On this day in 1900, four German boats burn at the docks in
Hoboken, New Jersey, killing more than 300 people. The fire was
so large that it could be seen by nearly every person in the New
York City area. William Northmaid was working as the afternoon
watchman on Pier 3 in Hoboken when he spotted a fire just before
4 p.m. The old wooden pier was at serious risk for fire and the
combination of strong winds and the presence of wooden fuel-
filled cargo sheds made it spread very rapidly. Before the
Hoboken fire department could respond, the ship Saale, which had
been docked at the pier, caught fire and drifted out into the
Hudson River. Many of the ship's workers did not know how to
swim and drowned. The ship Bremen was next to catch fire. Nettie
Tice, one of the tugboats sent to take the big ships off the
fiery dock, was able to pick up more than 100 survivors of the
Bremen. Other tugs assisted the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, the
flagship of the North German Lloyd shipping company. Although
the big ship had weeke