Ship Ablaze: The Tragedy of the Steamboat General Slocum [Paperback]

Ed O'Donnell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 8, 2004

There were few experienced swimmers among over 1,300 Lower East Side residents who boarded the General Slocum on June 15, 1904. It shouldn’t have mattered, since the steamship was chartered only for a languid excursion from Manhattan to Long Island Sound. But a fire erupted minutes into the trip, forcing hundreds of terrified passengers into the water. By the time the captain found a safe shore for landing, 1,021 had perished. Ship Ablaze draws on firsthand accounts to examine why the death toll was so high and how the city responded. Masterfully capturing both the horror of the event and the heroism of men, women, and children who faced crumbling life jackets and inaccessible lifeboats as the inferno quickly spread, historian Edward T. O’Donnell brings to life a bygone community while honoring the victims of that forgotten day.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

O'Donnell (1001 Things Everyone Should Know About Irish American History) trains his historian's eyes on one of New York's greatest but little-known disasters-a 1904 steamboat fire that killed more than 1,000 people. He leaves no aspect of the General Slocum tragedy unturned as he lays out the life of the New Yorkers around the turn of the century who became major players in the ship disaster as well as the significant role newspapers played in shaping public opinion. He then details the lives of residents of the mostly German Lower East Side, who were on their way to a church picnic when the boat fire started. Using newspaper as well as second- and firsthand accounts, he then details the fire itself. The event was not inevitable, he emphasizes; it was mainly caused by a lack of safety measures-poor organization of life jackets and outdated, unchecked fire hoses, for example-and by the poor swimming skills of most of the ship's passengers. He also recreates the panoply of emotions on that June day: the panic felt by the ship's passengers as it burned, the heroism demonstrated by rescuers and the despair in the community afterward. With an eye toward today's tragedies, he shows how victims felt little solace from investigations, which became largely an attempt at scapegoating the ship's captain. In O'Donnell's deft hands, the disaster becomes more than just a historical event-it's a fascinating window into an era, a community and the lives of ordinary people.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School-It is hard to deny that a tragedy makes for a great story. This is certainly the case with this account of the disastrous fire that wrecked the steamboat General Slocum in 1904 and took over 1000 lives. O'Donnell recounts the doomed ship's final minutes, then draws readers alongside the authorities as they chase down the facts and the guilty parties in the days following the disaster. This is a classic tale of horror and heroism, yet the author uses the event as an opening through which he can take readers into New York City at the start of the 20th century. He discusses topics from government to the press to immigration into and migration within the city and even the mores and ideas prevalent at the time. These myriad views, served up almost as vignettes, are as gripping as the tale of the fire and of the investigation and prosecution. A map of the ship's journey and a diagram of the ship with useful captions is included for easy reference.
Ted Westervelt, Library of Congress, Washington, DC
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Broadway (June 8, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0767909062
• ISBN-13: 978-0767909068
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.7 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (55 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #317,589 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Compelling Historical Disaster Saga, June 10, 2003

By 

Brian D. Rubendall (Oakton, VA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ship Ablaze: The Tragedy of the Steamboat General Slocum (Hardcover)

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.

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Death And Greed Count The Profits......, September 11, 2003

By 

Bruce Loveitt (Ogdensburg, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ship Ablaze: The Tragedy of the Steamboat General Slocum (Hardcover)

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 though I'm a New York City native, I'd never heard of the "Slocum" tragedy. Now, because of Mr. O'Donnell, I'm not sure I'll ever be able to forget it.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good book with some major omissions, September 24, 2004

By 

Edward Winskill (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Ship Ablaze: The Tragedy of the Steamboat General Slocum (Hardcover)

The story itself is well-researched and well-told, and I thoroughly enjoyed the book, but I do have a few qualms with it. The first of these is the absence of an index, which in my opinion should be absolutely mandatory for any non-fiction book. How is one to find specific references without reading or re-reading an entire chapter or the entire tome? I don't know if this is the fault of the author, publisher, or someone else, but there seems to be a veritable "index-omission" epidemic raging in publishing circles these days, and this seriously limits a book's value for research purposes. Another qualm/question is: why wasn't a complete, name-by-name list of the +/-1,300 dead, missing, and surviors included? Or a spec sheet on the Slocum itself? Such data must be in the author's possession, and it's a shame it wasn't included. It would have really rounded out the book and taken it to the next level. In the final analysis however, although the book isn't perfect, I do recommend it highly at every opportunity as it tells a fascinating and tragic tale.