PS ''General Slocum''"PS" stands for "

Paddle Steamer A paddle steamer is a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine driving paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, whereby the first uses were wh ...

" was an American sidewheel passenger

steamboat A steamboat is a boat that is marine propulsion, propelled primarily by marine steam engine, steam power, typically driving propellers or Paddle steamer, paddlewheels. The term ''steamboat'' is used to refer to small steam-powered vessels worki ...

built in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, in 1891. During her service history, she was involved in a number of mishaps, including multiple groundings and collisions. On June 15, 1904, ''General Slocum'' caught fire and sank in the

East River The East River is a saltwater Estuary, tidal estuary or strait in New York City. The waterway, which is not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates Long Island, ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. At the time of the disaster, she was on a chartered run carrying members of St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church (

German Americans German Americans (, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. According to the United States Census Bureau's figures from 2022, German Americans make up roughly 41 million people in the US, which is approximately 12% of the pop ...

from Little Germany, Manhattan) to a church picnic. An estimated 1,021 out of the 1,342 people on board died. The ''General Slocum'' disaster was the worst maritime disaster of the 20th century until the sinking of the RMS ''Titanic'' surpassed it eight years later in 1912. It remains the worst maritime disaster in New York City history, and the second-worst on U.S. waterways, after the explosion and sinking of the steamboat ''Sultana'', and until the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

in 2001 was the deadliest manmade disaster of any sort in the New York area. The events surrounding the ''General Slocum'' fire have been explored in a number of books, plays, and movies.

Construction and design

The hull of ''General Slocum'' was built by Divine Burtis Jr., a

boatbuilder who was awarded the contract on February 15, 1891; the superstructure was built by John E. Hoffmire & Son. Her

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element of a watercraft, important for stability. On some sailboats, it may have a fluid dynamics, hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose as well. The keel laying, laying of the keel is often ...

was long and the hull was wide constructed of

white oak ''Quercus'' subgenus ''Quercus'' is one of the two subgenera into which the genus ''Quercus'' was divided in a 2017 classification (the other being subgenus ''Cerris''). It contains about 190 species divided among five sections. It may be calle ...

and

yellow pine In ecology and forestry, yellow pine refers to a number of conifer species that tend to grow in similar plant communities and yield similar strong wood. In the Western United States, yellow pine refers to Jeffrey pine or ponderosa pine. In the S ...

. ''General Slocum'' measured 1,284 tons gross,Cussler, Clive
General Slocum
National Underwater and Marine Agency. Retrieved November 26, 2010. and had a hull depth of . She was constructed with three decks (main, promenade and hurricane), three watertight compartments and 250 electric lights. She drew unladen and was long overall. ''General Slocum'' was powered by a single-

cylinder A cylinder () has traditionally been a three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. In elementary geometry, it is considered a prism with a circle as its base. A cylinder may also be defined as an infinite ...

, surface-condensing vertical-beam

steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs Work (physics), mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a Cylinder (locomotive), cyl ...

with a bore and

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

, built by W. & A. Fletcher Company of Hoboken,

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

. Steam was supplied by two

boiler A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including water heating, centra ...

s at a working pressure of ."A Very Handsome Boat"
''The New York Times'', June 26, 1891. ''General Slocum'' was a sidewheel boat. Each wheel had 26 paddles and was in diameter. Her maximum speed was about . The ship was usually crewed by a contingent of 22, including Captain William H. Van Schaick and two pilots. She had a legal capacity of 2,500 passengers. Cabins, storeroom, and machinery spaces were below the main deck. Crew quarters were the second compartment aft from the bow, with a hatch and ladder leading to the main deck. Aft of the quarters was the "forward cabin", also fitted with a companionway to the main deck; it was originally intended to be a cabin space, but had been used as a storeroom and lamp room. The forward cabin also housed the ship's steering engine and dynamo. The forward cabin, measuring approximately (length × width), was used for general storage and to store and refuel the ship's lamps from oil barrels kept there. Oil had been spilled on the deck of the Lamp Room numerous times, and it was frequented by crew who habitually used open flames in the room. Aft of the forward cabin was the machinery space for engines and boilers. The stern compartment below the main deck (aft of the machinery) was used as an aftersaloon. The forward part of the main deck was enclosed just forward of the companionway to the forward cabin. The promenade deck, above the main deck, was open except for a small section amidships. The hurricane deck, above the promenade, was where the lifeboats and life rafts were stowed. The pilot house was above the hurricane deck, with a small stateroom immediately aft.

