1921 — Aug 6, coastal passenger steamer Alaska grounds, dense fog off Blunts Reef, CA–42

— 42 Blanchard estimate. Though we show sources noting a loss-of-life between 37 and 49,
We choose to rely on the U.S. Bureau of Navigation report of 42 lives lost, which is also
reported by Gibbs and the Eureka, CA Times Standard of Aug 12 2021.

— 49 Palmer. “Miscellaneous Notes.” Bulletin of the Amer. Meteorological Society, 2/9, 118.
— 47 Oakland Tribune. “47 Death Toll of Wrecked Alaska…” 8-8-1921, p. 1.
— 42 Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. 1972, p. 201.
— 42 Gibbs, Jim. Disaster Log of Ships…shipwrecks, California to Alaska. 1971, p. 24.
— 42 Times Standard, Eureka, CA. “Throwback…42 lives lost after ship sinks off…” 8-12-2021.
— 42 U.S. Bureau of Navigation. Merchant Vessels of the United States…1922, p. 450.
–37-39 Oakland Tribune. “47 Death Toll of Wrecked Alaska…” 8-8-1921, p. 1.

Narrative Information

Gibbs: Photo caption: “Watery tombstone. Sinister view of the SS Alaska jutting above the cruel sea, which turned from a raging monster to a complete calm after claiming this ship and 42 of her company August 6, 1921. The coastal passenger liner of 3,709 tons, in command of Captain Harry Hovey, and on charter to the San Francisco & Portland Steamship Company from Alaska Steamship Company, struck the outlying rocks off Blunts Reef. Tearing open her hull below the waterline she listed to starboard and went to the bottom in 15 minutes. The first boat lowered was crushed against the ship’s side and all drowned. The second and third boats got away safely and the fourth turned turtle. In response to an SOS the James Griffiths’ steamer Anyox, 15 miles away, responded, and this ship and her crew performed a heroic piece of rescue work saving 96 passengers and 70 crewmen who might otherwise have been drowned. Captain Hovey was killed when the Alaska’s stack fell on him.”

Palmer: “The diminished visibility attending fog was the indirect cause of two marine disasters on the Pacific Coast within a few days of each other during August, 1921. On August 6 the steamer ‘Alaska,’ bound from Seattle to San Francisco, ran ashore on Blunt’s Reef during a dense fog. A total of 49 lives were lost, and the ship was a total loss…” (Palmer, A. H. “Miscellaneous Notes.” Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Vol. 2, No. 9, September 1921, p. 118.)

US Bureau of Navigation: “St. s [steam vessel]…Alaska…3,709 [gross tonnage]…1899 [year built]…220 [onboard]…42 [lives lost…Stranded…Aug. 6, 1921…Off Blunts Reef, Cal.” (US Bureau of Navigation. Merchant Vessels of the…[US] for the Year Ended June 30, 1922, p. 450.)

Newspapers

Aug 6: “By International News Service leased wire to Tribune. Table Bluff Radio Station, Eureka.

“Aug. 6. – The steamship Alaska, which went aground tonight on Blunt’s reef, is in grave danger of breaking up. Last advices from the stricken vessel said all boats would be lowered, and an effort is being made to take the large passenger list to safety in this manner.

“The ship went ashore in a dense fog and this has rendered rescue work difficult. The steamer Anyox, located five miles south of the point at which the Alaska hit the dangerous reef, has been reached by wireless and is proceeding to the scene as rapidly as the fog will permit. Coast guards are hastening to the scene to assist in the rescue.

“San Francisco, Aug. 6. – The steamer Alaska, running between San Francisco and Portland, struck a rock at Blunt’s Reef, Calif., off Cape Mendocino, at 9:18 tonight, according to advices to the marine department of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce. At 10:15 p.m. the meager reports received were that she was leaking and possibly severely damaged. At that hour wireless stations were unable to communicate with the vessel.

“The Alaska was en route from Portland to San Francisco. She is operated by the Portland and San Francisco Steamship company and has a tonnage of approximately 3000. How many passengers were aboard was not known here, but it was presumed she carried a large list.

“After giving her position and calling for immediate assistance, the Alaska’s radio apparently failed, as the land station was unable to read her further efforts to signal.

“At 9:45 p.m. the steamer Ernest H. Meyer was reached, 90 miles north of San Francisco and directed to rush immediately to the assistance of the Alaska.

“The Alaska left Astoria, Friday night, for San Francisco.

“Blunt’s Reef lies off Cape Mendocino, on the Humboldt county, Calif. Coast. It is marked by a lightship anchored several miles off the coast. The vicinity of the reef is noted among mariners as a ‘graveyard of ships.’ Within a radius of 50 miles probably a score of ships have been wrecked in as many years. Notable among the vessels lost there have been the steamer Bear, owned by the same company as operates the Alaska, which went ashore north of Cape Mendocino in 1916 with the loss of five lives. The steamer St. Paul, the Norwegian freighter Tricolor, the Riverside, the Humboldt and may others have gone down in the same region. To the northward lies Humboldt bay, near the entrance to which the wreck of the United States cruiser Milwaukee still may be seen.” (Oakland Tribune, CA/Int. News Ser. “Str. Alaska Aground on Blunt’s Reef.” 8-7-1921, 1.)

