WEBVTT - Anchors Away 0:00:02.560 --> 0:00:06.520 You're listening to American Shadows, a production of iHeartRadio and 0:00:06.600 --> 0:00:19.120 Grim and Mild from Aaron Monkey. The Sultana was a 0:00:19.160 --> 0:00:23.440 beautiful steamboat, up hulking vessel of wood and paddle wheels. 0:00:24.160 --> 0:00:26.799 She was only about two years old, but roughly the 0:00:26.880 --> 0:00:30.920 size of a football field and featured twin smokestacks from 0:00:30.960 --> 0:00:34.240 which hung a pair of elk antlers. They were given 0:00:34.280 --> 0:00:37.400 to her as a trophy for being the fastest boat around. 0:00:38.000 --> 0:00:41.480 She was also a workhorse. The Sultana was originally built 0:00:41.520 --> 0:00:44.440 to fairy cotton, but when the Civil War broke out, 0:00:44.520 --> 0:00:48.239 she got a new assignment. She became tasked with ferrying 0:00:48.320 --> 0:00:51.640 Union troops and supplies up and down the Mississippi River. 0:00:52.640 --> 0:00:57.000 In time, she'd begin carrying that cotton again alongside passengers 0:00:57.040 --> 0:00:59.800 from New Orleans to her home in Saint Louis, Missouri. 0:01:00.400 --> 0:01:03.120 Her captain, a man by the name of James Mason, 0:01:03.560 --> 0:01:06.200 was proud of her contributions to the war efforts and 0:01:06.319 --> 0:01:09.480 how well she continued to provide an integral lifeline to 0:01:09.520 --> 0:01:12.600 communities up and down the river. And when he got 0:01:12.640 --> 0:01:15.880 word of Abraham Lincoln's death, he decided that he was 0:01:15.959 --> 0:01:18.559 going to once again put her speed to the test. 0:01:19.160 --> 0:01:21.479 He wanted to be the first boat in New Orleans 0:01:21.640 --> 0:01:25.400 to break the news of the President's assassination. So off 0:01:25.440 --> 0:01:29.440 they went, a captain and his ship sailing downstream bearing 0:01:29.560 --> 0:01:33.680 bad news. A quick stop in Vicksburg, Mississippi was meant 0:01:33.680 --> 0:01:37.040 to address the Sultanah's boiler issues, which seemed to be 0:01:37.080 --> 0:01:40.760 exacerbated under the quick pace of her run. While he 0:01:40.840 --> 0:01:44.960 was there, Captain Mason received a lucrative offer. The Union 0:01:45.080 --> 0:01:47.720 Army wanted him and his ship to ferry home. Their 0:01:47.720 --> 0:01:51.960 prisoners of war are recently released from Confederate hands, and 0:01:52.120 --> 0:01:55.560 they would pay him well. He opted into the deal 0:01:55.920 --> 0:01:59.000 and decided he had better get moving. A decision was 0:01:59.080 --> 0:02:02.720 made too simply patched the boilers, rather than spending time 0:02:02.760 --> 0:02:07.680 in port executing more meticulous and costly repairs. The Sultana 0:02:07.840 --> 0:02:11.000 was steadfast. What hurt could come from one quick run, 0:02:12.200 --> 0:02:15.720 So Captain Mason loaded the Sultana, stuffing her holds and 0:02:15.840 --> 0:02:19.600 decks with about twenty two hundred men, more than sixteen 0:02:19.680 --> 0:02:22.680 hundred over her capacity. Each man had a price on 0:02:22.720 --> 0:02:25.400 his head, and the money math made it hard for 0:02:25.480 --> 0:02:27.640 him to see that he had made a very fatal 0:02:27.800 --> 0:02:32.600 miscalculation with his newly sprung charges on board, men who 0:02:32.680 --> 0:02:35.959 had seen horrors the young country had never before witnessed, 0:02:35.960 --> 0:02:39.680 and lived through it all. The Sultana set off northbound 0:02:39.880 --> 0:02:44.200 into the cold spring thaw. The ship creaked, the wheels 0:02:44.280 --> 0:02:50.000 churned laboriously, the boiler strained, and the men slept, and 0:02:50.320 --> 0:02:53.360 at just about two in the morning, she gave way. 0:02:53.760 --> 0:02:55.920 Unable to take what was being asked of her, the 0:02:56.000 --> 0:03:00.760 Sultanah's first boiler gave out and exploded. This set off 0:03:00.760 --> 0:03:03.680 a chain reaction and caused her other two boilers to 0:03:03.720 --> 0:03:07.640 go off like bombs, incinerating the sleeping people in her hold. 0:03:08.200 --> 0:03:12.040 Her shrapnel flew in all directions, and boiling water from 0:03:12.040 --> 0:03:16.280 her belly effectively cooked men to death. Those who managed 0:03:16.280 --> 0:03:20.160 to survive began to swim. They