Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story:

• The 1934 S.S. Morro Castle disaster reads like a whodunit that was never solved.
• 137 of the 549 passengers on board perished, and the questions surrounding that night have lingered for nearly a century.
• The burnt hull of the Morro Castle languished off the New Jersey coast, creating a morbid tourist attraction that lasted for months.

On the evening of September 7, 1934, Captain Robert Willmott was found dead in his stateroom aboard the S.S. Morro Castle. The on-board doctor blamed “acute indigestion.” Hours later, fire erupted on the luxury cruise liner. By morning, 137 passengers were dead, and the charred remains of the ship had beached itself off the New Jersey coast for all the world to see.

What happened that night—and why—has never been neatly resolved. But the story that unfolded reads like pages torn from a classic whodunit, full of twists, suspicious characters, and questions that still linger.

Did murder take out the captain? Was arson to blame for the fire? The answers were never neatly tied up, but many theories sprang up, even as 1930s postcards seemingly celebrated what was one of the strangest maritime disasters of the century.

The tragedy of September 8th, 1934, started years prior when Virginia’s Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company built the $5 million, 508-foot-long luxury cruiser in 1930 for the Ward Line, which held the contract to haul mail and freight between the United States and Cuba. Disaster struck on the ship’s 174th return voyage from Havana to New York City, just hours before the Morro Castle was scheduled to arrive at its destination.

Gretchen Coyle, a docent for the New Jersey Maritime Museum, wrote that the first sign of trouble came when Captain Robert Willmott was found dead in his stateroom. Officials canceled the fancy ball scheduled for the final night of the voyage on account of Willmott’s death. The on-board doctor examined Willmott and concluded that he died through natural causes, but the captain’s death was also subject to a deeper investigation. However, the investigation was cut short by the events that started around 3 a.m. the following morning.

A fire started in a closet in the Writing Room, and another fire broke out elsewhere on the Morro Castle around the same time. As the reportedly inexperienced and underpaid crew kept moving toward Sandy Hook and the protection of a harbor amidst an approaching hurricane, the 30 mile-per-hour wind made it impossible to stop the flames from spreading.

The fires raged. Panic ensued.

According to Brian Hicks, who wrote a book in 2006 on the Morro Castle events, the crew didn’t sound an alarm for fear of waking passengers, and the newly installed acting captain, William Warms, never went to inspect the damage. Finally, engulfed in flames and out of control just a few miles offshore, the ship dropped anchor. Only six of the 12 lifeboats were launched—and not all were filled—because some of them were stuck in place by paint. The inexperienced crew lost control of the situation. Passengers leaped overboard to escape the fire, and some died upon impact with the water, especially those not properly holding their life preservers. The 42 fire hydrants on board only functioned effectively if fewer than 10 were running at once; beyond that, the hydrants’ water pressure dropped to useless levels as winds whipped flames across the lacquered wood that acted as fuel for the growing flames.

The first SOS reportedly arrived at a New Jersey radio station, and after some delay, word finally spread of the calamity. Locals raced into the waters to help with the rescue. In the end, of the 549 passengers on board, 134 died in the fire, from drowning, or from injuries sustained during the disaster. Three more passengers succumbed to their injuries later on.

In the ensuing months, thousands of sightseers came to see the devastation from the shore, booking up hotels in New Jersey for months. Businesses and restaurants remained open past the summer season, and souvenirs—including postcards—featured pictures of the destroyed ship, originally named after a Havana fortress and lighthouse. The ship remained anchored off the shore until it was scrapped in March 1935.

Only three men were indicted for misconduct, negligence, and inattention to duty: Warms, a chief engineer, and a Ward Line vice president. All three were convicted in January 1936, but the convictions were overturned in April 1937. Warms, who had been the last person aboard the disabled ship, went on to sail again and served in the U.S. Navy during World War II.

With the suspicious demise of Willmott never fully explained and no definitive cause for the fire ever established, theories filled the void. Chief among them was that Morro Castle radio operator George Rogers deliberately set the blaze. Hicks, along with other researchers, pointed to Rogers’ troubled history and his behavior in the aftermath as evidence of a calculated act. If true, the Morro Castle disaster was a real-life story of murder on the high seas.