Hoboken Pier Fire, June 30, 1900 |
Home- Law Land - Percy Land - Blanck - Petermann - Hoboken Photos- Hoboken Fire Story |
Postcard collection of Maggie Land Blanck | |
My grandmother, Meta Petermann, was a young women of 14 when the Hoboken piers
caught fire on June 30, 1900.
At the time, her father, Berend Petermann, was a foreman on the Hoboken docks.
The family lived at the
corner of River and Second Street. The fire and its aftermath made a huge impression on
Meta and she often talked about it. North German Lloyd (Norddeutscher Lloyd) Pier Fire, Hoboken, June 30, 1900 | |
Steamships Burned Saale, Bremen, Main, and Kaiser Wilhelm de Grosse (damaged) Piers of the North German Lloyd in Hoboken in Flames
| |
A large and extremely destructive fire at the North German Lloyd
Piers in Hoboken New Jersey on
June 30, 1900 spread within minutes to consume warehouses, ships and piers at a great loss of live.
The following brief description of the fire and damages is from the Graphic, July 21, 1900.
Few calamities in the States can vie with the sudden loss of life, awful scenes, and swift destruction of property which marked the last day of June in New York. In the bright summer sunshine, looking across the Hudson, a sudden whirlwind of smoke told of an immense conflagration. Great ocean liners before long were seen drifting on the river surrounded by tugs, flames piercing the smoke. In nine minutes the four piers, alongside which had been moored the pick of the North German liners, where aflame from end to end. Crowded with merchandise of every description, the dock buildings, light wooden structures, burnt like tinder. Barrels of oil and spirits exploded, and spread the fire to the shipping. One vessel, with several lighters, was destroyed on the side of the wharf. Three other great ships, the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, the pride of the company, the Bremen, and the Saale, by Herculean efforts were towed out into mid-stream by tugs. Fortunately, the Kaiser Wilhelm got off with comparatively little damage, and was taken across the river to the Cunard dock just opposite. Far different was the fate of the other vessels. The Saale floated down stream and is stranded on the mud of the Weehawken shore*. The Maine and the Bremen were towed up stream and are in a similar plight, dismantled wrecks. The scenes during a wild fight with the flames were horrible. So sudden and startling was the outbreak that scores of the crews were imprisoned under the decks of the burning steamers. Comparatively few escaped in a marvelous fashion after some hours. The decks were strewn with the bodies of those who succumbed to the fierce heat, which speedily made iron and steel red hot. Numbers of others leapt into the water only to meet death by drowning. As to the lost of property, this, it is conjectured, will reach at least 2,000,000 pounds. Of the north German Lloyd's piers, on which the building were erected, only charred stumps remain.* Note: Weehawken is "upstream" The North German Lloyd pier had a frontage of a quarter of a mile along the river. Four North German Lloyd steamships burned. They had been tied up at the pier and none of them had enough power to quickly pull away from the docks. They had to wait for tugs to come and tow them away. The best they could do until the tugs arrived was cut themselves adrift and hope to float way from the fire. Canal boats, lighters, barges and other debris caught fire and drifted in flames into the North (Hudson) river causing concern that they would set the New york piers on fire. Consequently, two fireboats, the New Yorker and the VanWyck, called from the New York side, initially turned their attention to these drifting menaces and subsequently turned their hoses on the steamships. The fire was reported all over the united state and in many countries abroad. Images on this page are from the Evening News (Detroit, Michigan), Buffalo Courier, Buffalo, N. Y., Munsey Magazine, the Graphic and Leslie's Weekly | |
THE EVENING NEWS Detroit, Michigan, Monday July 2, 1900 |
|
Newspaper collection Maggie Land Blanck
This diagram from the Detriot EVENING NEWS, July 2, 1900 shows where the fire started
and how it spread.
