SS Aleutian
{{short description|Passenger liner}}
{{other ships|SS Panama}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
|+ {{Infobox ship image |Ship image=SS Panama (1898 ship) leaving Cristobal, Canal Zone (NAID 100996830).jpg |Ship caption=SS Panama, later Aleutian, leaving Cristobal, Canal Zone, date unknown }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship flag=60px |Ship name=SS Havana |Ship owner= |Ship operator=Ward Line (1899–1905) |Ship registry= |Ship route= |Ship ordered= |Ship builder= William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia |Ship original cost= |Ship way number= |Ship laid down= |Ship launched= |Ship completed=January 1899 |Ship christened= |Ship acquired= |Ship maiden voyage= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship fate=Sold 1905 |Ship identification=U.S. O/N:96435 |Ship notes= }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header=title |Ship flag=60px |Ship name=SS Panama |Ship owner= |Ship operator=Panama Railroad Steamship Company{{cite web |title= Alaska Steamship Company |url= http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/alaska.htm |publisher= TheShipsList.com |access-date= 28 January 2012 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080609000222/http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/alaska.htm |archive-date= 9 June 2008 |df= }} |Ship registry= |Passengers= |Ship acquired=1905 |Ship maiden voyage= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship fate=Sold 1926 |Ship identification= |Ship notes= }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header=title |Ship flag=60px |Ship name=SS Aleutian |Ship owner= |Ship operator=Alaska Steamship Company |Ship registry= |Passengers= |Ship acquired=1926 |Ship maiden voyage= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship fate=Wrecked 26 May 1929 }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Ship type= Passenger liner |Ship tonnage=5,708 |Ship length={{convert|360|ft|0|abbr=on}} |Ship beam={{convert|50|ft|abbr=on}} |Ship power=2 x triple expansion engines |Ship propulsion=Twin screw |Ship speed={{convert|15|kn|km/h mph|lk=in}} |Ship capacity= }} {{Infobox NRHP |embed=yes | name =SS Aleutian (Shipwreck) | nrhp_type = | image = | caption = | location = {{Coord|57.4250|N|153.8450|W|display=inline,title}} | locmapin = | nearest_city =Larsen Bay, Alaska | area = | built = | architect = | architecture = | added = June 18, 2004 | refnum = 04000593{{NRISref|version=2010a}} | mpsub = | governing_body = }} |
SS Aleutian was a passenger ship in North American coastal service. Built in 1899 for the Ward Line as SS Havana, she would later serve the building of the Panama Canal as SS Panama and ultimately enter Alaskan service as SS Aleutian.
Ward Line service
In 1898 the Ward Line ordered two ships from William Cramp & Sons Shipbuilding Company in Philadelphia as part of a modernization plan in response to increased passenger and freight demand. The new passenger ship SS Havana was delivered in 1899 and briefly saw military transport service (Official Number 96435) during the Spanish–American War moving two infantry units from Havana, Cuba to Savannah, Georgia.{{cite web |title= Ward Line Fleet List |url= http://www.wardline.com/page/page/4557567.htm |publisher= Michael Alderson, www.wardline.com |access-date= 29 January 2012 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121012060022/http://www.wardline.com/page/page/4557567.htm |archive-date= 12 October 2012 |df= }} She soon joined the company's steamers linking New York with Nassau, Havana, and Mexican Gulf ports.
Panama Railroad Steamship Company service
File:SSPanama 1915.pngHavana was sold to the Panama Railroad Steamship Company on behalf of the Isthmian Canal Commission in 1905. She was renamed SS Panama and would serve a crucial role in the construction of the Panama Canal.{{cite web | last = Donahue | first = James | date = 9 May 2011 |title = The Panama Railroad Steamship Company| publisher = The Mind of James Donahue: Great Ships | url= http://perdurabo10.tripod.com/ships2/id16.html| accessdate = 29 January 2012}} The steamship company was already running connecting service with New York and San Francisco. It also ran a Central American line of steamships linking Nicaragua, Costa Rica, San Salvador, and Guatemala to Panama City. The shipping service was greatly expanded as canal construction began. The line's heyday was during the construction period; once the canal was finished in 1914 the service shifted to the business of supporting the maintenance and operation of the canal and its supporting infrastructure, including the railroad.{{cite web | last = Watts | first = Ian | date = 18 July 2009 |title= Panama Railroad Steamship Company|url=http://hawsepipe.blogspot.com/2009/07/panama-railroad-steamship-company_18.html |publisher= The Hawse Pipe by Ian Watts |accessdate = 29 January 2012 }}
Alaska Steamship Company service
In February 1927 Panama was sold to the Alaska Steamship Company and transferred to Pacific coastal service. Renamed SS Aleutian after the volcanic Aleutian Islands that stretch westward from the Alaska Peninsula, the vessel received a complete overhaul and refit in Seattle. At this time she likely would have been converted from a coal- to an oil-fired vessel. Contemporary reports described her as palatial{{cite web |title= Liner Aleutian Wrecked in Westward Waters |date= 27 May 1929 |url= http://lostshipwrecks.com/archives/archival_docs/news_old/artcle_adt_19290527.htm |publisher= Alaska Times |access-date= 29 January 2012 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071012114505/http://lostshipwrecks.com/archives/archival_docs/news_old/artcle_adt_19290527.htm |archive-date= 12 October 2007 |df= }} and she became the steamship company's flagship. She entered the company's Alaska service carrying freight, passengers and mail service from Seattle.
