The steamship ''Alaskan'' operated from 1884 to 1889 on the

Columbia River The Columbia River (Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, C ...

and

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected ma ...

. ''Alaskan'' and her near-sistership ''Olympian'' were known as "

Henry Villard Henry Villard (April 10, 1835 – November 12, 1900) was an American journalist and financier who was an early president of the Northern Pacific Railway. Born and raised by Ferdinand Heinrich Gustav Hilgard in the Rhenish Palatinate of the Kin ...

's White Elephants."Newell, Gordon R., ed., ''H.W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest'', at 43, 346, n. 10 and 414, Superior Publishing, Seattle 1966 There were a number of vessels named ''Alaska ''and ''Alaskan'', this large side-wheel steamboat should not be confused with them.

Construction

''Alaskan'' was built in 1883 by the

Delaware River Iron Ship Building and Engine Works Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

shipyard in

Chester, Pennsylvania Chester is a city in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. Located within the Philadelphia Metropolitan Area, it is the only city in Delaware County and had a population of 32,605 as of the 2020 census. Incorporated in 1682, Chester is ...

. She was a

sidewheeler A paddle steamer is a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine that drives paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses wer ...

driven by a single cylinder vertical condensing walking-beam

steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be trans ...

, which gave her high speed.Newell, Gordon R., ''Ships of the Inland Sea'', p. 92-96, Binford and Mort, Portland, Oregon (2nd Ed. 1960) Her iron hull was long, and she was rated at 1718 tons. She was built primarily for service on Puget Sound.Mills, Randall V., ''Sternwheelers Up Columbia'', p. 139, 163, and 189,

University of Nebraska Press The University of Nebraska Press, also known as UNP, was founded in 1941 and is an academic publisher of scholarly and general-interest books. The press is under the auspices of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, the main campus of the Univer ...

(1977 reprint of 1947 edition)

Operations in Pacific Northwest

In 1884, ''Alaskan'' was brought to the Pacific Northwest through the

Strait of Magellan The Strait of Magellan (), also called the Straits of Magellan, is a navigable sea route in southern Chile separating mainland South America to the north and Tierra del Fuego to the south. The strait is considered the most important natural pass ...

, around South America. ''Alaskan'' and ''Olympian'' were built to designs popular and successful on

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the ...

. When she arrived in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...

this design proved unsuited for the conditions, and the ship became a steady money loser. Timmen, one of the leading marine historians of the Pacific Northwest, states of

that " is financial genius, who once monopolized the Northwest's rail and water transportation, must have suffered a lapse of common sense when he ordered the pair constructed in Delaware."

Columbia River service

Villard's company, the

Oregon Railway and Navigation Company The Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company (OR&N) was a railroad that operated a rail network of running east from Portland, Oregon, United States, to northeastern Oregon, northeastern Washington, and northern Idaho. It operated from 1896 as a ...

first placed ''Alaskan'' in service on the

, where because of her huge size, she could only operate on the deeper water from

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

to Astoria. Her first set of officers included master Capt. James W. Troup (1856–1932), pilot Archie Pease, and engineer Thomas Smith. ''Alaskans chief rival on this route was U.B. Scott's ''Telephone'', supposedly then the fastest steamboat in the world. Occasionally the highly skilled Troup and Pease were able to outrun ''Telephone'', then under the command of the equally-skilled river veterans Capt. William H. Whitcomb (1851–1924) and chief engineer Newton Scott. Both ''Alaskan'' and ''Olympian'' proved too expensive to operate on the Columbia River. The main problem was that they consumed huge quantities of expensive coal.Marshall, Don, ''Oregon Shipwrecks'', p. 55-57, Binford and Mort, Portland, Oregon 1984

Puget Sound service

In 1888, unable to make a profit on the Columbia, O.R. & N transferred ''Alaskan'' to

where together with ''Olympian'' she ran from Tacoma,

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, and

Port Townsend Port Townsend is a city on the Quimper Peninsula in Jefferson County, Washington, United States. The population was 10,148 at the 2020 United States Census. It is the county seat and only incorporated city of Jefferson County. In addition to ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

and back. She served on this route until 1889.

Need for drydocking

In 1889, ''Alaskan'' needed underwater work and maintenance on her hull. However there were no

drydock A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...

s in the Pacific Northwest. Instead there were only wooden "gridirons", enormous frames of wood weighted down with rocks placed on a beach or mudflat. When work was needed below the waterline of a vessel, the procedure was simply to float the ship over the gridiron, wait for the tide to run out, and work on the vessel as fast as possible before the tide came back in. No gridiron in the Pacific Northwest was big enough to handle ''Alaskan'', so the decision was made to run her down to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

Sinking

''Alaskan'' left Puget Sound, sailing around the

Olympic Peninsula The Olympic Peninsula is a large arm of land in western Washington that lies across Puget Sound from Seattle, and contains Olympic National Park. It is bounded on the west by the Pacific Ocean, the north by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the ...