The situation could not have been worse with four berths of the North German Lloyd piers taken, enabling the fire to jump from ship to ship. The ships were (from left to right); The Allers, the Saale, The Bremen, The Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse and the Main. This diagram is not completely correct: The Aller had left that morning bound for Naples, Italy.
| |
Newspaper collection Maggie Land Blanck
Detroit EVENING NEWS, July 2, 1900
| |
Newspaper collection Maggie Land Blanck
Detroit EVENING NEWS, July 2, 1900
Crew and others aboard the Saale were trapped below deck as the fire raged above and the port holes were too small to allow escape.
| |
Newspaper collection Maggie Land Blanck
Detriot EVENING NEWS, July 2, 1900
| |
Buffalo Courier, Buffalo, N. Y. July 2, 1900 | |
Newspaper collection Maggie Land Blanck
Buffalo Courier July 2, 1900
The Kaiser Wilhelm de Grosse Towed to Mid Stream | |
Newspaper collection Maggie Land Blanck
Buffalo Courier July 2, 1900
The Steamships Bremen and Main as They Lay Beached and Burning | |
Newspaper collection Maggie Land Blanck
Buffalo Courier July 2, 1900
The Burning Piers and Warehouse as They Looked at 6 o'clock the Night of June 30th | |
Newspaper collection Maggie Land Blanck
Buffalo Courier July 2, 1900
Steamship Bremen Burning | |
Newspaper collection Maggie Land Blanck
Buffalo Courier July 2, 1900
Towing the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse Out of the Fire Zone | |
Munsey's Magazine 1900 | |
Burning of the Saale on the North river. After she had been freed from
the pier, the
tugs pulled her all ablaze into mid stream. She was finally grounded near
Ellis Island.
| |
To see pictures of the interior of the Saale before the fire go to Bremer/Bremenhaven/Lehe | |
As fast as those still alive were taken from the burning ships and piers they
were hurried to hospitals. In all two hundred and fifty persons were thus cared for.
| |
The fire occurred on a beautiful summer Saturday (which was a
"half holiday") around 4'oclock in the afternoon. Hundreds of thousands of people watched from
New
York and New Jersey.
| |
| |
The burning ships, piers, and
warehouses as seen from mid stream. The smoke rose high in the air
and drifted in dense volume over New York City, darkening the sun.
The black clouds rolled across Long Island and out to sea.
| |
Survivors from the Bremen being picked up by tugs. Only those on the upper
deck had time to escape by leaping into the water.
| |
The faces at the portholes of the Saale. At nearly every one of the
openings, eleven inches in diameter, was the
head of a man or woman, and every one was doomed.
Those who were not burned were drowned.
| |
The Piers After the Fire. There remained only charred piles and beams where there had been solid piers with warehouses filled with merchandise. The flames destroyed them all. Many bodies were found under the wreckage.
| |
The Bremen after the fires were extinguished.
