The General Slocum was a passenger steamboat built in Brooklyn. She operated in the New York City area as an excursion steamer. On June 15, 1904, the General Slocum caught fire and sank in the East River of New York City. At the time of the accident she was on a chartered run carrying members of St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church (German Americans from Little Germany, Manhattan) to a church picnic. An estimated 1,021 of the 1,342 people on board died. The General Slocum disaster was the New York area's worst disaster in terms of loss of life and the worst maritime disaster in the city's history. This fully illustrated book contains many rare pictures and photographs of the accident and the aftermath.

Story of the "General Slocum," the New York excursion steamer which burned on June 15, 1904 with fatalities rivalling those of the "Titanic" and "Lusitania." She started up the East River from her pier at Third St. Manhattan in glorious weather with children shouting and a band playing. Within an hour or so, she was a smoldering wreck with rescuers struggling to save the few they could. Here is the whole report of tragedy, heroism, and guilt. Over 40 pages of startling and heart-rending contemporary pictures Also covered are other fires including that of Chicago's Iroquois Theatre. Expanded reproduction of the rare original volume.

The true story of one of the greatest tragedies in New York history On June 15, 1904, the steamship General Slocum was heading from Manhattan to Long Island Sound when a fire erupted in one of the storage rooms. Faced with an untrained crew, crumbling life jackets, and inaccessible lifeboats, hundreds of terrified passengers--few of which were experienced swimmers--fled into the water. By the time the captain found a safe shore for landing, more than 1000 people had perished. It was New York’s deadliest tragedy prior to September 11, 2001. The only book available on this compelling chapter in the city’s history, Ship Ablaze draws on firsthand accounts to examine why the death toll was so high, how the city responded, and why this event failed to achieve the infamy of the Titanic’s 1912 demise or the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. Masterfully capturing both the horror of the event and heroism of men, women, and children aboard the ship as the inferno spread, historian Edward T. O’Donnell brings to life a bygone community while honoring the victims of that forgotten day.

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