Alaska Shipwrecks

In the interest of financing and perpetuating our work here at Alaska Shipwrecks, I am publishing a series of books. They will be presented in a geographic format with the Alaska Shipwrecks of individual waterways described for each waterway in the entire state. For anyone living or traveling through any Alaskan waterway, you can now learn all of the wrecks associated with any particular waterway. The series of books is called “ALASKA SHIPWRECKS – WATERWAYS OF ALASKA”. The four books in the series are “WATERWAYS OF SOUTHEAST ALASKA”, “WATERWAYS OF SOUTH CENTRAL ALASKA”, “WATERWAYS OF CENTRAL AND WESTERN ALASKA”, AND “WATERWAYS OF NORTHERN ALASKA”

The first book, WATERWAYS OF SOUTHEAST ALASKA, is now available on Kindle through Amazon. It is only a few bucks for a very valuable source of information. The link is: https://a.co/d/e1mt5l4https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CZK8YYQX?

The alphabetical list of Alaska Shipwrecks on this site includes more than 3,800 ships. After each entry we have posted three categories, MAPPING AND LOCATION, ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, and SOURCES. The LOCATION given is not the exact location of the shipwreck. It is the location of the nearest point of reference which was reported by whatever source the information came from. For example, if a news article says a wreck occurred in Cook Inlet, we take the longitude and latitude for Cook Inlet, which can be found in the Dictionary of Alaska Place Names by Donald Orth, and post that. The ADDITIONAL INFORMATION is usually extracted from various publication years of the Merchant Vessels of the United States published by the U.S. Department of Transportation. We also use a number of State and Federal internet sites including the USCG PSIX (United States Coast Guard Public Information Exchange) and Alaska CFEC (Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission) for shipwreck vessel and owner information. Our SOURCES are listed as the third or last item with each entry. The sources listed are only for the sources used to produce the entry. We may have many more articles, documents, reports, photographs, videos and other information in a vessel file. Many of our vessel files have enough information to write a book or two. The folders and files in our computers and collections are extensive. We not only have files on all of the vessels but have collected information and media on places, fisheries, people and a large number of related topics. I have personally digitized many books, magazines, photographs, postcards and ephemera from my Alaska Shipwrecks collection. Many cannot be found anywhere else. I specialize in early 20th and 19th century publications. To keep this website and Alaska Shipwreck resource funded, we sell and license a number of products including all of the items mentioned in this paragraph. If you have anything that may be helpful in expanding our folders and files or would like to license or sell any Alaska Shipwreck related products (photographs etc.) I am always looking to expand the collection. If interested, please contact Captain Warren Good at: [email protected].

This website is about Alaska Shipwrecks. You can click on any of the links, just under the photograph of the Umnak Native shipwreck at the top of the page, and find thousands of Alaska shipwrecks. They are listed alphabetically, chronologically and geographically, so each wreck can be found in a number of places depending how you search. If you want any further information do not hesitate to ask. My files are large and almost everything is digitized. If you have information or photographs I can add please email [email protected] and let me know.

The Alaska Shipwrecks website is put together and published by Captain Warren Good. To those of you that have helped keep this effort going by clicking on the donations button and sending some support my way, THANK YOU! In an effort to generate a more dependable revenue stream, I have removed the donation button and transitioned into ALASKA SHIPWRECKS LLC. I will be offering a number of products and services which will be detailed in a future post. They will include the use of photographs from my personal collection, research services, author assistance and other maritime and shipwreck related products and services. If interested, please contact [email protected].

