Anchorage Daily Times - May 27th, 1929

LINER ALEUTIAN WRECKED IN WESTWARD WATERS

ROCKS IN LARSON BAY TEAR BOTTOM OFF SHIP; PASSENGERS ARE SAFE

VESSEL WENT TO THE BOTTOM EARLY SUNDAY MORNING IN DEEP WATER—SANK IN SEVEN MINUTES AFTER HITTING ROCK—PASSENGERS AND CREW BROUGHT TO SEWARD BY GOVERNMENT BOAT—ONE MAN DROWNED

The Alaska Steamship Company’s palatial passenger liner Aleutian , which arrived at Seward Friday afternoon from Seattle and which proceeded from Seward to the westward, struck a rock in Uyak bat at 5:30 o’clock Sunday morning and sank in seven minutes, plunging to the bottom bow first. All of the 15 passengers and crew of 135 made their escape in the life boats with the exception of Manual Dorras, janitor of the crew’s quarters, who climbed back aboard the sinking liner to rescue a lucky horseshoe and who was in the forecastle when the Aleutian went down. The survivors were later taken aboard the coast and geodetic survey ship Surveyor and should reach Seward this afternoon, having been delayed en route by rough weather.

SURVEYOR REPORTS WRECK

The sinking of the Aleutian was reported to Captain F.H. Hardy, inspector of the coast and geodetic survey, by Captain Luken of the Surveyor. He said the force of the impact ripped great holes in the steel hull of the steamer, permitting the engine room to fill rapidly with water. The disaster is reported to have occurred in Larsen bay, near Uyak, on the Shelikof side of Kodiak island , but details of the wreck were not contained in the message. The weather is said to have been normal at the time.

NORD MAKING SURVEY

Captain John G. Nord, master of the Aleutian , returned to the scene of the wreck in a launch to make a survey of the spot to ascertain the possibility of salvaging the vessel.

The first message received in Seattle stated that the Aleutian had 250 passengers aboard but officials of the Alaska Steamship company later issued a statement in which it was claimed that there were only 15 passengers on the vessel and that the crew numbered 135 men.

FINEST IN SERVICE

The Aleutian formerly was on the Havana run and was valued at $1,000,000 by the company, being rated as the finest in the Alaska Service. Captain Nord, who was in command, had a record of more than 30 years in Alaska waters without a mishap.

The Aleutian entered Alaska service two years ago, during which time two accidents occurred before the fatal encounter with the Kodiak reef. On one trip a fire caused considerable damage and early this year the vessel was put out of commission by a rock in Southeastern Alaska waters. The vessel had a displacement of 7400 tons, a gross tonnage of 5863, measured 375 feet in length and had a beam of 50 feet, the exact dimensions of the steamer Yukon . The steamer Alaska is 366 feet in length. The Aleutian was built in Philadelphia in 1898.

FIRST CLASS MAIL LOST

All of the southbound mail which reached Seward from Anchorage and other interior points on Friday, with the exception of register, second class and parcel post matter, went down with the Aleutian , according to information received at the Anchorage post office today. The first class mail was placed aboard the boat presumably to give the mail clerk an opportunity to work it over while on the westward trip. The mail which was left at Seward to await the return of the steamer, southbound, will be taken out this evening by the Admiral Evans.

EVANS HAS FULL LOAD

The local office of the Pacific Steamship company has been advised that the Admiral Evans will carry a full load south from Seward this evening, all accommodations having been sold out to those who were awaiting the return of the Aleutian . The Evans will leave for the south this evening following the arrival of the train from the interior.

FLICKINGER ON BOARD

Reports received from Seward state that J.H. Flickinger, Seward agent for the Alaska Steamship company, was among those on board the Aleutian , having left Seward on Friday intending to make the round trip on the vessel. It is expected that he will return to Seward this afternoon with the other passengers aboard the Surveyor.

BODY IS SAFE

The body of Smith Huggins, which was shipped to Seward on Friday, by the Anchorage Funeral Parlors, to be placed aboard the Aleutian for the voyage south to the states, was held at Seward pending the return of the Aleutian . It will go south on the Evans this evening.

