people from the ship police and civilians were busy pulling passengers from the water donald williamson a civilian bystander who had been on his way back from a late shift at the factory where he worked was one of the first on scene he commanded a nearby painter's raft steered it towards the bow of the ship and began pulling passengers out of the oily freezing cold waters of the toronto harbour the pier was quickly filled with emergency vehicles and rescuers when there weren't enough ambulances to carry all the injured to hospital private taxis were used to ferry the most seriously injured to toronto general hospital and saint michael's hospital the walking wounded and those with minor injuries were directed to nearby hotels where they were tended to by the red cross over two hours later at around 5 a.m the fire had been extinguished exposing the charred wreckage of the ss neuronic by 10 am the rescue effort had become a recovery operation firefighters carried one body after another out of the ruin of the ship without knowing how many had been aboard when the fire began an exact death toll could not be determined but most estimates note that at least 118 people lost their lives all of those who died on the day of the disaster were passengers with only a single crew member later passing away from their injuries an investigation into the causes of the disaster found that the ship's crew were insufficiently trained to respond to a fire and that no reasonable plan was in place to evacuate passengers no crew member had tried to summon the fire service during the disaster and almost none had made any effort to wake sleeping passengers one exception to this was captain william taylor who was seen during the fire helping passengers from their cabins he was reportedly one of the last to leave the burning ship despite this it was determined that his lack of leadership had contributed to the high death toll and he was suspended for a year taylor accepted this suspension but retired before it was over and did not sail again the inquiry also criticized the design and maintenance of the ship in particular the poor condition of the fire hoses and the abundance of flammable material used to decorate the interior it was decided that in the future passenger ships would need to be fitted with automatic alarms sprinklers and fire resistant bulkheads crew would be required to carry out routine patrols and would have to receive extra training in how to respond to a fire on board to comply with these new standards several older ships in service on the great lakes were retired early and those that remained were subject to refurbishment and a rigorous inspection routine going forward despite its findings and recommendations for change the inquiry was not able to determine the exact cause of the fire speculation that it had been arson became widespread this idea that the fire had been started intentionally gained traction when less than a year after the fire on the ss neuronic the ss quebec another canada steamship line's passenger ship caught fire in this case the ship was safely evacuated and it was determined that the fire had been started intentionally inside a linen cupboard nobody was ever charged with this arson but the similarities to the fire on board the ss neuronic struck many as suspicious it was however a mystery that would never be solved not long after these successive fires the passenger trade on the great lakes came to an end many passengers expressed that it had not been the same since the loss of the queen of the great lakes for the region and for the many people who worked and traveled on the lakes the loss of the ss neuronic marked the end of an era [Music] you

Channel: Fascinating Horror

Views: 721,290

Keywords: ASMR, ASMR Horror, Horror, True Horror, Horror Story, Horror Stories, Horror Storytelling, Storytelling, Seconds From Disaster, Strange But True, Unsolved Mystery, Ride Accident, Theme Park Accident, Worst Accidents, Creepy, Creepypasta, True Creepypasta, Creepypasta Stories, I Survived, History, Documentary, Disaster Documentary, True Story, SS Noronic, Toronto, Toronto History, Canada Steamship Lines, CSL, Great Lakes, Great Lakes Cruises, Passenger Trade, Lake Erie, Ontario

Id: 04MZa2YNowM

Length: 10min 10sec (610 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 14 2022