National Park After Dark - Titanic of the West: Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park

Episode Date: July 22, 2024

In October of 1918, just days before the end of the first World War, the Princess Sophia ran aground on Vanderbilt Reef and sank into icy Alaskan waters. Every single one of the  350 people aboard perished despite rescue boats circling the ship for nearly two days. What has gone down in history as the worst maritime disaster in the history of the pacific northwest has largely been lost to history, but baffles everyone who hears her tale.For a full list of our sources, visit npadpodcast.com/episodesFor the latest NPAD updates, group travel details, merch and more, follow us on npadpodcast.com and our socials:Instagram: @‌nationalparkafterdarkTikTok: @‌nationalparkafterdarkSupport the show by becoming an Outsider and receive ad free listening, bonus content and more on Patreon or Apple Podcasts. Want to see our faces? Catch full episodes on our YouTube Page!Thank you to this week’s partners!IQBAR: Text PARK to 64000 to get 20% off all IQBAR products and free shipping.Prose: Use our link for a free in-depth hair consultation and 50% off your first subscription order.Zocdoc: Use our link to download the Zocdoc app for free. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Disasters have always had a chokehold on us. It doesn't matter where you were born or when. Tragedies, be it man-made or natural in nature, have never ceased to captivate us. Hurricanes, oil spills, earthquakes, terrorist acts, fires, floods, plane and automobile crashes. All of these events take up airtime, headlines, and live rent-free in our minds. The horror and heroism that can be found side by side in stories like these enthrall us and have a way of making us want to know more despite wanting to avert our eyes. Every event that involves a loss of life, especially on a large scale, warrants our attention and our

remembrance. But not every one of those events receives either. How does a ship, carrying over 350 people, crash into a reef just miles offshore, becomes stranded for nearly 48 hours, all of the while being circled by numerous rescue boats and surrounded by dozens of people ready to jump in and help, sink into the sea without a single survivor? And why have you never heard of that story? You're about to find out. Welcome to National Park After Dark. That intro gave me chills a little bit. Did it? When you were talking about it, I was like, wow, this is insane. And then you're like, and why haven't you ever heard it? And I was like, I haven't ever heard of this. Well, I'm about to tell you why you've never heard of it and maybe some of the reasons behind that. So, and this is actually,

I don't know if you remember, this was your recommendation. I do remember when you were describing it. I'm like, wait a second, this sounds vaguely familiar, but I know nothing about it. Yeah, I know you sent me like one national park article. Yeah. Yeah. About it. I was like, this sounds like it's up your alley. Well, it definitely was.

And I read that article, obviously, and then got really engaged and interested in the story. And I, of course, ordered a book all about it and spent like a month reading and highlighting and all of that. So we'll get into it. But yeah. So this is. a shipwreck disaster, obviously. And the reason I love it so much is because, you know, that thing where people are like, what is your Roman Empire? Yes. The Titanic, in particular, specifically, the Titanic is my Roman Empire. And this is has some, the Titanic is mentioned in this story,

and you'll see why. But yeah, something about ship disasters. I don't know what it is. But it's really, really interesting. And this one's particularly heartbreaking. And it does have a tie to a national park, I promise. But it's not in a national park, if that makes sense. Gotcha. You're like, I don't get it. But you'll see. I believe you, but I don't understand. Okay. Well, you're about to understand in a moment because I will describe a little bit about the area and of course the park before getting into the story. And because I can't seem to stay away from Alaska, we're going to go there again for the story. Sorry. I love Alaska. Sorry, not sorry. Alaska is so cool. And it's so full of stories. Just everything goes down in Alaska. I know. I feel like

we've done a big chunk of our stories in Alaska. We've had at least, I would say at least seven or eight stories here. And we haven't even checked off all the national parks there. It's just there's so much. Yeah, there's a ton. So instead of going deep into the interior like we've done for several of the Alaska base stories that we've covered, we're going to be going into the state's inside passage region. And for those of you who are not familiar with that area, the inside passage region stretches over 500 miles along the Pacific Ocean from the Puget Sound of Washington through British Columbia's coast and up into the Gulf of Alaska. And the passage is the stunning kind of like patchwork conglomeration of more than a thousand different islands. There's rocky coastline, massive glaciers, fjords, coves, bays. And there's also portions of the largest national forest in the entire country, which is the Tongass National Forest.

And that preserves the largest intact, temperate rainforest in the whole world. So it's a really beautiful, beautiful place. Wildlife, of course, is abundant here as it is throughout the state. There's whales, bears, and birds that can be seen in plentiful numbers along the shoreline on the inside passage, which is home to the clinket, Hayida, and Shimsian, Alaska Native peoples. Travelers can visit via the Klondike Highway through air taxi or the marine highway ferry system, but the inside passage serves as the most popular route for cruise ships journeying from places like L.A., Seattle, and Vancouver. So this place is like teeming with cruise ships. And I would say the vast majority of number of people who come here come via cruise ships as a stop on their cruise. I've heard a lot of people who have gone on those cruise ships absolutely love them.

I have always said the only cruise I will do is an Alaskan cruise. I don't know why I have that stance. But I just feel like it's a really cool way to see those places because I've obviously traveled there is. is different. You have to be creative with the way you travel throughout Alaska and a cruise ship is a way of kind of just like going on autopilot and just enjoying versus having to do all these different plans of like, okay, I'm going to take this float plane here and then the train here and maybe this highway and then I have to get, you know, it's just it's a nice way. Yeah, you're kind of there. And I feel like it's a really cool way to see the marine wildlife if you're going there

just because there's such a good chance you're going to see whales and there's other cruises where I feel like that's not as typical to see. So that's cool. And I feel like a lot of cruises that you go on, speaking as someone who has been on a few cruises, you're just in the middle of the ocean for so long and you don't see anything. But if you're taking a cruise to Alaska and you're in the coast and you're seeing the fjords and all the beautiful landscape from the ocean,

it's a little bit different than just being in open water. Yeah, that is true. And I think that's a big draw for why a lot of people choose to go on cruises to Alaska. And another reason is because there are a lot of different stops made along the way to different coveted destinations all along the inside passage. So that includes places like Juno, Sitka, and Kachakan as well as different coveted national park stops like Wrangel and Glacier Bay. So they're easily accessible by different cruise ships. and passenger lines. And one of the most popular stops on this cruise passage is Skagway, which is a small town

with a big, big history, a town whose story took off during the late 19th century, when in 1896, gold was discovered near the Klondike River in Canada's Yukon territory. So news spread of this discovery and within the year, a wave of gold seekers, 100,000 people strong, frantically rushed from all around the country. country and the world with hopes of striking it rich in the Klondike. Known as Sam Peters, these people poured in from various routes depending on various factors, including where they were coming from, their ability, and their resources. Some sailed what was called the Rich Man's Route, which was an all-water route around Alaska

and up the Yukon River, so it was the most direct and quote-unquote easy. Others crossed glaciers or walked the entire way on Overland routes, some of whom made the journey arrived years after the first stampeters arrived, because obviously if you're sailing directly there versus walking, it takes a lot longer. Yeah, take you a little bit longer, miss the boat, so to say. Others chose the cheapest and most direct routes, the White Pass and Chilcout Trails, known as the Poor Man's Route. they would first sail up the inside passage, disembark, and then hike over the mountain ranges

until they reach the Yukon River. Once there, on homemade boats most of the time, they would complete their trip by traveling hundreds of miles up the Yukon. So there are a lot of different, if you look at a map of the Klondike Gold Rush, it'll show you different trails and routes that people did, and you can see them trickling in from all over the place. But no matter the route they ultimately chose throughout the rush, thousands upon thousands of stampeters and a lot of the time, some of their families wound up in or at least traveling through the town of Skagway, because it was a big central hub to this gold rush. Tucked in between towering mountains and situated in a narrow glaciated valley about 100 miles north of Juneau, the area was first inhabited by the Klingit peoples

and known as Skagwa, meaning where the north wind blows. In the east, 1890s, what began as a handful of tents, just hastily set up to house passing stampeters, quickly boomed seemingly overnight into a lawless frontier town. In its heyday, the town of Skagway had over 70 different saloons, earning it the nickname the roughest place in the world. Today, this rough and tumble town is a picturesque tourist town, and of course, here we are, the site of a national park. There it is. there it is. So this park is a bit unique, not only because of what it protects and preserves, but its location, or rather multiple locations. Established in 1976, the park has four units, and they're located, one is in Seattle, Washington, one of course is in Skagway, and the other two are located near Skagway on the Chilkut Pass and White Pass, so obviously also in Alaska. Interesting.

