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Princess Sophia (steamer)
Encyclopedia
The SS Princess Sophia was a steel-built coastal passenger liner in the coastal service fleet of the Canadian Pacific Railway
(CPR). Along with the SS Princess Adelaide
the SS Princess Alice
and the SS Princess Mary
, the SS Princess Sophia was one of four sister ships built for CPR during 1910-1911.
On 25 October 1918, the Sophia sank with the loss of all aboard after grounding on Vanderbilt Reef
in Lynn Canal
near Juneau, Alaska
. With 343 or more people lost, the wreck of the Princess Sophia was the worst maritime accident in the history of British Columbia and Alaska. The circumstances of the wreck were controversial, as some felt that all aboard could have been saved.
and Vancouver, BC ran through the winding channels and fjords along the coast, stopping at the principal towns for passengers, cargo, and mail. This route is still important today and is called the Inside Passage
. Major ports of call along the Inside Passage include Prince Rupert, BC
; Alert Bay, BC
; Wrangell, AK; Ketchikan, AK
; Juneau, AK
; and Skagway, AK
.
Many different types of vessels navigated the Inside Passage, but the dominant type on longer routes was the "coastal liner". A coastal liner was a vessel which if necessary could withstand severe ocean conditions, but in general was expected to operate in relatively protected coastal waters. For example, as a coastal liner, Sophia would only be licensed to carry passengers within 50 miles of the coastline. Coastal liners carried both passengers and freight, and were often the only link that isolated coastal communities had with the outside world. Originally coastal liners were built of wood, and continued to be so built until well after the time when ocean liners had moved to iron and then steel construction. After several shipwrecks in the Inside Passage and other areas of the Pacific Northwest showed the weakness of wooden hulls, CPR switched over to steel construction for all new vessels.
SS Princess Sophia was also called a "pocket liner" because she offered amenities like a great ocean liner
, but on a smaller scale. The ship was part of the CPR "Princess fleet
," which was composed of ships having names which began with the title "Princess".
at Paisley
, Scotland. A strong, durable vessel, she was built of steel
with a double hull
. Sophia was capable of handling more than just the Inside Passage, as her use on the stormy west coast of Vancouver Island
demonstrated. Sophia was equipped with wireless
communications and full electric lighting. The ship was launched in November 1911 and completed in 1912. She was brought around Cape Horn
by Captain Lindgren, who had also brought two other CPR coastal liners, SS Princess Adelaide and SS Princess May out from Scotland
on the same route. As built, Sophia burned coal
; however, the vessel was converted to oil fuel shortly after arrival in British Columbia. While not as luxurious as her fleet-mates serving the Pacific Northwest
, Sophia was comfortable throughout, particularly in first class. She had a forward observation lounge panelled in maple
, a social hall with a piano for first-class passengers, and a 112-seat dining room with large windows for observing the coastal scenery. At the time of her sinking, Captain Leonard Locke (1852–1918), commanded her, with Captain Jeremiah Shaw (1875–1918) as second in command.
. The next summer CPR assigned Sophia to run once every two weeks from Victoria to Skagway, Alaska
, alternating with SS Princess May, and stopping in Prince Rupert along the way. Occasionally Sophia was diverted to other routes, such an excursion to Bellingham, Washington
. In 1914 the Great War began and with Canada as a participant, early wartime economic disruption resulted in a sharp decline of business for the CPR fleet, and a number of vessels, including Princess Sophia were temporarily taken out of service by November 1914. Sophia and other CPR vessels transported troops raised for service in Europe.
, at 22:10, more than three hours behind schedule. She was due to stop at Juneau
and Wrangell, Alaska
, on the 24th; Ketchikan, Alaska
, and Prince Rupert, British Columbia
, on the 25th; Alert Bay, British Columbia
, on the 26th; and Vancouver, British Columbia, on the 27th. On board were 75 crew and about 268 passengers, including families of men serving overseas in the war, miners, and crews of sternwheelers that had finished operations for the winter. Fifty women and children were on the passenger list. Four hours after leaving Skagway, while proceeding south down Lynn Canal
, the steamship encountered heavy blinding snow driven by a strong and rising northwest wind.
. At high tide
the rock might be awash or almost invisible under swells. At low tide it looked like a low table, with its highest point standing 12 feet above the water at extreme low tide. Vanderbilt Reef was in fact the tip of an underwater mountain that rose 1000 ft (305 m) from the bottom of Lynn Canal. The channel
at this point was about 6.5 miles wide. The presence of the reef narrowed the main navigation channel to 2.5 miles on the east side of the reef. The area is an extremely dangerous one for ships. It has deep waters with strong currents, rocky cliff faces, and narrow fjord
s. Tides regularly bring ships dangerously close to the shore. In bad weather, winds in the Lynn Canal quickly become gale
s.
_on_vanderbilt_reef_10-24-1918.jpg)
This image shows the second lighthouse, built in the 1930s.
Vanderbilt Reef itself was marked with an unlit buoy, which of course would have been invisible at night. There was a manned lighthouse
at Sentinel Island about 4 miles to the south. The light station on Sentinel Island had an area of sheltered water that was used for the station's wharf. Sophia passed another manned light station at Eldred Rock 30 miles south of Skagway. Keepers at both light stations kept weather logs, which became useful later in reconstructing the events of the next two days. The dock at Sentinel Island was used as a staging point by the vessels attempting rescue of the Princess Sophia on 24 and 25 October 1918.
Heading south through Lynn Canal, Sophia drifted about 1.25 miles off course
, and at 02:00 on 24 October 1918, Sophia struck ground
hard on Vanderbilt Reef, 54 miles south of Skagway. A letter later recovered from the body of a passenger, Signal Corps Private
Auris W. McQueen (1883–1918), described the scene on board just after the grounding: "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, put on kept life preservers on for an hour or so and seemed to think there was no chance for us."
operator on Sophia sent out a distress call immediately. Wireless was weak in those days. The distress signal could not reach much farther than Juneau. The message did reach Juneau however, and by 2:15 on 24 October, the local CPR shipping agent was awakened with the news. He immediately began organizing a rescue flotilla from the boats in the harbor.
. Low tide came at about noon. The wind and waves forced the Sophia even farther up onto the reef, but fortunately the vessel's double hull was not breached. At low tide on the reef the entire hull
of the Sophia was completely out of the water. The barometer
was rising, which indicated a possible improvement in the weather. With the next high tide at 16:00, and the seas so rough that any evacuation would be hazardous, Locke chose to wait to see if he could get the vessel off. This proved impossible. Without a tug
, or more likely two or three tugs, the Sophia could never be taken off the reef. Worse yet, the passengers could not be evacuated from the vessel without life-threatening danger. At low tide the Sophia was surrounded on both sides by exposed rock. At high tide, the rock was awash, but the swells were such that a lifeboat
would strike the rocks as the waves pounded up and down.
. These two wrecks, of the Clallam in 1904 and the Princess May in 1910, showed well the dilemma faced by Captain Locke in making a decision whether to evacuate the Sophia.