clawed their way through 0:03:20.200 --> 0:03:24.519 the cold, shopping waves, aiming for shore. They pulled themselves 0:03:24.560 --> 0:03:27.160 up on the river's banks, having landed in the former 0:03:27.160 --> 0:03:32.600 Confederate territory of Arkansas. For men still wearing their Union uniforms, 0:03:32.639 --> 0:03:36.200 this could have been a second fright, but instead they 0:03:36.280 --> 0:03:40.600 found something entirely different, a sense of unity and humanity 0:03:40.960 --> 0:03:43.920 they hadn't seen in all their time. Away for war. 0:03:44.640 --> 0:03:47.480 The locals headed for the explosion and ran into the water, 0:03:48.200 --> 0:03:51.400 and there they began to fish out the Union soldiers, 0:03:51.600 --> 0:03:55.560 bringing them safety. Some quickly built a raft to begin 0:03:55.640 --> 0:03:59.000 rescuing men stranded in the remainder of the Sultana's slowly 0:03:59.040 --> 0:04:02.960 sinking wreckage. They brought them into their homes and tended 0:04:03.000 --> 0:04:07.000 to the wounded and dying. All in all, historians believe 0:04:07.160 --> 0:04:10.320 almost twelve hundred of the twenty two hundred men aboard 0:04:10.360 --> 0:04:13.360 the ship died. To this day, it remains among the 0:04:13.400 --> 0:04:17.800 deadliest maritime disasters in the United States history. These soldiers 0:04:17.920 --> 0:04:20.800 had come so far and were so close to home 0:04:21.800 --> 0:04:25.120 after surviving the war. What should have been as celebration 0:04:25.320 --> 0:04:30.000 a homecoming, ended not in another chance at life, but 0:04:30.080 --> 0:04:35.839 in their funerals. I'm lorn Vogebaum. Welcome to American shadows. 0:04:46.320 --> 0:04:49.080 From the Lenape to the Dutch, to the British, and 0:04:49.400 --> 0:04:52.839 then to the Americans. The spit of land now known 0:04:52.839 --> 0:04:56.200 as New York City had long been a hub of trade, culture, 0:04:56.400 --> 0:05:01.159 and immigration. Indigenous peoples and colonists like depended on the 0:05:01.160 --> 0:05:06.160 area's waterways for fishing, trade, and communication. Traditional birch bark 0:05:06.240 --> 0:05:10.200 canoes and other. Smaller vessels were long popular for navigating 0:05:10.240 --> 0:05:14.080 New York's lakes and rivers, while larger boats were necessary 0:05:14.120 --> 0:05:18.320 to venture out into the wide open Atlantic. But as 0:05:18.360 --> 0:05:21.920 the country was colonized, the ports became even more central 0:05:22.000 --> 0:05:25.919 to commerce and immigration. By the turn of the nineteenth century, 0:05:26.360 --> 0:05:29.200 hundreds of boats and thousands of people docked in New 0:05:29.279 --> 0:05:33.120 York City daily, many of them chasing after stories about 0:05:33.160 --> 0:05:37.599 a certain American dream. For the hopeful folks who survived 0:05:37.640 --> 0:05:40.599 the long trip from Europe, and many were left figuring 0:05:40.600 --> 0:05:44.360 out their next steps. And many came young and unattached, 0:05:44.760 --> 0:05:47.680 hopeful that someone they knew in this new land might 0:05:47.800 --> 0:05:50.600 make good on the promise of helping them get started. 0:05:51.440 --> 0:05:55.920 Some had no one. Others arrived too, well established communities 0:05:56.000 --> 0:05:59.320 but waiting for them with open arms, and if they 0:05:59.320 --> 0:06:02.840 were lucky enough, these seaweary passengers didn't have to go 0:06:02.920 --> 0:06:05.640 far from the boat dock. In the case of those 0:06:05.680 --> 0:06:09.360 immigrating from Germany, many found themselves a new home in 0:06:09.520 --> 0:06:13.279 Klinedeutschland or Little Germany, in the area that's now known 0:06:13.320 --> 0:06:17.480 as the Lower East Side. By eighteen fifty five, New 0:06:17.560 --> 0:06:20.839 York City had the third largest German population in any 0:06:20.839 --> 0:06:25.520 city worldwide, surpassed only by Berlin in Vienna. Their little 0:06:25.560 --> 0:06:28.000 corner of the city burst with the vibrancy of the 0:06:28.000 --> 0:06:32.000 old country, the sense of home cooking and comforting dialects 0:06:32.160 --> 0:06:36.279 mingling with the unfamiliar sounds and smells of Manhattan's southern point. 