#generalslocum

[travelomat]

Kleindeutschland (New York City) – Wikipedia

[ahistoriaexplica-blog]

O Desastre do General Slocum

Construído em 1891, Brooklyn, Nova York por Divine Burtis. Com 72 metros de comprimento, pesando 1.284 toneladas e sua velocidade máxi...

[nyc-urbanism]

Today marks the 102nd anniversary of a tragedy that would be the city's single largest loss of life until 9/11 – the General Slocum steamboat disaster in 1904. On the morning of Wednesday, June 15 a fire broke out on the steamboat which was carrying members of the St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church on the Lower East Side to Long Island's North Shore for a day retreat. As the boat reached Hells Gate fire started below deck in a room containing kerosene and hay. When staff went to extinguish the fire they discovered the hoses and emergency equipment on the boat turned were completely rotted. Once it was discovered the fire could not be put out the staff tried to release the life boats, which had been wired to the side of the boat, and the life vests, which were also rotted through and sunk immediately – often after someone had jumped into the water wearing one. To make matters worst most of the passengers did not know how to swim and the staff had no emergency training. After the tragedy it was discovered that the safety equipment inspections had been paid off in bribes. 1,342 passengers were now stuck on the boat unable to escape. The captain sped the boat up, full speed for North Brother Island (next to Rikers), which caused the partial fire to fully engulf the boat. In all 1,021 people on board, mainly women and children from the German immigrants neighborhood Kleindeutschland (today, the heart of the East Village) died from drowning, smoke inhalation, or burned to death. Today the General Slocum tragedy is remembered through a memorial at St. Mark’s Church on E. 6th Street. #generalslocum #Kleindeutschland #stmarkschurch #lowereastside #hellsgate #northbrotherisland (at Hells Gate)