In fine weather and smooth seas on August 5, 1910, Princess May, another CPR steamship, grounded on Sentinel Island, coincidentally within sight of Vanderbilt Reef. All aboard were evacuated to the nearby light station, and the vessel itself was later removed from the rock with relatively minor damage. Ironically it was the May that CPR dispatched on hearing of the grounding of the Sophia to pick up her passengers who they presumed would be soon evacuated. While the May grounding had been in early August, and not late October, still there were other vessels with the Sophia grounding and the stranded ship seemed to be secure.
The disaster of the Clallam
showed in a horrifyingly unforgettable way the dangers of premature evacuation of a vessel's complement
into lifeboats. Clallam, a new vessel when she foundered, was sunk in a storm on what should have been an ordinary voyage across the Strait of Juan de Fuca
to Victoria, British Columbia
. Clallam (168 feet, 657 tons), was a smaller vessel than Sophia and built of wood. Like Sophia, Clallam was driven by a single propeller turned by a compound steam engine
. En route to Victoria BC on January 8, 1904, Clallam in command of Capt. George Roberts (b1849), encountered severe weather conditions. At about 3:30 p.m., with water rising on board apparently from a broken porthole
and improper pumping procedures
, Clallam seemed as if it would soon sink. Captain Roberts ordered the lifeboats lowered, and into them placed mostly women and children. All three boats capsized or failed to properly launch, drowning all 54 people aboard them. Clallam stayed afloat long enough for rescue vessels to reach her and evacuate the people left on board.
Locke warned off James Davis, captain of the fishing vessel Estebeth, who attempted and then abandoned an effort to reach Sophia in a skiff
. Davis moored his vessel by tying up to the Vanderbilt Reef marker buoy
, which was then in the lee of the Sophia and protected from the worse force of the weather. The desperation of the situation was obvious to Davis and the other captains of the small boats at the scene. Sophia had been seriously damaged striking the reef, with a hole in her bow
that water ran in and out of at a rate that Davis estimated at 200 or 300 gallons per minute. With no apparent way to evacuate passengers, and Sophia stuck fast on the reef, the only thing that Davis and the other rescue boats could do was to wait to see if the weather would moderate enough to attempt an evacuation. Captain Locke, of Sophia was confident enough of his own vessel's safety to tell via megaphone
, Estebeth and Amy, which were taking a pounding in the weather, that Sophia was safe and they should take shelter in a harbor.
Capt. J.W Ledbetter, commander of the USLHS lighthouse tender
Cedar did not receive word of the grounding until 14:00 on 24 October. Then 66 miles away, Ledbetter got in wireless contact with Captain Locke and set out with his ship to the rescue. Ledbetter asked Captain Locke if he wanted to try to evacuate some of the passengers that night. Locke told Ledbetter that the wind and the tide were too strong and it would be better for the rescue ships to anchor and wait until daylight. When Ledbetter arrived at 20:00 on 24 October he found three large vessels, including the fishing schooner King and Winge
which had arrived at 18:20 and about fifteen smaller fishing vessels at the scene, arriving towards the evening on the 24th.
Meanwhile wireless reports of the grounding had reached James W. Troup
, superintendent of CPR steamship operations in Victoria. He and other CPR officials were initially not too alarmed. It appeared that the passengers would be taken off soon, and the question would be one of finding accommodation for them ashore.
communications to Alaska
had been lost on 21 October 1918, and partly as a result this, the wireless operators were having to contend with a rush of messages, which made it difficult to transmit essential messages relating to the grounding of Sophia. Efforts to clear non-essential traffic were frustrated by the international character of the disaster. Word of the grounding only reached Cedar eleven hours after the grounding. Whether this was because Cedar was out of range or because wireless channels were jammed with non-essential traffic is not clear. The delay was unfortunate, as Cedar was the largest all-weather ship in the area, which could readily have taken on all of Sophias passengers and crew. No one knows what Cedar might have been able to do had she been alerted earlier. The delay could have been significant, as the late notice to him was still well recalled 45 years later by Captain Ledbetter. Of all the rescue ships, only Cedar had wireless, and her not being on the scene earlier deprived the rescue effort of this resource, if no other.
of a nearby island for the night. King and Winge, under captain J.J. Miller, had circled the Sophia all night, the only vessel to do so. On arrival at 20:00 on Thursday, Ledbetter ordered searchlight
s shown on Sophia. What he saw convinced him that no boats could be then launched. Waves were breaking hard against the trapped steamship's hull, and the wind was rising. Meanwhile the stranded ship remained fixed firmly in the grip of the rocks. Ledbetter, Miller, and Locke all agreed that the passengers would be safer aboard Sophia and postponed any attempt to take them off by boat.
By 09:00 on 25 October, the wind was rising towards gale
strength. Ledbetter was having difficulty keeping Cedar on station, and the smaller rescue boats that had run for shelter on the evening of the 24th were unable to return to the reef. Ledbetter decided he would try to anchor
Cedar about 500 yards downwind of the reef, shoot a line to Sophia (possibly using a Lyle gun
), and then evacuate the passengers by breeches buoy
. This would have been extremely hazardous and it would have been unlikely that over 300 people could be removed by this method, but it seemed the only thing that could be done. Ledbetter twice tried to drop anchor, but each time it failed to catch on the bottom. Locke could see this effort was failing, and radioed to Ledbetter that it was no use, they would have to wait for low tide when perhaps conditions might be better. There was nothing else that could be done.
The conditions grew steadily worse, and by about 13:00 on the 25th both Cedar and King and Winge
were having difficulty keeping on station. Ledbetter radioed Locke, and asked him for permission to retire to a more protected area. Locke assented. Cedar and King and Winge then went to the lee of Sentinel Island, where Miller, captain of King and Winge came aboard Cedar to discuss a rescue plan with Ledbetter. They agreed that King and Winge, which carried a 350 fathom
anchor cable
, would anchor near the reef. Meanwhile, Cedar would stand off to windward of King and Winge, creating a "lee", that is, a calm (or at least calmer) spot by blocking out the wind with the bulk of the Cedar. Cedar would then launch her lifeboats
to pick up people from Sophia and ferry them to the King and Winge, thus eliminating the need and the hazards of using the boats of the stranded ship. This plan however could not work unless the weather conditions improved. Given that the Sophia had withstood so far some heavy pounding and still remained fixed on the rock, Ledbetter and Miller felt the better course was to wait for the next day to attempt their plan.
The next radio message from Sophia came at 17:20: "For God's sake, hurry, the water is in my room." There was more but the radio operator could not pick it up. Knowing Sophia had weak wireless batteries, Cedar wired Sophia to conserve battery power and only transmit if absolutely necessary. Sophias operator radioed back: "Alright I will. You talk to me so I know you are coming." This was the last wireless message from Sophia.
could not be heard. For 30 minutes Cedar moved slowly towards Vanderbilt Reef. Green water was breaking over the bow of the Cedar. Without knowing precisely where she was, the rescue ship herself was in extreme danger of running onto the reef. The chief inspector of the lighthouse service district was on board Cedar at the time. He conferred with Ledbetter and they agreed that with Cedar herself in danger, and nothing to be found in the conditions, the only thing that could done was to run for shelter. Ledbetter turned Cedar back towards Sentinel Island. Unable to see anything, he had the foghorn sounding. At Sentinel Island, Captain Miller on King and Winge heard the blasts of Cedars foghorn, and sounded his own to guide them in.