0:06:37.080 --> 0:06:39.840 It's here that they worked to establish a new rhythm 0:06:40.000 --> 0:06:42.880 of a new life, borrowing enough of the old ways 0:06:42.920 --> 0:06:46.520 to feel brave enough to be in this unfamiliar place. 0:06:47.560 --> 0:06:50.360 A One of the central ways folks found recipite from 0:06:50.360 --> 0:06:53.960 the streets, which were decidedly not paved with gold as promised, 0:06:54.520 --> 0:06:58.760 was to join church communities. A Saint Mark's Evangelical Lutheran 0:06:58.839 --> 0:07:02.560 Church in the heart of Blindeutschland was one of these places. 0:07:03.320 --> 0:07:05.640 For decades, the church had been the center of the 0:07:05.760 --> 0:07:11.080 Little Germany community. Beyond providing prayers and absolution for its parishioners, 0:07:11.480 --> 0:07:15.280 it also provided camaraderie in play. And it was on 0:07:15.400 --> 0:07:18.160 June fifteenth of nineteen oh four, but the church had 0:07:18.200 --> 0:07:22.080 made plans for a long summer day's outing. That morning, 0:07:22.280 --> 0:07:25.080 a crowd of mostly women and children were seen off 0:07:25.080 --> 0:07:27.960 by their husbands, who were largely on their way to work. 0:07:29.160 --> 0:07:32.720 The general Slocum, a paddle steamer, sat and docked and 0:07:32.800 --> 0:07:35.480 ready to ferry folks away for a day of leisure. 0:07:36.200 --> 0:07:39.080 It was a treat to have an entire day to themselves, 0:07:39.680 --> 0:07:42.200 and since it was just about the beginning of summer, 0:07:42.600 --> 0:07:45.480 the days were still growing just a bit longer, if 0:07:45.520 --> 0:07:48.520 only for a little while. The school year had come 0:07:48.560 --> 0:07:53.480 to an end. It was a hopeful season. That sunny morning, 0:07:53.680 --> 0:07:57.080 over thirteen hundred members of the Saint Mark's community showed up. 0:07:57.800 --> 0:08:00.960 The children were dressed in their finest clothes, shouting and 0:08:01.080 --> 0:08:05.000 giggling as their mothers corralled them on the docks. Music 0:08:05.080 --> 0:08:07.680 from a German band added to the sense of celebration, 0:08:08.000 --> 0:08:12.040 while tiny German flags waved in small hands. As more 0:08:12.080 --> 0:08:16.040 families gathered, lugging their baskets of meats and sweets, it 0:08:16.160 --> 0:08:18.440 became clear that this was going to be a church 0:08:18.520 --> 0:08:21.920 picnic for the ages. They looked upon their boat, and 0:08:22.200 --> 0:08:26.000 she was a beautiful thing. The Slocum, to her credit, 0:08:26.280 --> 0:08:29.240 was said to be the largest and most splendid excursion 0:08:29.240 --> 0:08:32.319 steamer in the whole state. She was a wooden triple 0:08:32.360 --> 0:08:36.120 decker side paddler with a main cabin filled with glossed 0:08:36.120 --> 0:08:40.000 wood and red velvet trimmings. Her name was emblazoned in 0:08:40.080 --> 0:08:43.440 gold over her white paint. There was an immense sense 0:08:43.480 --> 0:08:46.160 of anticipation in getting a chance to take to the 0:08:46.200 --> 0:08:50.480 waters on one of these famous pleasure crafts. Just before 0:08:50.520 --> 0:08:53.400 the clock struck ten am, the Slocum rang her bell 0:08:53.559 --> 0:08:56.360 and began to pull away from the dock. They were 0:08:56.440 --> 0:08:59.000 going north up the East River and heading for a 0:08:59.000 --> 0:09:02.200 picnic ground on the north shore of Long Island. On 0:09:02.240 --> 0:09:05.240 a good day, which this one very much was. The 0:09:05.280 --> 0:09:09.040 trip should take no longer than two hours. The passengers 0:09:09.120 --> 0:09:12.360 leaned over the railings, waving to those who remained on shore. 0:09:13.080 --> 0:09:15.960 They laughed as their loved ones and dock workers alike 0:09:16.040 --> 0:09:19.480 became specks in the distance, anticipating what lay ahead for 0:09:19.520 --> 0:09:35.280 them up river. The Slocum was named after Henry Warner Slocum, 0:09:35.320 --> 0:09:38.480 a distinguished union general, and had been in operation for 0:09:38.720 --> 0:09:43.240 thirteen years. However, a series of mishaps in the years 0:09:43.240 --> 0:09:46.719 since her commission might have given her passengers pause had 0:09:46.760 --> 0:09:49.800 they known about them, and just four months after her 0:09:49.840 --> 0:09:53.560 initial launch in eighteen ninety one, she ran aground. She 0:09:53.679 --> 0:09:56.640 was okay, but three years later did the same thing. 