Service history

''General Slocum'' was named for

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

GeneralJackson, Kenneth T. "General Slocum" in , p.499 and New York Congressman Henry Warner Slocum. She was owned by the Knickerbocker Steamboat Company. She operated in the New York City area as an excursion steamer for the next 13 years under the same ownership. ''General Slocum'' experienced a series of mishaps following her launch in 1891. Four months after her launching, she ran aground off Rockaway.

Tugboat A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, suc ...

s had to pull her free. A number of incidents occurred during 1894. On July 29, while returning from Rockaway with about 4,700 passengers, ''General Slocum'' struck a

sandbar In oceanography, geomorphology, and geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material, and rises from the bed of a body of water close to the surface or ...

with enough force to knock out her

electrical generator In electricity generation, a generator, also called an ''electric generator'', ''electrical generator'', and ''electromagnetic generator'' is an electromechanical device that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy for use in an extern ...

. The next month, ''General Slocum'' ran aground off

Coney Island Coney Island is a neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Brighton Beach to its east, Lower New York Bay to the south and west, and Gravesend to ...

during a storm. Passengers had to be transferred to another ship. In September 1894, ''General Slocum'' collided with the tug ''R. T. Sayre'' in the

, causing substantial damage to ''General Slocum's'' steering. In July 1898, ''General Slocum'' collided with the ''Amelia'' near

Battery Park The Battery, formerly known as Battery Park, is a public park located at the southern tip of Manhattan#Manhattan Island, Manhattan Island in New York City facing New York Harbor. The park is bounded by Battery Place on the north, with Bowling ...

. On August 17, 1901, while carrying what was described as 900 intoxicated anarchists from

Paterson, New Jersey Paterson ( ) is the largest City (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Little Germany district of

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

. This was an annual rite for the group, which had made the trip for 17 consecutive years. Nearly 1,400 passengers, mostly women and children, boarded ''General Slocum'', which was to sail up the East River and then eastward across the

Long Island Sound Long Island Sound is a sound (geography), marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north and Long Island in New York (state), New York to the south. From west to east, ...

to Locust Grove, a picnic site in Eatons Neck,

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

. The official post-disaster report stated there were 1,358 passengers and 30 officers and crew; fewer than 150 of the passengers were estimated to be adult males over 21. Of those on board, there were 957 deaths and 180 injuries. Less than twenty minutes elapsed between the start of the fire and the collapse of the hurricane deck.

The fire

The ship got underway from the recreation pier at Third Street on the East River at 9:30 am; it passed west of Blackwell Island (now

Roosevelt Island Roosevelt Island is an island in New York City's East River, within the Borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan. It lies between Manhattan Island to the west, and the borough of Queens, on Long Island, to the east. It is about long, wit ...

) and turned east, remaining south of

Wards Island Randalls Island (sometimes called Randall's Island) and Wards Island are conjoined islands, collectively called Randalls and Wards Island, in New York City.

. As it was passing East 90th Street, a fire started in the forward cabin or Lamp Room, the third compartment aft from the bow under the main deck; the fire was possibly caused by a discarded cigarette or match. The disastrous fire was fueled by the straw, oily rags, and lamp oil strewn around the room. The first notice of a fire was at 10 a.m.; eyewitnesses claimed the initial blaze began in various locations, including a paint locker filled with flammable liquids and a cabin filled with gasoline. Passengers on the main deck were aware of the fire at the entrance to

Hell Gate Hell Gate is a narrow tidal strait in the East River in New York City. It separates Astoria, Queens, Astoria, Queens, from Randall's and Wards Islands in Manhattan. Etymology The name "Hell Gate" is a corruption of the Low German or Dutch la ...

