General Slocum disaster was a 1904 steamboat tragedy on New York City’s East River. The General Slocum was a paddleboat that had been completed and launched in 1891. It was named for General Henry Warner Slocum, a congressman from New York and a general in the American Civil War (1861-1865). On June 15, 1904, the boat caught fire and sank. More than 1,000 people, mainly women and children, were killed.
On the day of the disaster, the General Slocum departed from its Manhattan dock at about 9:30 a.m. The ship carried about 1,330 passengers and was captained by William Van Schaik. The St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church had chartered the boat to take members to a church picnic on Long Island. Most of the passengers were German immigrants or the children of German immigrants.
Historians believe a crew member started the fire by carelessly tossing a match into a cabin containing flammable materials. Upon learning of the fire, Van Schaik directed the ship toward North Brother Island, about 1 mile (2.6 kilometers) away. The ship traveled at full speed, giving rise to strong breezes that fanned the flames. Van Schaik was later criticized for not immediately bringing the boat to shore. In defending his decision, the captain said he had been warned that bringing the burning boat to shore might ignite lumber yards and oil tanks.
Many of the ship’s passengers were killed by the fire. Many others drowned as they tried to escape the flames. The boat beached off of North Brother Island. Nurses and patients from the island’s hospitals risked their lives to save people. Several boats also raced to the scene to help. At the same time, some people reportedly stole jewelry from the dead and from survivors clinging to life.
The disaster’s widely accepted death toll is 1,021. An investigation found that the boat’s life preservers were old and defective, the fire hoses didn’t work properly, and the lifeboats were unusable. Van Schaik was sentenced to 10 years in prison. The captain served about 3 1/2 years of the sentence. In 1912, President William Howard Taft pardoned Van Schaik.