0:09:57.360 --> 0:10:01.000 This time with thousands of passengers on board, and just 0:10:01.080 --> 0:10:03.800 a month after that, a terrible storm ran she and 0:10:03.840 --> 0:10:08.079 her passengers aground again near Coney Island, and then later 0:10:08.080 --> 0:10:11.719 that year she collided with another ship in eighteen ninety eight, 0:10:11.760 --> 0:10:14.680 should have another collision in nineteen o two, she would 0:10:14.760 --> 0:10:18.160 run aground one more time, stranding her hundreds of passengers 0:10:18.160 --> 0:10:22.200 overnight until help could come in the morning. How was it, then, 0:10:22.520 --> 0:10:25.640 given this track record, that the Slocum was the prize 0:10:25.679 --> 0:10:29.720 ship in the Harbor oh During this time, boat accidents 0:10:29.760 --> 0:10:33.760 were relatively common, and since so few had been hurt 0:10:33.840 --> 0:10:37.160 in her incidents over the years, she continued to paddle on. 0:10:38.120 --> 0:10:41.280 This was all part and parcel of the paddle boat experience, 0:10:41.720 --> 0:10:46.120 or so Rider's thought. Her captain, William Van Shake, was 0:10:46.160 --> 0:10:49.800 an experienced mariner who knew the New York waterways well. 0:10:50.520 --> 0:10:53.840 Of note on this sunny June morning was an infamously 0:10:53.920 --> 0:10:56.920 turbulent spot in the river known as the hell Gate. 0:10:57.240 --> 0:11:00.080 It had sunk hundreds of ships over the years, but 0:11:00.120 --> 0:11:03.120 he knew he had the dexterity and wherewithal to ferry 0:11:03.160 --> 0:11:07.520 his passengers through safely. But as he would soon realize, 0:11:07.920 --> 0:11:11.280 this wouldn't be his chief concern of the day. To 0:11:11.400 --> 0:11:14.760 his horror, any concern about the hell gate was about 0:11:14.800 --> 0:11:18.959 to be overshadowed by something far more sinister. About thirty 0:11:19.000 --> 0:11:22.720 minutes into their voyage, the first guests noticed that something 0:11:23.040 --> 0:11:26.720 was terribly wrong. A group of children alerted their parents 0:11:27.040 --> 0:11:29.280 that a small fire had started in a room just 0:11:29.400 --> 0:11:32.960 below the main deck. A crewman, trying to think, quickly 0:11:33.360 --> 0:11:35.200 decided that the best way to put it out would 0:11:35.200 --> 0:11:38.400 be to both stomp it and throw handfuls of charcoal 0:11:38.480 --> 0:11:43.200 atop the fire to smother it. This, of course, only 0:11:43.240 --> 0:11:48.400 fed the flames. Then a scream, and soon a word 0:11:48.480 --> 0:11:51.800 was spreading even faster than the flames, and a general 0:11:51.840 --> 0:11:56.559 panic erupted across the decks. The crew on board relatively 0:11:56.640 --> 0:11:59.120 untrained on what to do in the event of a fire. 0:12:01.520 --> 0:12:04.319 The smoke began to billow near the bow of the boat. 0:12:05.000 --> 0:12:08.120 The passengers rushed to the lifeboats and jackets, only to 0:12:08.120 --> 0:12:11.600 find that they couldn't be untied. The jackets were old 0:12:11.720 --> 0:12:16.559 and moldering, their job function long expired. Amidst the yells 0:12:16.559 --> 0:12:20.199 and footsteps stampeding around the decks, families called for their 0:12:20.240 --> 0:12:24.760 loved ones, so began a brutal accounting for as they 0:12:24.880 --> 0:12:28.200 gathered their flocks in preparation for what was yet to come. 0:12:29.160 --> 0:12:32.400 The ship was barely passing East ninety seventh Street when 0:12:32.520 --> 0:12:36.840 folks on shore spotted the flames, and then the passengers 0:12:36.840 --> 0:12:40.839 started tumbling. The people on land watched in horror as 0:12:40.880 --> 0:12:45.120 passengers began jumping overboard, and due to the heavy clothes 0:12:45.160 --> 0:12:48.079 of the day and many of them lacking swimming experience, 0:12:48.480 --> 0:12:51.760 they were bobbing, screaming, and grappling in the current that 0:12:52.000 --> 0:12:55.760 was working hard to pull them under and away. People 0:12:55.800 --> 0:12:58.480 at the docks began screaming to the captain, begging him 0:12:58.520 --> 0:13:01.120 to turn the boat inward and head to shore. The 0:13:01.200 --> 0:13:04.120 distance was short enough that he possibly could have made it. 0:13:05.000 --> 0:13:08.600 Captain von Shake made a different decision, though, to take 0:13:08.640 --> 0:13:11.640 his chances and gun the Slocum further up the river. 