, then up the Columbia and Willamette rivers to

. With Capt. R.E. Howes in command, ''Alaskan'' then ran back down the Columbia, crossed over the Columbia Bar at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 11, 1889, then turned south for San Francisco at . She ran about off the coast in ballast—carrying no freight or passengers though many had applied—with 34 persons on board. She ran all night, passing the

Yaquina Head Light The Yaquina Head Light, also known early in its existence as the Cape Foulweather Lighthouse, is a lighthouse on the Oregon Coast of the United States, established in 1873. It is located in Lincoln County, near the mouth of the Yaquina River near ...

house at 11:00 p.m. running off shore. Weather conditions were good: light wind and rain showers, and the barometer holding steady. By Sunday morning, the wind and wave height had increased. The ship was laboring heavily through the rolling waves offshore at . ''Alaskan'' had never been intended to run as an ocean vessel, and she had been worn out by hard driving on the Columbia River. By 3:00 p.m. off Cape Blanco she was in serious trouble as the sidewheels moved at "dead slow" and

green water Maritime geography is a collection of terms used by naval military units to loosely define three maritime regions: brown water, green water, and blue water. Definitions The elements of maritime geography are loosely defined and their meanings ha ...

came in over the bow. The ship could not maintain direction, as a wave would lift one side and its paddle out of the water, then another, so that little or no forward progress could be made. The aftercabin worked loose with the securing bolts pulled through the planking. Second Officer Weeks and the crew tried to shove blankets and ticking into the holes to stop the leaks, but the vessel still kept shipping additional tons of water. The ship continued to gradually come apart under the stress. Her iron hull was not breached but her wooden upper works were being torn away by waves. By 6:00 p.m. her condition became irretrievable when the port side paddle box tore away, leaving numerous holes in the hull. The water rose in the hold faster than the pumps could work. By midnight, the boiler fire was extinguished and ''Alaskan'' lost all power save for an emergency sail rigged earlier to keep her steadier in the wind. Captain Howes ordered the ship's boats to be launched and towed behind the vessel on a line. Three of the four boats were successfully launched this way, and most of the crew were successfully evacuated, save only five men: Captain Howes, the chief engineer, the second mate, steward Al Rahles, and seaman Denny. As the boats were being launched, the crew saw a light from another ship, and desperately launched two distress rockets to ask for assistance. As the evacuation was going on, a wave broke over the deck and sucked

Quartermaster Quartermaster is a military term, the meaning of which depends on the country and service. In land armies, a quartermaster is generally a relatively senior soldier who supervises stores or barracks and distributes supplies and provisions. In m ...

(the seaman who actually steers the ship) Shielderup into the now-exposed side wheel where he was horribly mangled. At about 1:00 a.m. on Monday morning, the ship seemed to be going down so they cut the line to the boats. There was then no way off the ''Alaskan'' for the five men left on board. The ship stayed afloat for about another hour and a half. Captain Howes and chief engineer Swain ended up clinging to a fragment of the deck. The pilot house floated by, with three men hanging on to it. Against the captain's advice, the chief struck out swimming for them, but never made it and was not seen again.

Rescue of survivors

The tug ''Vigilant'', moving slowly because of her tow—a manned barge—had seen the ''Alaskans distress rockets, and arrived at the scene Monday evening, when she picked up the three men from the pilot house, and one living man and one dead from a life raft. ''Vigilant'' found Captain Howes still hanging on to the deck fragment, which had been gradually getting smaller as seas tore off pieces. He was taken on board after 33 hours in the water. ''Vigilant'' picked up the men from the first boat, with the ship's mate on board. A second boat reached shore, but the third boat was never seen again. Quartermaster Shieldrup was picked up alive, his leg nearly severed. He died a short while later and was buried at sea. News accounts said 21 people were lost, although there may have been undocumented stowaways drowned as well.Daily Morning Astorian, 19 May 1889, p.3 The ship was insured for $200,000. Captain Howes and his remaining crew were later returned Astoria by the coastal passenger liner '' Columbia'', also operated by O.R. & N.Dalton, Anthon
A long, dangerous coastline : shipwreck tales from Alaska to California
Heritage House Publishing Company, 1 Feb 2011 - 128 pages

External links

;University of Washington on-line image collections
''Alaskan'' at the Columbia and Puget Sound Railroad Co. dock in Seattle

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alaskan (Sidewheeler) Steamboats of Washington (state) Sidewheel steamboats of Washington (state) Paddle steamers of Oregon Passenger ships of the United States Maritime incidents in May 1889 Ships built by the Delaware River Iron Ship Building and Engine Works Shipwrecks of the Oregon coast Steamboats of the Columbia River 1883 ships Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company