The Morro Castle was a luxury liner running between New York and Havana, carrying passengers seeking rum, gambling, and other pleasures forbidden during Prohibition. Captain Robert Willmott commanded the ship. On the night of September 7, 1934, as the ship headed home, Willmott complained of stomach trouble and went to his cabin. He was found dead several hours later.

The official cause of death was listed as a heart attack. But Willmott had been in good health. Some crew members later suggested he had been poisoned. The chief radio operator, George White Rogers, was known to have a troubled past. Questions about the captain's death would linger for decades.

At 2:50 AM on September 8, with the ship about 10 miles off the New Jersey coast, fire was discovered in a storage locker. The fire spread with extraordinary speed through the ship's interior, fed by the ship's ventilation system and highly flammable decorative materials.

Acting Captain William Warms made a series of fatal decisions. He continued toward New York at nearly full speed, fanning the flames with the ship's forward motion. He delayed sending a distress signal. He failed to organize an evacuation. By the time he finally stopped the ship and called for help, the fire was out of control and passengers were dying.

The evacuation was a disaster. Many lifeboats couldn't be launched because the davits had been painted over. Crew members abandoned ship before passengers. The ship's fire suppression system was inadequate. Passengers jumped into the cold Atlantic, many without life jackets.

Of the 549 people aboard, 137 died - most from drowning or burning. Bodies washed up on the New Jersey shore for days. Survivors told stories of heroism and cowardice, of passengers abandoned by crew, of lifeboats launched half-empty. The Morro Castle disaster exposed catastrophic failures in maritime safety.

As rescue operations continued, the burning hulk of the Morro Castle drifted north on the current. It grounded on the beach at Asbury Park, New Jersey - directly in front of the Convention Hall, in full view of the boardwalk.

The timing was macabre. September 8 was a Saturday, and crowds had gathered for the end-of-summer holiday weekend. Thousands of tourists came to see the smoking wreck, snapping photographs while rescue operations continued and bodies still washed ashore. The ship sat on the beach for six months, becoming a bizarre tourist attraction. Eventually it was towed off and scrapped.

Suspicion eventually focused on George White Rogers, the chief radio officer. Rogers had a history of arson and insurance fraud. He had been delayed in sending the distress signal. After the disaster, he became briefly famous as a hero but was later convicted of unrelated crimes, including murder.

No one was ever charged with starting the Morro Castle fire or killing Captain Willmott. Rogers died in prison in 1958, taking his secrets with him. The Morro Castle disaster led to major reforms in maritime safety, including requirements for fire-resistant materials and better lifeboat access. But the questions - who started the fire, who killed the captain - have never been answered.