There appears to have been no time for an organized evacuation. Many people wore lifejackets, and two wooden lifeboats floated away (the 8 steel lifeboats sank). There were about 100 people still in their cabins when the ship sank. It's hard to know why if there was half an hour before the ship sank why so many people were below deck, but there could be many reasons. As the sea water invaded the ship, the boiler
exploded, buckling the deck and killing many people. Oil fuel spilled into the water, choking people who were trying to swim away. Sophia had been equipped with extra flotation devices, on the theory that people could cling on to these in the water awaiting rescue. These were worthless, as the coldness of the water would soon kill anyone in it long before rescue could arrive.
The next morning, 26 October, it was still snowing, but the wind had died down somewhat. Cedar, King and Winge and other rescue vessels returned to the reef. Only the foremast of the Sophia remained above water. The rescue vessels cruised around for 3 hours looking for survivors. They found bodies, but no living people. The only survivor was a small dog, believed to belong to a wealthy couple aboard, that was able to swim to a nearby island and recovered a few days later. King and Winge took the bodies to Juneau. Cedar also returned to Juneau. When he arrived, Captain Ledbetter sent out a wire which stated: "No sign of life. No hope of survivors."
Jack Maskell was buried in Vancouver's Mountainview Cemetery amidst 66 other victims of the S.S. Princess Sophia tragedy.
Most lie near East 41st Avenue and Prince Edward Street in the Jones 37 section.
Canadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...
(CPR). Along with the SS Princess Adelaide
SS Princess Adelaide
SS Princess Adelaide was a passenger vessel in the coastal service fleet of the Canadian Pacific Railway during the first half of the 20th century....
the SS Princess Alice
SS Princess Alice (1911)
SS Princess Alice was a passenger vessel in the coastal service fleet of the Canadian Pacific Railway during the first half of the 20th century....
and the SS Princess Mary
SS Princess Mary
SS Princess Mary was a passenger vessel in the coastal service fleet of the Canadian Pacific Railway during the first half of the 20th century....
, the SS Princess Sophia was one of four sister ships built for CPR during 1910-1911.
On 25 October 1918, the Sophia sank with the loss of all aboard after grounding on Vanderbilt Reef
Vanderbilt Reef
Vanderbilt Reef is a rocky outcropping in Lynn Canal, a fjord in Alaska, USA at . The outcropping is visible just above the water's surface....
in Lynn Canal
Lynn Canal
Lynn Canal is an inlet into the mainland of southeast Alaska.Lynn Canal runs about from the inlets of the Chilkat River south to Chatham Strait and Stephens Passage...
near Juneau, Alaska
Juneau, Alaska
The City and Borough of Juneau is a unified municipality located on the Gastineau Channel in the panhandle of the U.S. state of Alaska. It has been the capital of Alaska since 1906, when the government of the then-District of Alaska was moved from Sitka as dictated by the U.S. Congress in 1900...
. With 343 or more people lost, the wreck of the Princess Sophia was the worst maritime accident in the history of British Columbia and Alaska. The circumstances of the wreck were controversial, as some felt that all aboard could have been saved.
The Inside Passage
Beginning in 1901, Canadian Pacific Railway ran a line of steamships on the west coast of Canada and the southeast coast of Alaska. The route from Victoria, BCVictoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...
and Vancouver, BC ran through the winding channels and fjords along the coast, stopping at the principal towns for passengers, cargo, and mail. This route is still important today and is called the Inside Passage
Inside Passage
The Inside Passage is a coastal route for oceangoing vessels along a network of passages which weave through the islands on the Pacific coast of North America. The route extends from southeastern Alaska, in the United States, through western British Columbia, in Canada, to northwestern Washington...
. Major ports of call along the Inside Passage include Prince Rupert, BC
Prince Rupert, British Columbia
Prince Rupert is a port city in the province of British Columbia, Canada. It is the land, air, and water transportation hub of British Columbia's North Coast, and home to some 12,815 people .-History:...
; Alert Bay, BC
Alert Bay, British Columbia
Alert Bay is a village on Cormorant Island, British Columbia, Canada. According to the 2006 census, 556 people live within the village.-Population:Slightly more than half of the village's 556 residents are First Nations people...
; Wrangell, AK; Ketchikan, AK
Ketchikan, Alaska
Ketchikan is a city in Ketchikan Gateway Borough, Alaska, United States, the southeasternmost sizable city in that state. With an estimated population of 7,368 in 2010 within the city limits, it is the fifth most populous city in the state....
; Juneau, AK
Juneau, Alaska
The City and Borough of Juneau is a unified municipality located on the Gastineau Channel in the panhandle of the U.S. state of Alaska. It has been the capital of Alaska since 1906, when the government of the then-District of Alaska was moved from Sitka as dictated by the U.S. Congress in 1900...
; and Skagway, AK
Skagway, Alaska
Skagway is a first-class borough in Alaska, on the Alaska Panhandle. It was formerly a city first incorporated in 1900 that was re-incorporated as a borough on June 25, 2007. As of the 2000 census, the population of the city was 862...
.
The coastal liner
SS Princess Sophia was also called a "pocket liner" because she offered amenities like a great ocean liner
Ocean liner
An ocean liner is a ship designed to transport people from one seaport to another along regular long-distance maritime routes according to a schedule. Liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes .Cargo vessels running to a schedule are sometimes referred to as...
, but on a smaller scale. The ship was part of the CPR "Princess fleet
Princess fleet
The Princess fleet is an eponym for the coastal vessels of the Canadian Pacific Railway in the first half of the 20th Century. The names of these small ocean liners began with the title "Princess."...
," which was composed of ships having names which began with the title "Princess".
Design and construction
Princess Sophia was a steamship of 2,320 tons gross and 1,466 tons net register, built by Bow, McLachlan and CompanyBow, McLachlan and Company
Bow, McLachlan and Company was a Scottish marine engineering and shipbuilding company that traded between 1872 and 1932.-1872-1914:In 1872 William Bow and John McLachlan founded the company at Abbotsinch, Renfrewshire, where it made steering gear and light marine steam engines. In 1900 the company...
at Paisley
Paisley
Paisley is the largest town in the historic county of Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland and serves as the administrative centre for the Renfrewshire council area...
, Scotland. A strong, durable vessel, she was built of steel
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
with a double hull
Double hull
A double hull is a ship hull design and construction method invented by Leonardo da Vinci where the bottom and sides of the ship have two complete layers of watertight hull surface: one outer layer forming the normal hull of the ship, and a second inner hull which is some distance inboard,...
. Sophia was capable of handling more than just the Inside Passage, as her use on the stormy west coast of Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island is a large island in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of several North American locations named after George Vancouver, the British Royal Navy officer who explored the Pacific Northwest coast of North America between 1791 and 1794...
demonstrated. Sophia was equipped with wireless
Wireless
Wireless telecommunications is the transfer of information between two or more points that are not physically connected. Distances can be short, such as a few meters for television remote control, or as far as thousands or even millions of kilometers for deep-space radio communications...
communications and full electric lighting. The ship was launched in November 1911 and completed in 1912. She was brought around Cape Horn
Cape Horn
Cape Horn is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island...
by Captain Lindgren, who had also brought two other CPR coastal liners, SS Princess Adelaide and SS Princess May out from Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
on the same route. As built, Sophia burned coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
; however, the vessel was converted to oil fuel shortly after arrival in British Columbia. While not as luxurious as her fleet-mates serving the Pacific Northwest
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
, Sophia was comfortable throughout, particularly in first class. She had a forward observation lounge panelled in maple
Maple
Acer is a genus of trees or shrubs commonly known as maple.Maples are variously classified in a family of their own, the Aceraceae, or together with the Hippocastanaceae included in the family Sapindaceae. Modern classifications, including the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group system, favour inclusion in...
