The Grounding of the SS Princess Sophia

on the 24th of october in the year 1918 the ss princess sophia was down bound lin canal in the inside passage making best speed for juno alaska territory three hours behind schedule the passenger liner was making good speed despite the driving winds and low visibility due to a particularly severe snowstorm but that good speed would ultimately seal the fate of the princess sofia along with her crew and passengers as the deceptively peaceful waters of canada's inside passage would become deadly ss princess sophia began her life in paisley scotland in the beau mclaughlin and company shipbuilding yards she was ordered by the canadian pacific railway in may of 1911 and was completed the following year her route would be in the canadian inside passage on cpr's vancouver in victoria to northern british columbia ports and alaska route the vessel itself was 2 320 gross registered tons 240 feet or 75 meters in length and 44 feet or 13 meters at the beam she was powered by one triple expansion steam engine a single screw allowed the ship to achieve speeds of 14 knots hardly the most luxurious of the cpr fleet she was still well suited for near-shore voyages such as the route through the mostly peaceful waters of the inside passage the inside passageway was a natural channel along the canadian west coast stretching from the straits of juan de fuca in the pacific northwest of the united states all the way up to the juno-alaska territory a long island chain created a natural calm breakwater that helped protect shipping from the tumultuous waters of the northern pacific and gulf of alaska the channels themselves could be several hundreds of fathoms deep and several nautical miles wide perfect for shipping traffic the inside passage turned a potentially dangerous voyage along the canadian coast into a relatively easy and scenic transit in most situations except for the most extreme princess sophia's career was mostly uneventful she was briefly drafted into naval service during the great war in which she ferried troops from alaska and victoria to other parts of canada she was fortunate not to find any harm during the conflict something other ships in the cpr fleet cannot claim but that's a story for another video by october of 1918 she was on her final voyage of the season before the winter ice locked down the northern waterways until spring on the 22nd of october the people of skagway were celebrating the end of another busy season with their annual sourdough dance soon the vast majority of people would head south for the winter before the ice filled the channel ss princess sophia departed late the next day three hours behind schedule leaving port at 2200 with captain leonard block at the helm on board were 268 passengers and 75 crew individuals from all across yukon territory alaska and british columbia state officials gold miners and soldiers heading off to a nearly finished war in europe and the hold were a handful of horses and dogs accompanying their owners on their trip southwards despite leaving in the dark of night and encountering driving snow near battery point captain locke maintained sophia's cruising speed of 11 knots winds drove in from the north at upwards of 50 knots a stern wind making steering difficult on top of this sophia was being navigated with dead reckoning an imperfect method of navigation dead reckoning uses a known position such as a port or a previously attained fix combined with speed and heading to estimate a ship's position over time but it cannot factor in certain variables such as wind and current it can often be off by several hundred yards or even a few nautical miles in this instance it's believed princess sofia was up to a nautical mile or 1.9 kilometers off course due to high winds and a heavy stern sea later investigations believe captain lock should have reduced speed but perhaps continued at such a high rate of speed to make up for the ship being three hours behind schedule captain lock was a 25 year veteran of the route lynn canal is a 90 mile long inland and though known for its strong winds would be as wide as 10 nautical miles the captain had one previous incident in which he grounded upon sentinel island but had no casualties but on this night unbeknownst to the captain they had drifted dangerously close to vanderbilt reef this reef sat in the middle of the channel making a choke point that reduced the navigable channel to around 2.5 nautical miles across typically the reef sat just under the surface and at low tide could sit up to 12 feet above the surface the hazard was marked by only a black and orange unlit buoy which would have been impossible to see in the conditions at present the princess sofia ran aground hard on vanderbilt reef at 0-200 on the 24th of october there was an initial shock from the passengers and crew one describing it in a letter found after the sinking two women fainted and one of them got herself into a black evening dress and didn't worry about who saw her putting it on some of the men too kept life preservers on for an hour or so and seemed to think there was no chance for us signal core private rsw mcqueen but in spite of the initial panic and a bit of jostling a quick inspection found that the double bottom hull of the ship hadn't been punctured by the rocks a wireless message was sent out and received by the cpr company in juno and a rescue effort was immediately launched high tide occurred at around 0-600 in the morning winds had died down and the snow had ceased if only temporarily the first attempts for the sophia to remove itself from the rocks were unsuccessful the waves pounded the stern of the vessel driving it further onto the rocks the waves were such that efforts to launch lifeboats would have had deadly circumstances rescue ships were slowly