Northern Alaska Shipwrecks

For the purposes of this website Northern Alaska includes everything N of Kotzebue Sound up into the Chukchi Sea and around past Point Barrow E into the Arctic Ocean to the Canadian Border at Demarcation Point.  I have used NOAA Chart 16003 of the Arctic Coast to locate the losses.  The locations of each wreck, given in longitude and latitude, are of the geographic feature nearest the loss, not of the wrecks themselves.  I will leave that to those who visit the actual areas and seek out evidence of the casualties.  I am listing vessels alphabetically and setting a link as I complete each letter.

( A )  ( B )  ( C )  ( D )  ( E )  ( F )  ( G )  ( H )  ( I )  ( J )  ( K )  ( L )  ( M )

( N )  ( O )  ( P )  ( Q )  ( R )  ( S )  ( T )  ( U-V-W )  ( X-Y-Z )

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4 Replies to “Northern Alaska Shipwrecks”

  1. Do you have any information on the wrecked/grounded ship in Demarcation Bay, Southeast shore at mouth of Kagiluak Creek, 69-38-13.4N, 141-15-05.4W?

    1. I do not get many requests for information about wrecks that far north. I did a quick search and came up with a few possibilities but need to do more research. I will see what I can find in the next few days.

    2. It’s LST 642, which grounded in 1948, was salvaged, and then broke away under tow. At that point it disappeared, but was rediscovered in the early ’60s grounded in Demarcation Bay. Some more photographs are here: https://www.fws.gov/refuge/arctic/egghunt.html

      (An FWS survey from 1965 says it was grounded the previous summer, after its tug developed engine trouble. It has remained there ever since, obviously)

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