The steamboat ''Clallam'' operated for about six months from July 1903 to January 1904 in
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 ...
and the
Strait of Juan de Fuca
The Strait of Juan de Fuca (officially named Juan de Fuca Strait in Canada) is a body of water about long that is the Salish Sea's outlet to the Pacific Ocean. The international boundary between Canada and the United States runs down the centre ...
. She was sunk in a storm on what should have been an ordinary voyage to
Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. The ...
.
Construction
''Clallam'' was built in 1903 at the shipyard of Edward Heath (1864–1934) in Tacoma. ''Clallam'' was 168' long, 32' on the beam, with 13' depth of hold and rated at 657-tons. She was propeller-driven and built of Douglas fir, with an compound engine which allowed her to cruise at . She had 44 staterooms.Newell, Gordon R., ''Ships of the Inland Sea'', at 136-142, Binford and Mort, Portland, OR (2nd Ed. 1960)“The SS ''Clallam'' founders in the Strait of Juan de Fuca on January 8, 1904, with a loss of 56 lives”, HistoryLink.org /ref> ''Clallam'' was commissioned by the
Puget Sound Navigation Company
The Puget Sound Navigation Company (PSNC) was founded by Charles E. Peabody in 1898. Today the company operates an international passenger and vehicle ferry service between Port Angeles, WA and Victoria, BC on the Coho.
History
In the past, t ...
to run with another steamer, ''Majestic'' on the route from Tacoma to
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 ...
, Port Townsend and Victoria. During her launching on April 15, 1903, the woman who swung the bottle of champagne at her bow missed, and when the U.S flag was unfurled, it was upside down, in the sign of distress. These were deemed unlucky signs by the superstitious among the waterfront and marine trades.Newell, Gordon R., ed., ''H.W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest'', at 90, 100, 145, 392 and 433, Superior Publishing, Seattle, WA 1966
Sinking
Premonition
Known as "the bell sheep's premonition" after the fact; an odd event occurred to the ''Clallam'' in Seattle as she was loading her northbound passengers and freight at Pier 1, at the foot of Yesler Way. Black Ball Line steamers often carried sheep bound for Port Townsend and Victoria along with a trained mascot or bell sheep which always led the herd aboard. On this occasion, the bell sheep that usually made the voyage absolutely refused to board the vessel and was finally left behind when the ship departed Seattle at 8:30 a.m.
Last seen in distress
On the morning of Friday, January 8, 1904, ''Clallam'' left Tacoma on her regular run, in command of Capt. George Roberts, then 55 years old and a veteran of 29 years marine service.Kline, M.S., and Bayless, G.A., ''Ferryboats – A Legend on Puget Sound'', pp. 69-71, Bayless Books, Seattle, WA 1983 She picked up passengers and freight, first in Seattle, then Port Townsend, where she cleared customs, then at 12:15 departed Port Townsend, heading north across the
Strait of Juan de Fuca
The Strait of Juan de Fuca (officially named Juan de Fuca Strait in Canada) is a body of water about long that is the Salish Sea's outlet to the Pacific Ocean. The international boundary between Canada and the United States runs down the centre ...
Tatoosh Island
Tatoosh Island is a small island and small group of islands about offshore (northwest) of Cape Flattery, which is on the northwestern tip of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington. Tatoosh is the largest of a small group of islands also often refe ...
at the entrance to the strait. Still, ''Clallam'' nearly reached safety, as about 5:00 p.m. she was seen from the Canada coast, near Trial Island dead in the water and rolling heavily. Afterwards she was observed to be running eastwards before the wind, away from Vancouver Island towards the
San Juan Islands
The San Juan Islands are an archipelago in the Pacific Northwest of the United States between the U.S. state of Washington and Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The San Juan Islands are part of Washington state, and form the core of ...
The company's agent at Victoria, Edward E. Blackwood, seeing ''Clallam'' in distress, began a frantic effort to find a tug to go out to her. All the Canadian seagoing tugs were absent from port, and the little harbor tugs refused to go out into the gale. The little Canadian steamer ''Iroquois'' was docked at Sidney, on
Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are of land. The island is the largest by ...
