General Slocum: No Longer Forgotten

[ninjaco99]

Your the one I can count on when I need to do a report on somethin about sinking boats (Like the Titanic.)

[TheStrasburg90]

youdo too much "Sleeping Sun" by Nightwish...

[Skyway2000Pictures]

@TheStrasburg90 I HATE U!!

[stephenpyx]

possible rescuers because street gangs were rowing to the scene extending their oars and when the victim grabbed the oar they would strip them of the jewelry then throw them back in.

[stephenpyx]

have you ever thought about doing a narration version of this event because it is a very interesting story, especially when you take into consideration that most of the passengers if not all of them were on a church outing at the time. That church, if I remember right, (St. Marks Lutheran) had to close down because of lack of members after the fire. It had one last memorial service for the victims. Also the Coast Guard captain who got into trouble for shooting at some will continue

[stephenpyx]

I first found about this tradgedy while watching the history channel. I just wish the author of the video could have put some narration behind it to make it stand out better or at least clarify what had happened.

[snakes3425]

@stephenpyx

This is one of my early videos and at the time I was still developing my style of making videoes for YouTube

[AwesomeBeagle123]

At 0:54 howcome we can't see fire or smoke? And the island at 1:52 I used to be able to see it from my apartment window until I moved. Whenever I would drive by it I feel like I can see the ghost of the GS burning. I also think I've seen rotten wood on the island when I use my telescope, could that be from the GS?

[snakes3425]

@AwesomeBeagle123

0:54: The photo is from a pre-fire voyage

There's more to the story, after the fire wreck was raised and converted into the Barge Maryland, and sank in 1911 while carrying a shipment of coke from Camdon to Newark, the wreck of the Slocom was discovered by Clive Cussler in 2000 at Corson's Inlet New Jersey, sadly the wreck was blown to pieces by the Army Corps of Enginieers to clear the channel in 1912 and time has done the rest

[WoodenRailwayStudio]

Jeez, sank in the East River? That shouldn't be too far from where I live... Those poor people.

[Besier74]

Schiff in Flamen ( Ship Ablaze) - Der Ausflug: Das Ende von Little Germany, New York. Thats the German Title of Edward T. O'Donnells Book about one of the biggest Civil Desasters in the U.S. History. Today mostly forgotten in the Public out of New York. Don't understand why.....

[if6wer966]

my great-grandmother was supposed to be on this boat..she had only been in the country for 6 months coming from rottenburg,germany..many of her friends and her roommate perished on the general slocum..i had the pleasure of knowing her..she passed when i was 6yrs old in 1971...this was a decision you hear of when a person misses a flight the plane crashes and everyone dies..she did live with guilt for the rest of her days...

[pfcwar5150]

my great grandfather saved some people on that ship, was mentioned in the book "Ship Ablaze". he was a captian for hire. the boat owner wouldn't let him steer the boat near the burning ship, cause he "didnt want the varnish finish on the boat to be blistered by the heat"(rich prick!). so my great grandfather quit and took a life boat from him and rowed out to the burning boat to pick up survivors.

[wonderglory]

@pfcwar5150 Your great grandfather certainly was a hero. Not only he rescued survivors, he also stood up for what was right.

[hcstempel]

Thank you for this moving video and for keeping the memory of the General Slocum alive!

[MPL029]

the Gen. slocum was, for some reason, overtaken in memory by the Shirtwaist factory burning in 1911...which killed not even a 3rd what was lost on the Slocum..and then Titanic..mainly cause the Titanic carried the rich a famous and go much more publicity.

[Acererak7]

The Triangle Factory Shirtwaist fire, while smaller in terms of loss of life, eclipsed the Gen. Slocum because of circumstances. The victims of the Slocum died on a pleasure cruise; those in Triangle were exploited workers in a sweatshop. Their deaths became a cause cêlébre for labor union activists.

As for the Titanic? You called it. Many of the victims were rich and famous.

Sadly, don't forget two world wars made Germans very unpopular in this country for decades.

[lancemckellar]

Thanx for a moving vido.. Have read about this disaster before and liked the song. Gone but not forgotten.....

[KnightOwl2006]

An absolute nightmare. The part of the river where the ship sailed through as it was in flames is called Hell Gate appropriately enough. I grew up near there, it's definitely got a creepy vibe.

