''Karluk'' was an American-built
brigantine
A brigantine is a two-masted sailing vessel with a fully square-rigged foremast and at least two sails on the main mast: a square topsail and a gaff sail mainsail (behind the mast). The main mast is the second and taller of the two masts.
Older ...
which, after many years' service as a
whaler, was acquired by the Canadian government in 1913 to act as flagship to the
Canadian Arctic Expedition
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
. While on her way to the expedition's rendezvous at
Herschel Island, ''Karluk'' became trapped in the Arctic
pack ice and, after drifting for several months, was crushed and sank in January 1914. Of the 25 aboard (crew and expedition staff), eleven died, either during the attempts to reach land by marching over the ice, or after arrival at the temporary refuge of
Wrangel Island.
Ship history
''Karluk'' was built in 1884, at
Matthew Turner's shipyard,
[ ] Benicia, California
Benicia ( , ) is a waterside city in Solano County, California, located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. It served as the capital of California for nearly thirteen months from 1853 to 1854. The population was 26,997 at the ...
, as a tender for the
Alaska salmon fishery
The Alaska salmon fishery is a managed fishery that supports the annual harvest of five species of wild Pacific Salmon for commercial fishing, sport fishing, subsistence by Alaska Native communities, and personal use by local residents. The salmo ...
industry (''karluk'' is the
Alutiiq word for "fish"). She was in length with a beam of , and 321
gross register tonnage, 247
net register tonnage
Net register tonnage (NRT, nrt, n.r.t.) is a ship's cargo volume capacity expressed in "register tons", one of which equals to a volume of . It is calculated by subtracting non-revenue-earning spaces i.e. spaces not available for carrying cargo, ...
powered by sail and a 150 hp auxiliary coal-fired compound steam engine. In 1892 ''Karluk'' was converted for use as a whaler, when her bows and sides were sheathed with
Australian ironwood. She completed 14 whaling trips, the last of which was in 1911.
For her role in the Canadian Arctic Expedition, ''Karluk'' had been acquired by expedition leader
Vilhjalmur Stefansson in 1913 for the bargain price of $10,000,
[Niven, pp. 8–9] and sold at cost to the Canadian government when it assumed overall responsibility for the expedition.
Robert Bartlett, appointed ''Karluk''s captain for the expedition, was concerned about the ship's fitness for the task, believing that she had not been built to withstand sustained ice pressure, and that she lacked the engine power to force a passage through the ice.
Even after refitting, the engine had a habit of breaking down. ''Karluk''s chief engineer, John Munro, described it as a "coffee pot of an engine...never
tended to run more than two days at a time."
Designation
Several designations have been applied to the ship after her acquisition by the Canadian government, including "HMCS" (
His Majesty's Canadian Ship), "DGS" (Dominion Government Ship), and "CGS" (Canadian Government Ship). It is not clear whether the "HMCS" designation was formal or informal; HMCS is used for
Royal Canadian Navy ships. Although ''Karluk'' sailed under a civilian captain and crew, she flew the
Canadian Blue Ensign, the
jack of the
Royal Canadian Navy.
There is also a great deal to support the application of the "CGS" designation. Contemporary government documents refer to the ship as either CGS ''Karluk'' or simply ''Karluk'', at the same time the government would clearly refer to the "HMCS" designation of and in similar official documents. Furthermore, the other principal ship of the expedition, carried the "CGS" designation. This designation was also carried by .
Last voyage
''Karluk'' sailed from
Nome, Alaska
Nome (; ik, Sitŋasuaq, ) is a city in the Nome Census Area in the Unorganized Borough of Alaska, United States. The city is located on the southern Seward Peninsula coast on Norton Sound of the Bering Sea. It had a population of 3,699 recorded ...
on 13 July 1913, heading for Herschel Island where she was to meet up with the expedition's other vessels. On 13 August, still more than from her destination, she became trapped in the pack ice and began a slow drift, generally in a westerly direction away from Herschel Island. On 19 September Stefansson and other members of the expedition staff left the ship for a ten-day hunting trip. While they were gone the ice, carrying ''Karluk'' with it, began to drift more rapidly westward, so that Stefansson and his party were unable to return to the ship. They made their way overland to Cape Smythe, near
Point Barrow. ''Karluk'' continued drifting, under constant dangers from the pressures of the ice. On 10 January 1914 she was holed; she took on water steadily and sank the next day. All 25 persons aboard – crew, expedition staff and
Inuit hunters – transferred to the ice. After several weeks in a temporary ice camp they began efforts to reach the nearest land,
Wrangel Island. An advance party of four lost their way on the march and were found dead on
Herald Island years later. Another party of four, including British explorer
James Murray, detached themselves from the expedition and attempted to reach land independently; they were never seen again.
[Niven, pp. 163–65] Of the 17 who reached the island, three died before rescue arrived in September 1914.
See also
*
Canadian Arctic Expedition 1913–16
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
References
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Karluk
Brigantines
Whaling ships
Alaska-related ships
Steamships of Canada
Arctic exploration vessels
Shipwrecks in the Arctic Ocean
Maritime incidents in January 1914
Ships built in Benicia, California
1884 ships
Nome, Alaska
Auxiliary ships of the Royal Canadian Navy
Canadian Government Ship