Other Shipwrecks

The SS Arctic, an American passenger steamship, was one of the largest steamships when it first launched in 1850. It was known for both its speed and luxuries. On September 27, 1854, while traveling to New York from Liverpool, the Arctic collided with a smaller French steamship, named the SS Vesta, off the coast of Newfoundland. Due to a dense fog, no crew from either steamer had noticed the other prior to the collision. The SS Arctic took on water and sank four hours later.

With passengers and crew combined, there were roughly 400 people aboard the Arctic, but the lifeboat capacity was only around 180. Panic led to disorder, and with lifeboats being launched the principle of “women and children first” was ignored. Only 88 passengers and crew survived, all of them men (61 of the 88 survivors were crew members who jumped into the first lifeboats). All women and children were lost. The sinking of the SS Arctic made national news. However, no investigation was ever conducted, and no one was held accountable for the disaster.

The public saw the actions of letting all women and children drown so disgraceful that some crew members, both out of shame and fear for their own safety, chose to leave the United States and take up residence in other countries.

 

Unlucky or lucky? Violet Jessop, born in 1887, was involved in three of the most significant maritime disasters recorded, surviving all three.

In 1910, she began working as a stewardess aboard the RMS Olympic. On September 20, 1911, the Olympic collided with a British warship, suffering severe damage. There were no fatalities.

She was then a stewardess aboard the RMS Titanic when it struck an iceberg on April 14, 1912 and sank early the following morning. She was safely loaded into a lifeboat. More than 1,500 people lost their lives.

During World War I, Jessop served as a stewardess for the Red Cross aboard the HMHS Britannic, a former luxury liner turned into a hospital ship. On November 21, 1916, the ship sank after a mysterious explosion, later thought to be the result of either being struck by a torpedo or hitting a mine planted by German forces. Jessop jumped from the Britannic as it was sinking, resulting in a severe head injury which she fully recovered from.

All three ships were either currently or once owned by the White Star Line. In 1920, Jessop returned to work for the White Star Line with no further incidents occurring. She passed away from heart failure in 1971 at age 83.

 

Prior to 9/11, the largest loss of life in a single event within New York occurred with the General Slocum disaster. The ship, built in 1891, was named after General Henry Warner Slocum, one of the youngest Union officers in the Civil War, and later a distinguished New York congressman.

On June 15, 1904, a church was holding their annual excursion for a day-long picnic on Long Island. This was a Wednesday, resulting in most of the passengers being women and children, while men were working and could not attend the event. Children were allowed to ride free, resulting in many of the passengers that day being under the age of 18. A band was hired to play religious music onboard the ship during the excursion.

The General Slocum did not meet safety requirements, but with the ship’s captain, William Van Schaick, and government inspectors being friendly with one another, the ship was given a clean inspection report despite needing repairs.

At some point during the excursion, a young boy noticed a small fire in the lamp room. He notified a crew member. None of the crew were trained for emergencies. In an attempt to control the fire, the crew member threw charcoal over the flame to contain it, then left the room to get help. With the door to the lamp room wide open, breezes fanned the flames, igniting the entire room on fire. Other crew members raced to the scene with hoses, but the hoses were so rotted they burst open, becoming useless. The flames then quickly began to spread across the rest of the ship. Panic ensued. Crew members urged passengers to get into lifeboats, resulting in stampeding, tearing children away from their parents and others being trampled. Once to the lifeboats, it was discovered they were fixed to the side of the ship by wire. The wires had been painted over, permanently securing the lifeboats in place. The next option was to release the life preservers secured to the ceiling by more wire. With the wire being old and rusty, passengers cut their hands attempting to get to the vests. There was struggling for the vests as there weren’t enough for everyone. It turns out many of the vests were old, the cork within them having rotted into a heavy powdered dust, which acted as a weight rather than a flotation device. As passengers jumped off the ship, their life preservers dragged them down under the water to their death. In the case of one family, in which all members jumped off the ship, the only member to be killed was the one wearing a life vest.

A number of passengers were trapped in corners of the ship by the fire and burned alive while others were killed by smoke inhalation. The bandleader also jumped off the ship, only to be landed on feet-first by another man who jumped, resulting in the bandleader being knocked unconscious and drowning. His body was later recovered with a footprint on his forehead.

Of the 1,331 passengers on board, 1,021 lost their lives (310 survivors). Many husbands/fathers who were at work lost their families that day.

The ship’s captain, William Van Schaick, was sentenced to 10 years in Sing Sing prison for knowingly operating an unsafe ship, but was pardoned and released in 1912. There were repercussions for the government inspectors as well.

Though largely forgotten, the General Slocum fire remains one of the worst disasters in maritime history.