By Tommy Hallissey
The General Slocum paddle-wheel steamboat erupted in flames on the East River on a Sunday school outing. More than 1,000 passengers – mostly German immigrant woman and their children – were killed in the city's worst catastrophe before Sept. 11, 2001.
The ceremony for the General Slocum began with a rendition of “Abide with Me” performed by the Kleinechor. A memorial candle was lit by Kristen Lewandowski, which was followed by an invocation by the Rev. Thomas Taylor. Next an original piece written by composer Patricia Spaeth called “The General Slocum” was performed.
Daniel Austin, president and chief executive officer of Lutheran All Faiths Cemetery, spoke about not forgetting the General Slocum after all these years. “We'll never forget,” Austin said. “This is something that should always be remembered.”
At 9 a.m. on Wednesday, June 15, 1904, 1,446 passengers boarded the SS General Slocum, and 1,021 died in the worst ship fire in maritime harbor history. Burned, drowned or crushed to death were 784 members of St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church in what is now the East Village in Manhattan.
Among the dead were 191 mothers, 155 children older than 14, 356 younger than 14 and 43 elderly singles; 120 men lost their entire families; 27 children were orphaned; and 61 victims were unidentified.
Robert Schweitzer presented a wreath for the monument dedicated to the 61 unidentified men and women buried under it in the Lutheran All Saints Cemetery in Middle Village.
The flag that was flying at half mast for former President Ronald Reagan was raised up and then brought down to half mast again by the Boy Scouts of Troop 106.
Deputy Inspector Patrick Cuff, of the Suffolk County Police Department spoke about his wife's grandfather, Patrolman Michael Fitzgerald, who was deployed on a fireboat on that fateful day and saved many people from the burning ship.
“Today we remember Michael as we remember all heroes,” Cuff said
An assistant to Gov. George Pataki offered a proclamation from the governor proclaiming June 15, 2004 General Slocum Memorial Day.
The ceremony closed with a prayer and a benediction by Taylor, followed by “Taps” played by the Boy Scouts Troop 656.
The crowd who gathered to remember the Slocum was a mixture of those who had family members involved in the incident and those who were there to remember history.
Bob Hosmers' father, Otto, was a serviceman on the boat when it caught flames. He jumped from the ship even though he could not swim and was picked up by a tugboat.
Otto's mother was lost for two weeks after the disaster. She was found in Lincoln Hospital badly burned.
“It's the greatest tragedy that ever hit New York until 9/11,” said Hosmers.
Francis Crowley is one of the few who can say his family narrowly averted disaster by not boarding the General Slocum at the last minute. Crowley's grandmother, mother and her two sisters were set to board the General Slocum until Ernistine Von Reuss, his grandmother, had a premonition the night before the boat departed that told her not to go on the excursion.
And Capt. Michael Karr came to the ceremony out of a sense of duty. Karr is the head of the U.S. Coast Guard Marine Casualty unit, which does the steamboat inspections that 100 years ago were performed by the Steamboat Inspection Service.
“I personally feel particularly charged that the lessons of 100 years ago still apply today because you don't want history to repeat itself,” Karr said. “It may not be the same problem but the same symptoms as 100 years ago.”
The crowd reconvened at Trinity Lutheran Church on Dry Harbor Road for a memorial service. Georgianna Hamill, whose great grandmother and three of her children died aboard the General Slocum, was one of the speakers.
“You have to look back and get the complete picture of what history is,” Hamill said. “It's the story of how a little greed can hurt so many.”
Reach reporter Tommy Hallissey by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 155.