She and the Main were beached side by side off Weehawken
| |
The GRAPHIC July 21, 1900 | |
From a Sketch by A Henry Fullwood | |
Burning ships piers and warehouses; the fire at its height as seen from the New York shore | ||
Tugs giving water through the portholes of the "Saale" to the doomed men imprisoned between the burning decks. | ||
Tugs trying to beach the SS. "Bremen" and "Maine" | ||
The Day after the fire; all that was left of the large pier | ||
LESLIE'S
WEEKLY, Extra Fire Edition
THE HOBOKEN HOLOCAUST THE DESTRUCTION BY FIRE OF THREE BIG OCEAN LINERS AT THE HOBOKEN PIERS - THE MOST AWFUL SHIPPING DISASTER OF THE CENTURY There was no additional text with the images of the Hoboken pier fire. |
|
PLAYING THE FIRE-HOSE UPON THE "MAIN",
WHERE ELEVEN OF HER CREW WERE IMPRISONED The tug closest to the ship is the Moran's Peter Cahill. Cahill can be read on the wheelhouse and Peter "Cah" can be read on her bow. Something is obstructing the "ill" on the bow. The other boat is the M Moran. See Tugboats below. When Eugene Moran told the story of the company's involvement in the Hoboken pier fire of 1900 he said that the captain of one of the Moran tugs docked at 30th street in the North River called with word that the Hoboken docks and many ships were ablaze. "I hurried to Pier 4 where the tug Peter Cahill was moored and ordered it also to Hoboken. My brother Bill was there and he hopped aboard still another of our tugs, the P. H. Wise, to take personal command of the four Moran tugs at the fire." | |
WRECKS OF THE "MAIN" AND THE "BREMEN" LYING OFF WEEHAWKEN, THE FIRE STILL BURNING IN THE HOLD | |
RUINS OF THE HOBOKEN PIERS, FROM WHICH THOUSANDS HAVE DEPARTED WEEKLY FOR FOREIGN LANDS | |
THE BURNING WAREHOUSES FRONTING ON RIVER STREET HOBOKEN | |
A BURNING WAREHOUSE JUST AFTER THE WALL HAD FALLEN | |
SHIPS BEING TOWED FROM THIER PIERS, A FLOATING MASS OF FLAMES | |
VIEW OF THE "BREMEN" HEELED OVER ON THE WEEHAWKEN FLATS | |
PLAYING HOSE UPON THE SMOLDERING RUINS OF SHIPS AND PIERS A WHOLE HARBOR ABLAZE THREE GREAT OCEAN LINERS AND TWENTY-THREE SMALLER CRAFT GO UP IN FLAMES —THE RIVER COVERED WITH BURNING WRECKAGE | |
THE NORTH GERMAN LLOYD STEAMSHIP "BREMEN" BEACHED AT WEEHAWKEN—THE SEARCH FOR BODIES PREVENTED BY THE INTENSE HEAT IN THE HOLD OF THE WRECKED SHIP | |
TONS OF WATER BEING POURED INTO THE RED-HOT HULLS OF THE WRECKED "BREMEN" AND "MAIN" BY THE FIRE-BOATS AND TUGS | |
VIEW OF THE RIVER FRONT RAVAGED BY THE FIRE AT HOBOKEN THE RUIN WROUGHT BY THE FIRE-FIEND AT HOBOKEN THE SMOKING WRECKAGE OF THE PIERS AND WAREHOUSES, ALL THAT IS LEFT OF A FAMOUS AND POPULAR SHIPPING CENTER In December 2011 Larry Von Holland a Holland American Line historian who lived in Hoboken for 40 years identified the ship in the background of this image (and the next images) as the SS Obdam. Larry says: This was the brand new SS Obdam, arriving on July 2nd on her second voyage from Rotterdam. Holland-America rented their piers from the Hoboken Land Company (Stevens family) and were at the foot of Fifth and Sixth Streets. They were clear of the fire and had no ship in port. | |
VIEW OF THE BURNED PIERS AND SHIPPING DISTRICT AT HOBOKEN, AS SEEN
FROM RIVER STREET THE STEAMSHIP-FIRE HORROR AT THE HOBOKEN (N.J.) PIERS HEMMED IN BY THE FLAMES ON THE SHIPS AND PIERS, OVER 150 OF THE CREWS AND DOCK LABORERS LOSE THEIR LIVES- ONE CREW RESCUED AFTER SEVEN HOURS OF IMPRISONMENT IN THE DEPTS OF A BURNING SHIP —OVER $10,000,000 WORTH OF PROPERTY DESTROYED The crowd appears to be curiosity seekers.