The Star of Bengal went down on September 20, 1908, near Coronation Island, Alaska. On its way from the cannery at Wrangell to San Francisco, the ship had 111 laborers locked in the hold. All but one died. After a long federal investigation, no one was held responsible.On March 24th the research vessel Endeavour will depart Wrangell to go look for the wreck. The team is confident they can find it. Their reasons why are described in the mission statement on the Alaska Endeavour website, www.AlaskaEndeavour.org

This is your chance to participate. You can help sponsor this expedition for as little as $250. As a sponsor, you’ll be invited to participate in a live online session from the Endeavour the night before it leaves Wrangell, and in a second live online session the morning it returns.To find out how you can help sponsor this expedition and join the live sessions, visit www.AlaskaEndeavour.org

For those of you new to this website, it is totally funded by me and anyone who will donate to keep it functioning. There is a secure “Donation” button above and to the right where you can contribute to the continuation of this site and the research that goes into it. I do not have any advertisements on here and hope to continue that policy. The “Donation” button payment platform is Stripe, which accepts all major credit and debit cards in a safe and secure manor. The site is also secure, which you can see by the “https” that precedes the web address. Thanks for visiting this resource and double thanks if you can help with finances. Any amount helps. Smooth Sailing, Captain Warren Good

The 2022 ALASKA SHIPWRECKS CALENDAR is ready. Getting anything in a hurry this year is out of the question so I would order as early as possible, especially if these are for Christmas presents. The best way to get any of my publications is to do a word search for “Captain Warren Good” or “Alaska Shipwrecks” at Lulu.com which is where I publish all my stuff. Thanks for your support and Happy Holidays to come.

• 

• 

The back and front of the 2022 ALASKA SHIPWRECKS CALENDAR

There is also a link in the Alaska Shipwreck Store that will connect you to my author spotlight at Lulu.com.

My book ALASKA SHIPWRECKS – 12 MONTHS OF DISASTERS is a good compliment to the ALASKA SHIPWRECKS CALENDAR. It is a month to month accounting of the most significant Alaska shipwrecks with transcribed stories taken directly from survivors. It is also available from Lulu.com.

I am working on several new books about Alaska Shipwrecks. Because there are so many maritime disasters, I am dividing the state into areas. The first book in this series will be Shipwrecks of Southeast Alaska. For the purpose of clarity and future study I have divided Southeast Alaska into three areas; Ketchikan Area, Sitka Area and Juneau Area. In the book, each area has a number of waterways associated with it and I have identified the wrecks that took place in each of those waterways and presented details that I have been able to find. I am hoping this will make a good reference book for those interested in identifying wrecks or wreckage they may come across. For example, if you are beachcombing in the area of Lynn Canal and find parts of an old boat, you can go to Lynn Canal chapter of the book and look for wrecks that took place in that area. You can see in the table below that Lynn Canal, which is in the Juneau Area, had 76 wrecks. The following table is a product of the research and conclusions I have put together so far. The count and totals of known shipwrecks will change over time as new “old wrecks” come to light with the research Michael Burwell and I are doing. This Southeast Alaska Shipwreck Table is an accounting of the work done to date.

• 

The information in the form of documents, news articles, wreck reports, Coast Guard Investigations, photographs and other physical and digital artifacts that I have here in my office is substantial. Most of my archives are associated with Alaska Shipwrecks but I have accumulated a great deal of peripheral information as well. If you are researching a topic or subject that may be related to something that may be in my files or library I do not charge to pass along or share what I have. This site has always been a free information resource and I hope to always keep it that way. If I can be of help, I will. It doesn’t matter if you are an individual researching the loss of a relative or a national newspaper reporter researching a story, I try to be as forthcoming with information as I am able. If you prefer to be anonymous please email me at [email protected]. I can also be contacted on Facebook at “Alaska Shipwrecks” or “Alaska Fishermen RIP”.

If you do benefit from the information I provide, I very much appreciate donations if you are able. This website is protected by SSL and the donation platform is powered by Stripe and very secure. Just click on the DONATIONS button on the main Alaska Shipwrecks page and you will be directed to where you can help me in my cause.

You would think that shipwrecks and pandemics are unrelated but history shows the worst of the two tend to happen coincidentally. If the current Corona Pandemic is similar to the last pandemic we are in for some substantial tragedies here in the United States.