. Blackwood was able to get word to the ''Iroquois master that ''Clallam'' was missing and he agreed to take his vessel out into the storm to search for her. Waves broke clear over the bridge on ''Iroquois''. Unable to find ''Clallam'', ''Iroquois'' returned to port at midnight, or 11:00 p.m. (''Iroquois'' herself was in very serious danger during the storm, and in fact was sunk herself in similar circumstances during a storm in the
Gulf Islands
The Gulf Islands are a group of islands in the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island and the mainland coast of British Columbia.
Etymology
The name "Gulf Islands" comes from "Gulf of Georgia," the original term used by George Vancouver in his ...
on April 10, 1911, with 14 people drowned.) Over in Port Townsend, the dispatcher of the Puget Sound Tug Boat Company sent the tugs ''Sea Lion'' (from Seattle) and ''Richard Holyoke'' (from Port Townsend) to look for ''Clallam''. Richard Holyoke departed Port Townsend at about 7:30 p.m. Location of ''Clallam'' would prove difficult, as contrary to law, she carried no distress signal rockets.
Rising water on board
As the gale rose in the Strait, First Officer George W. Doney was in command at the pilot house, while Captain Roberts was resting in his cabin. As the ship's rolling increased, Captain Roberts, realizing the ship was in distress, came to the pilot house. Chief Engineer Scott A. DeLaunay called up the speaking tube to report that a deadlightA porthole with an unremovable iron cover fastened over the glass. Kline and Bayless, at 69, n.4 had been smashed in and the ship was taking on water. Captain Roberts sent Doney to find out what was happening.
It turned out that the deadlight, which had been previously broken and then repaired, but not apparently very well, had been smashed in by the storm waves. Engineer De Launay went to the pilot house and reported in person the situation to Captain Roberts. Roberts went down to the engine room, where he found it was waist deep in water. The engineering staff had tried to plug up the hole using blankets stuffed in and held in place with nailed down boards. These efforts had obviously failed.
Just how this appalling situation had come about was never completely cleared up. Either ''Clallams pumps were defective, clogged with coal or other debris or were operated incorrectly by chief engineer De Launay. Rather than evacuating water from the vessel, the pumps appear to have moved water into it. Back up pumps also failed. At about 3:00 p.m., the rising water quenched the vessel's boiler fire, leaving her without power.Ebbesmeyer, C.C. & Haglund, W.D. (2002): Floating remains on Pacific Northwest waters. – In: Haglund, W.D. & Sorg, M.H. (eds): ''Advances in forensic taphonomy method, theory and archeological perspectives'' pp.: 219-240, Boca Raton, CRC Press.
Lowering the boats
At about 3:30 p.m., when the ship seemed as if it could not long stay afloat, Captain Roberts ordered the lifeboats lowered, and into them placed mostly women and children, but apparently no officers from the ship to command the boats, although four crewman and a passenger who was an experienced merchant officer went in the first boat. All three boats capsized or failed to properly launch, drowning all aboard them. Many of the men remaining on board watched their wives and children drown. One man was on his wedding trip. His bride drowned. Newell describes the scene:
Other accounts state that the second boat capsized about from the steamer.
''Clallam'' remains afloat
Those remaining on board began bailing out the ship with buckets, and she stayed afloat until the next morning, Saturday, January 9. Meanwhile, at about 10:35 p.m. on January 8, the steam tug ''Richard Holyoke'', under the command of Capt. Robert Hall, found her. Captain Hall got a tow line on board and took ''Clallam'' under tow. This was in between Smith Island and
San Juan Island
San Juan Island is the second-largest and most populous of the San Juan Islands in northwestern Washington, United States. It has a land area of 142.59 km2 (55.053 sq mi) and a population of 6,822 as of the 2000 census.
Washington State Fe ...
. Although Victoria was closer, the weather conditions were such that it seemed best to head for the American shore. The tug ''Sea Lion'' joined them at about 1:00 a.m. on January 9.