, a social hall with a piano for first-class passengers, and a 112-seat dining room with large windows for observing the coastal scenery. At the time of her sinking, Captain Leonard Locke (1852–1918), commanded her, with Captain Jeremiah Shaw (1875–1918) as second in command.
Routes
On arrival Sophia was put on the route from Victoria to Prince Rupert, BCPrince Rupert, British Columbia
Prince Rupert is a port city in the province of British Columbia, Canada. It is the land, air, and water transportation hub of British Columbia's North Coast, and home to some 12,815 people .-History:...
. The next summer CPR assigned Sophia to run once every two weeks from Victoria to Skagway, Alaska
Skagway, Alaska
Skagway is a first-class borough in Alaska, on the Alaska Panhandle. It was formerly a city first incorporated in 1900 that was re-incorporated as a borough on June 25, 2007. As of the 2000 census, the population of the city was 862...
, alternating with SS Princess May, and stopping in Prince Rupert along the way. Occasionally Sophia was diverted to other routes, such an excursion to Bellingham, Washington
Bellingham, Washington
Bellingham is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Whatcom County in the U.S. state of Washington. It is the twelfth-largest city in the state. Situated on Bellingham Bay, Bellingham is protected by Lummi Island, Portage Island, and the Lummi Peninsula, and opens onto the Strait of Georgia...
. In 1914 the Great War began and with Canada as a participant, early wartime economic disruption resulted in a sharp decline of business for the CPR fleet, and a number of vessels, including Princess Sophia were temporarily taken out of service by November 1914. Sophia and other CPR vessels transported troops raised for service in Europe.
Last voyage
On 23 October 1918, Princess Sophia departed Skagway, AlaskaSkagway, Alaska
Skagway is a first-class borough in Alaska, on the Alaska Panhandle. It was formerly a city first incorporated in 1900 that was re-incorporated as a borough on June 25, 2007. As of the 2000 census, the population of the city was 862...
, at 22:10, more than three hours behind schedule. She was due to stop at Juneau
Juneau, Alaska
The City and Borough of Juneau is a unified municipality located on the Gastineau Channel in the panhandle of the U.S. state of Alaska. It has been the capital of Alaska since 1906, when the government of the then-District of Alaska was moved from Sitka as dictated by the U.S. Congress in 1900...
and Wrangell, Alaska
Wrangell, Alaska
Wrangell is a city and borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. At the 2000 census the population was 2,308.Its Tlingit name is Ḵaachx̱aana.áakʼw . The Tlingit people residing in the Wrangell area, who were there centuries before Europeans, call themselves the Shtaxʼhéen Ḵwáan after the nearby Stikine...
, on the 24th; Ketchikan, Alaska
Ketchikan, Alaska
Ketchikan is a city in Ketchikan Gateway Borough, Alaska, United States, the southeasternmost sizable city in that state. With an estimated population of 7,368 in 2010 within the city limits, it is the fifth most populous city in the state....
, and Prince Rupert, British Columbia
Prince Rupert, British Columbia
Prince Rupert is a port city in the province of British Columbia, Canada. It is the land, air, and water transportation hub of British Columbia's North Coast, and home to some 12,815 people .-History:...
, on the 25th; Alert Bay, British Columbia
Alert Bay, British Columbia
Alert Bay is a village on Cormorant Island, British Columbia, Canada. According to the 2006 census, 556 people live within the village.-Population:Slightly more than half of the village's 556 residents are First Nations people...
, on the 26th; and Vancouver, British Columbia, on the 27th. On board were 75 crew and about 268 passengers, including families of men serving overseas in the war, miners, and crews of sternwheelers that had finished operations for the winter. Fifty women and children were on the passenger list. Four hours after leaving Skagway, while proceeding south down Lynn Canal
Lynn Canal
Lynn Canal is an inlet into the mainland of southeast Alaska.Lynn Canal runs about from the inlets of the Chilkat River south to Chatham Strait and Stephens Passage...
, the steamship encountered heavy blinding snow driven by a strong and rising northwest wind.
Vanderbilt Reef
Ahead of Sophia lay a rock in Lynn Canal called Vanderbilt ReefVanderbilt Reef
Vanderbilt Reef is a rocky outcropping in Lynn Canal, a fjord in Alaska, USA at . The outcropping is visible just above the water's surface....
. At high tide
High Tide
High Tide was a band formed in 1969 by Tony Hill , Simon House , Peter Pavli and Roger Hadden .-History:...
the rock might be awash or almost invisible under swells. At low tide it looked like a low table, with its highest point standing 12 feet above the water at extreme low tide. Vanderbilt Reef was in fact the tip of an underwater mountain that rose 1000 ft (305 m) from the bottom of Lynn Canal. The channel
Channel (geography)
In physical geography, a channel is the physical confine of a river, slough or ocean strait consisting of a bed and banks.A channel is also the natural or human-made deeper course through a reef, sand bar, bay, or any shallow body of water...
at this point was about 6.5 miles wide. The presence of the reef narrowed the main navigation channel to 2.5 miles on the east side of the reef. The area is an extremely dangerous one for ships. It has deep waters with strong currents, rocky cliff faces, and narrow fjord
Fjord
Geologically, a fjord is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created in a valley carved by glacial activity.-Formation:A fjord is formed when a glacier cuts a U-shaped valley by abrasion of the surrounding bedrock. Glacial melting is accompanied by rebound of Earth's crust as the ice...
s. Tides regularly bring ships dangerously close to the shore. In bad weather, winds in the Lynn Canal quickly become gale
Gale
A gale is a very strong wind. There are conflicting definitions of how strong a wind must be to be considered a gale. The U.S. government's National Weather Service defines a gale as 34–47 knots of sustained surface winds. Forecasters typically issue gale warnings when winds of this strength are...
s.
Navigation aids
Vanderbilt Reef itself was marked with an unlit buoy, which of course would have been invisible at night. There was a manned lighthouse
Lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire, and used as an aid to navigation for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways....
at Sentinel Island about 4 miles to the south. The light station on Sentinel Island had an area of sheltered water that was used for the station's wharf. Sophia passed another manned light station at Eldred Rock 30 miles south of Skagway. Keepers at both light stations kept weather logs, which became useful later in reconstructing the events of the next two days. The dock at Sentinel Island was used as a staging point by the vessels attempting rescue of the Princess Sophia on 24 and 25 October 1918.
Grounding
Course (navigation)
In navigation, a vehicle's course is the angle that the intended path of the vehicle makes with a fixed reference object . Typically course is measured in degrees from 0° clockwise to 360° in compass convention . Course is customarily expressed in three digits, using preliminary zeros if needed,...