[jackthayer]

can someone please tell me where i can find books movies anything like that about this ship u see i study tragedies like these

[snakes3425]

The only books I'm awhare of that have been written about the Slocum Disaster are Ship Ablaze, Darkest Hours, and Fire on the River. I would also recomoned reading the chapter deveoted to the Slocum in Sea Hunters II, which describes the hunt fro the Slocum's wreck (She sank after being converted into a barge named Maryland) The disaster was also featured in the documentary My Father's Gun, there is also a documentary from Germany, which was made in 1998 called the Slocum's On Fire.

[24chancer]

@snakes3425 theres a nother book about the general its THE UNRESOLVED

[1958debs]

@snakes3425 The was a show on the Discovery networks commemorating the one hundred years since the tragedy in 2004.

[mynameisrot]

I do not know where you live but I was at Titanik exhibition today (in NYC) and there was some info about general slocum too. I saw such exhibition in Berlin last year too.

[vaivataFinn]

If anyone here has studying the shipwreck, could you please message me? I recently came across i and i'm a hisory buff, so i'm trying to gain more exensive knowledge of the passengers.

[snakes3425]

The Slocom passengers were came from the area of Manhattan known as Little Germany and belonged to the St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church, many of the passengers, especially the women and children were unable to swim. The disaster was only magnified by a cowardly crew and an inept captain, only two of the victims were crew members, the rest, including the captain abandoned ship the moment it beached, and ran off not bothering to help any of the passengers.

[snakes3425]

The loss of life was made even worse by life jackets that were either rotted to the point they were useless or weighted down with iron rods to meet the absolute minimum safety requirement, fire hoses that were rotted and hadn't been replaced since the ship was launched and life boats that were fused to the boat deck by rusted wires.

The Slocum had a reputation as an unlucky ship, through out her career she had run a grounded, had two collisions, and a riot that turned into a near mutiny.

[vaivataFinn]

Thank you for that information, although in knew most of that.

Do you know of any great websites to which i may find information regarding the passengers? I find it rather difficult to get proper ages/names to victims and nearly impossible to get a direct list of survivors.

[snakes3425]

Most websites are more concerned with the fire and the events leading up to and surrounding the aftermath. Because the Slocum was a excerson steamer, she didn't have a passenger list, the best area to find a survivors list would be in newspapers from June 1904-1905

[vaivataFinn]

Ah, i see. I have read a few papers that do list off some survivors, but i do find it rather hard to find much.

I did'nt know they never marked down passengers on excursion ships.

Do you know of a "victims list"?

I have about 300-350 names, including around 175 children under twelve, but i know there was around a thousand victims, with around 500 being children.

[oldies4dino]

the History Channel had a one hour documentary in this the other day, you should go to their website

[PaulDougouba]

The fact that this was the Largest loss of life in NYC before 911 and is mostly forgotten is very condemning of the American Mind.

You USA people life for the moment ONLY. The latest song, DVD, Computer Game, Football scores, American Idol Episode, etc, etc. You Americans have such a short memory. You cannot think past your noses.

Take a microphone and Camera and interview NY people on the street and ask them about the "General Slocum". You will get idiotic blank stares.

Sad.

[CapyGuy]

@PaulDougouba I assume most young people are like that, irrespective of country of origin.

[andrewwatson68]

Capitalists are not murderers!

People back then were way more greedy and selfish than the people today.

We've learned allot from disaster such as the General Slocum and we have always had safety as one of our #1 concerns when traveling.

[meatman310]

The captain was sent to prison for 10 years. The owners of the knickerbocker steamship company were at the time tried and convicted of neglegence However most of the blame was put on the captain. Living and boating in NYC waters myself its hard to believe in the east river (hells gate area) the death toll can approach Titanic numbers.

[literisfrenchfor]

Back then, relative to today, people did not know how to swim. Also, people overdressed-- long flowing dresses, tight collars, alot of clothes. I wonder that too- just jump overboard and swim, but back then... Too bad more people aren't aware of tragedies that go forgotten in history.

[shipwreckedcamper]

President Roosevelt called his Attorney General the day after. & gave him instructions, to find out who was responsible & put them away fast. The AG told the president it was out of his constitutional powers to interfere with the NY AG's office. Roosevelt said "I don't care. make this happen."