0:13:12.480 --> 0:13:15.400 He feared that turning her quickly at an angle perpendicular 0:13:15.440 --> 0:13:18.880 to the current would break her steering mechanism. He set 0:13:18.880 --> 0:13:20.880 his sights on the docks at East one hundred and 0:13:20.920 --> 0:13:24.560 thirty fourth Street, but before he could get the Slocum there, 0:13:24.720 --> 0:13:27.720 he was waved off by a tugboat captain, who feared 0:13:27.720 --> 0:13:31.439 that the flames would endanger the shipyard, so Captain von 0:13:31.559 --> 0:13:35.079 Shake continued on for another mile, hoping to ground the 0:13:35.120 --> 0:13:40.640 ship on North Brother Island. This calculation ultimately fed the flames. 0:13:41.400 --> 0:13:45.040 Because fire needs oxygen, the ship's speed and the day's 0:13:45.080 --> 0:13:49.200 wind only encouraged the blaze, which was quickly turning the 0:13:49.200 --> 0:13:54.120 paddle boat into a floating inferno. Mothers tossed their children 0:13:54.160 --> 0:13:57.199 into the waves and followed in after them. Some held 0:13:57.200 --> 0:14:00.440 each other on their way down. The remaining passenger huddled 0:14:00.440 --> 0:14:03.199 together in the hopes that they could safely reach land 0:14:03.240 --> 0:14:06.439 if they held out long enough. In time, the middle 0:14:06.480 --> 0:14:10.360 deck collapsed, plunging everyone gathered there down into the fire. 0:14:11.400 --> 0:14:14.400 It said that in all of this a woman gave birth. 0:14:15.160 --> 0:14:18.160 Wanting to save herself and her newborn baby, she pitched 0:14:18.160 --> 0:14:21.880 herself and the infant into the churning waters below, never 0:14:22.000 --> 0:14:32.200 to surface alive. The doctors and patients of North Brother 0:14:32.280 --> 0:14:35.400 Island expected their day to come and go with the 0:14:35.440 --> 0:14:38.760 same sense of isolation as any other. It was a 0:14:38.800 --> 0:14:42.200 place where the sick were sent to quarantine, stashed away 0:14:42.240 --> 0:14:45.800 from the general populace of New York City. You can 0:14:45.840 --> 0:14:49.320 imagine their surprise then, when they found themselves with an 0:14:49.400 --> 0:14:53.800 unexpected visitor. Captain Van Shak had grounded the burning slocum 0:14:53.920 --> 0:14:57.680 twenty five feet from shore. Nurses ran to intercept the 0:14:57.720 --> 0:15:01.520 boat and her passengers. They dove the waves, pulling whoever 0:15:01.600 --> 0:15:05.560 languished there to safety, but they couldn't board the slocum herself, 0:15:05.600 --> 0:15:09.840 for the heat was blistering and unbearable. A Mary McCann, 0:15:10.160 --> 0:15:13.040 a seventeen year old Irish immigrant, was recovering at the 0:15:13.080 --> 0:15:15.960 hospital and just shy of receiving her clean bill of 0:15:16.000 --> 0:15:19.920 health like everyone else on the island. She responded to 0:15:19.960 --> 0:15:23.160 the emergency whistle and found herself running towards the fire. 0:15:23.800 --> 0:15:26.200 She threw off her shawl and braced herself for the 0:15:26.200 --> 0:15:29.200 cold water. She was able to pull a baby from 0:15:29.240 --> 0:15:34.320 the waves and six more children before collapsing herself. The 0:15:34.360 --> 0:15:38.280 tugboats followed in the Slocum's wake, pulling survivors and dead 0:15:38.320 --> 0:15:42.120 alike from the waters. The beach was soon strewn over 0:15:42.160 --> 0:15:46.160 a hundred and fifty bodies laid out peacefully side by side. 0:15:46.840 --> 0:15:51.400 The rescuers watched as the slocum finally fully submerged around noon, 0:15:52.120 --> 0:15:56.640 only two hours since its journey had begun. Bodies washed ashore. 