Capsizing and sinking
''Clallam'' never got to the shore. Captain Roberts realized she was about to founder and signaled the ''Holyoke'' to cast off the towline. ''Holyoke'' misunderstood Captain Roberts' signal to cast off the tow line, so it had to be cut lest the sinking ''Clallam'' drag ''Holyoke'' down with her. ''Clallam'' rolled over and sank quickly at about 1:15 a.m. The tugs then went to rescue the people in the water, saving most or all of the 36 who had remained aboard.Newell, Gordon R., and Williamson, Joe, ''Pacific Steamboats'', at 84-85, Bonanza Books, New York, NY 1958 Capt. Edward D. Hickman (1876–1928), then serving as mate on ''Richard Holyoke'', dove into the icy water to rescue 15 people. He suffered from poor health as a result for a long time afterwards.
Aftermath
''
The Tacoma Times
''The Tacoma Times'' was a newspaper published in Tacoma, Washington from 1903 to 1949. It was founded by E. W. Scripps, with editorial personnel taken from ''the Seattle Star''.Canadian Pacific Railway buying "the capstan and some of the more movable parts"; a pawnbroker bought much of the hull, with the intent of displaying it at exhibitions, but by June 1904 had abandoned it on a beach outside
Oak Bay
Oak Bay is a municipality incorporated in 1906 that is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is one of thirteen member municipalities of the Capital Regional District, and is bordered ...
the Tacoma Times
''The Tacoma Times'' was a newspaper published in Tacoma, Washington from 1903 to 1949. It was founded by E. W. Scripps, with editorial personnel taken from ''the Seattle Star''.Chronicling America
''Chronicling America'' is an open access, open source newspaper database and companion website. It is produced by the United States National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP), a partnership between the Library of Congress and the National Endo ...
''); published June 9, 1904; retrieved August 9, 2017
Impact of loss
56 people in the boats had drowned, of whom 45 were passengers. Not one of the seventeen women and four children on the passenger list survived. There were probably more than 56 lost because several children under fare age were never accounted for. Bad as this was, things could have been much worse, as ''Clallam'' had embarked only 92 people (31 crew and 61 passengers) on her last voyage, although she was licensed to carry 250 passengers on ordinary voyages with freight, or 500 on excursions without freight.
Engineer DeLaunay's license was revoked. Captain Roberts' license was suspended. Noting the absence of legally-required signal rockets on board ''Clallam'', the steamboat inspection service launched a crackdown on defective or insufficiently equipped vessels, of which there were many. The ''Clallams route was taken over by the Alaskan Steamship Company, operating first the ''Dolphin'' and then later ''Majestic'', which was rebuilt and renamed ''Whatcom''.Joshua Green, then in charge of the Puget Sound Navigation Company, determined to put much more reliable ships on the inland seas, shortly thereafter purchasing the steel steamers ''Indianapolis'', ''Chippewa'', and ''Iroquois'' from the Great Lakes and arranging to bring them around South America through the Strait of Magellan to Puget Sound.
One other significance of the ''Clallam'' disaster may be that when the ''Princess Sophia'' went aground in October 1918, in
Lynn Canal
Lynn Canal is an inlet (not an artificial canal) into the mainland of southeast Alaska.
Lynn Canal runs about from the inlets of the Chilkat River south to Chatham Strait and Stephens Passage. At over in depth, Lynn Canal is the deepest fjord i ...
, her captain, undoubtedly familiar with the ''Clallam'' sinking, refused to put the passengers into the boats, even though rescue vessels were at hand, due to the bad sea conditions which it must have seemed to him would make evacuation of the stranded vessel a greater danger than remaining on board. This proved to be a fatal misjudgment in the ''Princess Sophias case, as the sea and wind came up during the night, washed the ''Sophia'' off the rocks, and drowned all aboard.
See also
*
Graveyard of the Pacific
The Graveyard of the Pacific is a somewhat loosely defined stretch of the Pacific Northwest coast stretching from around Tillamook Bay on the Oregon Coast northward past the treacherous Columbia Bar and Juan de Fuca Strait, up the rocky western c ...
Notes
External links
The Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History - HistoryLink.org