. Captain Van Schaick was not notified until 10 minutes after the fire was discovered. A 12-year-old boy had tried to warn him earlier, but was not believed. After he was notified of the fire, Van Schaick ordered full speed ahead; approximately 30 seconds later, he directed the pilot to beach the ship on North Brother Island. Following this last command, Van Schaick descended to the hurricane deck and remained there until he was able to jump into shallow water after the ship was beached. Although the captain was ultimately responsible for the safety of passengers, the owners had made no effort to maintain or replace the ship's safety equipment. The main deck was equipped with a standpipe connected to a steam pump, but the fire hose attached to the forward end of the standpipe, a length of "cheap unlined linen," had been allowed to rot and burst in several places. When the crew tried to put out the fire; they were unable to attach a rubber hose because the coupling of the linen hose remained attached to the standpipe. The ship was also equipped with hand pumps and buckets, but they were not used during the disaster; the crew gave up firefighting efforts after failing to attach the rubber hose. The crew had not practiced a fire drill that year, and the lifeboats were tied up and inaccessible. Some claimed the lifeboats were wired and painted in place. Survivors reported that the life preservers were useless and fell apart in their hands, while desperate mothers placed life jackets on their children and tossed them into the water, only to watch in horror as their children sank instead of floating. Most of those on board were women and children who, like most Americans of the time, could not swim; victims found that their heavy wool clothing absorbed water and weighed them down in the river. It was discovered that Nonpareil Cork Works, supplier of cork materials to manufacturers of life preservers, placed iron bars inside the cork materials to meet minimum content requirements ( of "good cork") at the time. Nonpareil's deception was revealed by David Kahnweiler's Sons, who inspected a shipment of 300 cork blocks. Many of the life preservers had been filled with cheap and less effective granulated cork and brought up to proper weight by the inclusion of the iron weights. Canvas covers, rotted with age, split and scattered the powdered cork. Managers of the company (Nonpareil Cork Works) were indicted but not convicted. The life preservers on the ''Slocum'' had been manufactured in 1891 and had hung above the deck, unprotected from the elements, for 13 years. File:EM NOVA-YORK. A grande catastrophe do vapor de passeio General Slocum. Morte horrível de 1.200 pessoas!.jpg, The great catastrophe of the passenger steamboat ''General Slocum'' ( Angelo Agostini, '' O Malho'', 1904) File:Victims of the General Slocum (1904).jpg, Victims of ''General Slocum'' washed ashore at North Brother Island File:Recovery of victims from the General Slocum.jpg, Carrying away a body from North Brother Island

Beaching on North Brother Island

Captain Van Schaick decided to continue his course rather than run the ship aground or stop at a nearby landing. By going into headwinds and failing to immediately ground the ship, he fanned the fire and promoted its spread from fore to aft; the investigating commission later faulted Van Schaick for passing up opportunities to beach the vessel in Little Hell Gate (west of the Sunken Meadows) or the Bronx Bills (east of the Sunken Meadows), which also would have put the prevailing winds astern, keeping flames from spreading along the length of the ship. Van Schaick later argued he was trying to avoid having the fire spread to riverside buildings and oil tanks. Flammable paint also helped the fire spread out of control, driven aft mainly along the port side of the ship; passengers, who were on the upper promenade and hurricane decks, were forced into the aft starboard quarter. Ten minutes after the ship was beached, the fire had essentially engulfed the vessel; no more than twenty minutes had elapsed since the first flames came up from the Lamp Room. Some passengers jumped into the river to escape the fire, but the heavy women's clothing of the day made swimming almost impossible and dragged them underwater to drown. An estimated 100 to 500 died when the overloaded starboard section of the hurricane deck collapsed, casting those passengers into deep water, and others were battered by the still-turning paddles as they tried to escape into the water or over the sides. The commission estimated that 400 to 600 people drowned after the ship was beached, as they jumped off the aft portion of the boat into deep water; those jumping off the bow landed in shallower water. ''General Slocum'' remained beached on North Brother Island for approximately 90 minutes before breaking free and drifting east for approximately ; by the time she sank in shallow water off the

Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

shore at Hunts Point, an estimated 1,021 people, including 2 of the 30 crew members, had either burned to death or drowned. There were 431 survivors. The actions of two tugboats which arrived a few minutes after the ''Slocum'' was beached were credited with saving between 200 and 350 people. The 1904

Coast Guard A coast guard or coastguard is a Maritime Security Regimes, maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with cust ...

Report estimated the following figures for casualties of a total of 1,388 persons involved in the disaster: The captain lost sight in one eye owing to the fire. Reports indicate that Captain Van Schaick deserted ''General Slocum'' as soon as it settled, jumping into a nearby tug, along with several crew. He was hospitalized at Lebanon Hospital. Many acts of heroism were performed by the passengers, witnesses, and emergency personnel. Staff and patients from the hospital on North Brother Island participated in the rescue efforts, forming human chains and pulling victims from the water, and also used ladders that belonged to construction crews working on repairing the hospital building.

Aftermath

Eight people were indicted by a federal

grand jury A grand jury is a jury empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a person to testify. A grand ju ...

after the disaster: the captain, two inspectors, and the president, secretary, treasurer, and commodore of the Knickerbocker Steamship Company. Most boatmen felt that Van Schaick "was unjustly made a scapegoat for the resulting tragedy, instead of the owners of the steamer or the effectiveness of the life saving and fire fighting equipment then required — and the inspections of it by government inspectors". He was the only person convicted. He was found guilty on one of three charges:

criminal negligence In criminal law, criminal negligence is an offence that involves a breach of an objective standard of behaviour expected of a defendant. It may be contrasted with strictly liable offences, which do not consider states of mind in determining c ...

, for failing to maintain proper

fire drill A fire drill is a method of practicing how a building should evacuate in the event of a fire or other emergencies. In most cases, the building's existing fire alarm system is activated and the building is evacuated by means of the nearest avail ...

s and

fire extinguisher A fire extinguisher is a handheld active fire protection device usually filled with a dry or wet chemical used to extinguish or control small fires, often in emergencies. It is not intended for use on an out-of-control fire, such as one which ha ...

s. The jury could not reach a verdict on the other two counts of manslaughter. He was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. He spent three years and six months at

Sing Sing Sing Sing Correctional Facility is a maximum-security prison for men operated by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision in the village of Ossining (village), New York, Ossining, New York, United States. It is abou ...

prison before he was paroled. President

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...

declined to pardon Van Schaick. Van Schaick was finally released when the federal parole board under the

William Howard Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) served as the 27th president of the United States from 1909 to 1913 and the tenth chief justice of the United States from 1921 to 1930. He is the only person to have held both offices. ...

administration voted to free him on August 26, 1911.Robinson, Eric.

New-York Historical Society The New York Historical (known as the New-York Historical Society from 1804 to 2024) is an American history museum and library on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. The society was founded in 1804 as New York's first museum. It ...

Library He was pardoned by President Taft on December 19, 1912; the pardon became effective on Christmas Day. After his death in 1927, Schaick was buried in Oakwood Cemetery (Troy, New York). The Knickerbocker Steamship Company, which owned the ship, paid a relatively small fine despite evidence that they might have falsified inspection records. The disaster motivated federal and state regulation to improve the emergency equipment on passenger ships. The neighborhood of Little Germany, which had been in decline for some time before the disaster as residents moved uptown, almost disappeared afterward. With the trauma and arguments that followed the tragedy and the loss of many prominent settlers, most of the Lutheran Germans remaining in the Lower East Side eventually moved uptown. The church whose congregation chartered the ship for the fateful voyage was converted to a synagogue in 1940 after the area was settled by Jewish residents. The victims were interred in cemeteries around New York, with 58 identified victims buried in the Cemetery of the Evergreens, and 46 identified victims buried in

Green-Wood Cemetery Green-Wood Cemetery is a cemetery in the western portion of Brooklyn, New York City. The cemetery is located between South Slope, Brooklyn, South Slope/Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn, Greenwood Heights, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn, Win ...