Anchorage Daily Times - May 28, 1929

BRAVERY AND EFFICIENCY OF LINER ALEUTIAN CREW AVERTED BIG DEATH TOLL

SURVIVORS OF DISASTER TO ALASKA LINE VESSEL REACH SEWARD ON U.S.S. SURVEYOR AND SAIL SOUTH ON STEAMER ADMIRAL EVANS

LUKENS PRAISES NORD

MASTER OF SURVEYOR SAYS WORK OF LIFE-SAVING AT SEA MOST EFFICIENT EVER RECORDED

The liner Aleutian , the most palatial vessel in the service of the Alaska Steamship Co. sank in mid-channel at the south end of Amook island in Uyak bay seven minutes after striking a rock. Manual Dorris, janitor of the ship, was the only victim of the disaster. He lost his life when he went back to the sinking ship to obtain a lucky charm and was never seen again.

The vessel was so badly damaged that it filled quickly as it slid off the rock into deep water and completely disappeared.

The efficient work of the officers and crew in launching the lifeboats prevented a great loss of life. The ship listed badly but the boats were launched and filled with people without confusion.

As it sank the stern was thrown high in the air and the air pressure within the vessel caused towels, clothing, etc. to be shot through the portholes with great force.

All the people in the water were picked up by small boats and a gas-boat under charter to a nearby big game hunter took the women and four passengers to the cannery at Larson bay, from where news of the disaster was broadcast.

The coast and geodetic survey vessel Surveyor was at anchor in Zachar bay and upon receipt of the news rushed immediately at full speed for the scene. Upon its arrival it met the cannery tender Raven towing the lifeboats. All were taken aboard the Surveyor and given hot food and medical attention. Several sustained minor injuries.

Picking up the remainder of the survivors at Larsen bay, the Surveyor left for Seward.

Miss Miller of Latouche barely escaped when she jumped from the rail of the Aleutian clad only in a night dress and coat. She was hauled from the water just as the vessel went down.

As the lifeboats were being launched painter became fouled in one of them and only quick thinking on the part of Pilot Stimson in cutting away saved the same boat loaded with people.

Captain Gus Nord of the Aleutian and the crew of 111 and the four passengers aboard the Surveyor, arrived in Seward to board the Admiral Evans, which was on the other side of the large island at the time of the sinking of the Aleutian .

The coolness and efficiency of the officers and crew was demonstrated in their remarkable work of getting the boats away in less than seven minutes, and their work will stand as a credit to American shipping.

The Aleutian is in deep water with its hull so badly shredded that raising it probably never will be possible.

The Surveyor arrived here at 5:30 o’clock yesterday afternoon and the passengers and crew of the Aleutian sailed southward at 9 o’clock last night aboard the Admiral Evans.

Captain Nord, master of the Aleutian , said: “Like Lindbergh, I have nothing to say, except that a fine vessel is lost. The boat is gone and that is all there is to it.”

Captain Lukens, master of the Surveyor, speaking of Nord and his men, said: “It was the most efficient act of life-saving at sea I have ever heard of.”

As the Surveyor docked, the victims started coming ashore, some with blankets thrown across their shoulders and the majority dressed as they were when they left the Aleutian .

Captain S.K. Gill of the Admiral Evans extended every courtesy to the shipwrecked passengers and crew, and with the co-operation of the local quartermaster’s department of the signal corps, which loaned cots and blankets, the Aleutian crew was made comfortable for the trip south.

J.H. Flickinger, local agent for the Alaska Steamship Co., outfitted the crew with needed clothing, etc.

A recheck showed 155 persons were aboard the Aleutian and that 115 of the crew land here. The others, aside from the passengers, were left at Larsen bay.

The 110 tons of cargo lost consisted mostly of cannery supplies and three carloads of copper ore taken aboard at Cordova.

The ship sank at 5:29 o’clock in the morning, not 5:30 , Captain Lukens said. The ship apparently struck a pinnacle rock which could be located only by means of a drag line. He said the last time Uyak bay was charted was in 1917.

Mrs. Charles Weybrecht of Seward, widow of Colonel Weybrecht, sustained minor injuries to her limbs as she slid to the rail of the Aleutian as it listed.

