Editing PS General Slocum (section)

{{short description|Passenger steamboat; sank in New York City in 1904}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2019}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=[[File:PS General Slocum.jpg|300px|PS General Slocum]]
|Ship caption=
}} 
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=
|Ship name= ''General Slocum''
|Ship owner=Knickerbocker Steamship Company
|Ship registry=United States
|Ship namesake=[[Henry Warner Slocum]]
|Ship route=
|Ship ordered=
|Ship builder= Divine Burtis, Jr., of [[Brooklyn]], [[New York (state)|New York]], U.S.
|Ship original cost=
|Ship laid down= December 23, 1890
|Ship launched= April 18, 1891
|Ship completed=
|Ship christened=
|Ship maiden voyage= June 25, 1891
|Ship fate=*Burned and sank June 15, 1904
*Salvaged and converted into [[barge]] ''Maryland''
*Foundered December 4, 1911
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=
|Ship class=[[Sidewheeler]] passenger ship
|Ship tonnage=1,284 [[Gross register tonnage|grt]]
|Ship displacement=
|Ship length={{convert|264|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship beam={{convert|37.5|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship height=
|Ship draft={{convert|7.5|ft|m|abbr=on}} unloaded; {{convert|8|ft|m|abbr=on}} - {{convert|8.5|ft|m|abbr=on}} loaded
|Ship depth={{convert|12.3|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship decks=three decks
|Ship power= 1 × 53 in [[bore (engine)|bore]], 12 ft [[stroke (engine)|stroke]] single [[cylinder (engine)|cylinder]] [[Walking beam|vertical beam]] [[steam engine]]
|Ship propulsion=[[sidewheeler|Sidewheel boat]]; each wheel had 26 paddles and was {{convert|31|ft|m|abbr=on}} in diameter.
|Ship speed={{convert|16|kn|km/h}}
|Ship capacity=
|Ship crew= 22
}}
|}

'''PS ''General Slocum'''''<ref group=note>"PS" stands for "[[Paddle Steamer]]"</ref> was an American [[sidewheeler|sidewheel]] passenger [[paddle steamer|steamboat]] built in [[Brooklyn]], [[New York (state)|New York]], in 1891. During her service history, she was involved in a number of mishaps, including multiple groundings and collisions.

On June 15, 1904, ''General Slocum'' caught fire and sank in the [[East River]] of [[New York City]].<ref name=unlucky>{{cite news |title=The General Slocum An Unlucky Craft. Has Had Collisions And Accidents by the Score. Has Run Ashore Many Times. She Was a Crack Harbor Boat Thirteen Years Ago. Capt. Van Schaick's Good Record |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9D04EFDE113DE633A25755C1A9609C946597D6CF |quote=The General Slocum was one of the best known vessels about New York Harbor. Since the time of her launching, in 1891, she has been employed in so many different capacities, and on so many different runs, that possibly five out of every ten people in New York City have at some time been aboard of her, or have seen her at close range. |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=June 16, 1904 |access-date=February 28, 2010 }}</ref> At the time of the disaster, she was on a chartered run carrying members of [[St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church (New York City)|St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church]] ([[German Americans]] from [[Little Germany, Manhattan]]) to a church picnic. An estimated 1,021 out of the 1,342 people on board died.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Low life: lures and snares of old New York|last=Sante|first=Luc|date=2003|publisher=Farrar, Straus Giroux|isbn=0374528993|edition=1st Farrar, Straus Giroux pbk.|location=New York|pages=16|oclc=53464289}}</ref>

The ''General Slocum'' disaster was the worst [[List of maritime disasters|maritime disaster]] of the 20th century until the [[sinking of the RMS Titanic|sinking of the RMS ''Titanic'']] surpassed it eight years later in 1912. It remains the worst maritime disaster in New York City history, and the second-worst on U.S. waterways, after the explosion and sinking of the [[Sultana (steamboat)|steamboat ''Sultana'']], and until the [[September 11 attacks]] in 2001 was the [[List of disasters in New York City by death toll|deadliest manmade disaster of any sort in the New York area]].<ref>{{cite news |title=A Debate Rises: How Much 9/11 Tribute Is Enough?|first=N. R.|last=Kleinfield|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=September 2, 2007|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/02/nyregion/02fatigue.html?ex=1346385600&en=7c3b9a843ec42d62&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink|access-date=July 26, 2022}}</ref>

The events surrounding the ''General Slocum'' fire have been explored in a number of books, plays, and movies.