On the 24th of October, 1918, the passenger liner the SS Princess Sophia ran aground on
a reef in the waters off the coast of Alaska.
Though heavily damaged, the ship survived, and other vessels in the area flocked to her
aid.
It would be more thirty hours before the Princess Sophia sank beneath the waves… but a combination
of factors would see that not a single one of her 340 passengers were rescued in that
time.
The Princess Sophia was completed in 1912 in the shipyards of Paisley, in Scotland.
She was a sturdy vessel, built of steel with a double hull and space for up to 500 passengers.
She was well-equipped too, with facilities that included a dining room to seat over a
hundred guests, a wood-panelled observation lounge, and a first class lounge that had
its own piano.
She was also equipped with eight robust steel lifeboats, as well as several traditional
wooden ones.
Although strong enough to survive the harsh conditions of the open ocean, the Princess
Sophia was intended to serve the calmer waters of the Inside Passage – a long stretch of
coastal passages and waterways that extends from Alaska all the way to Washington State.
The Inside Passage is a relatively sheltered route, with many coastal islands providing
protection to ships that sail there.
The Princess Sophia was soon put to work on a route from Skagway in British Columbia to
Victoria in British Columbia, sailing approximately every two weeks.
On the 23rd of October, 1918, she set off from Skagway on a routine sailing, with around
340 people on board: approximately 267 passengers and 73 crew.
In command was 66-year-old Captain Leonard Locke.
Locke was keen to make up time, as the ship had departed three hours behind schedule.
This delay was further exacerbated as weather conditions worsened.
Within hours of her departure the Princess Sophia was steaming through heavy snow which
reduced visibility to almost zero.
Her crew resorted to navigating by sound: sounding the ship’s whistle and calculating
their location based on how long it took an echo to return.
While this method of navigation was better than sailing blind, it was not sufficiently
accurate to keep the Princess Sophia on course.
Over time she drifted further and further off course, until at 2:00am on the 24th of
October, she ran aground on the rocks of Vanderbilt Reef.
At the time she was two kilometres (or one and a quarter miles) off course.
The ship was heavily damaged by the collision, with a large hole punched into her bow.
It was a terrifying experience for passengers – many of whom immediately donned lifejackets.
In one case, a woman changed into a black mourning dress in anticipation of her own
imminent demise.
However the ship did not sink.
Despite the damage she was caught firmly on the rocks of Vanderbilt Reef.
A wireless distress call was broadcast, and multiple ships converged on the scene, ready
to help the stranded ship in any way they could.
These ranged from small fishing schooners like the King and Winge to large military
vessels like the USS Cedar.
Regardless of their size or resources, though, the boats that came to the Princess Sophia’s
aid found themselves with very few options.
At low tide the Princess Sophia was surrounded by jagged rocks that prevented any other vessel
from getting close.
At high tide these rocks were covered by water, but only just – meaning that they were still
incredibly hazardous.
It was feared that any attempt to launch a lifeboat from the Princess Sophia would end
with this boat dashed to pieces on the rocks.
Captain Locke hoped that risking an evacuation might not be necessary.
He awaited the next high tide at dawn, hoping that the water would rise far enough to float
the Princess Sophia off the rocks.
When the waters rose, however, she remained firmly stuck in place.
Later that day, crew from the waiting rescue boats attempted to launch lifeboats and get
close to the stranded Princess Sophia… but Captain Locke warned them off.
It would be safer, he said, to wait until the weather conditions improved.
Unfortunately the weather conditions did not improve – indeed, they worsened.
The wind and the waves grew steadily more powerful, until several of the smaller rescue
boats had to leave the scene to seek more sheltered waters.
Even some of the larger boats, such as the USS Cedar were struggling.
Captain Leadbetter, of the Cedar, devised a plan to use a line launcher to shoot a rope
across to the Princess Sophia, and then take passengers off one by one using a breeches
buoy – a device that resembles a modern-day zipline.
