The General Slocum was a passenger steamboat built in Brooklyn, New York, in 1891. The General Slocum was named for Civil War General and New York Congressman Henry Warner Slocum.
On 15th June 1904, General Slocum had 1,342 passengers on board for a pleasure cruise to a picnic site in Eatons Neck, Long Island. Most of the passengers were women and children. As the ship made its way up the East River, good times turned bad very quickly. Soon after departure, she caught fire.
Captain Van Schaick decided to continue his course rather than run the ship aground or stop at a nearby landing. By going into headwinds and failing to immediately ground the ship, he fanned the fire.
By the time the General Slocum sank in shallow water at North Brother Island, just off the Bronx shore, an estimated 1,021 people had been killed by fire or drowning, with 321 survivors.
Source: Wikipedia