In an interseting side note. The NY times reported witness's claimed to have seen 100s of shadows of the dead walking the island, along the bank of the East River for weeks after the disaster

[Olibhear333]

Thanks for this. I just read parts of "The Sea Hunters II" by Clive Cussler and this tragedy is part of it as well. It's just so sad because there were mostly children on that boat. They were fellow countrymen of mine (German). It almost wiped out Little Germany on the Lower East Side in Manhattan at that time. I heard about this before and I will also try to get a hold of the book that was mentioned in other comments. Thanks for this!! Dankeschön!

[AnimeFreak3059]

I have seen all of your videos the time i've been on youtube. Thank you for them. I used them to create projects. =)

[timbonjovi]

Very interesting,especially to me, my last name is Slocum. I remember hearing that the last survivor died a few years ago,I believe she was over 100 years old at the time of her death.

[andywatson55]

How did the fire start?

[snakes3425]

It's actually not clear on how the fire started, but the most commenly accepted theory is that a crewman or passenger discarded a cigarette near flamable materal that was stored in one of the Slocum's forward Storerooms.

[VirgilB01]

I read about this tragedy in a book somewhere. The owners were never charged with any wrong doing. Are you sure these guys weren't related to the Wall Street crooks that we have today? The same ship was repaired later and used to haul junk along the New York harbor. It was renamed as the "maryland" and sunk again after springing a leak off the New Jersey coast resting on the bottom about 50 or 60 feet down.

[planetdolphy]

:( very sad

[chicocraig]

Whats that song called?

[steindaddie]

Thanks for making this video. I'm currently reading a book about the disaster, "Ship Ablaze" by Edward T. O'Donnell. I highly reccomend it to all.

[LordRattler765]

Whoa Im reading the same book as well!Its very sad as well :(

[justwhistlindixie]

Thanks for sharing this one, snakes3425! I'm so glad there still are living people, who remember "General Slocum" tragedy... Or even have heard about it... Because here in Europe even the "Sultana" is practically unknown for most of the people...

[bobtul]

not that song again

[harwetopa]

Nicely and tastefully done.

[snowsk82]

wow that ship got nailed!!!!!!

[KakashiSenseiRox]

Snakes2425, Theirs a sinking cruise ship is oceanos & Sea diamonds!

[cerraazizi]

The picture at 2:25 shows that greed will only bring about the destruction of one's self and others.

[snakes3425]

Yes, I have possible videoes for the Empress of Ireland, USS Arizona, HMS Hood, Wilhelm Gustloff, Bismark, Yarmouth Castle, Morro Castle, USS Scorpion, and USS Thresher.

[TK42100]

Cap Arcona, HMT Lancastria, Leopoldville, and HMS Thetis are some good ones to do also. Especially the Lancastria as she is probably the worst maritime disaster in Britain's history. Over 4,000 refugees, British soldiers, RAF pilots, nurses, and crew died when the Lancastria was sunk off the coast of St. Nazaire by Luftwaffe bombs in 1940. Churchill immediately forbade newspapers in Britain to publish any information about the sinking so as not to bring down the morale of the population.

[snakes3425]

My lastest wreck video was the Sultana, which killed 1900 sick and injured POWS after a boiler explosion, and is quite possibly the most forgotten maratime disaster in history

[Squamata2468]

I agree that the song is very appropriate for your videos. You've given really good tributes to some terrible maritime disasters less well known than the Titanic - are you planning on doing any more?

[Squamata2468]

I confess I'd never heard about this particular disaster until I saw your video - considering how serious and tragic it was, I'm surprised it isn't better known. BTW, if you do more videos along these lines, I might suggest the Wilhelm Gustloff, another serious disaster that isn't as well known as it should be.

[snakes3425]

I also had videos in mind for non-sea disasters including the Hartford Circus Fire, the Collinwood School Fire, the Xenia Tornado, the Iriquois Theater Fire, the Moore Oklahoma Tornado, and the Our Lady of the Angels School Fire

[snakes3425]

Wilhelm Gustloff is my next video

[snakes3425]

Sadly the last Slocum survivor died recently

[Squamata2468]

Have you read Edward O'Donnell's book on the Slocum?

[snakes3425]

Ship Ablaze?

[snakes3425]

I apoligize for using the same song three times, but I felt it was the most approprate for this event. Of all three, this one is the most tragic and the most unforgivable. The Slocum disaster was something that should never have happened to begin with, in the end final blame for this tragedy lies with the captian for his stupidity and the owners of the ship for their greed