, both in Brooklyn. Many victims were buried at Lutheran Cemetery in

Middle Village, Queens Middle Village is a neighborhood in the central section of the Borough (New York City), borough of Queens, New York City, bounded to the north by the Long Island Expressway, to the east by Woodhaven Boulevard, to the south by Cooper Avenue and t ...

(now Lutheran All Faiths Cemetery) where an annual memorial ceremony is held at the historical marker. In 1906, a marble memorial fountain was erected in the north central part of Tompkins Square Park in Manhattan by the Sympathy Society of German Ladies, with the inscription: "They are Earth's purest children, young and fair." The sunken remains of ''General Slocum'' were salvaged and converted into a 625- gross register ton

barge A barge is typically a flat-bottomed boat, flat-bottomed vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. Original use was on inland waterways, while modern use is on both inland and ocean, marine water environments. The firs ...

named ''Maryland'', which sank in the South River in 1909 and again in the Atlantic Ocean off the southeast coast of New Jersey near Strathmere and Sea Isle City during a storm on December 4, 1911, while carrying a cargo of coal. All four people aboard ''Maryland'' survived the sinking. The victims included one Emily Ziegler, the girlfriend of a saloonkeeper named

John Flammang Schrank John Flammang Schrank (born Johann Nepomuk Schrank; March 5, 1876 – September 15, 1943) was a German-American tavern owner who attempted assassination of Theodore Roosevelt, attempted to assassinate former President Theodore Roosevelt outside ...

who later suffered a mental breakdown culminating in an attempted assassination of Theodore Roosevelt.

Survivors

On January 26, 2004, the last surviving passenger from ''General Slocum'', Adella Wotherspoon (née Liebenow), died at the age of 100. At the time of the disaster, she was a six-month-old infant. Wotherspoon was the youngest survivor of the tragedy that took the lives of her two older sisters. When she was one year old, she unveiled the Steamboat Fire Mass Memorial on June 15, 1905, at Lutheran All Faiths Cemetery, in

. Before Wotherspoon's death, the previous oldest survivor was Catherine Connelly (née Uhlmyer) (1893–2002) who was 11 years old at the time of the disaster. File:Youngest Slocum Survivor crop.jpg, Adella Wotherspoon
(June 16, 1905)

In popular culture

General Slocum Memorial Tompkins Square Park NYC

Literature * 1922 – A few references are made to the disaster in

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (born James Augusta Joyce; 2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influentia ...

's '' Ulysses'', the events of which take place on the following day (June 16, 1904). * 1925 – A few references to the disaster occur in

John Dos Passos John Roderigo Dos Passos (; January 14, 1896 – September 28, 1970) was an American novelist, most notable for his U.S.A. (trilogy), ''U.S.A.'' trilogy. Born in Chicago, Dos Passos graduated from Harvard College in 1916. He traveled widely as a ...

' novel '' Manhattan Transfer''. * 1939 – Journalist Nat Ferber's autobiography, ''I Found Out: A Confidential Chronicle of the Twenties'', begins with his reporting on the ''General Slocum'' tragedy. * 1975 –

Robert Shea Robert Joseph Shea (February 14, 1933 – March 10, 1994) was an American novelist and former journalist best known as co-author with Robert Anton Wilson of the science fantasy trilogy '' Illuminatus!'' It became a cult success and was later turn ...