arriving but the determination to not evacuate was made by captain locke by low tide at noon the barometer was rising indicating a potential improvement in the weather by this time sophia was fully out of the water and resting completely on the reef but confident that the ship would hold captain lock warned off the rescue boats until conditions improved further certain the vessel would stay intact by this time a hole had been punched into the bow of the ship allowing free communication with the sea but the vessel was still firmly on the rocks the rescue vessels made for protected ports by 1400 on thursday the united states lighthouse service lighthouse tender cedar was underway 66 nautical miles away from vanderbilt reef the tender at the time was conducting missions for the us navy as the uss cedar the cedar was one of the few ocean fairing vessels nearby fitted with wireless capabilities and capable of holding all the passengers and crew of the ss princess sophia she made best steam for the location of the princess sophia high tide came around 1600 waves covered the rocks but not enough to safely lower lifeboats with the night approaching captain locke told the rescue vessels to head off for the night they would take the passengers off safely in the morning by 200 that night snow had begun to fall once more the uss cedar as well as a fishing schooner king and wing had arrived in the vicinity of vanderbilt reef uss cedar had established wireless communications with sophia but by 2030 the power on the ship and the boilers went out the crew and passengers on board set in for a cold dark night on the stranded vessel one is left to wonder what was going through the minds of those on board the princess sofia that first night as the snow board down and waves crashed against the hull of their darkened ship few were unfamiliar with the dangerous waters of the far north and though conditions were bleak there was still hope for now the ship still held together in sight was a fleet of rescue ships including a u.s navy vessel surely it would only be a matter of time until they were rescued shipwrecked off coast of alaska ss princess sofia october 24th 1918. my own dear sweetheart i'm riding this my dear girl while the boat is in grave danger we struck a rock last night which threw many from their births women rushed out in their night attire some were crying some too weak to move but the lifeboats were swung out in all readiness but owing to the storm would be madness to launch until there was no hope for the ship surrounding ships were notified by wireless and in three hours the first steamer came but cannot get near owing to the storm raging and the reef which we are on there are now seven ships near when the tide went down two thirds of the boat was high and dry we were expecting the lights to go out at any minute also the fires the boat might go to pieces for the force of the waves are terrible making awful noises on the side of the boat which has quite a list to port no one is allowed to sleep but believe me dear dory it might have been much worse just here there is a big steamer coming we struck the reef in a terrible snowstorm there is a big buoy near marking the danger but the captain was to port instead of the starboard of the buoy i made my will this morning leaving everything to you my own true love and i want you to give 100 pounds to my dear mother 100 pounds to my dear dad 100 pounds to dear we jack and the balance of my state about 300 pounds to you dear dory the eagle lodge will take care of my remains in danger at sea princess sofia 24th october 1918. to whom it may concern should anything happen to me notify eagle lodge dawson my insurance finances and property i leave to my wife who was to be miss dorothy burgess 37 smart street alongside manchester england a letter written by jack r maskell by the next morning around 0-800 power and steam were restored to the vessel uss cedar headed away from sentinel island where it had weathered for the night joining king and wing just off of vanderbilt reef the winds had grown in intensity to the point of gale force after communicating with captain lock captain ledbetter the captain of the uss cedar had determined that he will anchor cedar just downwind of princess sofia upon doing so he would then fire a line over using a lile gun then he would begin the slow process of evacuating passengers via breaches buoy a device used for taking stranded sailors off of wrecked ships but captain ledbetter was fully aware that this wouldn't be a simple process it would take some time to evacuate all 350 passengers and crew off the princess sofia seeing as this method only allowed one passenger at a time to be removed but whether the method would have been effective or not was never ascertained cedar attempted to anchor twice but was unable to ledbetter decided they would have to wait for more favorable conditions uss cedar and king and wing stayed on station as conditions worsened both vessels struggling to stay in position until around 1300 when ledbetter asked locke for permission to seek shelter seeing no use in staying in the storm lock ascended to this allowing the vessels to depart for the lee of sentinel island for now princess sofia sat in the rocks waiting for the storm to die down captain ledbetter conferred with king and wing deciding on a rescue plan for their next attempt cedar would go to windward of king and wing and make a windbreak as the schooner anchored with her longer anchor chain after that she would launch her lifeboats and begin removing passengers but the method was never to be attempted the sun set at 1647 but this was nearly impossible to tell with the driving snow making visibility down to mere feet at 1650 the uss cedar received a wireless message from princess sophia ship foundering on reef come