Elleda Wilson: Alaskan down

Elleda Wilson, The Daily Astorian, Ore.
·2 min read

May 19—The Daily Morning Astorian reported that on May 11, 1889, the 280-foot iron sidewheel steamer Alaskan left Astoria with 32 in crew aboard, heading for dry dock in San Francisco.

The next day, 18 miles off Coos Bay, in foul weather and high seas, the steamer could barely make headway. An experienced captain who was in the area that day later described the conditions as being rougher than rounding the notorious Cape Horn off South America.

The Alaskan soon began taking on water, pumps and plugging leaks with bedding notwithstanding. The vessel was being torn apart, and all of the her lifeboats were hastily launched, although one was demolished.

Life jackets on, the men were ordered to the remaining lifeboats. Some, too frightened to leave, stayed on board to meet certain death. Another ship was spotted, and distress rockets fired, but the Alaskan went down stern first, breaking in two.

Capt. E. McCoy on the Vigilant, towing a dredger, told The Astorian that he spotted the Alaskan's rockets, but could not approach. When the sea calmed, he arrived at the wreckage, which he described as covering an area 1 mile wide and 10 miles long. They picked up four men adrift on the Alaskan's hurricane deck, then found a life raft containing two men, one alive and one dead.

An hour or so later, they also found Alaskan's master, Capt. Howes, "alone on the roof of the pilot house," which was upside down. Howes almost went down with the ship, and had been adrift without food or water for 31 hours. The pilot house broke up shortly after he was rescued.

The Vigilant crew found six more men in a lifeboat. One of them had an almost-severed foot, save for a flap of skin. He was taken aboard, given laudanum, and his foot was amputated. Despite the emergency care, he died, and was buried at sea. Capt. McCoy took the remaining survivors to the mouth of Columbia River, where they were picked up by the steamer Columbia.

Later, it was reported that 11 men in one of the Alaskan's lifeboats arrived safely at the mouth of the Siuslaw River. The remaining Alaskan crew members were never found.