FIRE ON A STEAMER.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1686, 22 June 1904, Page 20

FIRE ON A STEAMER.

HORRIFYING DETAILS.

©TORIES OF GALLANT RESCUE.

SIX HUNDRED LIVES LOST.

FIVE HUNDRED AND THIRTY

BODIES RECOVERED.

CAPTAIN AND PILOT ARRESTED.

NEW YORK, June 15. An excursion steamer belonging to New York caught fire, and was burned to the wate?s edge. Eire hundred deaths occurred. NEW YORK, June 16. Further details of the terrible catastrophe are to hand: A thousand children and nine hundred adults, chiefly women connected with St. ’ Mark’s German Lutheran ■Church, New York, were proceeding on the three-decked steamer- General Slocum up the East River to Long Island. There was the sound of bands playing and flags were flying,, when a fire, originating: in the kitchen, spread with frightful rapidity. •Hell' Gate Rocks on both sides prevented the steamer being immediately beached; and the captain decided* to go 'ahead full speed until she could be beached north of Brothers Island; It was found impossible to lower the lifeboats, and the first rush of fire and smoke drove back those on the forward (Lock* Many were crushed against the rail and pushed overboard as the panic increased. .. Others sprang overboard to. avoid.the flames, while dozens of parents threw their children overboard: and then following themselves, all were drowned in the swiftly-flowing waters of Hell Gate. Dozens of craft pluckily tried to resoue the terror-stricken passengers. ■Some of the vessels stuck by the side of the burning steamer'until they themselves were afire. When, the* steamer was eeached the crowded hurricane-deck collapsed, precipitating hundreds into the seething flames raging between decks. The position where the General Blocum was stranded left a considerable stretch of open, water between the steamer and the shore. Many perished within sight' of safety. Captain Venschalk, who was m Charge of' the vessel, remained aboard until the steamer was beached, then he leaped into the sea with his clothes ablaze. The chief engineer perished at liis post. . 1 Every man able to swim leaped overboard laden with children, who, however j were drowned in the terrific current. (. • _ . Others tied children to chairs. One man, who lost wife and six children, went mad. The. pastor of St. .Mark’s was saved, but' his wife and daughter were drown-

Gel • Up to the present 447 bodies have been recovered.

The survivors allege that the lifebelts were rotten. and. wer,e placed out of the reach of children. The firehose decantA man from the paddle-wheel box threiv women and children, into a tug ranging alongside. The impact when the steamer Avas beached caused the boilers to burst, and the upper decks fell in, crashing hundreds. Thousands, on shore witnessed the tragedy, unable to lend any help to the pasengers in tlisir aAvful plight. f The captain and pilot have been arrested.

[Hell Gate; or Hurl Gate (named by the Dutch settlers of (New York, Helle Gat), is a- pass in the Hast river, between New York city and Dong Island. Formerly it was extremely dangerous to vessels owing to the rapid current and the number of hidden rocks in the vicinity. In 1885 a safe passage was made by blasting away the most dangerous rocks.] * < -r , Later. The fire on the General Slocum, which took place near the Hell Gat© rocks, while the vessel was proceeding f on an excursion up the East river to Long Island with, a thousand children and nine hundred adults on board, originated in the storage forward; containing oils and paint. * ; ■ The panic was caused by the lack of control du© to the excursionists not understanding English. > A woman struggling in tho water was rescued by some peoole in a boat, robbed • of her jewellery, and thrown back into - the water. She was afterwards rescued by a second boat. ' An, Irish waitress swam out and rescued five children successively. * ? \ A policeman, with a boat, rescued twenty-two people.'who were clinging to the paddle-wheel amid blazing fragments. Four hundred and eighty-five bodies have been recovered., Five-times a bricklayer brought a woman or girl ashoro, and in bis sixth trip he brought two. One, man. threy/. twenty-eiglit people into; small boats- alongside the General Slocum, and then sank back into the

A boy aged fourteen died after carrying four children ashore. " There were 2500 lifebelts aboard the General Slocum. A tugboat fastened to the side of the burning steamer rescued two hundred people, and when the boat was drawing away it took fire. A negro promptly threw a tarpaulin over the flames, which were extinguished. It is estimated that there were six hundred lives lost.

NEW YORK. June 17.

Five hundred and thirty bodies have been recovered from the General Slocum fire out of the six hundred missing.

AUSTRALIAN SYMPATHY.

MELBOURNE, June 17. The Federal Premier (Mr J. O. Watson) has sent, through the GovernorGeneral (Lord Northcote), a cable message expressing the sympathy of Australia with the sufferers by the disaster on a steamer at New York.