at once ledbetter immediately got underway king and wing staying behind due to poor conditions and the danger of running aground as well one of the last messages from princess sofia detailed the dire nature of the vessel for god's sake hurry the water is coming into my room worried the sofia's wireless batteries could die the wireless operator aboard cedar advised sophia to conserve the power and to only signal if absolutely necessary sophia responded with all right i will you talk to me so i know you're coming this was the last anyone heard from princess sophia senate 1720 on october 25th 1918. the cedar charged out from behind sentinel island bound for vanderbilt reef immediately it was subject to the torment of the storm green water splashed over the bow and visibility was almost nothing captain ledbetter reduced speed to bare steerage but quickly realized that his own ship could end up on the rocks as well reluctantly he turned back returning to the safety of the island to provide assistance in the morning winds from the north caused increased wave heights the increased water level actually re-floated the stern of princess sophia but the forward compartments were inundated with water and weighed down with the bow still on the rocks the stern was swung about scraping the underside along the reef with the stern hanging off the reef the hull was torn wide open causing the ship to sink off vanderbilt with surprising rapidity possibly in less than an hour seawater getting into the engine room caused a massive boiler explosion as fuel tanks were ripped open and dumped hundreds of gallons of fuel into the sea the sudden nature of the sinking caught many of the passengers off guard some were found later not wearing life vests at all still more surprising where the hundreds or so passengers found still on their birthings either killed outright in the explosion are trapped by the twisting of the hull possible even was a sense of hopelessness choosing to stay in their cabin and drown rather than struggle and perish out in the water still there were those that successfully freed themselves from the doomed vessel leaping into the freezing waters of alaska's inside passage many would suffocate and drown in the sticky black fuel oil surrounding the ship while others would swim away only to slowly die from hypothermia but before the dawn's first light all 352 souls aboard princess sofia perished in the cold waters off vanderbilt reef the following morning uss cedar departed to investigate sophia upon arriving on scene at 0 8 30 only 40 feet of the foremast was observed above water cedar began searching for survivors spending three hours traversing the surrounding waters only bodies were found the watches on them had all stopped around 1750 the believe time of the sinking only one passenger managed to survive an english setter that had been found covered in oil wandering the shore a few days later once ledbetter had returned to juno with bodies he sent a wire no sign of life no hope of survivors in the months and years following several allegations and lawsuits were filed by the families and victims against cpr and even a few of the vessels on scene most seem to ask the same question why didn't captain lock abandon ship which seemed a fair question there were times during the 40 hours on the reef that conditions were possibly safe enough to evacuate a possible explanation could lie in a vessel called the clalum the clalum was a steamship that operated a very similar line to the princess sofia in 1904 the vessel was taking on water and seemed likely to sink the captain ordered an abandoning of the ship lifeboats were swung out and the women and children were loaded onto the boats in the driving storm 52 women and children and four crewmen went with the boats in the heavy seas all three lifeboats capsized and all aboard drowned later the vessel was found and rescued all the men aboard having just watched their wives and children perish before their eyes had they simply waited the tragedy could have been avoided this case would have been well known by captain lock and perhaps have even been at his forethought ultimately news of this disaster were overshadowed by the end of the great war a few weeks later and the sunden pandemic that was the spanish flu but to the community of the yukon territory alaska and british columbia this tragedy hit particularly hard politicians minors soldiers sons and fathers daughters and mothers the small community was greatly impacted one aboard was famous mountain climber walter harper the first man to summit mount denali the largest mountain in north america he was heading south with his newlywed wife to attend university in pennsylvania walter goss was brother to frank goss the second mate of the princess sophia walter was a lookout aboard the sofia and had been late to board just missing the vessel as it left port in the small insular community of alaska and the yukon everyone was relied upon skagway had a population of just 1980. juno a population of 5854 it is said that there wasn't a soul in the yukon that didn't know someone that perished aboard the ss princess sofia canada's titanic you

Channel: Maritime Horrors

Views: 296,211

Keywords: Maritime Horror, Maritime, Horror, History, Nautical, SS Princess Sophia, Princess, Sophia, Steamship, Canadian Pacific Railway, Skagway, Juneau, Alaska, Disaster, Grounding, Vanderbilt Reef, Maritime History, Famous Disasters, Canada, Princess Sophia, 1918, World War 1, Yukon Gold Rush, Tragedy, US Lighthouse Service, Boat, Ship, Spanish Flu, Canadian Inside Passage, Inside Passage, Great War, Drowning, Crash, USS Cedar, King and Winge, Walter Harper, US Coast Guard, US Navy, Navy, Royal Navy

Id: yfzDz8RRh5o

Length: 19min 1sec (1141 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 10 2021