and Robert Anton Wilson's satirical '' The Illuminatus! Trilogy'' briefly mentions the disaster as attributable to the 23 enigma, since 19+04=23. Cartwright alleges that the disaster was an Illuminati technique for "transcendental illumination" through human sacrifice. *1996 – Eric Blau's novel ''The Hero of the Slocum Disaster'' is based on the disaster; it was later adapted by Patrick Tull and Emily King into a one-person play. * 2000 – The story of ''General Slocum'' was described as an "Avoidable Catastrophe" in Bob Fenster's book, ''Duh! The Stupid History of the Human Race'', in Part One, which discusses stories involving stupidity. * 2003 – ''Ship Ablaze'' by Edward O'Donnell is a detailed history of the event. * 2003 – The disaster is featured in one of the chapters of author

Clive Cussler Clive Eric Cussler (July 15, 1931 – February 24, 2020) was an American adventure novelist and underwater explorer. His thriller novels, many featuring the character Dirk Pitt, have been listed on ''The New York Times'' fiction best-sell ...

's book ''The Sea Hunters 2'' when he finds the wreckage of the barge ''Maryland'', which was the converted ''Slocum'' after she was salvaged. * 2003 – The protagonist of Pete Hamill's ''Forever: A Novel'' describes the event both as the worst disaster in New York's history at its time, and the point at which Germans left Kleindeutschland for Yorkville, effectively vacating the present-day

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Historically, it w ...

, which was then adopted by Central European Jews. * 2004 – The 2005

Hugo Award The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) and chosen by its members. The award is administered by th ...

-nominated novella ''Time Ablaze'' by Michael A. Burstein ( ''Analog'', June 2004) concerns a time traveler who comes to record the disaster. The story was published to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the disaster. * 2006 – The ''General Slocum'' disaster is at the center of the novel ''Kiss Me, I'm Dead'', by J.G. Sandom, also published as ''The Unresolved'' using the pen name of T.K. Welsh. * 2008 – The ''General Slocum'' disaster plays a prominent role in Richard Crabbe's novel ''Hell's Gate''. * 2009 – The ''General Slocum'' tragedy is described in detail in Glenn Stout's 2009 biography of Gertrude Ederle, ''Young Woman and the Sea''. Stout uses the incident, in which many women and young children drowned, to help explain the history of how women, including Ederle, were afforded opportunities to learn to swim during the early part of the century. * 2010–2012 – The disaster plays a prominent role in the novels ''In the Shadow of Gotham'' (2010) and ''Secret of the White Rose'' (2012) by

Stefanie Pintoff Stefanie Pintoff is an American author of historical mystery novels. Work Stefanie Pintoff’s books take place in New York City in the early 1900s. Her character Simon Ziele is a police detective who lost his fiancée in a steamship accident, an ...

. * 2011 – The sinking and the spirits of the dead near the site of the sinking at the Hell Gate Bridge are a major plot line in the supernatural novel ''Dead Waters'' by Anton Strout. * 2013 – In the

Dean Koontz Dean Ray Koontz (born July 9, 1945) is an American author. His novels are billed as thriller (genre), suspense thrillers, but frequently incorporate elements of horror fiction, horror, fantasy, science fiction, Mystery fiction, mystery, and sati ...

novel ''Innocence'', deaths caused by the sinking of ''General Slocum'' prompted the construction of secret rooms dedicated to the memory of a family lost. Film, television, music * 1904 – ''The Slocum Disaster'' - This silent

American Mutoscope and Biograph Company The Biograph Company, also known as the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, was a motion picture company founded in 1895 and active until 1916. It was the first company in the United States devoted entirely to film production and exhibition ...

(#2932) documentary short filmed by G. W. Bitzer features footage of the collecting of bodies on North Brother Island, the temporary morgue at the offices of Public Charites, and mourners at St. Marks German Evangelical Lutheran Church, taken on June 16 and 17, 1904 and released that same month on the 22nd. * 1904 – The American composer

Charles Ives Charles Edward Ives (; October 20, 1874May 19, 1954) was an American modernist composer, actuary and businessman. Ives was among the earliest renowned American composers to achieve recognition on a global scale. His music was largely ignored d ...

(1874–1954) wrote the

tone poem A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, usually in a single continuous movement (music), movement, which illustrates or evokes the content of a poem, short story, novel, painting, landscape, or other (non-musical) source. T ...

"The General Slocum", a musical portrait of the disaster. * 1915 – '' Regeneration'' is an early gangster film directed by

Raoul Walsh Raoul Walsh (born Albert Edward Walsh; March 11, 1887December 31, 1980) was an American film director, actor, founding member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), and the brother of silent cinema actor George Walsh. He wa ...

and produced by William Fox. The film was lost until the 1970s. It has a lengthy scene in which an excursion picnic ship burns in dramatic fashion while passengers jump overboard, an obvious reference to the ''General Slocum'' disaster. Walsh shot the scene in New York, not far from where the real disaster occurred. * 1934 – The first scenes of the film '' Manhattan Melodrama'' recreated the disaster. * 1998 – German television produced and aired ''Die Slocum brennt!'' (''The Slocum is on Fire!''), an hour-long documentary by Christian Baudissin about the disaster and its impact on the German community of New York. * 2001 – A description of the disaster and the following events, in comparison with the September 11 attacks, is given by David Rakoff in an episode of the radio program ''

This American Life ''This American Life'' is a weekly hour-long American radio program produced in collaboration with Chicago Public Media and hosted by Ira Glass. It is broadcast on numerous public radio stations in the United States and internationally, and is ...

''. * 2002 – The ''General Slocum'' disaster was featured in the documentary ''My Father's Gun''. * 2004 – ''Ship Ablaze'' was a documentary made by

History Channel History (formerly and commonly known as the History Channel) is an American pay television television broadcaster, network and the flagship channel of A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney General Entertainme ...

, with production help from

NFL Films NFL Productions, LLC, doing business as NFL Films, is the film and television production company of the National Football League. It produces advertisement film, commercials, television programs, feature films, and documentary film, documentaries ...

, featuring a filmed reenactment of the disaster along with interviews of the two remaining ''General Slocum'' survivors. The documentary takes its name from the book by Edward O'Donnell, who is interviewed in it. * 2004 – ''Fearful Visitation, New York's Great Steamboat Fire of 1904'', produced by Philip Dray and Hank Linhart, running time ''53 minutes'', premiered at the

for the 100-year commemoration in 2004, and was broadcast on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

. It features interviews with the last two living survivors and historians Ed O'Donnell, Kenneth T. Jackson, and

Lucy Sante Lucy Sante (pronounced ''Sahnt''; formerly Luc Sante; born May 25, 1954) is a Belgian-born American writer, critic, and artist. She is a frequent contributor to '' The New York Review of Books''. Her books include ''Low Life: Lures and Snares of ...

. * 2012 – The disaster was featured in Season 4, Episode 3 of the program '' Mysteries at the Museum''. * 2017 – The '' American Housewife'' TV series episode on May 2 featured a child cast member who had a morbid fear of water which derived from reading about the sinking of ''General Slocum''. She cited several facts about the event. * 2017 – ''History Retold: Fire at Sea'' is a documentary that describes the disaster among other disasters involving ships catching fire at sea. * 2022 – The folk music group The Longest Johns reference the sinking in their song "Downed and Drowned."

Notes

References

External links

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Adella Liebenow Wotherspoon Photographs and Papers, 1860-2004, PR 400
at th
New-York Historical Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:General Slocum 1891 ships 1904 fires in the United States Maritime incidents involving engineering failures Fires in New York City German-American history History of New York City Maritime incidents in the United States Maritime incidents in 1904 Ships built in Brooklyn Paddle steamers of the United States Passenger ships of the United States Rockaway, Queens Ship fires Shipwrecks of the East River Transportation accidents in New York City Maritime incidents in 1911 Shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean Shipwrecks of the New Jersey coast December 1911 June 1904 1904 in New York City