Seventy five years ago today, the passenger liner Morro Castle was steaming off the Jersey shore, bound for New York from Havana, when she caught fire.   Of the 549 passengers and crew aboard, 135 died either in the fire or  by drowning.   An estimated 125,000 witnessed the fire from shore.  The gutted ship drifted ashore on the beach in Asbury Park. Now on the 75th anniversary of the fire the Asbury Park Historical Society will unveil a monument dedicated to the Morro Castle, its victims and the many heroes who risked their lives to rescue survivors.

Monument unveiling for Morro Castle disaster off Asbury Park

Here news real footage of the Morro Castle fire: