1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:04,120 Speaker 1: The Stay in History Class is production of I Heart Radio. Hi, 2 00:00:04,760 --> 00:00:08,760 Speaker 1: I'm Eves and Welcome to This Day in History Class, 3 00:00:08,760 --> 00:00:11,600 Speaker 1: a show that uncovers a little bit more about history. 4 00:00:12,119 --> 00:00:23,040 Speaker 1: Every day. Today is June nineteen. The day was June 5 00:00:23,400 --> 00:00:27,920 Speaker 1: nineteen o four. Somewhere between nine thirty and nine forty 6 00:00:27,960 --> 00:00:31,320 Speaker 1: in the morning, the paddle steamer General Slocum left its 7 00:00:31,400 --> 00:00:34,560 Speaker 1: dock in New York on a short trip chartered by St. 8 00:00:34,600 --> 00:00:39,400 Speaker 1: Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church. A short time after the vessel's 9 00:00:39,400 --> 00:00:42,560 Speaker 1: trip began, a fire broke out in the forward compartment 10 00:00:42,600 --> 00:00:46,000 Speaker 1: on the main deck. But as the fire spread in 11 00:00:46,040 --> 00:00:50,920 Speaker 1: the situation descended into chaos, more than sev the passengers 12 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:55,440 Speaker 1: aboard the General Slocum died. It was the worst single 13 00:00:55,520 --> 00:01:00,080 Speaker 1: day disaster in New York until nine eleven. The ps 14 00:01:00,120 --> 00:01:03,840 Speaker 1: General Slocum was named after Henry Warner Slocum, who was 15 00:01:03,880 --> 00:01:06,440 Speaker 1: a general in the Union Army during the Civil War. 16 00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:10,679 Speaker 1: The ship was a wooden side wheel steamer. It was 17 00:01:10,720 --> 00:01:13,640 Speaker 1: built in eighteen ninety one and it was owned by 18 00:01:13,640 --> 00:01:18,000 Speaker 1: the Knickerbocker Steamboat Company. The vessel was able to carry 19 00:01:18,080 --> 00:01:22,240 Speaker 1: up to twenty undred passengers, though the General Slocum was 20 00:01:22,280 --> 00:01:25,000 Speaker 1: impressive when it was built. By nineteen o four, it 21 00:01:25,080 --> 00:01:29,000 Speaker 1: had decent wear and tear. Nevertheless, it had passed an 22 00:01:29,040 --> 00:01:32,200 Speaker 1: inspection in May of nineteen o four, and it was 23 00:01:32,240 --> 00:01:36,240 Speaker 1: still approved for travel. It operated as an excursion boat 24 00:01:36,240 --> 00:01:39,440 Speaker 1: from the spring to fall, making trips through the waterways 25 00:01:39,480 --> 00:01:42,840 Speaker 1: in New York. Some of those trips were ones that 26 00:01:42,920 --> 00:01:47,280 Speaker 1: people chartered for a fee. Every year, St. Mark's Evangelical 27 00:01:47,360 --> 00:01:51,160 Speaker 1: Lutheran Church hosted an end of the school year picnic celebration. 28 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:54,760 Speaker 1: In nineteen o four, the church planned a trip on 29 00:01:54,800 --> 00:01:58,680 Speaker 1: the General Slocum scheduled for June fifteenth, with a fee 30 00:01:58,720 --> 00:02:01,840 Speaker 1: of three hundred and fifty dollar ears. Though the exact 31 00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:03,880 Speaker 1: number of people who boarded the boat for the trip 32 00:02:03,960 --> 00:02:07,440 Speaker 1: is unclear, is estimated at about one thousand, three d 33 00:02:07,480 --> 00:02:12,040 Speaker 1: and fifty eight passengers that included mostly women and children. 34 00:02:12,440 --> 00:02:15,320 Speaker 1: As the day of the celebration was a Wednesday and 35 00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:18,799 Speaker 1: many men were at work. Most of the church members 36 00:02:18,800 --> 00:02:21,280 Speaker 1: who went on the trip were from Klein Deutschland or 37 00:02:21,480 --> 00:02:25,840 Speaker 1: Little Germany in the lower East side of Manhattan. The 38 00:02:25,919 --> 00:02:29,560 Speaker 1: captain was William H. Van Shike, the first pilot was 39 00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:32,840 Speaker 1: Edward van Wart, and the second pilot was Edwin Weaver. 40 00:02:33,760 --> 00:02:36,520 Speaker 1: Van Shaik was known as a good captain, but as 41 00:02:36,560 --> 00:02:39,360 Speaker 1: he was getting older and had been part of several accidents, 42 00:02:39,720 --> 00:02:43,680 Speaker 1: people had begun calling for his retirement. The cruise was 43 00:02:43,720 --> 00:02:46,320 Speaker 1: said to be two hours long, going down the East 44 00:02:46,480 --> 00:02:49,120 Speaker 1: River from the Third Street Recreation Pier to the north 45 00:02:49,200 --> 00:02:52,480 Speaker 1: shore of Long Island. There the passengers would head to 46 00:02:52,520 --> 00:02:56,560 Speaker 1: a picnic ground called Locust Grove. When the ship left 47 00:02:56,600 --> 00:02:59,840 Speaker 1: the dock the morning of June, everything was off to 48 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:03,040 Speaker 1: a good start. There was food, a bar in a band, 49 00:03:03,919 --> 00:03:06,840 Speaker 1: but not long after they left the dock a fire 50 00:03:06,919 --> 00:03:11,440 Speaker 1: started on board. How the fire started is unclear, but 51 00:03:11,560 --> 00:03:14,880 Speaker 1: there were a lot of flammable materials in the Ford compartment, 52 00:03:15,160 --> 00:03:18,600 Speaker 1: which was used as a storage room and a lamp room. 53 00:03:18,639 --> 00:03:21,120 Speaker 1: Because a crew member filled the lamps in that room, 54 00:03:21,400 --> 00:03:24,400 Speaker 1: the floor was covered in a layer of oil. The 55 00:03:24,440 --> 00:03:27,240 Speaker 1: porter who filled the lamps used a match at one 56 00:03:27,240 --> 00:03:30,240 Speaker 1: point in the room, and other people also used open 57 00:03:30,320 --> 00:03:33,840 Speaker 1: flames in there during the trip. Around the time the 58 00:03:33,880 --> 00:03:36,320 Speaker 1: General Slocum was getting to a part of the East 59 00:03:36,440 --> 00:03:39,480 Speaker 1: River called the Hell Gate, a boy alerted a crew 60 00:03:39,480 --> 00:03:42,840 Speaker 1: member to smoke coming from the Ford cabin, though the 61 00:03:42,880 --> 00:03:45,720 Speaker 1: crew member did not believe him at first. It soon 62 00:03:45,760 --> 00:03:48,240 Speaker 1: became apparent that a fire had started on the ship, 63 00:03:49,280 --> 00:03:51,720 Speaker 1: but a number of things went wrong as the crew 64 00:03:51,760 --> 00:03:56,440 Speaker 1: tried to extinguish the fire and passengers attempted to reach safety. 65 00:03:57,120 --> 00:04:00,160 Speaker 1: The standpipe on the ship was in working condition, but 66 00:04:00,200 --> 00:04:03,680 Speaker 1: the hoses were old and poorly constructed, and the water 67 00:04:03,760 --> 00:04:07,600 Speaker 1: hose the crew tried to use fell apart. When they 68 00:04:07,640 --> 00:04:11,400 Speaker 1: tried to use a newer rubber hose, that too failed, 69 00:04:11,600 --> 00:04:14,000 Speaker 1: but this time because they did not realize that the 70 00:04:14,040 --> 00:04:18,640 Speaker 1: coupling from the blown hose was still connected. Captain Van 71 00:04:18,720 --> 00:04:21,600 Speaker 1: Shaik decided to beach the boat, and he ended up 72 00:04:21,680 --> 00:04:25,600 Speaker 1: ordering the pilots to go to North Brother Island. As 73 00:04:25,640 --> 00:04:28,560 Speaker 1: the ship went full steam ahead against the wind, the 74 00:04:28,640 --> 00:04:33,400 Speaker 1: fire quickly spread towards the passengers. Though many people