, and at 02:00 on 24 October 1918, Sophia struck ground
Ship grounding
Ship grounding is a type of marine accident that involves the impact of a ship on the seabed, resulting in damage of the submerged part of her hull and particularly the bottom structure, potentially leading to water ingress and compromise of the ship's structural integrity and stability...
hard on Vanderbilt Reef, 54 miles south of Skagway. A letter later recovered from the body of a passenger, Signal Corps Private
Private (rank)
A Private is a soldier of the lowest military rank .In modern military parlance, 'Private' is shortened to 'Pte' in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries and to 'Pvt.' in the United States.Notably both Sir Fitzroy MacLean and Enoch Powell are examples of, rare, rapid career...
Auris W. McQueen (1883–1918), described the scene on board just after the grounding: "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, put on kept life preservers on for an hour or so and seemed to think there was no chance for us."
First distress call sent
The wirelessWireless
Wireless telecommunications is the transfer of information between two or more points that are not physically connected. Distances can be short, such as a few meters for television remote control, or as far as thousands or even millions of kilometers for deep-space radio communications...
operator on Sophia sent out a distress call immediately. Wireless was weak in those days. The distress signal could not reach much farther than Juneau. The message did reach Juneau however, and by 2:15 on 24 October, the local CPR shipping agent was awakened with the news. He immediately began organizing a rescue flotilla from the boats in the harbor.
Stranded on the reef
High tide came at 06:00 on 24 October. The wind had lessened, but Sophia was still stuck fast on the reefReef
In nautical terminology, a reef is a rock, sandbar, or other feature lying beneath the surface of the water ....
. Low tide came at about noon. The wind and waves forced the Sophia even farther up onto the reef, but fortunately the vessel's double hull was not breached. At low tide on the reef the entire hull
Hull (watercraft)
A hull is the watertight body of a ship or boat. Above the hull is the superstructure and/or deckhouse, where present. The line where the hull meets the water surface is called the waterline.The structure of the hull varies depending on the vessel type...
of the Sophia was completely out of the water. The barometer
Barometer
A barometer is a scientific instrument used in meteorology to measure atmospheric pressure. Pressure tendency can forecast short term changes in the weather...
was rising, which indicated a possible improvement in the weather. With the next high tide at 16:00, and the seas so rough that any evacuation would be hazardous, Locke chose to wait to see if he could get the vessel off. This proved impossible. Without a tug
Tugboat
A tugboat is a boat that maneuvers vessels by pushing or towing them. Tugs move vessels that either should not move themselves, such as ships in a crowded harbor or a narrow canal,or those that cannot move by themselves, such as barges, disabled ships, or oil platforms. Tugboats are powerful for...
, or more likely two or three tugs, the Sophia could never be taken off the reef. Worse yet, the passengers could not be evacuated from the vessel without life-threatening danger. At low tide the Sophia was surrounded on both sides by exposed rock. At high tide, the rock was awash, but the swells were such that a lifeboat
Lifeboat (shipboard)
A lifeboat is a small, rigid or inflatable watercraft carried for emergency evacuation in the event of a disaster aboard ship. In the military, a lifeboat may be referred to as a whaleboat, dinghy, or gig. The ship's tenders of cruise ships often double as lifeboats. Recreational sailors sometimes...
would strike the rocks as the waves pounded up and down.
Similar wrecks
While there had been many shipwrecks and groundings over the years, and it was the rare vessel that did not run aground or have some problem of this nature, two shipwrecks would have been foremost in the minds of Captain Locke and his officers, as well as other senior captains and officers among the rescue vessels, like Captains Ledbetter of Cedar and Miller of the King and WingeKing & Winge (fishing schooner)
The King & Winge was one of the most famous ships ever built in Seattle, Washington, United States. Built in 1914, in the next 80 years she had participated in a famous Arctic rescue, been present at a great maritime tragedy, and been employed as a halibut schooner, a rum runner, a pilot boat, a...
. These two wrecks, of the Clallam in 1904 and the Princess May in 1910, showed well the dilemma faced by Captain Locke in making a decision whether to evacuate the Sophia.
In fine weather and smooth seas on August 5, 1910, Princess May, another CPR steamship, grounded on Sentinel Island, coincidentally within sight of Vanderbilt Reef. All aboard were evacuated to the nearby light station, and the vessel itself was later removed from the rock with relatively minor damage. Ironically it was the May that CPR dispatched on hearing of the grounding of the Sophia to pick up her passengers who they presumed would be soon evacuated. While the May grounding had been in early August, and not late October, still there were other vessels with the Sophia grounding and the stranded ship seemed to be secure.
The disaster of the Clallam
Clallam (steamboat)
The steamboat Clallam operated for about six months from July 1903 to January 1904 in Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. She was sunk in a storm on what should have been an ordinary voyage to Victoria, British Columbia.-Construction:...
showed in a horrifyingly unforgettable way the dangers of premature evacuation of a vessel's complement
Complement
In many different fields, the complement of X is something that together with X makes a complete whole—something that supplies what X lacks.Complement may refer to:...
into lifeboats. Clallam, a new vessel when she foundered, was sunk in a storm on what should have been an ordinary voyage across the Strait of Juan de Fuca
Strait of Juan de Fuca
The Strait of Juan de Fuca is a large body of water about long that is the Salish Sea outlet to the Pacific Ocean...
to Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...
. Clallam (168 feet, 657 tons), was a smaller vessel than Sophia and built of wood. Like Sophia, Clallam was driven by a single propeller turned by a compound steam engine
Steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...
. En route to Victoria BC on January 8, 1904, Clallam in command of Capt. George Roberts (b1849), encountered severe weather conditions. At about 3:30 p.m., with water rising on board apparently from a broken porthole
Porthole
A porthole is a generally circular, window used on the hull of ships to admit light and air. Porthole is actually an abbreviated term for "port hole window"...
and improper pumping procedures
Bilge pump
A bilge pump is a water pump used to remove bilge water. Since fuel can be present in the bilge, electric bilge pumps are designed to not cause sparks. Electric bilge pumps are often fitted with float switches which turn on the pump when the bilge fills to a set level. Since bilge pumps can fail,...
, Clallam seemed as if it would soon sink. Captain Roberts ordered the lifeboats lowered, and into them placed mostly women and children. All three boats capsized or failed to properly launch, drowning all 54 people aboard them. Clallam stayed afloat long enough for rescue vessels to reach her and evacuate the people left on board.
Decision not to evacuate
Skiff
The term skiff is used for a number of essentially unrelated styles of small boat. The word is related to ship and has a complicated etymology: "skiff" comes from the Middle English skif, which derives from the Old French esquif, which in turn derives from the Old Italian schifo, which is itself of...
. Davis moored his vessel by tying up to the Vanderbilt Reef marker buoy
Buoy
A buoy is a floating device that can have many different purposes. It can be anchored or allowed to drift. The word, of Old French or Middle Dutch origin, is now most commonly in UK English, although some orthoepists have traditionally prescribed the pronunciation...
