When you think of disasters in New York, nothing could compare to the horrors of September 11, 2001. Nearly a century before that horrific day, another tragic disaster occurred here. In June 1904, the General Slocum steamboat caught fire and sank in New York City’s East River. The disaster was the worst to occur in New York in terms of loss of life up to that point. More than 1,000 people perished in the accident.

The ship was named after Civil War General and New York Congressman Henry Warner Slocum. General Slocum was a 264-foot long, three-deck steamboat. Designed by a Brooklyn boatbuilder, she was first launched in 1891.
The National Archives General Slocum Disaster/Wikimedia Commons
General Slocum had a bit of a troubled history. She ran aground three times in her first three years of operation and suffered several collisions. In 1901, drunken passengers attempted a riot, and several ended up arrested.
General Slocum was used as a passenger boat to take people sight-seeing through New York City. In 1904, a church rented out the ship for their annual picnic trip.
New York Public Library Digital Collections
Shortly after the trip began, a fire started in the ship. Due to the lamp oil and gasoline onboard, it quickly blazed out of control.
New York Public Library Digital Collections
The captain decided to continue course. This sent the ship directly into winds that fanned the flames.
The ship sank quickly. Out of the nearly 1,400 people on board, nearly 1,000 were killed. Very few adult men were onboard, and more than 700 children died. Only 251 people escaped uninjured.
New York Public Library Digital Collections
Several factors combined to make this tragedy so deadly. The company that owned the ship skimped on safety measures, and life preserver manufacturers had saved money by minimizing the amount of cork in the life jackets.
New York Public Library Digital Collections
Another contributing factor was that the fashionable woolen clothes of the era were extremely heavy. Most Americans of that time period could not swim, so many people drowned.
After the tragedy, the captain was convicted of criminal negligence for his role in the disaster. Several memorial structures have been erected in honor of the victims.
Thomas Altfather Good/Wikimedia Commons

Perhaps the only good thing to come out of this tragedy was that passenger ship safety standards were greatly improved. The last surviving passenger from the General Slocum, Adella Wotherspoon, passed away in 2004 at the age of 100.

Were you familiar with this terrible accident?

 

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