Unfortunately, the rising winds and waves meant that he could not anchor his ship in
the stormy waters, and this plan had to be abandoned.
The 24th of October became the 25th, and the Princess Sophia remained stranded on the rocks.
The high tides had not refloated her, and every attempt to take passengers off her had
been abandoned due to the dangerous conditions.
As the weather got steadily worse and worse, even the larger rescue ships were forced to
retreat.
Sheltering in the lee of a nearby island, the captains of the Cedar and the King and
Winge devised another plan.
They would use the bulk of the Cedar to provide shelter from the wind, while the smaller King
and Winge retrieved passengers from the stranded ship.
It was a risky plan, but if the weather conditions improved it should be possible.
Before this plan could be put into action, at around 4:50pm on the 25th of October, they
received an urgent message from the Princess Sophia: “Ship foundering on reef.
Come at once.”
Captain Leadbetter of the Cedar attempted to do just that… but the weather conditions
he now faced were extreme.
With almost no visibility, high winds and crashing waves, he was forced to turn back
for fear of running into the reef himself.
Meanwhile the high winds and high tide had finally moved the Princess Sophia… but had
damaged her catastrophically in the process.
As she was lifted by the waves, rocks tore a massive hole in her hull, and she sank almost
instantly.
Oil from her engines lay thick on the water around her, meaning that even those passengers
equipped with floatation devices stood little chance of survival – if they did not drown,
they died from the effects of oil inhalation.
By the time the weather had calmed enough for the rescue boats to approach the site,
there was little left of the Princess Sophia – they saw only a vast oil slick, and one
of her masts protruding from the water.
Though they searched for survivors, only bodies were found.
In total, the disaster took the lives of approximately 340 people.
Only one living thing survived the sinking – a pet dog, who was found exhausted and
coated with oil at a nearby harbour shortly after the sinking.
For the rest of its life the animal remained terrified of saltwater.
An investigation was carried out on behalf of the Minister of Marine and Fisheries.
It was agreed that, with hindsight, the best option would have been to evacuate passengers
as soon as possible – there had been a window of time on the day of the collision when the
weather had not been too severe, and when it might have been possible to safely retrieve
some of the passengers and crew from the Princess Sophia.
Unfortunately, during this window of time, Captain Locke and the other captains had believed,
quite reasonably, that the weather would soon improve, and that there was no value in risking
an evacuation that might end in tragedy when more favourable conditions might be just hours
away.
Though Captain Locke was criticised for not evacuating when he could have done, his decision
was ruled as reasonable given what he knew at the time.
Hundreds of bodies were retrieved from the water, along with the possessions of many
passengers.
During the day the ship had spent marooned on the rock, some had written letters to their
loved ones.
One such letter, penned by a man named John Maskell to his wife-to-be Dorothy Burgess,
was reprinted in several newspapers after the sinking to give some insight into the
plight of those stranded on board.
“There are now seven ships near.
When the tide went down, two-thirds of the boat was high and dry.
We are expecting the lights to go out at any minute, also the fires.
The boat might go to pieces, for the force of the waves are terrible, making awful noises
on the side of the boat, which has quite a list to port.
No one is allowed to sleep, but believe me dear Dorrie it might have been much worse…
I made my will this morning, leaving everything to you, my own true love and I want you to
give £100 to my dear Mother, £100 to my dear Dad, £100 to dear wee Jack, and the
balance of my estate (about £300) to you, Dorrie dear.”
John Maskell was buried in the Mountain View cemetery in Vancouver.
So were 66 other victims of the disaster.
News of the sinking was overshadowed by news of the end of World War I less than a month
later, and it soon disappeared from public memory.
The wreck of the Princess Sophia, the place where more than 300 souls spent their final
hours, remains on the sea floor near Vanderbilt Reef to this day.
A beacon now stands upon the reef, and in the many years since the sinking there has
not been another similar accident.