, which was then in the lee of the Sophia and protected from the worse force of the weather. The desperation of the situation was obvious to Davis and the other captains of the small boats at the scene. Sophia had been seriously damaged striking the reef, with a hole in her bow
Bow (ship)
The bow is a nautical term that refers to the forward part of the hull of a ship or boat, the point that is most forward when the vessel is underway. Both of the adjectives fore and forward mean towards the bow...
that water ran in and out of at a rate that Davis estimated at 200 or 300 gallons per minute. With no apparent way to evacuate passengers, and Sophia stuck fast on the reef, the only thing that Davis and the other rescue boats could do was to wait to see if the weather would moderate enough to attempt an evacuation. Captain Locke, of Sophia was confident enough of his own vessel's safety to tell via megaphone
Megaphone
A megaphone, speaking-trumpet, bullhorn, blowhorn, or loud hailer is a portable, usually hand-held, cone-shaped horn used to amplify a person’s voice or other sounds towards a targeted direction. This is accomplished by channelling the sound through the megaphone, which also serves to match the...
, Estebeth and Amy, which were taking a pounding in the weather, that Sophia was safe and they should take shelter in a harbor.
Capt. J.W Ledbetter, commander of the USLHS lighthouse tender
Lighthouse tender
A lighthouse tender is a ship specifically designed to maintain, support, or tend to lighthouses, or lightvessels, providing supplies, fuel, mail and transportation....
Cedar did not receive word of the grounding until 14:00 on 24 October. Then 66 miles away, Ledbetter got in wireless contact with Captain Locke and set out with his ship to the rescue. Ledbetter asked Captain Locke if he wanted to try to evacuate some of the passengers that night. Locke told Ledbetter that the wind and the tide were too strong and it would be better for the rescue ships to anchor and wait until daylight. When Ledbetter arrived at 20:00 on 24 October he found three large vessels, including the fishing schooner King and Winge
King & Winge (fishing schooner)
The King & Winge was one of the most famous ships ever built in Seattle, Washington, United States. Built in 1914, in the next 80 years she had participated in a famous Arctic rescue, been present at a great maritime tragedy, and been employed as a halibut schooner, a rum runner, a pilot boat, a...
which had arrived at 18:20 and about fifteen smaller fishing vessels at the scene, arriving towards the evening on the 24th.
Meanwhile wireless reports of the grounding had reached James W. Troup
James W. Troup (steamboat captain)
James William Troup was an American steamship captain, Canadian Pacific Railway administrator and shipping pioneer.-Family:...
, superintendent of CPR steamship operations in Victoria. He and other CPR officials were initially not too alarmed. It appeared that the passengers would be taken off soon, and the question would be one of finding accommodation for them ashore.
Communications problems
CableSubmarine communications cable
A submarine communications cable is a cable laid on the sea bed between land-based stations to carry telecommunication signals across stretches of ocean....
communications to Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
had been lost on 21 October 1918, and partly as a result this, the wireless operators were having to contend with a rush of messages, which made it difficult to transmit essential messages relating to the grounding of Sophia. Efforts to clear non-essential traffic were frustrated by the international character of the disaster. Word of the grounding only reached Cedar eleven hours after the grounding. Whether this was because Cedar was out of range or because wireless channels were jammed with non-essential traffic is not clear. The delay was unfortunate, as Cedar was the largest all-weather ship in the area, which could readily have taken on all of Sophias passengers and crew. No one knows what Cedar might have been able to do had she been alerted earlier. The delay could have been significant, as the late notice to him was still well recalled 45 years later by Captain Ledbetter. Of all the rescue ships, only Cedar had wireless, and her not being on the scene earlier deprived the rescue effort of this resource, if no other.
Rescue effort begins Friday morning
Ledbetter, having the only ship with wireless, and thereby able to keep in ready contact with Sophia organized the rescue effort. The rescue plan, although dangerous, and perhaps even desperate, was to wait until high tide at 5:00 covered the reef with at least a few feet of water. This it was hoped would be enough to launch Sophias boats and use them to take the people from Sophia to the rescue ships. Cedar had anchored in the leeWindward and leeward
Windward is the direction upwind from the point of reference. Leeward is the direction downwind from the point of reference. The side of a ship that is towards the leeward is its lee side. If the vessel is heeling under the pressure of the wind, this will be the "lower side"...
of a nearby island for the night. King and Winge, under captain J.J. Miller, had circled the Sophia all night, the only vessel to do so. On arrival at 20:00 on Thursday, Ledbetter ordered searchlight
Searchlight
A searchlight is an apparatus that combines a bright light source with some form of curved reflector or other optics to project a powerful beam of light of approximately parallel rays in a particular direction, usually constructed so that it can be swiveled about.-Military use:The Royal Navy used...
s shown on Sophia. What he saw convinced him that no boats could be then launched. Waves were breaking hard against the trapped steamship's hull, and the wind was rising. Meanwhile the stranded ship remained fixed firmly in the grip of the rocks. Ledbetter, Miller, and Locke all agreed that the passengers would be safer aboard Sophia and postponed any attempt to take them off by boat.
Rising winds force abandonment
Gale
A gale is a very strong wind. There are conflicting definitions of how strong a wind must be to be considered a gale. The U.S. government's National Weather Service defines a gale as 34–47 knots of sustained surface winds. Forecasters typically issue gale warnings when winds of this strength are...
strength. Ledbetter was having difficulty keeping Cedar on station, and the smaller rescue boats that had run for shelter on the evening of the 24th were unable to return to the reef. Ledbetter decided he would try to anchor
Anchor
An anchor is a device, normally made of metal, that is used to connect a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the vessel from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ancora, which itself comes from the Greek ἄγκυρα .Anchors can either be temporary or permanent...
Cedar about 500 yards downwind of the reef, shoot a line to Sophia (possibly using a Lyle gun
Lyle gun
Line-throwing guns are most often referred to as Lyle Guns, after their inventor David A. Lyle. They were used from the late 19th century to 1952, when they were replaced by rockets for throwing lines.-History:...
), and then evacuate the passengers by breeches buoy
Breeches buoy
A breeches buoy is a crude rope-based rescue device used to extract people from wrecked vessels, or to transfer people from one location to another in situations of danger. The device resembles a round emergency personal flotation device with a leg harness attached...
. This would have been extremely hazardous and it would have been unlikely that over 300 people could be removed by this method, but it seemed the only thing that could be done. Ledbetter twice tried to drop anchor, but each time it failed to catch on the bottom. Locke could see this effort was failing, and radioed to Ledbetter that it was no use, they would have to wait for low tide when perhaps conditions might be better. There was nothing else that could be done.
The conditions grew steadily worse, and by about 13:00 on the 25th both Cedar and King and Winge
King & Winge (fishing schooner)
The King & Winge was one of the most famous ships ever built in Seattle, Washington, United States. Built in 1914, in the next 80 years she had participated in a famous Arctic rescue, been present at a great maritime tragedy, and been employed as a halibut schooner, a rum runner, a pilot boat, a...
were having difficulty keeping on station. Ledbetter radioed Locke, and asked him for permission to retire to a more protected area. Locke assented. Cedar and King and Winge then went to the lee of Sentinel Island, where Miller, captain of King and Winge came aboard Cedar to discuss a rescue plan with Ledbetter. They agreed that King and Winge, which carried a 350 fathom
Fathom
A fathom is a unit of length in the imperial and the U.S. customary systems, used especially for measuring the depth of water.There are 2 yards in an imperial or U.S. fathom...
anchor cable
Cable
A cable is two or more wires running side by side and bonded, twisted or braided together to form a single assembly. In mechanics cables, otherwise known as wire ropes, are used for lifting, hauling and towing or conveying force through tension. In electrical engineering cables are used to carry...