The Great Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918 began in the spring of that year. The number of deaths from the flu spiked in early June but settled down in mid July. By September the numbers had been low for the summer and most thought the health disaster was about to be over. Unfortunately the numbers began to spike in mid-September and rose exponentially. The spike lasted into early December. When all was said and done, 25% of the U S population had suffered through the Spanish Flu and 675,000 had died. Worldwide it is estimated that 50 to 100 million people died. In Alaska complete native settlements were wiped out. The number of shipwreck and shipwreck deaths spiked at the exact same time as the Spanish Flu Pandemic.

The peak of the Spanish Flu Pandemic was October of 1918. October 24, 1918 was the worst transportation accident in Alaska History. That is the day the Princess Sophia piled up on Vanderbilt Reef and within 40 hours all of the more than 343 persons on board were lost. The Spanish Flu may have played a part in some way in this and many other disasters that happened during the peak periods of the epidemic. The following are disasters that happened in the United States coincidental with the last pandemic which happened in 1918:

• June 22, 1918 a circus train wrecked in Hammond Indiana killing 86 and injuring 127. It was the largest train wreck in U S History at that time.
• July 9, 1918 two passenger trains collided in Nashville, Tennessee killing 101 and injuring 171 people. It became the largest train wreck in U S History.
• October 6, 1918 The HMS Otranto troop ship was rammed by another troopship killing 470 mainly U S Troops and officers. (Outside of the U.S. but significant)
• October 10, 1918 the Cloquet, Minnesota wildfire began and killed more than 450 and injured 52,000 people. It was the deadliest wildfire in U S History at that time.
• October 25, 1918 SS Princess Sophia sank in Alaska with all 343+ on board. It is the worst and deadliest shipwreck in Alaska history.
• November 1, 1918 the Malbone Street subway wreck occurred killing between 93-102 and injuring approximately 250 persons. A subway train derailed on a sharp corner precipitating one of the deadliest train wrecks in U.S. and New York City History.

All of these disasters happened during the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918. There were many others worldwide. I believe that these terrible events are an indirect consequence of so many people being sick at the same time. It is a danger that is not a “one on one” effect but more like a “million on a million” effect. These circumstances are extremely rare. Are we going to see transportation tragedies play out as a result of the Corona Virus Pandemic similar to those that occurred during the Spanish Flu Pandemic. I pray we are not. Even if it doesn’t happen, this is a good opportunity for everyone to learn the new “Pandemic Drills” just in case we really do get one that has the ability to effect a large percentage of the population at the same time.

FYI, my interest in pandemics and their consequences has been life long. I was named Warren Edward Good at birth after my Great Uncle Warren Edward Good of U S Army Company C Ninth Mounted Engineers. He died of Spanish Flu October 6, 1918 at Fort Bliss Base Hospital in Texas during the peak of the Spanish Flu Pandemic.

From the United States Coast Guard :

JUNEAU, Alaska – The Coast Guard suspended its search Wednesday at 6:08 p.m. for five missing fishermen in the waters near Sutwik Island, Alaska.

The five missing are:

• Gary Cobban, Jr. (Master)
• David Lee Cobban
• Arthur Ganacias
• Brock Rainey
• Seth Rousseau-Gano

The two survivors are:

•     Dean Gribble, Jr. 
•      John Lawler

The search spanned over 20 hours, 1,400 square miles and included the following assets:

•      4 MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crews
•      2 HC-130 Hercules airplane crews
•      Coast Guard Cutter Mellon (WHEC 717)

“The decision to suspend an active search and rescue case is never easy, and it’s only made after careful consideration of a myriad of factors,” said Rear Adm. Matthew Bell, 17th District Commander. “Our deepest condolences to the friends and families impacted by this tragedy.”

Watchstanders at the 17th District Command Center in Juneau were notified of a mayday call via High Frequency radio on Tuesday evening from the fishing vessel Scandies Rose, which capsized and sank approximately five miles southeast of Sutwik Island.

MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter and HC-130 Hercules airplane crews launched from Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak. The Jayhawk helicopter crew arrived on-scene and rescued two survivors from a life raft. The survivors were taken to the hospital in Kodiak, where they are reported to be in stable condition.

After exhausting all leads and careful consideration of survival probability, the Coast Guard suspends an active search pending new information or developments. 

-USCG-