0:15:56.680 --> 0:15:59.920 For days following the disaster, they appeared down the lank 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:03.520 of the river, accounting for some of the one thousand 0:16:03.560 --> 0:16:06.800 and twenty one lives that were lost in the slocan's wake. 0:16:08.040 --> 0:16:11.680 The city watched in horror as thousands of people rushed 0:16:11.680 --> 0:16:14.920 to the east twenty third Street Pier, which was deputized 0:16:14.960 --> 0:16:19.240 as a temporary more open coffins, left the bodies on 0:16:19.320 --> 0:16:23.960 full display. Some of those who had died were readily identifiable, 0:16:24.720 --> 0:16:31.800 some were completely bloated, some charred beyond recognition. Men left factories, shops, 0:16:31.800 --> 0:16:35.840 and docks in droves to find out if their mothers, sisters, 0:16:35.880 --> 0:16:40.160 wives and children had survived. Those who couldn't be identified 0:16:40.240 --> 0:16:44.160 were buried together in a mass grave. In the days 0:16:44.200 --> 0:16:48.120 after the disaster, Klein Deutschland was a veritable ghost town, 0:16:48.680 --> 0:16:52.320 save for the constant parade of funeral carriages and processions. 0:16:53.160 --> 0:16:57.240 It said that the church bells rang almost constantly. Over 0:16:57.320 --> 0:17:02.040 six hundred families lost at least one person. For other survivors, 0:17:02.080 --> 0:17:06.240 their entire families were gone. I say survivors, but for 0:17:06.320 --> 0:17:09.600 those who were left behind, there was so little life left. 0:17:10.600 --> 0:17:13.520 The rest of the city was in an uproar. Everyone 0:17:13.600 --> 0:17:16.320 wanted to know how this happened and who to blame. 0:17:16.960 --> 0:17:20.199 There were two targets to aim their vitriol at the 0:17:20.320 --> 0:17:24.240 Knickerbocker Company, the outfit that owned the ship, and Captain 0:17:24.359 --> 0:17:28.280 Von Shaik, who was left physically disabled and blind from 0:17:28.280 --> 0:17:31.720 the tragedy, having barely escaped. It was said that he 0:17:31.880 --> 0:17:36.160 was the last person to abandon ship. A formal coroner's 0:17:36.200 --> 0:17:39.760 inquest began on June twentieth of nineteen oh four and 0:17:39.840 --> 0:17:44.760 featured eight days of testimony from surviving passengers, crew members, rescuers, 0:17:44.800 --> 0:17:48.720 and the captain. And while it's true that Van Shaik 0:17:48.920 --> 0:17:52.480 was responsible for piloting the ship, it was the Knickerbocker 0:17:52.520 --> 0:17:56.440 Company that was responsible for its upkeep and repairs. They 0:17:56.480 --> 0:17:59.720 were quick to point fingers back at the captain, smitting 0:17:59.760 --> 0:18:04.080 so very suspicious looking repair receipts to the court. Rumors 0:18:04.119 --> 0:18:07.800 of corruption and bribery in the ranks swirled, feeding the 0:18:07.840 --> 0:18:12.320 public's frenzy and outcry for justice, and Captain Von Shake 0:18:12.440 --> 0:18:16.200 and the company were both found guilty of manslaughter, but 0:18:16.280 --> 0:18:20.159 only Von Shak was brought to trial. It took seventeen 0:18:20.240 --> 0:18:23.800 days and Von Shake was found guilty once again. He 0:18:23.840 --> 0:18:26.120 went on to serve three years of his ten year 0:18:26.160 --> 0:18:31.080 sentence and was later pardoned by President William Taft. Meanwhile, 0:18:31.280 --> 0:18:36.400 the steamboat industry drastically overhauled the necessary safety and inspection regulations. 0:18:37.480 --> 0:18:41.080 There would be no happy ending for Klein Deutschland. The 0:18:41.119 --> 0:18:45.800 community never recovered. It saw a mass exodus and a 0:18:45.960 --> 0:18:49.800 spade of suicides in those who remained. Two years later, 0:18:50.080 --> 0:18:54.080 a small child stood in Tompkins Square Park, surrounded by 0:18:54.080 --> 0:18:57.679 her remaining friends and family. She had been aboard the 0:18:57.680 --> 0:19:01.200 boat that summer's day and has chosen as the person 0:19:01.320 --> 0:19:05.280 to tug the draping off the new General Slocum Memorial Fountain. 0:19:06.280 --> 0:19:09.280 It was a small gesture that sought to recognize an 0:19:09.320 --> 0:19:13.960 incalculable tragedy. The fabric of the Kleindutchland community had burned 0:19:14.080 --> 0:19:18.000 up in the fire, and perhaps this child couldn't remember it, 0:19:18.280 --> 0:19:20.760 but she would go on to hear stories of that 0:19:20.880 --> 0:19:24.639 fateful day. There was no way to reconcile what had 0:19:24.680 --> 0:19:27.800 happened to her family and friends, but there was hope 0:19:28.080 --> 0:19:31.040 that she would be able to carry on without many 0:19:31.080 --> 0:19:40.240 of them. After all, she had no other choice. New 0:19:40.320 --> 0:19:44.480 York City continued to be haunted by the General Slocum, 0:19:44.520 --> 0:19:47.400 not just because of what had happened, but because of 0:19:47.400 --> 0:19:51.479 what still floated in their harbor. There floated the General 0:19:51.480 --> 0:19:55.720 Slocum sister ship, the Grand Republic, which was nearly identical. 