EVENTS

Before 9/11, the General Slocum fire in New York Harbor was the most tragic event in New York's history.

Several thousand people, mostly women and children, boarded the General Slocum Steamer in the lower East Side bound for a church picnic one fine June day in 1904.

The dimensions of the tragedy unfolded on the Long Island City waterfront along the East River.

As the boat glided by Hunters Point, the band was playing and the crowds were singing and laughing.

Suddenly, a small fire in a hold roared into an inferno.

By the time the boat churned past the Hell Gate, screaming clawing figures on the burning wreck were leaping into a watery grave.

Ultimately, the battered flaming hulk of the steamer was rammed onto the beach at North Brother Island between the Bronx and Queens. By then, most on board were dead: burned, drowned or mangled in the great steamer's paddlewheels.

On shore, a few hundred feet away, thousands of horrified spectators could only helplessly watch events unfold. It was over in about ten minutes.

Although sobbing thousands attended funerals and pulpits around the city demanded swift justice, corporate greed, bureaucratic graft, and professional incompetence escaped accountability. Both the boat's owners and the government inspectors that certified her safe escaped punishment. After a brief prison term, the captain was granted a pardon.

The last survivor, Adella Wotherspoon, aged 100, died in February 2004 a few months short of the Centennial Memorial. She was an infant and had no direct memory of that day.

The exhibit's images are from a book, "New York's Awful Steamboat Horror" published within months of the event.

Visit the General Slocum Disaster Photo Gallery below to view images of the disaster. Be forewarned: some of the images are graphic and unsettling.

If you want further information contact President Ken Leib by phone (516) 781-8925. His email is lazerken@aol.com. Or write to "The Gen. Slocum Memorial Association", 63 - 70 Dry Harbor Road, Middle Village, NY 11379.

Visit the exhibit,

"06.15.04
IN MEMORIAM OF THE GENERAL SLOCUM'S DEAD ">/b>