| |
"KAISER WILHELM DER GROSSE," LARGEST AND FASTEST STEAMSHIP IN THE WORLD
"There is not in all the world a more inspiring sight than the departure or arrival of a modern ocean steamship —that triumph of science and invention, and most imposing symbol of man's conquest over forces of nature. The North German Lloyd's new twin-screw express steamship, Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse (King William the Great), is the largest in the world, her dimensions being; Length, 648 feet; beam, 66 feet; depth, 43 feet; tonnage, 14,000, and displacement, 20,00 tons. Nothing could exceed the majesty of her appearance. As she moves through the water like a thing of life, with the German and American colors flying, the smoke rolling from her four gigantic yellow funnels, and her port-holes gleaming like a thousand eyes, the involuntary exclamation is, "What a glorious picture!"The Kaiser Wilhem der Grosse was at the docks in Hoboken when the fire started. She escaped with minor damage. See next section. | |
Catholic world, Volume 71
By Paulist Fathers, August 1900
| |
Catholic world, Volume 71
By Paulist Fathers, August 1900 added June 2012 WHAT OF THE CHARRED AND CHARNEL DOCKS? | |
Catholic world, Volume 71
By Paulist Fathers, August 1900 added June 2012 PEERING INTO THE HOLD OF THE SAALE AFTER THE FIRE | |
Catholic world, Volume 71
By Paulist Fathers, August 1900 added June 2012 THE MAIN AND THE BREMEN GROUNDED IN WEEHAWKEN |
Image from Rutgers Library Online
|
|
Rutgers Library online
Notice all the people standing on the roof top looking at the fire.
|
Post Cards Until 1898 the U. S. Post Office had the exclusive right to print postcards. In May 1898 Congress passed the "Private Mailing Card Act" which allowed private companies and individuals to print "Private Mailing Cards". They were also as "souvenir cards". Until 1901 these cards could not be called "postcards". "Private Mailing Cards" were printed after the fire. I have obtained the following examples. |
|
Postcard collection Maggie Land Blanck
The German Lloyd's Hoboken Piers and Steamships Destroyed by Fire, June 30, 1900 Campells Store House - The Main - The Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse - The Saale - The Bremen
| |
Printed on front: "The great Hoboken disaster,
June 30, 1900.—The burning S. S. Saale. Capt. Mirow, who died as a hero. Das grosse Feuer zu Hoboken, 30. June 1900.—Die brennende,, Saale, " Capt Mirow stirbt de Heldentod." Captain C. August Johann Mirow was born 21.101854 in Lethe/Hanover Germany Captain Mirow was reportedly one of the most popular captains in the fleet. He remained with the burning ship even as others jumped off. He was awarded a hero's death. A service was held in the German Lutheran Church on Schermerhorn Street in Brooklyn on July 21, 1900. His ashes were sent to his widow in Bremerhaven. [Honolulu republican, July 21, 1900] " The divers picked up what they were sure was the body of the Saale's captain. He died at his post. The cruel flames left so little of his body that it was identified only by his pocket knife and his gold watch chain melted into a shapeless lump | |
This card is labeled "Postkarte" on the back. | |
The North German Lloyd Ships in the Port of
Hoboken on June 30, 1900 At the North German Lloyd docks in Hoboken on June 30, 1900 were four ships: Bremen, Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, Main, & Saale. All of these ships were tied to the dock and none of them had their power up. This put all of them in a very precarious position, as they were virtually incapable of moving with any speed under their own power. They were dependent on the tug boats to get them quickly away from the burning piers.
| |
Tug Boats to the Rescue,
Hoboken, June 30, 1900 Several tugboats were mentioned by name in articles about the pier fire. It seems the tugs performed three main functions during the fire: spraying waster on the burning vessels and piers, pushing or tugging the ships around, and rescuing men over board. I have not been able to find any pictures of the tugboats with the exception of the M Moran (which is identifiable in one of the pictures from Leslie's Weekly) and the Admiral Dewey (which was identified by Norman Brouwer).