As a national historic park, the Skagway unit of the park is comprised of locations with great historical value. And in this case, places which commemorate the gold rush of 1897 to 1898, it's about 13,000 acres, and it encompasses six blocks of the historical district of Skagway, Alaska, as well as the nearby ghost town of Dai'i, the Chilkoot Trail and portions of the White Pass Trail, all of which have really strong ties to the Klondite Gold Rush. Interesting. It's so, I'm just going to tell you right now, don't Google it because that I will be finding myself in Alaska very soon because my resolve is weak because I really do want to go. It just looks so beautiful. And obviously with the historical element, it just really is of interest to me. And I'm going to keep telling you about it.

And you're going to be like, let's just write it down. We have like a ruling list. Hey, I'm convinced to let me know when we're going. Okay. We'll have to look at our Google Calendar. Yeah, quick weekend trip. We're going to have to spend, it's so funny because looking back on it, we, this time last year, we were in Alaska for almost the entire month of July. Oh, that's such a good point.

That was a fun trip. It was. I love Alaska. Because of its prime location, four cruise ship stops, over 400 cruise ships a year make a stop to Skagway. It is the most visited National Park Unit in Alaska by attendance number. Interesting. Nearly 850,000 visitors come every year and choose from a historic or outdoor adventure or go for both. And I think it's just so funny because I'm positive that a lot of that visitation is unintentional.

I bet you've seen. No. No. Like, obviously with a lot of the Alaskan National Park units, especially. up north like gates of the Arctic. Like you have to intentionally and thoroughly plan that visit. But with a cruise ship stop, it's like, okay, we're stopping at Skagway for the day, like have fun and you just happen to be there.

You know, like who you didn't plan that. Surprise it's a national park. Right. So that's why I think that the numbers are the way they are. That makes sense. Over a dozen of the buildings in Skagway, which have seen many versions of themselves throughout time have been protected, saved, or restored by the park service, including saloons, homesteads, storefronts, train depots, hotels, and more.

There are options for ranger talks and museum visits, shopping, and self-guided tours throughout Skagway, and one of the most popular activities runs out of the National Park Visitor Center, which also serves as the White Pass and Yukon Railroad Depot, where guests can book tickets for a train tour along the historic railway through the spectacular Alaskan scenery. And if ghost towns are your thing, the town of Dai'i, was once the size of Skagway back in its heyday, booming in the time of the gold rush, but now this national historic landmark, managed by the Park Service, of course, is a place where

visitors can visit the ruins of the former town and learn about the location's history before, during, and after the gold rush, and can even camp there. There's 22 campsites in that ghost town area, so it's pretty cool. And Dai is also the starting point of one of the most popular backpacking routes in all of Alaska, the Chilkoot Trail. And as I mentioned, the Park Service also manages this National Historic Trail, which was transformed from a traditional trade route into an essential highway where thousands of people, men, women, and children, trekked from Dai to Lake Bennett, British Columbia during the Klondike Gold Rush. Look at you adding so many national park sites. This is very national park related. In the beginning.

You're like, and then I'm going to jump. I'm going to tell you all about these and then we're not going to be in it. of it. Pretty much. Well, kind of. I don't know. You'll see. You'll see. I'm enjoying learning of them either way. It is relevant. It's relevant. Okay. I believe you. According to the National Park Service today, nearly 15,000 people visit this trail every year, whether it be doing the entire 33-mile route or just day hiking. And both the trails, the Chilkoot and the White Pass trails, are less than 40 miles in length, But due to the hazardous weather and trail condition, disease, malnutrition, and sheer amount of gear that the men carried during the gold rush, between 1897 and 1900, more than 100,000 people attempted this journey to the Klondike region, but no more than 40,000 made it. Death was around every corner.

There were avalanches, murders, suicide, hypothermia, broken limbs, starvation, and more that fill the pages of history. of history on these trails leading to the coveted gold fields. And I know I just hyped you up about the gold rush and teased obviously a ton of different stories that we could do with adventure and misadventure that took place in this area and on those trails in particular over the last few years of the 1800s and into the 1900s. And as with so many locations we cover, of course, there's dozens, if not hundreds of stories that we could get into. But today, here we go.

I'm taking you in a different direction. And you'll see, like I said, the story does have ties to the gold rush in Skagway, but it does not take place in the town or even during the gold rush. Today we are going to be learning about the Princess Sophia, aka the Titanic of the West, the worst maritime disaster of the Pacific Northwest. So now that you have a basic idea of the park today, we're going to go back to Skagway in October of 1918, where our story will be. again. Cool. And it's Princess Sophia? It is. So it's spelled how you would think you would pronounce it as Sophia, which I did in my mind for the first couple chapters of the book. Yeah. But the authors do make a point to give the correct pronunciation in the book. And then if you're to go to YouTube, obviously there are some credible and not so credible sources, of course. But according to different

maritime museums that make videos about this particular disaster, it is. pronounced Sophia. Interesting. I've never heard it pronounced like that. I kind of like it. It's different. It makes you pause and really think about it. Like Princess Sophia.

And of course, I just told you a lot about the Klondike Gold Rush and how it was known as the last great gold rush. However, it wasn't the last gold rush. In the dozen years or so that followed the Klondite gold rush's end, lucky few struck gold in other places around Alaska and the Yukon area as a whole, which brought a flurry of activity each time. It just wasn't this huge 100,000 people stampede to a particular area. In turn, more towns such as Ruby, Iditarod, and Eagle followed a similar boom and bust pattern as Skagway and Dai. These towns, in their heyday, flourished with saloons, storefronts, barbershops,

schools, you get the idea. Populations would rise from a few dozen to thousands, and not just from the mining population. Businessmen, proprietors, educators, education. lawmakers and more all followed suit living and working in these boomtown communities but by the end of 1918 the last of the gold booms these little flurries here and there were starting to fade and jobs were becoming scarce winter was settling in and the people who still found themselves lingering in alaska and the yukon after the majority of the original stampeters had long since left wanted out for decades the yukon region was largely seasonal it was very typical for thousands of of men, women and children to come during the spring and the summer, work their butts off,

and then leave as the fall started to turn to winter, to what was referred to as the outside. So they would say, oh, yeah, we're going outside. And they referred to anywhere that wasn't the Yukon area as the outside. So they would come during the summer and the nice weather, do what they could, make the money they could, and then seek work and living arrangements elsewhere. And then they would come back in the spring and do it all over. again. It's like a seasonal thing that they did all the time. Seems like a long journey to have it be seasonal because obviously the spring and summer in Alaska is much shorter than other

places and the journey to get there. They're a bunch of hardy people. Truly. However, this year in 1918 was different. Instead of an annual ritual or departure and return, it was more of a finality for a lot of different people. Most of the people leaving during this time in October of 1918 had no plans of returning the following spring, which was a lot different from previous years. One of the best and only ways out of this area were on passenger ships. Thousands of men, women, and children scattered around the Yukon River Valley region at all these various towns would make the journey kind of all filter down into Skagway to board ships that would carry them further south. By the time October had come around, it was kind of like a

now or never atmosphere in the town of Skagway. Hundreds of people had poured in from the preceding days and weeks awaiting transport on the very last passenger ships of the season, all clamoring further spot on the last ships coming into the harbor. The great exodus of what was collectively called the Northland totally overwhelmed the town of Skagway. Skagway, like I said, had once, was tiny and then it boomed into this big town. And at the time, and at the time, time of the Klondike Gold Rush, there was about 10,000 people living there year round all the time. But now, 20 years later, 500 people lived there. That's a huge difference.

So its sole reason at this point in time in history, its sole reason for existence was basically just as a transportation hub, because obviously, like I said, that's where people boarded ships to get out. And the sheer number of people pouring in during this time completely overwhelmed Skagway, as people clamored for rooms at hotels, getting seats and restaurants and space to await the ships, just like all sardine in there. Yeah, it's built for 500 people and then you have thousands. Yeah, just all awaiting a ship, a place on a ship. Yeah. The demand to leave the interior was so great during this time that ships were making unscheduled additional runs from Skagway that month.

Like, unplanned, they're like, oh my gosh, there are so many people here. Let's just keep going back. and grabbing them. And the chance of getting out of Alaska dwindled as each and every ship pulled away. The Washburn, the Seattle No. 3, and the Yukon all steamed their way out of Skagway with their passengers and crew with still hundreds and hundreds of people awaiting transport. On October 23rd, one of the very last ships, the Princess Sophia, pulled into Skagway to a dock absolutely packed with people. Some with reservations, others with just the hope of making it on last minute. The Sofayo was one of the newest ships on the British Columbia Coast Steamship Service Fleet. Built in Scotland just six years prior, she had been running the Vancouver to Skagway route for just as long.

The fleet was owned by the Canadian Pacific Railway Company, who always put great emphasis on the safety of their ships and prided themselves on their instructions to their trusted captains, which underlined their first priority. For example, a line from a 1904 memo to a captain that worked for the fleet, read in part, quote, While we have a published schedule, bear in mind that the company do not wish to risk whatever run in order to maintain this schedule, take no chances in foggy or stormy weather. The company, as did many others, learned from different maritime disasters to improve standards on their own ships. While there are many examples, the most notable was, of course, from the Titanic, who, sinking, just six years earlier, caught the attention of the globe. The Sophia was licensed to carry 250 passengers and 70 crew members.

But in times of great need, as was such, on October 23rd, special permission could be granted for additional passengers, but only if there were enough boats, rafts, or other life-saving flotation devices to accommodate everyone that was to be on board. And that lesson was learned from the Titanic, as we all know. While ship agents made last-minute arrangements to increase their capacity, secure additional life rafts, and to hire some last-minute additional deckhands throughout Skagway, boarding began. The passengers represented the Society of the North at the time, who all came from different walks of life. There were miners, like Charles Castleman, who had high hopes when he first left Texas and arrived in the Klondike region.

But now, nearly 18 years later, he was leaving for work in the oil fields back home. Business owners, like Murray and Lulu Mae Eads, who had arrived to the Yukon at the height of the gold rush, but unlike many who ventured north, they actually put down roots. Originally from Kentucky and Alabama, the couple met at work. Lulu was one of the Klondike's most beloved dance hall queens, and Murray was a hotel investor and was essentially her boss. They eventually married and became owners of local hotels, eventually rising the ranks in the Yukon Society. Their trip on the Sophia would mark the first time they had left the north in nearly 20 years. So they were not seasonal like many of the other people that I described. Obviously, they had business and a whole life there and they were really integrated in the Yukon community.

There were also people whom entire communities relied on, such as Ulysses Grant Myers, who was the coroner, mayor, and customs housebroker for the tiny town of Eagle. Wow, that's a lot of hats to wear. A lot of responsibilities, yeah. Yeah. There were also people aboard leaving their Yukon life to begin a new life elsewhere, like John Maskell. Originally born in England, John had found himself north in search of work like so many others, but after years amongst the minds, it was time for the 32-year-old to turn the next page.

This involved traveling back to England to marry his sweetheart, Dorothy Burgess. Many were reuniting with their spouses and children, whom they had been sent. separated from for months to years, sometimes decades, and some were traveling with their entire families, the O'Brien's, for example. Bill and Sarah O'Brien had spent many years traveling north and south with the seasons, but this time they were seriously considering staying outside, particularly in Detroit, where Bill had a promising lead for steady employment year-round. And because of this, they took all five of their children on the Sophia, ranging in ages from 14 years old down to 2 years old.

Others were seeking advancements in medical care, like Ellen Lines, whose final destination was the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, where she was going to get some treatment for a pretty debilitating case of rheumatoid arthritis. Still more were destined for war. Oris McQueen was one of the Alaskan young men destined for the battlefields of Europe, who wrote to his mother explaining how lucky he was to secure a spot aboard the Sophia, as the first three ships that he attempted to travel on were full and he was turned. turned away. And of course, there were crew members, like 17-year-old Francis Burke, who gained employment as a porter on the ship very last minute with his friend Lionel, who were both looking to have an adventure and to make some extra money while their school was shut down due to an influenza epidemic that was affecting the region during the time. Like, well, we're not going to school. We might as well work on a boat and travel around. Yep, exactly. The final numbers aboard the ship

will likely never be known for sure. Between the last-minute additions, stowaways who slipped on board without tickets, and undocumented laborers who gained employment last minute, or who were never properly recorded, between court records, published passenger lists and newspaper accounts, it is thought that about 353 people were aboard the Sophia. However, there were also other souls along for the ride. At least five dogs traveling with their people and 24 horses, including an old white horse named Billy, were aboard as well. No. Billy.

No. Every time I do that, I think of the hot chick. Do you remember the hot chick, the movie? Yeah. When, like, she turns into, what's his name, Rob Schneider? Is that the actor's name? I think so. The one that's always with Adam Sandler and everything.

Yeah. I think that's his name. But I'm so bad with actors. And so she's in the man's body and she's trying to communicate with her boyfriend, Billy, that it's really her. She's like, it's me, Jessica. And then he's like, ew, get away from me. And she goes, Billy. She gets so upset.

Oh, my God, I forgot about that. Is that the scene where she's wearing like the pink tank top and short shorts? Yes. Yeah. I haven't seen that movie in so long. Me either. But I know the boys are cheats and liars. They're such a big disgrace.

Big mistakes. Oh, also that. They can be big mistakes. Yeah. Anyways, so Billy, the horse. Oh, God, Billy. Okay. So his owner, his name was Walter Burns, who was obviously also a board, had worked as a minor for nearly 20 years up in the Klondike region. And Billy worked a year round with Walter, pulling an estimated $500,000 worth of gold out of the mines during his career. And Walter had a home in Vancouver. And instead of abandoning the old, horse that was now too old to work any longer. Instead of abandoning him in the north or selling him off to a slaughterhouse, which was very, very common at the time, he was going to bring him down to Vancouver with him for retirement in green pastures. Ah, my heart. Billy. Billy. Emotions were all over the place. There was optimism, sadness, relief, excitement, reluctance, anticipation, and these were all swirling about as the last passengers stepped aboard. One of the very last. last was Sophia's second mate, Frank Goss. He and his brother Walter had worked on ships for years, and each time a voyage brought them away from home, they would visit their mother to say

goodbye to her. And this time, they did just that, but oddly, despite being very late, soon after leaving their mother's home when they bid her farewell, Frank turned back, ran back to her house, and gave his mother one last goodbye hug, which she later recalled as very strange. He had never done that before. And the brothers were actually so late. They were in a full out sprint to the docks to board the Sophia as she was getting ready to depart. And only Frank made it in time to board, leaving his brother Walter behind. Wow.

And he's the one that was like, I need to say goodbye one last time to my mom. Yeah, like there was some feeling there. And for some, including Lulu May Eads and Eileen Winchell, boarding the ship didn't come without some hesitation. as they had premonitions of their impending deaths. Lulu's was so strong, she and her husband arranged their will shortly before their journey, even including a stipulation on how to divide their estate if they were to both die at the same time. And I, yeah, I know. If I felt, it's so hard because if you feel that strongly, but you don't know, like, how.