, would anchor near the reef. Meanwhile, Cedar would stand off to windward of King and Winge, creating a "lee", that is, a calm (or at least calmer) spot by blocking out the wind with the bulk of the Cedar. Cedar would then launch her lifeboats
Lifeboat (shipboard)
A lifeboat is a small, rigid or inflatable watercraft carried for emergency evacuation in the event of a disaster aboard ship. In the military, a lifeboat may be referred to as a whaleboat, dinghy, or gig. The ship's tenders of cruise ships often double as lifeboats. Recreational sailors sometimes...
to pick up people from Sophia and ferry them to the King and Winge, thus eliminating the need and the hazards of using the boats of the stranded ship. This plan however could not work unless the weather conditions improved. Given that the Sophia had withstood so far some heavy pounding and still remained fixed on the rock, Ledbetter and Miller felt the better course was to wait for the next day to attempt their plan.
Last call for assistance
Just as Miller was disembarking from Cedar to return to King and Winge, at 16:50 on 25 October, Sophia sent out a wireless message: "Ship Foundering on Reef. Come at Once." Ledbetter immediately prepared to steam out to the reef. He signaled Miller on King and Winge to follow him with two blasts of the whistle, but Miller did not at first understand the signal. Ledbetter then drove Cedar alongside King and Winge and shouted out to Miller: "I am going out there to try and locate him. If the snow should clear up, you come out and relieve me." Miller replied: "I will give you an hour to find them."The next radio message from Sophia came at 17:20: "For God's sake, hurry, the water is in my room." There was more but the radio operator could not pick it up. Knowing Sophia had weak wireless batteries, Cedar wired Sophia to conserve battery power and only transmit if absolutely necessary. Sophias operator radioed back: "Alright I will. You talk to me so I know you are coming." This was the last wireless message from Sophia.
Search in the storm
Cedar left the protected harbor at Sentinel Island and was immediately blasted by the wind and blowing snow. Conditions were so bad that 500 yards from the lighthouse, the station's light could not be seen and the foghornFoghorn
A foghorn or fog signal or fog bell is a device that uses sound to warn vehicles of hazards or boats of the presence of other vehicles in foggy conditions. The term is most often used in relation to marine transport...
could not be heard. For 30 minutes Cedar moved slowly towards Vanderbilt Reef. Green water was breaking over the bow of the Cedar. Without knowing precisely where she was, the rescue ship herself was in extreme danger of running onto the reef. The chief inspector of the lighthouse service district was on board Cedar at the time. He conferred with Ledbetter and they agreed that with Cedar herself in danger, and nothing to be found in the conditions, the only thing that could done was to run for shelter. Ledbetter turned Cedar back towards Sentinel Island. Unable to see anything, he had the foghorn sounding. At Sentinel Island, Captain Miller on King and Winge heard the blasts of Cedars foghorn, and sounded his own to guide them in.
Loss of the ship
With no survivors and no witnesses to the actual sinking, what happened on Sophia to drive her off the reef is a matter of reconstruction from the available evidence and conjecture. Based on the evidence it appears that the storm blowing in from the north, raised water levels on the reef much higher than previously, causing the vessel to become buoyant again, but only partially so. The bow of the vessel remained on the reef, and the force of the wind and waves then spun the vessel almost completely around and washed her off the reef. Dragging across the rock ripped out the ship's bottom, so when she reached deeper water near the navigation buoy, she sank. This process, based on the evidence, seems to have taken about an hour.There appears to have been no time for an organized evacuation. Many people wore lifejackets, and two wooden lifeboats floated away (the 8 steel lifeboats sank). There were about 100 people still in their cabins when the ship sank. It's hard to know why if there was half an hour before the ship sank why so many people were below deck, but there could be many reasons. As the sea water invaded the ship, the boiler
Boiler
A boiler is a closed vessel in which water or other fluid is heated. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications.-Materials:...
exploded, buckling the deck and killing many people. Oil fuel spilled into the water, choking people who were trying to swim away. Sophia had been equipped with extra flotation devices, on the theory that people could cling on to these in the water awaiting rescue. These were worthless, as the coldness of the water would soon kill anyone in it long before rescue could arrive.
Wreck located
Aftermath of wreck
For months after the wreck, bodies washed up for thirty miles to the north and to the south of Vanderbilt Reef. Wreckage and the passenger's belongings were also found, including toys of the children who had died on the ship. Many of bodies were scarcely recognizable as human remains, being covered with a thick coat of oil. Most of the bodies recovered were taken to Juneau, where the towns people volunteered to help identify the remains and prepare them for burial. The bodies had to be scrubbed with gasoline to remove the oil. Teams of women prepared female bodies, and teams of men handled the males. The volunteers were particularly affected by the bodies of the children. Divers at the wreck site recovered about 100 bodies. Many were floating in cabins for months after the wreck. The families of passengers brought legal action against Canadian Pacific, but these failed.Evaluation of the decision not to evacuate
Many people believed that the decision not to evacuate the ship was a grave error by Captain Locke, and that some or even all of the passengers could have been saved. The Ministry of Marine reached a similar conclusion in 1919 after hearing the evidence from first hand witnesses. Later, the courts ruled that right or wrong, the decision was within the reasonable range of judgment of the captain. Captain Ledbetter of the Cedar stated that in his opinion, he never saw conditions that would have permitted evacuation of the ship, but he was careful, even almost 50 years later, to state that this was as far as he could tell from when he arrived at the reef, which was at 20:00 on the 24th. As early as 10:20 on the 24th there were enough rescue vessels at the reef to have accommodated all of the people on the Sophia, and there would be 4 or 5 hours until the wind began to rise. Also Sophia had 8 lifeboats built of steel, not wood, which would presumably have fared better on wave-washed rocks. On the other hand, Captain Locke could not have known the weather would worsen, and there seem to have been signs that that it would improve. Historians Coates and Morrison speculate that the memory of the wreck of the Clallam, when everyone in the lifeboats died after a premature abandonment of the vessel, may have played a role in Locke's decision.Letters recovered from the lost passengers
The passengers and crew on Sophia realized their extreme danger. Many wrote letters to loved ones. At least two of these were later recovered. The letter of John R. "Jack" Maskell, found on his body, was widely printed in newspapers at the time:Jack Maskell was buried in Vancouver's Mountainview Cemetery amidst 66 other victims of the S.S. Princess Sophia tragedy.
Most lie near East 41st Avenue and Prince Edward Street in the Jones 37 section.
Wednesday 23 October 1918
- 08:15 Snow starts falling at Sentinel Island Light Station ("LS") 58 miles south of Skagway; continues falling until 06:50 on 24 October.
- 11:10 Snow starts falling at Eldred Rock LS, 30 miles south of Skagway, continues falling until 06:00 on 24 October.
- 16:33 SunsetSunsetSunset or sundown is the daily disappearance of the Sun below the horizon in the west as a result of Earth's rotation.The time of sunset is defined in astronomy as the moment the trailing edge of the Sun's disk disappears below the horizon in the west...