did 75 00:04:33,440 --> 00:04:36,440 Speaker 1: not use life preservers, a lot of the life preservers 76 00:04:36,440 --> 00:04:41,160 Speaker 1: available were old and rotting. Many people did not know 77 00:04:41,200 --> 00:04:43,960 Speaker 1: how to swim at this time, and as people tried 78 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:47,080 Speaker 1: to save themselves by jumping ship in their dressy clothes, 79 00:04:47,400 --> 00:04:51,599 Speaker 1: many died. Since the ship beached at an angle, people 80 00:04:51,800 --> 00:04:54,839 Speaker 1: ended up having to jump into deep, fast moving water. 81 00:04:55,560 --> 00:04:57,680 Speaker 1: On top of all of this, the crew was not 82 00:04:57,839 --> 00:05:01,400 Speaker 1: well trained in emergency situations, if at all, and the 83 00:05:01,440 --> 00:05:04,560 Speaker 1: ship itself was not up to the best fire safety standards. 84 00:05:05,520 --> 00:05:09,120 Speaker 1: Even though quarantine hospital staff on the island, people from 85 00:05:09,160 --> 00:05:13,159 Speaker 1: nearby boats, and two men incarcerated on Wreckers Island helped 86 00:05:13,240 --> 00:05:16,760 Speaker 1: rescue people, only about two d and twenty eight passengers 87 00:05:16,880 --> 00:05:20,760 Speaker 1: made it out of the disaster without being hurt. The 88 00:05:20,839 --> 00:05:26,240 Speaker 1: community was devastated and Little Germany changed significantly after the disaster. 89 00:05:27,520 --> 00:05:30,400 Speaker 1: Captain Van Shaik had not given orders of what to 90 00:05:30,480 --> 00:05:33,400 Speaker 1: do during the incident, and he, the pilots, and the 91 00:05:33,480 --> 00:05:37,520 Speaker 1: crew failed to complete the duties necessary during an emergency. 92 00:05:38,240 --> 00:05:41,880 Speaker 1: Van Shik was convicted of criminal negligence in nineteen oh six, 93 00:05:42,240 --> 00:05:44,680 Speaker 1: but he only did three and a half years in 94 00:05:44,760 --> 00:05:49,400 Speaker 1: prison and was later pardoned by US President Taft. The 95 00:05:49,480 --> 00:05:53,360 Speaker 1: victims families were not compensated, and it wasn't until many 96 00:05:53,440 --> 00:05:57,479 Speaker 1: years after the General Slocum disaster when the Knickerbocker Steamboat 97 00:05:57,480 --> 00:06:01,479 Speaker 1: Company shut down. The last living survivor of the incident, 98 00:06:01,839 --> 00:06:05,640 Speaker 1: A Dela Libano Watherspoon, died in two thousand and four. 99 00:06:07,200 --> 00:06:09,720 Speaker 1: I'm Eve jeffco and hopefully you know a little more 100 00:06:09,760 --> 00:06:14,040 Speaker 1: about history today than you did yesterday, and if you 101 00:06:14,200 --> 00:06:16,760 Speaker 1: like to follow us on social media, you can find 102 00:06:16,880 --> 00:06:22,720 Speaker 1: us at t d I h C Podcast on Twitter, Instagram, 103 00:06:22,720 --> 00:06:27,320 Speaker 1: and Facebook. And if you want to learn more about history, 104 00:06:27,800 --> 00:06:30,680 Speaker 1: you can listen to a show that I host called Unpopular. 105 00:06:31,440 --> 00:06:34,520 Speaker 1: Unpopular is about people in history who divide the conventions 106 00:06:34,560 --> 00:06:38,640 Speaker 1: of their time, rebelled, and we're sometimes persecuted for it. 107 00:06:39,680 --> 00:06:41,359 Speaker 1: If you want to hear the show, you can listen 108 00:06:41,400 --> 00:06:45,679 Speaker 1: anywhere you get this day in History class. Thanks again 109 00:06:45,720 --> 00:06:55,000 Speaker 1: for listening and we'll see you tomorrow. For more podcasts 110 00:06:55,000 --> 00:06:57,960 Speaker 1: from I Heeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 111 00:06:58,040 --> 00:06:59,719 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.