0:19:56.440 --> 0:19:59.520 It was very common to have a fleet of identical ships, 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:03.840 and the Knickerbocker Company did just that. You can imagine 0:20:03.840 --> 0:20:06.879 the jolt New Yorkers felt when they saw her placidly 0:20:06.920 --> 0:20:11.000 paddling along, a striking reminder of what and who was 0:20:11.000 --> 0:20:15.360 still lost beneath the waters. The Grand Republic was intensely 0:20:15.400 --> 0:20:19.000 scrutinized in the wake of the disaster, and even still 0:20:19.080 --> 0:20:22.800 the boat operated as planned, or at least tried to. 0:20:23.880 --> 0:20:26.600 It said that a week after the Slocum sank, only 0:20:26.640 --> 0:20:29.280 a fourth that the Grand Republic's passengers showed up to 0:20:29.280 --> 0:20:32.879 make good on their weekend plans. It was yet another 0:20:33.000 --> 0:20:37.479 church outing. Wanting to cut their losses, the Knickerbocker Company 0:20:37.560 --> 0:20:41.000 decided to sell the Grand Republic, and just four days 0:20:41.040 --> 0:20:44.240 after the sale, the boat crashed into another off the 0:20:44.240 --> 0:20:48.080 coast of Coney Island. Five hundred passengers were aboard the ship, 0:20:48.400 --> 0:20:51.800 and while there were no fatalities, they were dismayed to 0:20:51.880 --> 0:20:57.080 find similarly rotting life preservers. Eventually the boat was surrendered 0:20:57.080 --> 0:21:01.200 for government inspection. Her capacity was lower, and her owners 0:21:01.240 --> 0:21:05.040 began losing even more money. More of accidents would follow, 0:21:05.200 --> 0:21:09.720 though thankfully none resulted in death. Even still, it seemed 0:21:09.760 --> 0:21:13.240 that riding the paddle boats was a risky business, though 0:21:13.280 --> 0:21:16.359 one that passengers still deemed necessary for their day to 0:21:16.440 --> 0:21:22.119 day lives. After several years of largely quiet and uninterrupted service, 0:21:22.560 --> 0:21:25.720 the Grand Republic went down the same way her sistership had. 0:21:26.240 --> 0:21:30.280 She was taken by fire. On April twenty sixth of 0:21:30.359 --> 0:21:33.320 nineteen twenty four. A fire broke out late into the 0:21:33.440 --> 0:21:36.760 night while she was docked. Thirty men were asleep on board, 0:21:36.840 --> 0:21:40.480 but all awoke in time to flee. She sank into 0:21:40.520 --> 0:21:44.040 the Hudson River that night, and despite the association with 0:21:44.080 --> 0:21:47.520 the General Slocum and the accidents, she went to her 0:21:47.560 --> 0:21:51.919 own watery grave with some dignity still intact. The New 0:21:52.000 --> 0:21:56.320 York Times stated, certainly the Grand Republic was a grand 0:21:56.359 --> 0:22:01.760 success as an excursion boat. There's more to this story. 0:22:02.320 --> 0:22:04.959 Stick around after this brief sponsor break to hear all 0:22:05.000 --> 0:22:16.120 about it. On September eleventh of two thousand one, all 0:22:16.160 --> 0:22:19.280 of New York City shut down in the city. That day, 0:22:19.520 --> 0:22:24.320 two planes creened across the skies and into infamy. Lives ended, 0:22:24.560 --> 0:22:28.480 and the world changed. For those on the ground that day, 0:22:28.760 --> 0:22:31.159 there was no way to get into the city, and 0:22:31.200 --> 0:22:34.399 there were very few ways out. The subway stopped, the 0:22:34.480 --> 0:22:40.159 bridges closed, but the water was open. Gregg Freydis was 0:22:40.200 --> 0:22:42.960 a charterboat captain in New York for the summer, and 0:22:43.240 --> 0:22:46.280 on that blue Bird morning, after a very late night, 0:22:46.600 --> 0:22:49.600 he ambled over to his local coffee shop. As he 0:22:49.640 --> 0:22:52.320 strolled in, he took a look at the television and 0:22:52.480 --> 0:22:56.320 saw that he had missed something extraordinary. On the news 0:22:56.400 --> 0:22:59.119 was a replay of a plane crashing into the World 0:22:59.119 --> 0:23:03.520 Trade Center. Like many people that day, he stood stunned. 