On June 15, 1904 disaster struck the German Lutheran community of the Lower East Side as the steamship General Slocum caught fire in the East River, bringing an beloved annual picnic excursion to a deadly end. Ill-equipped with defective life vests and inoperable lifeboats, fire quickly consumed the wooden ship, taking the lives of 1,021 Lower East Siders, the largest loss of life in New York City until September 11, 2001. Join The Rev. Marsh Drege, Executive Director of Seafarers and International House for a presentation about the disaster and its lasting effects on the German-American community of the Lower East Side, concluding with a walk to the General Slocum Memorial in Tompkins Square Park