Aug 8: “Eureka, Cal., Aug. 8. – The moaning of the foghorns and the mournful tolling of the bell buoys today sounded a requiem for the sunken steamer Alaska and the probable score or more whose bodies are still unfound. The day, with the sun still hidden by the same thick treacherous fog which caused the disaster, passed dismally on the shores of Point Mendocino.

“Ever increasing crowds of friends and relatives of the dead and missing who are arriving hourly by automobile and train, and surge about the marble slabs in the little Humboldt county morgue, where the seventeen oil-soaked victims of the ill-fated ship Alaska lie.

“Wreck guards and patrols paced the shore line, hoping to find bodies of the victims who are listed under the head of ‘missing,’ but who, in the hearts of the Eureka seafaring folks, are counted among the dead.

“Breakers thundered on the rocks as if to exult at the ruin they had wrought. Five miles off shore the tip of a mast pricked through the oil and driftwood which covers the surface of the sea. It was all that could be seen of the once sturdy steamer. By tonight, probably, even this will be gone.

“The Alaska is already breaking up, according to Captain Ellison of the Humboldt Bay coast guard station, who has just returned from the scene of the wreck, and is the last person who has been on the spot.

“A heavy scum of oil covers the surface and on it is floating everywhere countless bits of driftwood, all broken up into small pieces – a sign that tells old mariners that the ship is surely breaking up. Mixed in the flotsam are bits of cargo, sacks of flour, boxes, trunks and handbags. All of them rise and fall idly, methodically, in the slow swells.

“A new check of the passengers and crew list made in practically definite today that the list of missing and dead will total probably thirty-seven and at any rate under forty, it is believed.

“Today the last vessels which stood by during the wreck and aided in the rescue, steamed away. Hope of picking up any more bodies of victims on the surface of the water near Blunt’s Reef has been abandoned.

“More than half the survivors of the wreck were enroute to San Francisco today, having left by the morning train. They will arrive in San Francisco at 7:35 this evening. Some fifty others will remain until tonight’s train and will arrive in San Francisco early Tuesday morning. Scattering members among the survivors, who are still suffering from shock and exposure and those who were injured, will remain in the hospital here for a few days.

“The authorities made plans to hold an inquest today over the seventeen bodies in the morgue here.

“Some of the deaths were declared by survivors today to have been caused by an explosion of the Alaska’s boilers, as the ship started sinking after twice hitting the rocks. Some of the passengers and members of the crew were blown into the sea. Many of these, it was said, succeeded in boarding the ship again, or were rescued by life boats after clinging to wreckage.

“Oil rising from the burst tanks of the ship was scattered over one life boat filled with survivors, the ocean nearby was coated with oil and the bodies of the dead were covered with it.

“So sudden did the tragedy happen that the steamer’s crew hardly had time to prepare the life boats and many of these were reported wrecked while being put over the vessel’s sides, spilling their human cargo into the icy waters. Many of the survivors were rescued by the Anyox after they had floated about in the water for several hours. J. H. Moss and C. L. Vilim, both of Chicago, said they reached a life boat which had been swept off the decks. Other life boats, they declared, went down with the ship.

“Captain Harry Hobey of the Alaska preferred to go to his death rather than leave his command, passengers reported. When Moss removed a life belt which he was wearing, and, offering it to Captain Hobey, told him to save himself, witness said the captain walked away, replying: ‘I prefer to go down with my ship.’ Although a veteran in the service, Captain Hobey was only 40 years old. He assumed command of the Alaska three weeks ago and this was this third trip….” (Oakland Tribune. “47 Death Toll of Wrecked Alaska; All Reported Missing Believed Dead.” 8-8-1921, 1.)

Sources

Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. Boston: Mariners Press Inc., 1972.

Gibbs, Jim. Disaster Log of Ships: A Pictorial account of shipwrecks, California to Alaska. NY: Bonanza Books, 1971.

Oakland Tribune, CA. “47 Death Toll of Wrecked Alaska; All Reported Missing Believed Dead.” 8-8-1921, p. 1. Accessed 2-3-2022 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/oakland-tribune-aug-08-1921-p-1/

Oakland Tribune, CA/International News Service. “Str. Alaska Aground on Blunt’s Reef.” 8-7-1921, p. 1. Accessed 2-3-2022 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/oakland-tribune-aug-07-1921-p-41/

Palmer, A. H. “Miscellaneous Notes.” Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Vol. 2, No. 9, September 1921, p. 118. Accessed 2-3-2022 at: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Bulletin_of_the_American_Meteorological/SW0IAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%20blunts%20reef

Times Standard, Eureka, CA. “Throwback Thursday. 42 lives lost after ship sinks off Humboldt County after striking Blunts Reef.” 8-12-2021. Accessed 2-3-2022 at: https://www.times-standard.com/2021/08/12/throwback-thursday-42-lives-lost-after-ship-sinks-off-humboldt-county-coast-in-august-1921/

United States Bureau of Navigation, Department of Commerce. Fifty-Fourth Annual List of Merchant Vessels of the United States…For the Year Ended June 30, 1922. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1922. Accessed 2-3-2022 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=5PXe-NjogGsC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=true