FATAL ATTRACTION!

   TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8th, 2020
           FATAL ATTRACTION!

    As the unofficial end of summer comes
around the Labor Day weekend a lot of people
head to the sea shore to enjoy attractions on
the boardwalk or along the beach. But on this
date in 1934 beach goers at Asbury Park, New
Jersey found an "attraction" that shocked most
and brought many to tears. Hours earlier the
Ocean Liner Morro Castle, bound from Havana
to New York, had a small fire. Within 30 minutes
the vessel was engulfed in flames! The electrical
wiring was burned and only one SOS was sent.
About half of the ship's lifeboats were launched
and they were filled, for the most part, with crew
members. The ship's steering controls were wrecked
and it drifted until it grounded at Asbury Park Beach!
135 people on board died. The wreckage was so close
to shore that tourists were able to walk to the vessel and
touch it at low tide! Until it was towed off for scrap 6 
months later thousands of people came to view the
ship's remains.
      It's surprising, considering our fascination with
ship wreck stories, that no one ever did a movie on
the Morro Castle story.    But today we remember it
on this ominous anniversary.
        Hope you're well and that all your NEWS is
good!