S.S. Princess May August 1910 Alaska
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Salvor6
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Thanks for that great story.
MPH200
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Here is some information on her.
WRECK WRAK EPAVE WRACK PECIO
Launched as the Chia Shin. Prior to being named Princess May she was also named Cass, then Arthur, after that it was renamed Cass, then Ningchow and finally Hating.
She stranded on the rocky outcrop of Sentinel Island Alaska on August 5, 1910, within full view of the lighthouse on the island. She was steaming at full speed in the early morning in heavy fog, southbound from Skagway, Alaska, when the accident happened.
The lifeboats were lowered and some 80 passengers and the 68-member crew were safely evacuated to the island. It was said that the ship also was carrying gold, which also was taken ashore for safe keeping. Then the tide went out and the ship was left high and dry, as it appears in the classic picture snapped by W. H. Case.
The Princess May was salvaged about a month later by Captain W. H. Logan and his salvage tug Santa Cruz, from Seattle. Logan managed to get the steamer lighted and re-floated during high tide, which seems to be extreme in that part of the world. That the ship’s keel wasn’t broken in that extreme position for such a length of time speaks well for the quality of workmanship that went into the construction of that particular ship.
Most of the damage occurred during salvage work. While pulling the vessel back off the rocks, she took a fifty-foot long gash that was about eighteen inches wide in her hull.
The cost of repair was over $20,000. The May remained in service for nine more years before she was sold to new owners, the Princess May Steamship Company in the Caribbean. In the end the vessel was scrapped and then scuttled off Jamaica in 1930.
WRECK WRAK EPAVE WRACK PECIO
Launched as the Chia Shin. Prior to being named Princess May she was also named Cass, then Arthur, after that it was renamed Cass, then Ningchow and finally Hating.
She stranded on the rocky outcrop of Sentinel Island Alaska on August 5, 1910, within full view of the lighthouse on the island. She was steaming at full speed in the early morning in heavy fog, southbound from Skagway, Alaska, when the accident happened.
The lifeboats were lowered and some 80 passengers and the 68-member crew were safely evacuated to the island. It was said that the ship also was carrying gold, which also was taken ashore for safe keeping. Then the tide went out and the ship was left high and dry, as it appears in the classic picture snapped by W. H. Case.
The Princess May was salvaged about a month later by Captain W. H. Logan and his salvage tug Santa Cruz, from Seattle. Logan managed to get the steamer lighted and re-floated during high tide, which seems to be extreme in that part of the world. That the ship’s keel wasn’t broken in that extreme position for such a length of time speaks well for the quality of workmanship that went into the construction of that particular ship.
Most of the damage occurred during salvage work. While pulling the vessel back off the rocks, she took a fifty-foot long gash that was about eighteen inches wide in her hull.
The cost of repair was over $20,000. The May remained in service for nine more years before she was sold to new owners, the Princess May Steamship Company in the Caribbean. In the end the vessel was scrapped and then scuttled off Jamaica in 1930.
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