The East River Excursion Steamer That Caught Fire on 15 June 1904 With Approximately 1,300 German-American Picknickers Aboard and Killed 1,021 of Them
The PS General Slocum caught fire in the East River off East 90th Street at approximately 10:00 a.m. on 15 June 1904. About 1,300 mostly German-American passengers from the St Mark's Lutheran Church annual Sunday-school picnic were aboard. The fire hoses were rotted, the life jackets were filled with cork dust packed with iron weights to meet the legal weight requirement, and 1,021 people died — most of them women and children.
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