STEAMER STRUCK ROCK FOUR TIMES BEFORE SINKING

SURVIVORS OF ALEUTIAN SAY DEATH WAS VERY CLOSE TO THEM

Additional details of the sinking of the steamer Aleutian were related by survivors upon their arrival at Cordova recently aboard the steamer Admiral Evans. Efforts to obtain information from Captain Nord and other officers were unavailing but in spite of the official ban there were plenty among the survivors who were glad to tell what they knew of the disaster. The following is a general account of the wreck as it was told to the Cordova Times:

Calm waters and not storms sent the Aleutian to its doom. The ship was steaming along with favorable weather, with only ground swells to disturb the water of Shelikof Pass , when it struck an uncharted rock at the end of Amook island at 5:50 o’clock Sunday morning.

Evidence of the tremendous force with which the ship went on the rock is given in the words of one of the survivors who said that he was almost “thrown across the room and almost before he could pick himself up the water was seeping in on the lower decks.:

One thing and one thing alone saved the majority of the passengers from death, and that was the manner in which the boat sank. Listing heavily to the only side available for launching lifeboats, those who took to the small boats were in constant danger of being caught under the sinking ship, but for some unexplainable reason the boat slid off on the other side, dropping almost nose down into the water.

There were exactly seven minutes elapsing from the time that the boat struck the rock until it disappeared from view. In those seven minutes the lifeboats were launched at the rate of one a minute with the waters having mounted to the top deck before the last boat was cut way.

Perhaps launching, however, does not explain the rapidity with which the boats took to the water. “One boat,” a survivor declared, “was floating when we jumped into it. We cut the ropes and pushed off from the sides. Showing how close a call it was, we had to push away from the Aleutian with our oars to keep from being hit by the propeller blades of the ship as it plunged to the bottom.”

The stewardess had a narrow escape from death when she was awakened by the crash and woke to find that an ironing board and other articles in her room had been thrown across the door in such a way that it was almost impossible for her to get out. After a frantic struggle she managed to squeeze through and got on deck just as the last boat was being launched.

Reports from Seward of Miss Miller’s, of Latouche, heroic plunge from the deck of the liner proved to be unfounded. Instead, eyewitnesses said, the young woman became frantic and panic-stricken, running around the deck and refusing to enter a lifeboat. Finally, as a last-minute result, an unidentified man picked up the woman and tossed her bodily from the liner, jumping off himself a moment later. Both of these were picked up from the water by the other boats.

Despite the tragedy of the disaster, there were flashes of comedy sketches here and there which brot smiles to the lips of the survivors when they were safe once more.

A headliner among these was when the chef found that he had two left shoes on when he composed himself on the Surveyor. Arriving at Seward he was among the first to go to the commissary department and triumphantly carried another pair of shoes back to the steamer Evans, finding after he had left port that he had been given two more left shoes.

There was a saving human element of comedy, too, in the attempts made to dress the survivors, the most of whom had nothing but their sleeping garments on.

Even with all available supplies being handed out and with men even taking off their shirts to give to others who had even less, there were many who were attired in nothing but nightgowns or pajamas.

As a last resort, blankets were handed out to those lacking clothes and these were worn on the trip to Seward, the survivors walking down the gangplank like a tribe of Indian warriors with the blankets wrapped tightly around them.

Authentic information as to the condition of the Aleutian is not available as yet. Some reports say that it is lying in 1,000 feet of water but the more generally accepted report is that it is in about 200 feet of water. Since no wreckage whatever was seen to come to the surface after the boat sank it is believed that the liner went down intact except for the great holes in its bottom.

Even the extent of these holes can not be told until divers have an opportunity to look the vessel over. But from the fact that it sank with almost unprecedented speed, the generally accepted belief is that practically the entire bottom was ripped out.

An unconfirmed but apparently reliable story of the disaster, as told by one who was aboard at the time, says that the steamer struck once with a terrific impact and that this first shock was followed by three others in rapid succession, as though the boat was bounding its way over a submerged pinnacle rock, ripping its steel plates loose for the entire length of the boat as it went along.

Immediately after hitting the rock, the boat started rapidly to settle into the water, according to this same source of information, dropping at the rate of a deck every two minutes.

The generally accepted conclusion concerning the wreck seems to be that the waters of Uyak Bay , which it is reported, have changed due to earth tremors and other natural phenomena and that the rock on which the Aleutian struck was not existent when the first survey was made.