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Eastland Disaster Historical Society Peter Boyle, lookout on steamer Petoskey

By Eastland Disaster Historical Society

8-Apr-16 – Of the 844 who died in the Eastland Disaster on July 24, 1915, Peter Boyle was the only victim not aboard the SS Eastland when it capsized.

Peter was an immigrant from Ireland and lived at 110 East Illinois Street in Chicago. He was 26 at the time of the Eastland Disaster. He drowned in an attempt to rescue a woman who had been thrown into the Chicago River when the Eastland capsized.

The Petoskey was lying just behind the Eastland, having been chartered by the Indiana Transportation Company to carry Western Electric excursionists to Michigan City, Indiana. When the Eastland began to list, the officers and crew of the Petoskey got uneasy, and they jumped into their lifeboats and lowered them. They were one of the first to get lifeboats into the drifting mass of people whom they pulled out of the Chicago River as fast as they could reach them.

According to officers of the Petoskey, Peter dived from one of the lifeboats while it was being lowered but when it was still about 15 feet from the water. He did not come to the surface, and it is not known whether he was clutched by one of the victims and held beneath the surface, or was stunned by striking some object.

Petoskey Captain Walter Petrosky and his associates were much affected by the death of “Lookout Boyle,” who gave his life in the effort to save others.