On 26 May 1929 Aleutian was steaming into Uyak Bay ({{coord|57.8000|N|154.0667|W|name=Uyak Bay}}) on the coast of Kodiak Island in clear weather with good visibility when she suddenly shook throughout her hull. She had struck a submerged pinnacle rock off the south end of Amook Island ({{coord|57|25|30|N|153|50|30|W|name=Amook Island}}) that had torn into her. She sank just seven minutes after impact. One crew member was lost when he went below to retrieve his lucky horseshoe, but the other 153 people on board – 39 passengers and 114 crewmen – made it off and survived. A small motorboat took a few of the passengers to Larsen Bay, from which a cannery tender was dispatched to pick up the rest of the survivors and bring them to Larsen Bay as well. After all the survivors had reached Larsen Bay, the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey survey ship {{ship|USC&GS|Surveyor|1917|6}} met them there and transported them all to Seward in Southcentral Alaska.{{cite web|title= The Aleutian Shipwreck Project |url= http://lostshipwrecks.com/shipwreck_projects/aleutian_project/aleutian_project.htm |publisher= Steve K. Lloyd |accessdate= 29 January 2012 }}[https://alaskashipwreck.com/shipwrecks-a-z/alaska-shipwrecks-a/ alaskashipwreck.com Alaska Shipwrecks (A)]
Wreck discovery and conservation
Aleutian was thought to have sunk in very deep water and no salvage had been attempted. In 1998 shipwreck historian Steve Lloyd researched the testimony from the Marine Board of Inquiry hearing that had been conducted after the sinking of Aleutian. Reconstructing testimony given by Aleutian{{'}}s officers he estimated the course of the ship just before the pinnacle rock had inflicted its mortal blow. In 2002 he began a side-scan sonar and a magnetometer search of the sea floor beginning at the rock that had sunk the ship. (The rock was later marked with a navigation aid and named Aleutian Rock to honor the deceased crew member.) On 14 August 2002 the searchers found a metallic target on the seabed. The discovery was confirmed when a diver descended for an inspection. On the bottom, still upright, lay Aleutian. Her wreck is located just off the southern tip of Amook Island,{{cite web |title= Diving the SS Aleutian|year= 2004 |url= http://www.christinayoung.com/pages/diving/alaska/alaska04a.htm|publisher = Christina Young |accessdate= 29 January 2012 }} about midway down the length of Uyak Bay at Kodiak Island.
In 2003 Lloyd sought salvage rights to the wreck. "The cargo's still in the hold. The furniture is still in the stateroom ... spittoons still in the gentlemen's smoking room…Portions of the superstructure have collapsed, and almost all the wood is gone. But sections of the deck were steel and are still there."{{cite web |title= Divers seek rights to a shipwreck 'frozen in time' off Kodiak Island |date= 24 August 2003|url= http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Divers-seek-rights-to-a-shipwreck-frozen-in-1122527.php#ixzz1kWXMkjVE |publisher = Hearst Communications Inc. |accessdate= 29 January 2012 }} In 2004 the wreck site was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.{{cite web |title= National Register of Historic Places Record No. 352244|year=2004 |url= https://npgallery.nps.gov/nrhp |publisher= US Department of the Interior |access-date= 29 January 2012 }}
In December 2005 the state of Alaska and the discoverer's exploration company reached a settlement that would allow artifact recovery in compliance with state's Office of History and Archeology and environmental regulations.{{cite web |title= State Settles with Diving Exploration Company Over Fate of Historic Sunken Steamship SS Aleutian|date= 6 December 2005 |url= http://www.law.state.ak.us/press/releases/2005/120505-Shoreline.html |publisher = State of Alaska |accessdate= 29 January 2012 }} Aleutian is slowly deteriorating from the effects of saltwater corrosion and time. Despite the ship's rapid sinking and time underwater she is nonetheless remarkably intact. The depth, current, and low visibility of her resting place makes her accessible only to experienced deep-wreck divers with advanced training and certification.
See also
References
{{Reflist|20em}}
{{1929 shipwrecks}}
{{NRHP in Alaska by borough and census area}}
{{National Register of Historic Places}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aleutian, SS}}
Category:Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska
Category:Maritime incidents in 1929
Category:Passenger ships of the United States
Category:Ships of the Ward Line
Category:Shipwrecks on the National Register of Historic Places in Alaska
Category:National Register of Historic Places in Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska