Summary of the Misfortune by the general slocum
on the 15th juny 1904
The general slocum is an big ship of the New Yorker ‘’Knickerbocker Steamship Company“, who is sinking at the East River as a result of a fire at the loading room at the 15th juny 1904. At the catastrophe over 1. 021 people (most women and children) died.
The paddle steamer is building 1890 – 1891 in the Devine Burtis shipyard at the Brooklyn Red Hook harbor. It is 78 meters long, weighting 1.281 t and it is very fast. On his three floors have 3000 persons space. It is a very luxury ship with fine equipment and high technic parameters and in his first years the modernst ship. The general slocum is named by Henry Warner Slocum. While the time the ship was in business, William van Schaick has been the captain.
At the day of the catastrophe, the passengers on the ship are german-americans of the St. Markus Church who live in ‘’Kleindeutschland“ at the Lower East Side. They are celebrating the end of the sunday school year and want to go with the ship to the Locust Grove at the Long Island Sound. At the 15th juny are over 1.388 people on the ship, who they have chartered.
At 9:30 in the morning, a sailor sees the fire at the loading room who starts by an away throw match. The fire is spreading fast. The sailors are not able to put the fire out because the fire brigade tube is scruffy and they don’t know what to do. After 10 minutes the captain is informing about the fire and the soon coming catastrophe. But now the ship is in the Hell Gate. The captain cannot stop or drive to the shore because in this gate are many whirpools and on the piers are some other ships. So he is strained to drive to the North Brother Islands. The Passengers are panickeing and run in a muddle.
And now, at this moment, the sailors are ascertaining that the cork of the life jackets is dissolve and the emergency ships sticking at the hull of the general slocum. But by this speed the emergency ships also can not getting into the water.
When they are arriving at the North Brother Islands, the whole ship is burning. Some people are jumping into the water, but the most of them is not able to swimm and so they are drown. But luck in unluck, at this time many ships are at the East River and helping the people and searching them. 1.021 death people are registering, but the number isn’t right because children younger than 1 year needn’t a ticket to travel with this ship.
The captain of the general slocum is going three years into prison, but all the other people who has guilt don’t go into prison. They are all free. The ship inspector , the ship society, the building contractor, …
Almost all german-american familys have one or more casualty(s). So many familys are going back to germany and they familys which are staying at america do not say that say are german-americans, only americans…
The last survivor died 2004. She was 100 years old. When she traveled with the general slocum she was a newborn baby.
( 539 Words)
Unknown Words:
Misfortune = Unglück harbor = Hafen
shipyard = Werft paddle steamer = Raddampfer
as a result of = infolge match = Streichholz
fine = hochwertig scruffy = vergammelt
fire brigade tube = Feuerwehrschlauch drown = ertrinken
space = Platz shore = Ufer
whirpool = Strudel life jacket = Rettungsweste
emergency ship = Rettungsboot survivor = Überlebender