0:23:03.840 --> 0:23:06.320 But what was he seeing? How could this be happening? 0:23:06.560 --> 0:23:10.960 Surely an accident, of course, that's what many thought until 0:23:11.000 --> 0:23:14.159 the second plane hit. We know how this story goes. 0:23:15.359 --> 0:23:19.400 But then Gregg, like many New Yorkers that day, did 0:23:19.520 --> 0:23:23.720 what he had to do. He jumped into action. He 0:23:23.800 --> 0:23:26.479 didn't know exactly what was needed from him, but he 0:23:26.640 --> 0:23:29.560 was going to do what he knew how he headed 0:23:29.560 --> 0:23:32.080 back to his boat yard. He was one of the 0:23:32.080 --> 0:23:35.080 many boat captains who appeared that morning, and armed with 0:23:35.200 --> 0:23:38.440 a fierce loyalty for their home and a lot of gumption. 0:23:39.040 --> 0:23:41.360 In what seemed like no time at all, they were 0:23:41.359 --> 0:23:43.960 met by thousands of people who had migrated to the 0:23:43.960 --> 0:23:47.920 water line trying to flee Lower Manhattans smoke and smolder, 0:23:48.760 --> 0:23:52.360 and some were old, some were young, some were bleeding. 0:23:52.760 --> 0:23:56.120 Some held their pets and the ash rained down. They 0:23:56.160 --> 0:23:59.720 stood shoulder to shoulder on the shore line they wanted off. 0:24:00.600 --> 0:24:04.119 The boatmen had the benefit of having keeys and knowing 0:24:04.160 --> 0:24:07.560 how to drive. By mid morning, the Coast Guard made 0:24:07.560 --> 0:24:10.720 the official call. They asked that all boats and all 0:24:10.800 --> 0:24:15.280 captains available helped with an immediate evacuation effort, and soon 0:24:15.640 --> 0:24:19.040 a veritable army of a hundred and thirty watercraft appeared 0:24:19.080 --> 0:24:22.960 on the horizon of Lower Manhattan ready to help. There 0:24:22.960 --> 0:24:27.200 were troops of ferries and tugboats, fishing boats and multimillion 0:24:27.280 --> 0:24:31.560 dollar pleasure yachts and sightseeing ships and emergency service vehicles. 0:24:32.400 --> 0:24:35.600 The Staten Island Ferry alone took more than fifty thousand 0:24:35.640 --> 0:24:39.600 people across the river. They docked two waiting ambulances from 0:24:39.680 --> 0:24:43.840 Ellice Island to Brooklyn to New Jersey, letting folks disembark 0:24:44.080 --> 0:24:47.240 while loading up on supplies to bring back to emergency 0:24:47.240 --> 0:24:50.359 efforts in Manhattan. At one point, among an order for 0:24:50.440 --> 0:24:53.760 water bottles, boxygen, and food, there was a request for 0:24:53.880 --> 0:24:58.280 twenty thousand body bags. On that day and in the 0:24:58.280 --> 0:25:02.680 ones that followed, and his compatriots pulled off the largest 0:25:02.720 --> 0:25:07.360 water evacuation in history. It's since been dubbed the nine 0:25:07.359 --> 0:25:11.560 to eleven boat Lift. That day, nearly half a million 0:25:11.640 --> 0:25:15.480 people were ferried to safety. What was also remarkable about 0:25:15.480 --> 0:25:18.880 the effort, which was nothing short of heroic, is that 0:25:19.000 --> 0:25:21.800 not only did they do this without a plan, they 0:25:21.800 --> 0:25:25.840 did it amidst utter and complete chaos. It was their 0:25:25.960 --> 0:25:30.440 gift to the city, this herculean effort that's sometimes been 0:25:30.560 --> 0:25:33.040 overlooked in the telling of the nine to eleven story. 0:25:34.119 --> 0:25:37.680 But without a doubt, those who remember pulling away from 0:25:37.720 --> 0:25:41.000 the shoreline that day, knowing that their lives would never 0:25:41.040 --> 0:25:44.800 be the same, they were thankful to those boat captains 0:25:45.240 --> 0:25:55.680 and the waters that ferried them to safety. American Shadows 0:25:55.720 --> 0:25:59.080 as hosted by Lauren Vogelbaum. This episode was written by 0:25:59.160 --> 0:26:03.080 Robin Miniter, researched by Ali Steed, and produced by Miranda 0:26:03.160 --> 0:26:07.920 Hawkins and Trevor Young, with executive producers Aaron Manky, Alex Williams, 0:26:07.960 --> 0:26:10.960 and Matt Frederick. To learn more about the show, visit 0:26:11.000 --> 0:26:15.399 grimmanmile dot com. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the 0:26:15.440 --> 0:26:19.760