Tugboat Enthusiasts Society of the Americas
|
The tug HELEN McALLISTER, ex-ADMIRAL DEWEY and The Great Hoboken Pier Fire
By
Norman Brouwer
In October 2010 Norman Brouwer generously shared the following story of the roll of the tug boat, ADMIRAL DEWEY, and other tugs on that fateful day in June 1900:
(Based on U.S. District Court records held by the Manhattan Branch of the National Archives; including court testimony of Captain George Belgarde of the ADMIRAL DEWEY, and Chief Engineer Johann Tinken of the liner BREMEN.)The Helen McAllister was at the South Street Seaport for a number of years. They have recently had a reorganization and Gail R. Gordon informed me that the Hellen McAllister had been returned to the McAllisters. Gail sent this new link. Tug Boat Information - Helen McAllister |
Canal Boats, Lighters, Barges and Other Boats
Canal boats, lighters and barges caught fire and drifted in the river. The Fireboats, New Yorker and VanWyck, were employed to put out the fires on these boats and then turned their attention to the burning steamships.
Lighter n. A large flatbottom barge, especially one used to deliver or unload goods to or from a cargo ship or transport goods over short distances.Norman Brouwer writes: "The term lighter goes back at least to the 1300s in the Port of London. They were craft used to move goods within a port. This was important before the development of road tunnels and road bridges, paved highways, and trucking. They moved goods by water, usually from one side of the port to another. The goods might come from ships, railway cars or warehouses. The majority were lighter barges moved by tugboats. Some were self-propelled. Some had sheds to protect perishable goods. Some had goods stowed on the open deck. Some had hoisting gear for loading and unloading. Some goods might be transferred by other derricks, on shore or on other barges. Some goods were loaded and unloaded by hand, usually by hand trucks." | |
A Row Boat to the Rescue In December 1900 Frank Rattemaccher, age 16 of Hoboken, was awarded a gold metal by Col. Wesley Jones President of the United States Life Saving Corp. Rattemacher was credited with saving 120 lives during the Hoboken pier fire of June 30th. Unaided while the steamships were burning: "the boy, who was in a large rowboat, the Terror, many times went through the smoke and close to the flames of the burning vessels and rowed men ashore. Four times the boat was overturned." (New York Times) Philip Heckel (Hepkel) of Hoboken received a silver metal for his service in the disaster.
"Frank Rademacher, 18 years of age, 602 Willow avenue, and Philip Heckel, age 31 years, 623 Willow avenue, were the heroes who were honored"Frank Rademacher
1900: Willow ave, Moritz Rademacher 54, porter dry goods store, Caroline Rademacher 46 Meta H Rademacher 25, sewing machine operator, Rudolph M Rademacher 23, painter, Henry Rademacher 19, pressman printing house, Frank M Rademacher 17, pressman printing house, Fredrick E Rademacher 12 Elisie E Rademacher 5, Moritz, Caroline, Rudolph, and Henry born Germany immigrated 1881. | |
Funeral Hoboken | |
Rutgers Library online
Washington between 4th and fifth streets - Henry Pollak mid block on the left by utility pole - west side of street - Henry Pollak, dry goods, was at 408 Washington street in 1902.
| |
Rutgers Library online
Funeral procession of Hoboken pier fire victims. First st looking west towards Hudson street.
| |
Burial of Seventy Six Hoboken Fire Victims at Flower Hill | |
Postcard collection Maggie Land Blanck
| |
Mass Grave Flower Hill Cemetery, Union City | |
Mass grave of the victims of the June 30, 1900 fire - Flower Hill Cemetery, Union City, New Jersey, Summer 2006. | ||
The gate of the mass grave Flower Hill Cemetery, Union City, New Jersey, Summer 2006.
"Erected, North German Lloyd Steamship Co., 1900" | ||
The S. S. Bremen
The Norddeutscher Lloyd S. S. Bremen built in 1896 was the second of that name. She made transatlantic voyages until 1914. (Norwegian Heritage - http://www.norwayheritage.com) |
S. S. Bremen, North German Lloyd, circa 1905, Hoboken Pier, Library of Congress, 2013
Title: S.S. Bremen, North German Lloyde [i.e. Lloyd] Pier, Hoboken, N.J., The
Related Names:
Detroit Publishing Co. , copyright claimant
Detroit Publishing Co. , publisher
Date Created/Published: c1905.