Like, I don't know, it feels like maybe they thought the boat, but. Well, and the other portion of that is kind of like, why would you, if you, if you feel that, you felt so strongly about that, why would you move forward with putting yourself in that situation? But it's the only, like, that's the option. Yeah. And it's such a rugged time, too. Like maybe you felt really strongly about the boat, but maybe you felt really strongly about other things too. Like, people were dying all the time for, I mean, you said there was an influenza epidemic that was happening in places. You know, you're in Alaska, which is dangerous in itself. And then you're boarding, you know, hindsight is 2020.

but just having that bad of a feeling. I know. It is scary. And then there was Eileen Winchell. Eileen urged her husband, whom she was not traveling with. They were traveling separately. She was actually headed down. I forget the state.

I didn't write it. But she was heading down to the outside because she also was in poor health. And she was leaving her husband behind up in Alaska. But she was adamant with him. Like, please remember my final burial wishes. If something is to happen to me, you need to be. promise me that you will fulfill them and bury me next to my mother in San Francisco. So, and part of that, like, both with both Eileen and Lulu, these are two women who have not

traveled to the outside in years. So maybe- Which is anxiety-inducing anyway. Exactly. It's like it's anxiety-inducing. They're not seasonal, like many others. They haven't made this trip back and forth yearly. So maybe it's just, it's a, it's a big, a wanting trip, and maybe that's had to do with some of it, but now obviously in hindsight, it's creepy. Regardless of how they felt, though, the Sophia pulled out of Skagway at 10 p.m., three hours behind schedule. While passengers readied for bed or gathered in the smoking room or saloon to catch up with friends or to make new acquaintances, Captain Leonard Locke was debating on what to do. Captain Locke was 66 years old and had spent most of those years

serving on ships around the world. His off time was spent at home in Victoria, Canada with his wife and five children, but by the time 1918 had rolled around, he had a solid reputation as both a captain and a naval navigator. His medium-billed, thick white mutton chops, and mustache may have given him a slightly intimidating look, and previous co-workers would later describe him as pretty strict, kind of just like a stickler for detail and correct behavior and following the rules. but others remembered him as having a soft side. For example, on a previous voyage, a young passenger confided in him

because she was really sad that no one had wished her farewell as she boarded the ship and pulled away. And this was on the Puget Sound. But later that night, when she was at dinner, he had left her a poem near her plate that read, Good ship's sails, I go to sea, but no one says goodbye to me. So he like took his time to write her something. make her feel special. Yeah. Perhaps twisting his mustache or stroking his mutton chops, he gazed out into the water. Just 16 miles out of Skagway, the weather had turned for the worse.

A whiteout snowstorm rolled in with 50 miles per hour winds from the north. The waves were becoming turbulent and frothing with white caps, but as a seasoned captain, he had experienced far worse. It was a bad storm. There was no denying that. But he was confident in his ability as well in his. his cruise ability. He knew the Princess Sophia was built for these types of waters, despite their reputation for being rough and dangerous, and who had claimed dozens of ships and hundreds of lives.

The route along the inside passage was dotted with peril in the form of reefs and narrow passages, but Locke's techniques for navigating in poor weather had never failed him before, so he ordered full speed ahead. Titanic people, if you know, you know. Iceberg, dead ahead. Okay. Shortly after 2 a.m. on October 24th, his decision was proved the incorrect one, when the Sophia, traveling at her normal cruising speed of 12 knots, slammed into Vanderbilt Reef. The reef in its entirety is an underwater mountain that rises about 1,000 feet from the bottom of the ocean floor and is located in about the dead center of the seven-mile-wide canal that they were steaming through.

At high tide, a half acre of surface area on the top of the reef barely shows above the water, but at extreme low tide, it rises about 12 feet from the sea. Exactly how the error was made in navigation of slamming directly into this is unknown, but the sudden deceleration and the grinding halt through everyone from their bunks and the contents of the ship were just sent crashing everywhere. Amazingly, no one was seriously injured, But understandably, many were shaken up and questioning what the heck was going on. John Maskell, the man traveling to Europe to marry his fiancé, wrote a letter to her,

explaining the events and painting the picture of confusion amongst the passengers. A letter by Orris McQueen, the 17-year-old Army Private, that he was writing to his mother, also elaborated on that moment, describing how he witnessed a couple of women fainting and others just throwing on their life belts and just kind of running around and questioning what the, what was about to happen. Yeah, I imagine a crash like that was just like such a huge throw. And I just imagine if you're in a car and you crash, like obviously you're jostled, but you're in this massive boat that just hit a piece of land. Going full speed. I mean, 12 knots isn't super fast. I mean, remember, this is a passenger ship that's just going through an inside passage

in a canal. It's not the open ocean. It's not a huge ship. But it's still going fast. You know? I imagine it feels like a small earthquake. Like everything rattles and shakes and your throne. No one's like in a seatbelt, you know. Right, of course. Locke immediately sent word of the incident to his superiors and ordered the lifeboat swung out as a precaution yet did not order an evacuation. The sophia was suspended on the reef.

The hole was gashed, but almost completely out of the water. And if you want to pause at this point in time just to look up the princess. Sophia on the reef. You'll see pictures. She's literally almost all the way. It looks at first glance like she's still cruising on the water, but she's literally all the way out sitting on top of the reef in the middle of the canal. So she's out of the water. She's obviously damage. The storm was raging on. Waves crashed into the sides of the ship, causing the hole to scrape against the rocks. Oh, yeah. I see what you're saying. Right. It's not like she's scraped and she's on her side and water's pouring it. You know, it's just sitting on top of, it looks like she's,

She's just, like, parked at a piece of land. That's a great way of describing it. It looks like she's parked, exactly. So the storm's still battering her. It's obviously a dangerous situation. And the sounds alarmed the already distraught passengers. But for the moment, they were kind of okay. They weren't taking on any water.

She wasn't flipped on her side. But due to the limitations on wireless communications at the time, getting a message to headquarters, Locke's superiors in Victoria was impossible. But word made contact with several ships anchored near Juno, which was about 20 miles away. As word spread about the Sophia's predicament, local vessels of all kinds and sizes, mail and passenger boats, fishing boats, freight ships, and more were all alerted and answered the call for aid while a formal rescue effort was being organized and mobilized from his superiors. I don't want to get into the whole like how, how, uh, how a little.

elaborate the communication delays and difficulties were because there's a lot of information there. But just as an example, Captain Troop who was in charge of the Canadian Pacific headquarters down in Victoria had no idea and had no notice of any sort of problem until 12 hours later. Wow, that's a huge delay. So much can happen in 12 hours. Yeah. But locally in the Juno area, we have all these ships that are going straight out to them. We have help come in. It's just formally from the headquarters. It was delayed. The passengers were informed of the incoming help and were relieved. Hours and hours passed precariously positioned atop this reef, the ship's still being battered by the storm. The night dragged on. Some people went back to

sleep, others paced in the halls, and passengers started sending wire messages or wrote to loved ones and parents tried to calm their frightened children. Like, you were just doing what you could. It was a waiting game. By 9 a.m., the first ship arrived to the scene, pulling up as close as the reef and the weather allowed, which was about 75 yards away. So less than a football field away, they were able to get up to the Sophia. As the day went on, more and more boats arrived awaiting instruction. And again, there's an entire book written about this.

But the basic plan was to wait until high tide when hopefully the larger boats could pull the sophia off the reef while smaller boats were on standby to take the passengers off and unload them to safety. Gotcha. But they're not using the lifeboats to get to these ships that are waiting for them. Correct. Which will come back to. I guess if the weather's really bad and the waves are crazy. And they're also on a reef. And the waves are smashing into the reef. So if you lower a lifeboat directly onto the rocks and there's waves pummeling you. It's a rough. Where are you going? Yeah.

You know, so there's a lot of factors. There's the weather. There's the tides. There's a lot of things at play here, which is obviously a huge piece of this story. Captains of the boats communicated with Locke via a megaphone. Like, that's how close they were. When weather allowed, obviously sometimes the wind and the snow and stuff. But that's how close they were.

