Ship Ablaze: The Tragedy of the Steamboat General Slocum

One hears about some very familiar disasters, but I was not familiar with the General Slocum steam boat disaster. Over 1,000 people (mainly women and children) died in this disaster on the East River. O'Donnell does a superb job of detailing New York at the turn of the century and the dangers associated with steamship travel. Then he goes into great detail about the disaster and the aftermath of the sinking of the General Slocum. I believe O'Donnell does a fair job of detailing who failed in this disaster. The owner, USSIS, and the Captain all were to blame for this dangerous situation. The result was the decimation of a large German immigrant church community. O'Donnell's short chapters, and his coverage from all angles gives the reader a clear picture of the disaster. One can understand the nature of this tragedy and the effect on New York City.

For the thousands of descendants of the General Slocum fire victims, overdue tribute has come. Edward O'Donnell's SHIP ABLAZE serves as a stinging reminder of not only a catastrophe of enormous proportions but of a deliberate and unjust society determined to forget it. While the tragic event of June 15, 1904, in which over 1,000 mostly German-Americans perished, is the star of the book, Mr. O'Donnell's outrage at the people responsible for it and the court system that allowed all but one of the culpable to go free is palpable. There is no point in my retelling the sad story; anyway, I couldn't begin to approach Mr. O'Donnell's engaging and gripping style. But the compelling questions that emerge from the pages deserve consideration. How could human beings who are responsible for the lives and safety of other human beings behave so indifferently to their jobs? A more pressing question: are things any better today? At the root of this book, however, is the inevitable question: Why don't more people--especially New Yorkers--know about this cataclysmic event that happened in the East River? Mr. O'Donnell offers a few convincing reasons:1) the pervading sexism and xenophobia of the times had only so much sympathy for the over 1,000 deaths of mostly female foreigners;2) unlike the Triangle Shirtwaist fire, there was no overtly political or socio-economic connection to the disaster;3) the First World War wiped out any sympathy for anything German; and4) unlike the glamour, wealth, and fame surrounding the victims of the Titanic, the Slocum victims were poor working class hacks (I believe it is also for this reason that the deaths of almost 100 commuters in the Malbone Street subway wreck of 1918 is all but forgotten too).All things considered, SHIP ABLAZE is a sad book, but not morbid. The accounts of the several ways the victims died (burns, smoke inhalation, trampling, suffocation, crushing, drowning, etc.) in that harrowing hour or so is offset by the many accounts of heroism and selflessness. And now, with the release of this brilliant book, plus several upcoming memorials to mark the 100th anniversary of this calamity, the world will now be reminded of a day that never should have been forgotten.Rocco Dormarunno,author of The Five Points

Too many "disaster" books leave you with little or no feeling for the actual victims, survivors, and relatives. That is certainly not the case with "Ship Ablaze." The book is, at times, almost unbearable in its unrelenting intensity. Mr. O'Donnell sets the scene well: a church group, in a tight-knit Lower East Side German community, preparing for and embarking upon a weekday steamboat excursion/picnic. We get to know the pastor, and we get to know some of the families. As the ship leaves the dock, we know what's going to happen...but that doesn't matter. We are horrified as the fire starts and spreads, and over 1,000 people (mostly women and children, with more than one member from many families) die from burning or drowning. We are outraged by the negligence of the shipowner (too cheap to buy new lifejackets and fire hoses, to replace the old equipment which was, literally, disintegrating), and the captain (too "proud" to instruct his crew in fire prevention or to hold fire drills), and the safety inspectors (who "passed" equipment they knew to be not in proper working order- and who most likely pocketed some payoffs). Mr. O'Donnell leaves no area unexplored, although you might sometimes wish he had: he goes into detail concerning the different ways a person can drown- either by "inhaling" water or by lack of oxygen; he talks about people drowning in 5 feet of water, because they were so frightened they didn't realize they could just stand up; he talks of black hearses being used for adults and white ones being used for children; he talks of "survivor guilt" and suicides and undertakers taking advantage of bereaved people by engaging in high-pressure sales tactics and by charging double the normal price for burials. But he also talks about brave people risking their lives to save others, and of people who donated generously to relief funds. The entire spectrum of human behavior is on display. On a lighter note, Mr. O'Donnell's curiosity seems to know no bounds: he informs us that people flocked to Coney Island to see disaster spectacles such as "The Fall of Pompeii" and "The Fire and Flames Show." (He also explains that prior to being "cleaned up" and made into an amusement area, Coney Island was known for prostitution and gambling.); we also learn that the "General Slocum" tragedy was mentioned in James Joyce's "Ulysses" and that the tragedy was also used as the basis of a 1934 movie called "Manhattan Melodrama," starring William Powell and Clark Gable. It was also the movie John Dillinger saw on the day he emerged from a movie theater and was gunned down by FBI agents. But for every funny or interesting fact, there is something like this: there was a 7 year old girl named Margaret Heins, who had been on the steamboat but whose body had not been recovered. The day after the tragedy, her body was found floating in the East River- one block from her family's home. She had drifted 8 miles from where the "General Slocum" had run aground. Even thoug

Edward T. O'Donnell's "Ship Ablaze" is head-and-shoulders above the glut of historical disaster books lining the shelves these days. O'Donnell's well written narrative history has all of the elements that make a book like this compelling: it details a tragic and nearly forgotten event, it paints the event on the proper historical backdrop and also tells the stories of the victims in a sympathetic and unsensationalistic way. Though it is not well remembered, the fire and sinking of the steamboat General Slocum near New York City was the city's deadliest disaster prior to September 11, 2001. Over 1000 people, mostly women and children, perished in a few horrifying minutes. What is more disturbing about the story is that the disaster was completely preventable. Had the General Slocum's fire safety equipment been properly inspected and maintained and had the crew been trainbed in fire safety, it is unlikely that there would have been any loss of life.All of this O'Donnell describes in vivid detail. He also describes life in turn-of-the-century New York, particularly the so-called Little Germany section where the victims were from. The latter part of the book is dedicated to the legal battles that resulted in the imprisonment of the General Slocum's captain, but not the federal inspectors or boat owners who were equally responsible for the tragedy.Overall, an outstanding work of narrative history that will appeal to history buffs as well as general readers.