Shipwrecks by Area 1750-2015

Alaska has been divided into 6 primary areas; Southeast, Southwest, Southcentral, Westcentral, Central,  and North.    The 7th list, Other,  is of vessels and losses that had insufficient information to map them or put them in a particular area.  The vessel names are posted alphabetically in each area. At the end of each letter there is room for comment.  If you have additional information please let me know and I will update.  This site is under construction.  Because of the volume of information it will be for some time.  Thanks for visiting and smooth sailing.

Captain Warren Good

Wakefield Cannery at Settler Cove, Kizhuyak Bay, Kodiak Island
Wakefield Cannery at Settler Cove, Kizhuyak Bay, Kodiak Island

17 Replies to “Shipwrecks by Area 1750-2015”

    1. There have been too many to list. This site is about Alaska Shipwrecks, but I have included many vessels that were travelling to and from Alaska that were lost in or near British Columbia. I just did a quick word search for Queen Charlotte in my ALASKA SHIPWRECKS book and came up with the Cape Clear (1927), Discovery (1991), George S Wright (1873), K V Kruse (1941), Mafco 8&9 (1951) and Pacific Apollo (1990). You can look each one up in the Alphabetical Listings for more information. Word searches of specific names of Islands or bodies of water within the Queen Charlotte Islands may be productive.

  1. I’m kind of curious I could not find the wreck of the tugboat neoga it burned and went to ground in between Olga and Neva Straits on its way into Sitka Alaska I was there the night it burned probably about 20 of us in small boats and also the Coast Guard cutter nothing was done to put it out we just watched a burn I heard later that it was the brand-new boat from Samson taught in barge hydraulic line pumped fuel onto the exhaust manifold if you have any ideas or a picture please let me know

    1. I haven’t been able to locate this loss yet. Do you know roughly what year it was? I may be able to track it down if I could zero in on a time period. Thanks

  2. I am trying to find any information on shipwrecks near Point Gardner on the south end of Admiralty island. Any with a cargo of ore or silver concentrates. In about 200 feet of water.
    Regards,
    Mark Hargitt.

    1. There have been many wrecks in that area but none that I recall carrying the cargo you mention. The Port Orford sank there carrying military supplies in 1942. It was large enough to carry a substantial cargo at 214 foot. She was a lumber ship being used in the War Effort.

    2. I recently added a significant loss from 1954 of the wooden Canadian tug Chelan near Cape Decision. She was towing a large barge loaded with zinc ore and had a considerable quantity of silver concentrates aboard. Both vessels and all 14 crewmembers were lost. In the late 1970’s Doug Anderson and some associates located the wreck with a one man submarine and acquired salvage rights. Anderson died in a freak accident shortly after while attempting another salvage near Seattle. I have no record of what happened after his loss in 1979 other than the boat he was using for salvage was sold at a U S Marshall sale in 1982.

  3. I am joe and i was looking for info on my dads boat that went down around 1978 1979.It sunk out of lituya bay . My dads name was pat wodyga. His first boat was the Edrie that went through the wave in Glacier bay.I was around 5 or 6 and i only remember parts of it.He owned the Invictus later in years. the name of the boat that went down was the gooeduck 70 ‘ steel trawler. my dad has passed a way but boating runs through my blood. I would like to tell more to my son and take the inside passage in my 18’hews craft.

    1. Thanks for checking in Joe. I do not have any records of the loss of your Dad’s steel trawler. I see the Invictus and a 60 foot wooden vessel called the Sea Explorer that he owned in 1979 but not the Gooeduck. I will keep looking. I will also research the wave that you talked about. I believe that is the one that the Sunmore and Badger were lost in 1958.

    1. The only two I have been able to find actually wrecked in Green Cove were the Undine in 1933 and the Reliance in 1926. Both were wood vessels smaller than 40 feet. There have been a few more off of Pt. Arden which may have eventually ended up in Green Cove including the 27 foot Sea Otter in 1933, 13 ton Evelyn G in 1921, 8 ton Carolyn in 1937 and the 37 foot schooner Adventure in 1899. All were small vessels blown ashore by Taku winds. The 104 foot Resolute went on the beach over toward Oliver Inlet from Green Cove in 1935. There are probably many more.

  4. In around October november 1973 . Crab fishing vessel Oceanic around 80 feet long stranded at Spray Cape west of Dutch Harbor Alaska 5 crew spent 4 days on the beach before picked by uscg helicopter

    1. I have not been able to find a news article or official record of this loss. I will keep trying. I am guessing this is the wood hulled Oceanic built in 1942. Thanks for the heads up.

  5. to CAPTAIN GOOD ;
    I found the info you had about the Norwegian wood that sank in oct 1981 .i was the capt of the Mary M ,the norwegian wood was 58 foot at the keel annd i believe 68 foot over all ,[ i worked on her in 1972 ][first crab boat i worked on ]alsoit wasnt 4 servivers it was 3 three and one was the son, of the owner operater whom went down with the vessel when she sank ,the vessel was called the Thomas j 111 when i worked on her in early 70s from my remembance it was the norwegian wood before and between 67-69 she was doing echo servays for and oil company and they blew out all the calking in the stern and lmost sank back then anyways thank you for the dedication you have put into all the info sincerly Daniel Desautel

    1. Thanks Daniel. I am revisiting all the thousands of wrecks I have accumulated information about and adding to their files. I will be releasing a few new books in the next couple of years with more detailed information about each wreck including the Norwegian Wood. I have begun this process working on the wrecks of Southeast Alaska but will be getting to South Central Alaska later this year with includes Cook Inlet where the Norwegian Wood went down. Thanks for the heads up, I will find newspaper records from November 29, 1981 and add to the information about this tragedy.

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