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The General Slocum was a passenger steamboat built at Brooklyn, New York in 1891. It was named for Civil War officer and New York Congressman Henry Warner Slocum. The steamship operated in the New York City area as an excursion steamer. During its service history, it was involved in a number of mishaps, including multiple groundings and collisions.
On June 15, 1904, the General Slocum caught fire and sank in New York's East River. At the time of the accident it was on a chartered run carrying members of St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church (German Americans from Little Germany, Manhattan) to a church picnic. It is estimated that 1,021 of the 1,342 people on board died. The General Slocum disaster was the New York area's worst disaster in terms of loss of life until the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Captain Van Schaick was only notified ten minutes after the fire was discovered. A 12-year-old boy had tried to warn him earlier but was not believed. The fire hoses had been allowed to rot, and fell apart when the crew attempted to put out the fire. The lifeboats were tied up and inaccessible. The life preservers were useless and fell apart in their hands.
Captain Van Schaick mishandled the situation. He decided to continue his course rather than run the ship aground or stop at a nearby landing. (Van Schaick would later argue he was attempting to prevent the fire from spreading to riverside buildings and oil tanks.) By going into headwinds and failing to immediately ground the ship, he actually fanned the fire. Flammable paint also helped the fire spread out of control.
After the fire, Captain Van Schaik became a patient at Lebanon Hospital where he was nursed back to health by Grace Spratt, who he married on February 19, 1906.
Eight people were indicted by a Federal grand jury after the disaster but only Captain Van Schaick was convicted. He was found guilty on one of three charges: criminal negligence, failing to maintain proper fire drills and fire extinguishers. The jury could not reach a verdict on the other two counts of manslaughter. He was sentenced to ten years imprisonment. He spent three years and six months at Sing Sing prison before he was paroled. President Theodore Roosevelt declined to pardon Captain Van Schaick, and he was not released until the federal parole board voted to free him on August 26, 1911. He was pardoned by President Taft on December 19, 1912, and died in 1927.
The pardon Taft granted took effect on Christmas Day, 1912.