(at Juneau); twilight begins - 17:14 TwilightTwilightTwilight is the time between dawn and sunrise or between sunset and dusk, during which sunlight scattering in the upper atmosphere illuminates the lower atmosphere, and the surface of the earth is neither completely lit nor completely dark. The sun itself is not directly visible because it is below...
ends (at Juneau); night begins - 19:01 MoonriseMoonriseMoonrise is a book written by Penny Wolfson. The full name, Moonrise; One Family, Genetic Identity, And Muscular Dystrophy, refers to her family and her son, Ansel, who has struggled through his life with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. As Ansel progresses in life, he gets weaker, and begins to use a...
(phase: waning gibbous (79% of Moon's visible disk illuminated) - 22:00 Princess Sophia departs Skagway, Capt. Locke in command.
- 23:00 Sophia passes Battery Point, 16 miles south of Skagway; weather worsens, wind gusting to 50 miles per hour.
Thursday 24 October 1918
- 02:10 Princess Sophia grounds at Vanderbilt Reef, 54 miles south of Skagway and 46 miles north of Juneau.
- 02:15 Word of stranding reaches Juneau by wireless distress call .
- 06:00 High tide on Vanderbilt reef; Sophias hull pounds on rocks; storm lessens but vessel cannot get free; first rescue ship arrives; snowfall stops at Eldred Rock LS, 24 miles north of Vanderbilt reef; weather remains clear at this light station until 13:00.
- 06:12 Dawn twilight begins
- 06:50 Snowfall stops at Sentinel Island LS, 4 miles south of Vanderbilt Reef; weather remains clear at this light station until 12:10.
- 06:53 Sunrise
- 09:00 U.S. harbor boat Peterson arrives at Vanderbilt Reef.
- 10:00 Mailboat Estebeth arrives at Vanderbilt Reef.
- 10:20 Amy arrives at Vanderbilt Reef; rescue vessels at scene now have capacity to take off at least 385 people, more than are on board Sophia.
- 12:00 Low tide on Vanderbilt Reef
- 12:10 Snow begins falling again at Sentinel Rock LS, continues falling until 03:40 on Sunday, 27 October.
- 13:00 Snow begins falling again at Eldred Rock LS, continues falling until 08:00 on 27 October.
- 14:00 Wireless message from Juneau alerts Captain John Ledbetter, of lighthouse tender Cedar, then 66 miles south of Vanderbilt Reef; Cedar proceeds immediately to Vanderbilt Reef, arrives six hours later at 20:00.
- 15:00 Wind begins rising at Vanderbilt reef
- 15:30 Ferry boat Lone Fisherman arrives at Sentinel Island (does not proceed to reef).
- 16:00 High tide on Vanderbilt Reef; Sophia cannot break free; sea conditions rough and waves pound at hull as tide rises; when Sophia not heavily damaged, Captain Locke advises Amy and Estebeth to seek harbor; they do; Sitka arrives at reef.
- 16:30 Sunset
- 17:11 Twilight ends; night begins
- 18:20 King and Winge arrives at reef, stays on station until 13:00 on 25 October.
- 19:00 Elsinore arrives at reef.
- 20:00 Cedar arrives at reef. Wireless communication now possible between rescue vessels on scene and Sophia.'
- 20:15 MoonriseMoonriseMoonrise is a book written by Penny Wolfson. The full name, Moonrise; One Family, Genetic Identity, And Muscular Dystrophy, refers to her family and her son, Ansel, who has struggled through his life with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. As Ansel progresses in life, he gets weaker, and begins to use a...
(phase: waning gibbous (69% of Moon's visible disk illuminated) - 20:30 Light and heat lost on Sophia, causes temporary belief on King and Winge that vessel has sunk. Loss of power causes loss of wireless communications.
- 19:00 Cedar departs at Vanderbilt Reef.
- 23:30 Princess AliceSS Princess AliceSS Princess Alice may refer to:, a steamship that sank in the Thames 3 September 1878 with an estimated 640 dead, under this name from 1904 to 1917 for North German Lloyd; as SS Kiautschou for Hamburg-America Line from launch, 1900–1904; as USS Princess Matoika for U.S. Navy, 1917–1919; as USAT...
departs Vancouver, BC bound for Juneau to pick up passengers who are anticipated to be evacuated from Sophia.
Friday, 25 October 1918
- 04:35 Cedar returns to Vanderbilt Reef; King and Winge has been there all night. Rescue effort postponed because of sea conditions.
- 06:14 Dawn's first light
- 06:55 Sunrise
- 08:00 Electrical power and steam heat restored on Sophia; wireless communication possible again.
- 09:00 Cedar attempts to anchor and evacuate passengers by breeches buoyBreeches buoyA breeches buoy is a crude rope-based rescue device used to extract people from wrecked vessels, or to transfer people from one location to another in situations of danger. The device resembles a round emergency personal flotation device with a leg harness attached...
. Attempt to anchor fails. - 10:00 Locke radios Ledbetter, tells him to abandon attempt to anchor, wait until next low tide.
- 13:00 Worsening weather conditions force Cedar and King and Winge to leave the reef, after first receiving assent from Locke.
- 13:45 Cedar and King and Winge reach relatively protected water in lee of Sentinel IslandSentinel IslandSentinel Island could refer to:* Sentinel Island , Canada* Sentinel Island , Australia* Sentinel Island , one of the San Juan Islands, USA* Sentinel Islands, Andaman Islands, India** North Sentinel Island...
. Exhausted wireless operators on Cedar and Sophia agree not to communicate until 16:30 to give themselves time to rest. - 16:47 Sunset
- 16:50 Sophia radios Cedar: "Ship foundering on reef. Come at once." Cedar proceeds to area of Vanderbilt Reef, but cannot locate the vessel.
- 17:09 Twilight ends; night begins
- 17:20 Last wireless message from Sophia
- 17:50 Most watches recovered from Sophia victims stop. It is presumed that by this time, Sophia had sunk and the victims were forced into the water. No one on board survives.
Saturday, 26 October 1918
- 06:16 Dawn's first light
- 06:58 Sunrise
- 07:21 Cedar departs Sentinel Island to return to reef to search.
- 08:30 Cedar arrives at reef and sees only the foremast of Sophia above the water on south side of reef.
External links
- Princess Sophia (City of Vancouver historical page) - City of Vancouver 's Mountain View CemeteryMountain View Cemetery (Vancouver)Mountain View Cemetery is the oldest cemetery in the City of Vancouver, British Columbia. Opened in 1887, it is located west of Fraser Street between 31st and 43rd Avenues...
page on the shipwreck. Includes list of 66 people from wreck buried in Mountain View Cemetery and list of crew of Princess Sophia. - Gord's Maritime website — CPR British Columbia Coast Steamships Has images and capsule histories of Princess Sophia, Princess May and other CPR steamships
- Kalafus, Jim, "The Loss of the Princess Sophia" Gare Maritime - Article on loss of ship, with two illustrations beyond those on Wikipedia or Wiki commons
- Ricketts, Bruce "The Princess Sophia Disaster", Mysteries of Canada (accessed 12-06-2008) Summary and two photos of wreck.
- Vancouver Maritime Museum — Bell of Princess Sophia The bell of the Princess Sophia was recovered in salvage efforts and in 2004 found its way to the Vancouver Maritime Museum. It has been certified as a national treasure of Canada.