They could literally just shout through a megaphone and speak to each other. And they were told on several different occasions. In summary, Locke would shout back to them that everyone on the Sofio was okay. They were in no danger at the moment and the boats should stay on standby until the tides change and the weather let up, which would allow for safer conditions for a rescue. Locke also advised the boats to keep their distance, worrying that they too may be run aground if they approached too closely. With so many rescue ships at the scene and more on the way, the passengers felt another mix of emotion. Frustration with relief being so close, but so far and so out of reach, yet comfort. that there was so many people on standby awaiting their rescue.

And the fact that the ship was relatively stable brought comfort as well. So there's a lot going on here. It's like, okay, I want to get off of here. This is obviously an issue. And I can't. But at least people are aware of our situation. We're not in the middle of the ocean. People are here.

We're parked on a reef. We have beds. We have food. Right. It's probably warm on the boat. You're like out of the elements. Like it seems like things are okay at this. moment. Things are stable for now, but that stability was not going to last forever, and John

Maskell knew it. He penned his last will in a letter to his fiance Dorothy, convinced that the ship was doomed to sink. By the late afternoon, the on-looking ship saw a flurry of activity on board, as passengers were seen lining up with their suitcases and belongings on the deck near the lifeboats. So they're thinking and assuming that the abandoned ship order was likely made and geared up to swoop in. They're like, oh, okay, I guess now's the time. But around 5 p.m., the crowds dissipated. A lot of people went below deck. There was no big line anymore. And none of the lifeboats were lowered as the storm increased in intensity. Locke shouted through his megaphone, we are perfectly safe. Go into the harbor until morning. As the rescue boats bobbed and battled in the waves nearby, word had gotten to

Juneau that Locke believed that the ship was safe. Arrangements were frantically made for what they believed would be the soon to be rescued over 300 passengers that would be all arriving and needing accommodations because juno like skagway was chock full of people journeying south but every effort was made to go to each hotel boarding house and even private residences to secure comfortable lodging for the sophia's passengers upon their arrival by midnight on thursday october 24th The Sophia had been stranded for nearly a full 24 hours. The power had failed on board, leaving lanterns as the only light source in the darkness, as the wind and waves battered the ship throughout the night.

The weather relented a little bit in the pre-dawn hours of October 25th, and the proposed rescue effort began. Locke directed the crew to give out life belts, assign people to lifeboats, and prepare everyone on the rescue procedure. Rescue ships drew in close, and passengers once again lined the deck for their departure, but once again, the weather took another turn with gale force winds in full force, the rescue had to be postponed. And I mentioned earlier how lessons were learned from other maritime disasters, of course, like the Titanic in particular, but there was one that was probably

on Locke's mind the most in this particular instance and maybe some of the other captains in the area. And that incident was the 1904 Klaulam, which was en route from Seattle to Victoria when she ran into rough weather. And the ship was seemed doomed to sink. So the captain ordered the women and children onto lifeboats. Despite the bad weather, though, the Klaulam stayed afloat long enough for rescue to arrive and assist and safely remove all of the people that were still on the ship, which were mainly men, because they sent the women and children out into lifeboats. And of course the crew was still there. So all of them got rescued. But all 54 people, mainly women and children who were ordered into the lifeboats, were lost at sea and drowned.

Ugh, that's awful. So because of this and other maritime stories that are similar in nature, that gave Locke probable pause for his situation. He's like, okay, we're stable here. Why would I send out everyone into the rough waters and I don't know if they're going to live or not? Like the ship right now is okay. bed and food and like they're good. Right, exactly. So I think there was a lot of back and forth.

Of course, the main goal was to get people off. It wasn't a long-term solution, but it appeared to be the safest one at the moment. Fair. As the hours dragged on, nearly two dozen rescue boats took turns taking shifts near the Sophia and taking cover in nearby coves or behind nearby islands in attempt to save their own ships and crews from the weather. The storm was unrelenting. and if anything, it started gaining momentum.

Winds were now clocking near 100 miles an hour, and the snow was in near whiteout conditions. People couldn't see more than a dozen feet ahead of them. News of the Sophia's predicament had reached the shores and the papers, and knowing that their families were probably worried sick and freaking out as they were reading the headlines that were popping up. For example, Princess Sophia in danger, passengers still on board. Many of the passengers started wiring.

to their families in hopes of reassuring them that they were okay. Meanwhile, Locke communicated with the captains of the nearby rescue ships via megaphone, like I said, and through wire transmissions. And the rescue captains all spoke amongst themselves. And the consensus remained. There was to be no rescue attempt until the weather broke. It was simply, and albeit frustratingly, just too dangerous to attempt anything in the current conditions that they were facing. And yeah, I mean, it sounds like from everything that you're saying at this moment, it's the safest option because like we said before, they seem stable. Right. And it wasn't ideal, of course, by any means. The ship was still in a perilous position. It's in the middle of a terrible storm. And the Sofai's crew and passengers were starting to run out of fresh water. And the weather was frightening everyone involved. But Locke reassured the others that they were okay.

for the time being, the ship had barely shifted at all on the reef, despite all of the battering it was getting from the wind and the waves and the snow and the incoming and receding tides. All of that combined for what it was, they were okay, but suddenly they were not okay. At 4.50 p.m. on October 25th, a wire was sent from the Sophia. Ship foundering on reef come at once. The rescue ships who had retreated a bit for safety launched into action. At 520, a transmission crackled through the radio from the Sopoeia to the rescue ship, the Cedar. For God's sake, hurry, water is coming into my room. There was more to that transmission, but the static made the words impossible to understand. And it was the last anyone would ever hear

from anyone aboard the Sofia. The rescue ships tried their best to reach the vessel, but as soon as they left the safety of their position in the coves, they were pummeled by the weather and the waves. Several ships tried their best to reach the Sofia, but it was all in vain because they were unable to. With heavy hearts, all they could do was wait. It wasn't until 8.30 a.m. the following morning, so remember, those transmissions came around 5.5.5.30 p.m. And it wasn't until, you know, well into the morning on October 26, when the weather let up enough for aid to approach. But what rescuers witnessed made it clear this would not be a rescue it would be a recovery the only visible trace of the princess sophia was the top 20 feet of the ship's mast protruding from the icy water oh my god so the water

came in the entire yeah so the or it or the ship sank the ship sank so and i'll describe how the entire ship ship and all that she carried were literally all beneath the waves the snow was still falling heavily at this point in time and the water was still rough, the wind was howling, but despite that it was eerily quiet, a complete departure of what had just unfolded just hours before. Yeah. The beginning of the end for the Sophia struck shortly before that first

transmission for help at 4.50 p.m. The wind and the waves picked up, and for the first time since they ran a ground on the reef, the ship began to shift. It swung a full 180 degrees and began sliding backwards and off of the reef, all the while scraping and grinding on the rocks, completely tearing out the entire bottom of the hole. Oh my God. Fuel oil, with the consistency of thick tar, began flooding into the ocean and the seawater rushed in, overtaking the engine and boiler rooms. The boilers exploded, ripping apart the lower decks and killing anyone

who had sheltered there for the storm instantly. The explosion also blew up. out many of the portholes, which allowed even more seawater to rush in even quicker. As the ship began to sink under the waves, panic unleashed. For nearly two days, the back and forth of get ready to evacuate and then never mind caused a lot of confusion and ultimately complacency due to so many false alarms. And based on what we know and what was eventually discovered, it is clear that some of those aboard had no sense of imminent danger. So when the ship suddenly began to sink, it was an all-out chaos with little preparation or formal plan. Some attempted to scramble onto lifeboats. Others leapt from the rapidly sinking ship into the water, but with less than 20 feet of visibility because

