_leaving_Cristobal%2c_Canal_Zone_(NAID_100996830).jpg) SSPanama, laterAleutian, leaving Cristobal, Canal Zone, date unknown | |
| History | |
|---|---|
.svg) | |
| Name | SSHavana |
| Operator | Ward Line (1899–1905) |
| Builder | William Cramp & Sons,Philadelphia |
| Yard number | 294[1] |
| Completed | January 1899 |
| Identification | U.S. O/N:96435[1] |
| Fate | Sold 1905 |
| |
| Name | SSPanama |
| Operator | Panama Railroad Steamship Company[2] |
| Acquired | 1905 |
| Fate | Sold 1926 |
| |
| Name | SSAleutian |
| Operator | Alaska Steamship Company |
| Acquired | 1926 |
| Fate | Wrecked 26 May 1929 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Passenger liner |
| Tonnage | 5,708 |
| Length | 360 ft (110 m) |
| Beam | 50 ft (15 m) |
| Installed power | 2 x triple expansion engines |
| Propulsion | Twin screw |
| Speed | 15knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) |
SSAleutian (Shipwreck) | |
| Location | 57°25′30″N153°50′42″W / 57.4250°N 153.8450°W /57.4250; -153.8450 |
| Nearest city | Larsen Bay, Alaska |
| NRHP reference No. | 04000593[3] |
| Added to NRHP | June 18, 2004 |
SSAleutian was a passenger ship in North American coastal service. Built in 1899 for the Ward Line as SSHavana, she would later serve the building of thePanama Canal as SSPanama and ultimately enter Alaskan service asSS Aleutian.
In 1898 the Ward Line ordered two ships fromWilliam Cramp & Sons Shipbuilding Company inPhiladelphia as part of a modernization plan in response to increased passenger and freight demand. The new passenger ship SSHavana was delivered in 1899 and briefly saw military transport service (Official Number 96435) during theSpanish–American War moving two infantry units fromHavana, Cuba toSavannah, Georgia.[4] She soon joined the company's steamers linking New York withNassau, Havana, and Mexican Gulf ports.
Havana was sold to thePanama Railroad Steamship Company on behalf of theIsthmian Canal Commission in 1905.[4] She was renamed SSPanama and would serve a crucial role in the construction of thePanama Canal.[5] The steamship company was already running connecting service with New York andSan Francisco. It also ran a Central American line of steamships linking Nicaragua, Costa Rica, San Salvador, and Guatemala toPanama 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.[6]
In February 1927Panama was sold to theAlaska Steamship Company and transferred to Pacific coastal service. Renamed SSAleutian after the volcanicAleutian Islands that stretch westward from theAlaska Peninsula, the vessel received a complete overhaul and refit inSeattle. At this time she likely would have been converted from a coal- to an oil-fired vessel. Contemporary reports described her as palatial[7] and she became the steamship company'sflagship. She entered the company's Alaska service carrying freight, passengers and mail service from Seattle.
On 26 May 1929Aleutian was steaming intoUyak Bay (57°48′00″N154°04′00″W / 57.8000°N 154.0667°W /57.8000; -154.0667 (Uyak Bay)) on the coast ofKodiak Island in clear weather with good visibility when she suddenly shook throughout herhull. She had struck a submerged pinnacle rock off the south end ofAmook Island (57°25′30″N153°50′30″W / 57.42500°N 153.84167°W /57.42500; -153.84167 (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 luckyhorseshoe, but the other 153 people on board – 39 passengers and 114 crewmen – made it off and survived. A smallmotorboat took a few of the passengers toLarsen Bay, from which acannery 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, theUnited States Coast and Geodetic Surveysurvey shipUSC&GS Surveyor met them there and transported them all toSeward inSouthcentral Alaska.[8][9]
Aleutian was thought to have sunk in very deep water and no salvage had been attempted.[7] In 1998 shipwreck historian Steve Lloyd researched the testimony from the Marine Board of Inquiry hearing that had been conducted after the sinking ofAleutian. Reconstructing testimony given byAleutian'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-scansonar and amagnetometer search of the sea floor beginning at the rock that had sunk the ship. (The rock was later marked with a navigation aid and namedAleutian Rock to honor the deceased crew member.) On 14 August 2002 the searchers found a metallic target on the seabed.[8] The discovery was confirmed when a diver descended for an inspection. On the bottom, still upright, layAleutian. Her wreck is located just off the southern tip of Amook Island,[10] 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."[11] In 2004 the wreck site was placed on theNational Register of Historic Places.[12] 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.[13]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.[8]
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