SS General Slocum
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| History | |
|---|---|
| Name: | General Slocum |
| Namesake: | Henry Warner Slocum |
| Owner: | Knickerbocker Steamship Company |
| Port of registry: |
 United States
|
| Builder: | Devine Burtis, Jr., of Brooklyn, New York |
| Laid down: | December 23, 1890 |
| Launched: | April 18, 1891 |
| Maiden voyage: | June 25, 1891 |
| Fate: |
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| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Sidewheeler passenger ship |
| Tonnage: | 1,284 grt |
| Length: | 235 ft (72 m) |
| Beam: | 37.5 ft (11.4 m) |
| Depth: | 12.3 ft (3.7 m) |
| Decks: | three decks |
| Installed power: | 1 × 53 in bore, 12 ft stroke single cylinder vertical beam steam engine |
| Propulsion: | Sidewheel boat; each wheel had 26 paddles and was 31 ft (9.4 m) in diameter. |
| Speed: | 16 knots (30 km/h) |
| Crew: | 22 |
The PS General Slocum was a passenger steamboat built in Brooklyn, New York, in 1891. During her service history, she was involved in a number of mishaps, including multiple groundings and collisions.
On June 15, 1904, the General Slocum caught fire and sank in the East River of New York City. At the time of the accident, she was on a chartered run carrying members of St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church (German Americans from Little Germany, Manhattan) to a church picnic. An estimated 1,021 of the 1,342 people on board died. The General Slocum disaster was the New York area's worst disaster in terms of loss of life until the September 11, 2001 attacks. It is the worst maritime disaster in the city's history, and the second worst maritime disaster on United States waterways. The events surrounding the General Slocum fire were explored in a number of books, plays, and movies.
The General Slocum was built by Divine Burtis, Jr., a Brooklyn boatbuilder who was awarded the contract on February 15, 1891. Her keel was 235 feet (72 m) long and the hull was 37.5 feet (11.4 m) wide constructed of white oak and yellow pine. The Slocum measured 1,284 tons gross, and had a hull depth of 12.3 feet (3.7 m). The Slocum was constructed with three decks, three watertight compartments, and 250 electric lights.
General Slocum was powered by a single-cylinder, surface-condensing vertical-beam steam engine with a 53-inch bore and 12-foot stroke, built by W. & A. Fletcher Company of Hoboken, New Jersey. Steam was supplied by two boilers at a working pressure of 52 psi. The Slocum was a sidewheel boat. Each wheel had 26 paddles and was 31 feet (9.4 m) in diameter. Her maximum speed was about 16 knots (30 km/h). The ship was usually manned by a crew of 22, including Captain William H. Van Schaick and two pilots.
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