of the blinding snow, it would have been impossible for them to see what they were plunging into. Of course, they knew that the sea was frigid and turbulent. What they did not know was that it surface was thick with a slick of oil. Their clothes were coated in it, weighing them down further, and many of the victims suffocated from inhaling the oil versus actually drowning in the water. Oh my God. Of the first 162 bodies that were eventually recovered, only two had drowned. The rest had suffocated because of the oil. That's horrible. That's horrific. Because not only are you, obviously, you're gasping for air, the water is cold and you're struggling to breathe. But because of how cold it is, you have this natural reflex of gasping for air and you're just inhaling all of this thick tar oil

that you didn't know was there. And those who made it to lifeboats were only given temporary relief as they were either smashed into the rocks or capsized and sunk. Based on the evidence, it appears that Locke had not given the order to abandon ship or perhaps waited until the very last moment. Because there were no survivors of the sinking and the ship's logs and records were lost to the ocean, we will never really know the exact sequence of events that took place immediately proceeding and during the sinking. So all that I'm about to explain and all that we know today has been pieced together through what people have discovered on the scene, the recovery of bodies, salvaged letters, things like that. For example, we know the approximate time of the actual sinking based off of the bodies of

the recovered victims because all the people who are wearing watches, they stopped at 6.50 p.m. That's so eerie. Yeah, very. Weather once again delayed operations, but several hours later, recovery missions began and were in full swing by the following day. The first bodies and signs of the disaster showed up 30 miles to the south, and with them, news of the tragedy hit the papers. Headlines like worst maritime tragedy on the Pacific coast first appeared in Canada, then down the

west coast into the U.S., and then around the world. The news of the Princess Sophia foundering came as a shock to many of the passengers' families, who, due to the delay, like I said in the communications, had received shortly before or were still in the process of receiving word from their loved ones that they were fine. That's so sad. Some of the people even received transmissions from their loved ones after they realized the ship sank and everyone died. And like a day or two later, they got transmissions from their loved one saying like, all is well. Don't worry. I'm fine.

Love you. That's so sad. Families found out through headlines and newspapers who slowly trickled out lists of the deceased or, by personal house calls from different officials. Over the following days, the rescue effort needed additional help. The scale of the disaster was completely overwhelming. The tides and the ocean currents had dispersed the shipwreckage and the bodies miles and miles away into various inlets and bays and waterways along the channel because, as I described,

the inside passage in that channel in particular, there's all these different little, there's a thousand islands, literally, in the inside passage and all these little nooks and crannies. and, I mean, with the ocean just dispersing the scene, it's everywhere. And additionally, the high tide and towering waves had washed bodies ashore a lot of these different islands at times high up onto the beaches. And then obviously the tide recedes. So the bodies aren't right at the water line. And then on top of that, because it's a storm, they're covered immediately with feet of snow.

So people aren't found for a long time. John Maskell was found with his last will tucked into his jacket, along with a letter written to his quote, Oh, dear sweetheart, my one true love, which was Dorothy Burgess, who he was traveling to go marry. Oris McQueen was found with a letter to his mother. Lulu Mae Eads, the so-called Queen of the Klondike, was found with $5,000 worth of jewels in a pouch tied around her neck. And that's about $103,000. $103,000. in today's money.

One man, whose name was James Kirk, who was known as an incredibly strong swimmer in life, was found with his wrist tied to another young man's wrist, presumably in a heroic attempt to help save his life. Maybe he wasn't as strong as a swimmer. Frank Goss, the man who raced his brother to the docks, was able to cling to the side of a lifeboat and actually made it to shore alive.

The first people on the scene claimed to have seen footprints leaving the lifeboat to inland further onto the shore. But from how Frank was discovered, it's assumed that he made it to shore and exhausted, slipped and fell on the rocks badly gashing his head. And he was found covering his wound with his coat, but he had eventually died of exposure in the storm. Yeah, hypothermia. Wow. The recovery was arduous and heartbreaking.

Men, women, and children were found frozen in their last moments. Some, including many children in particular, were found still tucked in their beds aboard the ship. So sad. Others were found in their staterooms, in their bathrooms, just kind of like doing their thing. Going about their nightly routine, it was the afternoon. Some were found embracing one another or clinging for their lives to different floating devices that were useless in the icy water. The ways in which people were found was also confusing and added to the mystery. of what exactly happened in the final hours and moments of the Sophia.

Because like I said, some people were found and dressed in ways that suggested they had no warning, like they were completely taken by surprise, while others had their life belt on and were dressed in a way that seemed to suggest they were preparing for the elements and disembarking or running for their lives or, you know. So, and if you look back on the transmission, there's about a half hour between the initial distress. call and him saying water's coming into my room. So there's at least a half an hour of time that some people knew that the ship was foundering and that they were going to sink. I wonder if he thought that there was no way to save everyone. So they just sent messages out to certain people. I don't know. I feel like that would have not been Captain Locke's thing. And I will say Captain Locke didn't

send those messages. It was like the operator. There's a lot of people involved. I tried to limit the amount of names I'm sharing. Or if it just hadn't traveled to everyone yet, the news. Like, especially if the boat was underwater, I wonder if, well, he had a megaphone. But I just wonder if, like, was there an intercom system or anything? Like, I just wonder if maybe they couldn't get to people lower on the boat or farther away. So it was all, like, by mouth communications. I will say that in the book, they kind of throw out the suggestion that it's been thought that

some people have suggested that to the people who are found in their beds or not with life belts and not attempting to to jump ship, that they kind of just accepted that they were not going to live and just kind of went down with the ship type of thing. I mean, there's a scene in the movie Titanic that illustrates that 100% when the third class passenger, she's of Irish descent and she's tucking her children into bed and she's reading them a nighttime story because she knows there is no hope. And she's just kind of like making, it's suggesting that she's making their last moments,

not a panic. Peaceful instead of panic. But then they're like, but in the book, they're also like, that's great and lovely to think. But like the human instinct for survival seems like that's unlikely. Also, that feels unlikely too because with the Titanic, it was a little bit different, right?

Like they hit the iceberg. They start sinking. It's a panic. Panic ensues. Like, they know they're going down pretty quickly into the crash. But with this one, they've been, by all means, pretty cozy, safe, fine. It's been uneventful since the moments of the crash. Like, it seems odd to not even try to evacuate a situation that you have been preparing to evacuate for two days now.

Yes, they are aware of the situation with a bunch of people around to rescue you. Like, it's not hopeless. Or I wouldn't think that with so many rescue boats and, like, this plan. that's been going on for days. Right. So it's just, it's, like they said, it's confounding. It's, it adds to the mystery because we don't know. There's no survivors to, to tell us. And all the log books and a lot of the, a lot of the communication and stuff have been lost forever. So it's kind of just conjecture and best guesses. Yeah. In the first three days of searching, over 180 bodies were recovered from the sea. More would follow the last being recovered nearly a year after the disaster.

and some were never found at all. The city of Juneau stepped up to the grisly task of receiving the bodies, cleaning them, identifying them, notifying the families, preparing them for burial, and coordinating internments either locally or around the country. There were so many dead that coffins ran out literally overnight in Juneau, and embalmers and embalming supplies had to be called in from as far away as Seattle. The ship, the princess Alice, was soon nicknamed the ship of sorrow, as she was a ship of, She had the somber task of carrying over 150 bodies from Juno to other ports, including Vancouver, Victoria, and Seattle.

Fright sheds and warehouses on the piers at those ports were set up as temporary morgues. The bodies would be lined up alphabetically and family and friends would enter to claim their loved ones. In Victoria, the arrival of the ship of sorrow was in this cruel kind of hand dealt out by the universe, correlated with the announcement of the end of the war. It was Monday, November 11th, 1918, the end of the first World War was announced and the entire city was just bursting at the seams with celebrating. There was music and people laughing and running through the streets and the whole, I mean, the world was celebrating, you know, but especially here, like, you know, the whole city was just in this jubilant celebration. And meanwhile, there's loved ones.

lining up on the pier to receive the bodies of their dead family and friends. I can't even imagine. I mean, I can imagine that scene, especially parties in the street and then just being so solemn. You're like, you're kind of just like walking through the streets to get to the pier on the worst day of your life. Wow, the world. While other people are celebrating. You know. Around you.

