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The 80th anniversary of the famous 1934 S.S. Morro Castle maritime disaster [shown at top] and the 160th anniversary of the 1854 New Era disaster will be commemorated at ceremonies in September, according to a news release from the Asbury Park Historical Society.

The New Era disaster occurred exactly 80 years prior to the Morro Castle on exactly the same site off the Sixth Avenue beach in Asbury Park.

A special presentation will be held at the Jersey Shore Arts Center on Sunday, Sept. 7, from 7 to 9 p.m. The center is located at the intersection of Main Avenue and Main Street in Ocean Grove. Admission is $10 and proceeds of the event will be split between the Historical Society and the Arts Center.

Local historian Dr. Richard Fernicola, Allenhurst; Deal Historian James Foley; Dan Lieb, president of the New Jersey Historical Divers Association; and local historian Gary Crawford, who has written a book on the Morro Castle, will be speakers at the Sept. 7 symposium.

“The Sixth Avenue beach in Asbury Park is probably one of the most important maritime disaster sites in American history and I urge people to learn more,” Asbury Park Historical Society President Don Stine said in the release.

“This site is very important to the history of the Jersey Shore and changed American maritime history forever,” Crawford said in the release.

The Historical Society will hold its annual Morro Castle commemoration ceremony on Monday, Sept. 8 at 10 a.m. at the Morro Castle monument located just south of Convention Hall. The historical society erected the monument five years ago for the 75th anniversary commemoration ceremony.

The New Era, a clipper which carried German immigrants [shown at right], became grounded off of what would later be Asbury Park on Nov. 13, 1854. Rescue efforts failed and stranded passengers were forced to remain on the ship overnight during a bitter nor’easter.

Out of 425 passengers, only 163 survived the voyage. The condition of the dead bodies was so appalling when the ship was boarded the next day that it prompted the federal government to create the U.S. Lifesaving Service, which eventually became the U.S. Coast Guard, the release stated.

On the morning of Sept. 8, 1934, the S.S. Morro Castle was in flames, exploding, and heading straight for Convention Hall in Asbury Park after catching fire at sea in the late night hours.

“The story of the Morro Castle is so loaded with mystery and intrigue that I urge people to come to the presentation and learn more,” Stine said.

One hundred and thirty-seven people onboard the Morro Castle died, with many victims and survivors coming ashore in southern Monmouth County.

Because of the New Era shipwreck in 1854, the U.S. Coast Guard was eventually formed and because of the 1934 Morro Castle disaster ships are no longer built with flammable materials and lifeboats drills are mandatory, the release stated.

“And the most unusual aspect in all of this is that these two famous shipwrecks occurred right, exactly on top of each other, just north of Convention Hall,” Stine said.

For more information, visit www.aphistoricalsociety.org. The Sept. 8 ceremony is weather permitting, check the website for updates on cancellations.

[Photos provided by Don Stine.]

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