Medium: 1 negative : glass ; 8 x 10 in.
Reproduction Number: LC-D4-18451 (b&w glass neg.)
Call Number: LC-D4-18451 [P&P]
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA | |
Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse
The Norddeutscher Lloyd S. S. Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse was built in 1897. She made transatlantic voyages until 1914. (Norwegian Heritage - http://www.norwayheritage.com) |
Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, circa 1897, Library of Congress, 2013 Title: S.S. KAISER WILHELM DER GROSSE Date Created/Published: c1897. Medium: 1 photographic print. Summary: Full starboard view. Reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-69219 (b&w film copy neg.) Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on publication. Call Number: LOT 3354 [item] [P&P] Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA | |
The smoking cabin on the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, circa 1908, Library of Congress, 2013 Title: ["Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse," smoking cabin, North German Lloyd, Royal Mail Steamers Date Created/Published: [between ca. 1890 and ca. 1900]. Medium: 1 photomechanical print : photochrom, color. Reproduction Number: LC-DIG-ppmsca-02202 (digital file from original) Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on publication. Call Number: LOT 13411, no. 1202 [item] [P&P] Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA | |
The S. S. Main The Norddeutscher Lloyd steam ship, Main built in 1900 was the second ship of the name. She made transatlantic voyages until 1914. Norwegian Heritage) |
The SS Main, circa 1908, Library of Congress, 2013
S.S. Main
Detroit Publishing Co.
[1908?]
1 negative : glass ; 8 x 10 in.
Reproduction Number: LC-D4-22460 (b&w glass neg.)
Call Number: LC-D4-22460 [P&P]
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA The Main had arrived in New York on June 26 having left Bremen on the 13th.
The captain of the Main was B. Petermann. He was in his cabin when he smelled smoke and ran on deck. It seemed as if the ship was walled in by fire. The cotton on the piers was on fire. Cotton on lighters on the side of the ship were ablaze. The mooring ropes were cut and an an unsuccessful attempt was made to get a tug to tow the ship out. The tide kept the ship "jammed up against the pier"."I saw the vessel would never get out. I scrambled down the side on a rope to a raft and was taken away somehow." (New York Times, 2 July 1900)Br. Peterman was captain of the Braunschweig in 1896. |
Rutgers Library online
Written on the front of the photo "Brandkatastrophe Hoboken June 30, 1900" and "422 Washington Street"
Brand = fire - Katastrophe = catastrophe "Rescued crew from the steamship Main." The newspapers reported that sixteen men miraculously survived seven hours in the burning Main by seeking shelter in the coal bunker. Since there are a lot more than sixteen men (including several women) in this photo it can be assumed that some survived by other methods.
| |
The S. S. Saale |
The SS Saale, Photo courtesy Heather Reichert, May 2009 | ||
The SS Saale, circa 1890-1895, Library of Congress, 2013
S.S. Saale
Johnston, John S., photographer
Detroit Publishing Co. , publisher
[between 1890 and 1895]
1 negative : glass ; 8 x 10 in.
Reproduction Number: LC-D4-22383 (b&w glass neg.)
Call Number: LC-D4-22383 [P&P]
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA | |
Campbell Stores |
Rutgers Library online Campbell Stores, River and Forth street.
Rutgers Library online Ruins of the Campbell Stores river and Forth street after the 1900 pier fire.
|
|
Story of the Hoboken Fire, 1900, with excerpts from The New York Times |
If you have any suggestions, corrections, information, copies of documents, or photos that you would like to share with this page, please contact me at maggie@maggieblanck.com |
Home - Law Land - Percy Land - Blanck - Petermann - Hoboken Photos |
RETURN TO TOP OF PAGE |
Please feel free to link to this web page. |
© Maggie Land Blanck - page created 2004 - latest update, June 2010 |