The majority of the crew of the Sophia were buried in Victoria, Vancouver and Seattle. For example, if you're, I put this. And because if you're interested in cemetery visits like I am and perhaps live in these areas, Mountain View Cemetery in Vancouver has 66 victims of the Princess Sophia buried there. And in Juneau's Evergreen Cemetery, they have 21. But because the passengers came from so many places around the country, in many cases, remains were shipped all across our country. Arranging burials for people in other areas of the United States at the time poised.

little difficulty, but for those who lived in the north, it was a different story. Friends and relatives of lost loved ones in the far north could not logistically bury their people for months due to impracticality or impossibility of transporting and burying bodies during that time of year. Frozen ground and travel. And travel. Yeah, very, very limited, which of course only adds to the grieving process. You know, it's fragmented and there's not that sense of closure that. receiving and saying goodbye to a physical body can provide. And speaking of the Yukon, the Northland

that they referred themselves as like Alaska and Canada area of the Yukon were completely devastated by this disaster. And Dawson City was the hardest hit. As many as one in ten of that town citizens died on this ship. That's horrible. As I mentioned, locating victims was a process that took time. Some were found right away and nearby, and others were found nine months later and as many as 50 miles away. And of course, some were never located. By December of 1918, the Canadian Pacific Railway was offering a $50 reward per body found and was ready to kind of be done with the official search. So this is, you know, October to December. The Sofai's insurers had sent dive teams down to the wreck site and deemed it a total loss. Like, yeah, I would. Yeah, it's underwater. It's underwater. I would say.

it's a loss, and it only had sentimental worth and value. And the CPR, so the Canadian Pacific Railway, made statements basically saying that all the bodies that could have been found have already been found were either floating out to sea or were trapped inside the ship in areas that could not be accessed or located by divers. And this came to a huge blow to the loved ones who had not been located yet. And one of those people did not accept the CPR's stance. And his name, was Al Winchell, the husband of Eileen Winchell, who had made him promise to bury her with her mother after she had that daunting premonition. Oh, yes.

When Al heard the news of the sinking and realized his wife's premonition had unfortunately come true, he waited until it got cold enough for winter travel in the north. And, okay, this is my favorite part of the story. He walked from his house in Flat Creek to Anchorage, which is 400 miles, before travel. traveling further to Juno to investigate exactly where his wife was on the ship. After being informed of what room she was assigned to during her travels, he spent his entire life savings hiring private divers to recover Eileen after the CPR said they would no longer be of any assistance. So for months, he worked with a diver who made dozens of separate attempts, many of which,

in the dead of winter, in Alaskan waters, to locate his wife, When Al ran out of money, he raised more. And when the first diver refused to make any more attempts to the ship, he hired another diver. And during that time, the divers that he was working with were locating so many bodies that were easily. I wouldn't say easily except found and located because those dives were not easy. But they weren't like trapped in these weird locate. Like they were obviously being found. They made it seem less accessible than it was.

Exactly. So because of, you know, Al and those private divers. attempts, the CPR realized, hmm, maybe we called it too soon. And they resumed their own recovery operation for people trapped inside of the ship. And Al waited at the peers as the CPR team brought up people, body after body, 86 people in total, desperate for one of them to be his wife, but they never were. Finally, in July, so he started this in December. Seven months or eight months. Eileen was finally brought to the surface. She had been found in her. her state room alongside Sarah O'Brien, who had been traveling with her husband and five children. And it is thought that because Eileen was sick at the time of her journey on the Sophia,

Sarah had rushed into her room to help her. And they both, and they both died. Wow. Al brought Eileen to San Francisco to be buried next to her mother just as he had promised. Got. Have you seen the, or heard the saying, it's like, if he wanted to, he would. Yes, I have. Like, if he wanted to, he would. Don't settle for less. That is insane.

Like she just said, these are my burial wishes. And he wasn't like, well, she's lost. Yeah. He did all of that. Walked 400 miles. And then spent all of his money, waited eight months, like did not give up. And then took the journey all the way to San Francisco, which I imagine he had to do by boat. Yeah.

And arranging all the transport and. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, if he wanted to, he would, ladies. Yes. Just remember. Just remember. Never settle for less. Remember? Yeah. In the aftermath of the sinking, formal inquiries and civil proceedings began. However, it took up to 14 years for a final judicial decision to be rendered. And again, there's an entire chapter of the book dedicated to this lengthy process, the decisions, repeals, reinstatements, etc. That can get really confusing. was actually the most confusing chapter of the entire book for me. I had to read it a couple times. But essentially, with the international aspect of this disaster, because it was a Canadian

company, but it wrecked in Alaskan waters. There was a lot of logistical and legal back and forth and things like that. But ultimately, the public wanted to know why Captain Locke did not order passengers off the ship, families of the ship's crew wanted settlement, and families of the passengers wanted settlements for their relatives. Like in summary, those three things needed to be settled. And in short, in the end, it was decided that Captain Locke had done all that he could in the circumstances that he was given. The workman's compensation board awarded $3,000 or $62,397 today to the crew's families to be split amongst them. But the CPR managed to reduce the amount of money owed to the families of the passengers down to $600 split between

the hundreds of families that were involved in this case that it came down to $2.50 per family of each victim involved in the suit or $52 in today's currency. That's so messed up. It's insulting. That's so insulting. $52 for your dead loved one. After four, also may I add, 14 years. 14 years. And okay, so not only is that a slap in the face, of course, and a devastating emotional blow,

but many of these families relied on that person, on that relative or family member who died on the ship for financial support. So many of them were people working up there and sending money. Oh, such a good point. To their families elsewhere. So they're a huge, you know, like not only is an emotional, traumatic loss of a family member, but it's also a big, chunk of your financial net that's now no longer there. And you're hoping for some sort of compensation for that. To help with that. Yeah. So like that is. And if you're interested in learning more again, I'll shout out the book, The Sinking of the Princess Sophia, taking the North down with her by Ken Coates and Bill Morrison. Such a good read. Very easy to read, except for that chapter. I was like, what the heck is going on? But if you're interested in like, they literally

literally go into so many of the passenger stories and just different. It's very well done, easy to read, although it's really obviously heavily historic in nature. There's a lot to do with life, the way of life during the Gold Rush and people of Alaska. It's just amazing. It's a really, really good read. What are your thoughts on do you think that he could have done something? The captain could have done something else? Well, after reading everything in the book and obviously researching this for about a month. I think that the short answer to that question, in my opinion, is no. However, like, there's testimony, like, written in the book as well back and forth of other

captains and things like that. And they did say that the true testimony is almost 10,000 pages long over the years. So there's a lot of information. But there were some people who mentioned that there was a lull in the weather that would have been that window of opportunity that perhaps. To put people. Passengers could have. And I will say that it wasn't as simple as lowering lifeboats and they were going to get off. There was a particular tactic that they were going to use that it basically involved a rescue ship throwing a line out and that passengers one by one coming off down like a, for lack of a better term or visual, like a zip line type of deal. Into the rescue boat that was in the water. Into the rescue boat because the conditions weren't ideal for the lifeboat route. So they were saying that there was a lull in weather where that.

could have potentially happened, but no one was like, no one that was there and that has experience as a captain or on ships, because the general public is like, I don't get it. Why did you not do this? Yeah. But people would experience with the seas and how ships operate in just the maritime world, a lot of those people were of the opinion that Captain Locke did the best he could. And he was not in the wrong for not ordering an evacuation. So. I can. see that. I feel like in hindsight, because every single person died, now you're like, do whatever, you know, but I feel like in his moment where if he was going to send the lifeboats or do these rescues, it was kind of like you were sending people out and you knew some weren't

going to make it. But it was just kind of a gamble. And now knowing that every single person dies, it's like, yeah, send him out. Hopefully we'll get some that survive. But in that moment, having to make those decisions. It's kind of like how do you initiate an evacuation where you know that people are going to die? Right. And that people are not going to make it. Like it is his sworn duty to safeguard his passengers. So in his mind, why would he send people knowingly send people to their deaths, or at least some of them, if he thought that many, if not all, could be saved once the weather died down and or when the window of opportunity was safer. So I, that's my opinion based on everything. I mean, obviously hindsight's 2020. Who would, who knows? You know, who knows? He didn't.

I mean, they were relatively stable for days. Yeah. Like, of course. He said, now we know what was going to happen. But he didn't know that at the time. And it's a hard. It's a hard. I agree with you. I think that there could have been something that was done. But I don't think in that circumstance, that anyone would really make that decision just because you would be knowingly sending some people to die and some people to live. And especially when you have children on board where you're like, all right, go off with your parents, your mom, your dad, whatever. And you may or may not live for that. You may or may not live, especially a child in these crazy weather and waves and stuff. I just, yeah, a hundred miles an hour winds, blinding snowstorms, rough waves. It's not every, like a white,

like a white out you can't even see where you're going like and I think like in hindsight I think something could have been done but people would have died regardless and that was something he was trying to avoid obviously yeah and I think it is also very telling that it wasn't lock against everybody else lock and many of the captains of the ships and boats that were surrounding him were on the same page yeah they agreed with because he had been talking it's not like they were He was holding his passengers hostage while rescue boats were begging. Like, I'm not doing that, him to do something, you know? So I think that's very, very telling.

And that's also why I believe that he did what he thought was best at the time. Yeah, makes sense. Today, there is a steel tower on a large concrete base that towers nearly 40 feet out of the water atop Vanderbilt reef. Prior to the disaster, Alaskans had been complaining to the government for some form of lighthouse or lighted buoy to be installed to warn about that reef as previous wrecks, albeit not as serious or disastrous as the Princess Sophia. But they had occurred in and around that area before the Sophia struck.

So there was some calls to action for like, hey, can we like light this up a little bit here? But the government had ignored the complaints. And instead, a sole unleit buoy was placed near the rocks of the reef, which would have been barely visible in the rough waters and weather at the time and nearly impossible to see in the dark because it was not lit. And it's a buoy. There are pictures also of it like because again, part of the book explained that there was a professional photographer that was hired to photograph the incident.

So a lot of the pictures that you see online are his of when the boat is actually up on the reef and then the aftermath of just the mast poking out. And there's a picture you can see the boot. tiny. You're in calm water. You're like, oh, I guess I see it. In the aftermath, it's like glassy waters. You can barely see it. So yeah, that's wild. Right. But of course, within weeks of the Sofaya disaster, the government installed a gas light and bell on the reef, which now has evolved to what can be seen by mariners navigating the channel today, which is that large permanent steel tower that's on the reef. Good. The sinking of the Sofia has largely

been lost to history. And while there are several museums and universities that have occasional exhibits on the disaster, and some books and plays that have gained inspiration from it, although they've taken a lot of creative liberties, up until 2018, there wasn't a single permanent marker or physical memorial to honor the tragedy. That was until 2018, after about five years of hard work, raising funds and developing the concept, Igloo Six of the Alaska Pioneers changed that. Today, just a few miles northwest of Eagle Beach at Eagle Beach State Recreation Area near Juno, a 10,000 pound slab of granite and quartz was dedicated to the victims of the Princess Sophia. The memorial rock is also accompanied by an informational placard that sits next to it explaining the ship and the disaster.

When the memorial was unveiled, there were two people in attendance that had a relative aboard the ship. That relative was Walter Harper, an Alaskan native man famous for his mountaineering and outdoor skills. In 1913, just five years before the Sophia sank, Harper was the first person in recorded history to reach the summit of Denali, the highest point in all of North America. He died with his wife on the Sophia at the age of only 25, and they were found hand in hand. Ken Coates and Bill Morrison, the authors of The Sinking of the Sofia, point to a number of possible reasons. of why this is. Between the end of the war, a depression that was affecting the North, the influenza epidemic, the fact that it was neither entirely an American or Canadian disaster, like it was a mixture of both, and the fact that much of the morning only took place away from the actual site

of the region of the disaster. And all over the country, not just like one space. Exactly. One community. Exactly. The wreck and all the lives lost was just kind of lost in the news. Obviously, it made headlines for a little while, but it quickly kind of was just like forgotten about and honestly was forgotten about and lost amongst communities. Aside from those who were personally impacted, because those grieving were geographically fragmented and that sense of loss was scattered, coupled with the fact that there was a transient aspect of the communities that were most heavily impacted. Remember, their season. They're here, there, everywhere. They're not living there full time. The story just has kind of gotten lost to time. But with their book, the authors end with their hopes. To revive interest in the full story of the Princess Sophia and to remember the victims of its sinking. And they close with a paragraph that says in part, quote, in recalling the suffering of the Princess Sophia's victims and in seeking to understand the significance of the greatest disaster in the history of the Pacific Northwest, We honor the memory of those who died and those who would have saved them. And we pay tribute to those who suffered personal loss. In remembering, we hope to help the Yukon River Valley region reclaim an important part of its past. And as just one last final bit to kind of end on a little bit of a upswing here. As I said, multiple times, every single person aboard the Sophia perished.

But that doesn't mean every soul did. Oh, Billy? It's not Billy. No, sorry. There was a single survivor of the wreck, an English setter owned by James and Louisa Alexander, who both obviously died on the ship. The dog, who was later maybe thought to be a Chesapeake Bay retriever, swam eight miles from the reef, the site of the crash, to a place called T. Harbor. Freezing, exhausted, terrified, and covered in oil. He struggled another four miles to Ock Bay, where he was discovered and rest of.

rescued by residents and then later returned to relatives of the Alexander's family in Vancouver. He made a full recovery despite a reported terrible fear of water. And his name was Tommy. Tommy. Oh my God. My heart. Also, that makes sense when you said Chesapeake Bay Retriever, because they are known to be swimmers and like bread to be swimmers. And their coat has this water wicking ability to it that helps. It's like the curly. Yeah. Yeah. Which totally makes sense that that would be the dog that, but that's so eight miles of swimming and then four miles of walking, hiking out to a town covered in oil in freezing conditions. After surviving a horrific sinking.

No food. Yeah. Oh, my God. That poor dog and great dog. That's so, I'm glad a dog survived. I know. We needed that. We needed that.

Single soul survivor. Yeah. But it's just like, thank you for the recommendation because I really enjoyed. of researching that story, even though it was tragic in nature. That's a lot of people to have lost at once and in a lot of horrific ways. And obviously, children as young as two, it's not the greatest. But like I said, if you're interested in knowing more about the personal stories, the details of the sinking, a lot goes into different aspects of the autopsies and things like that. The sinking of the Princess Sophia, taking the North Down with her is the place to go for that.

Well, thank you for telling it. I remember seeing the article, and I think it was titled something along the lines like The Unknown Titanic. And then I just saw like a short sentence to advertise what the article was about. And I was like, oh, this looks like this is Danielle's territory. And I didn't know if it was National Park related. I didn't know literally anything else about it. So.

Well, I'll answer that question right now. The main article that got me into this was published by the National Park Service and obviously the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park or whatever I was describing for like a half an hour in the beginning. Yeah. So it is national park related just because so many of the passengers that were, I mean, every single one of those passengers that boarded the Sophia were in Skagway, which is now a national historical park. So it counts. It definitely counts. For sure. That was the beginning of the whole story. Yep, sure was. Well, thanks everyone for listening,

and we will see you next week. In the meantime, enjoy the view, but watch you're back. Bye, everyone. Thank you so much for joining us again this week. If you have a trail tale or story suggestion, send us an email at Stories at NPADPodcast.com. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook at National Park After Dark and on Twitter at NPAD podcast. Join our Outsiders only community on Patreon or Apple subscriptions to listen ad-free, unlock monthly bonus episodes, and exclusive content. And remember, when you support our sponsors, you are supporting our show. For our exclusive discount codes and source information from today's episode, check out the show notes.

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