SS Princess Sophia
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Marker: recorded wreck position (Date not recorded).
Key facts
| Name | SS Princess Sophia | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Ship type | ship | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Nationality / flag | Canada | Wikidata P8047 country of registry |
| Operator | Canadian Pacific Railway | Wikidata P137 operator |
| Nearest coast | Alaska | Natural Earth (public domain); approx. 9 km from land |
| Position | 58.6022, -135.0236 | Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0) |
About the wreck
SS Princess Sophia was a steel-built passenger liner in the coastal service fleet of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR). Along with SS Princess Adelaide, SS Princess Alice, and SS Princess Mary, Princess Sophia was one of four similar ships built for CPR during 1910-1911.
On 25 October 1918, Princess Sophia sank after grounding on Vanderbilt Reef in Lynn Canal near Juneau, Territory of Alaska. All 343 persons on the ship died, making the wreck of Sophia the worst maritime accident in the history of British Columbia and Alaska.
Diving & visiting
The next morning, 26 October, it was still snowing, but the wind had died down somewhat. Cedar, King and Winge and other rescue vessels returned to the reef. Only the foremast of Princess Sophia remained above water. The rescue vessels cruised around for three hours looking for survivors. They found bodies, but no living people. King and Winge took the bodies to Juneau. Cedar also returned to Juneau. When he arrived, Captain Ledbetter sent out a wire which stated: "No sign of life. No hope of survivors."
When the watches on bodies in the water were examined, they were noted to have stopped at 5:50 p.m. The sole survivor of the wreck was an English setter dog found in Auke Bay, outside Juneau.
For months after the wreck, bodies washed up for as much as thirty miles to the north and south of Vanderbilt Reef. Wreckage and the passengers' belongings were also found, including toys of the children who had died on the ship. Many of the bodies were scarcely recognizable as human remains, being covered with a thick coat of oil. Among the dead was Walter Harper, the first person to reach the summit of Denali, the highest mountain in North America. Most of the bodies recovered were taken to Juneau, where many of the local citizens volunteered to help identify the remains and prepare them for burial. The bodies had to be scrubbed with gasoline to remove the oil.
Location
- Recorded position: 58.6022, -135.0236 (Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0); may be approximate)
- Nearest coast: Alaska
Wreck positions on this site are for interest only and are not for navigation. Many wrecks are war graves or legally protected: never disturb human remains or remove artefacts, and check local law before diving.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article SS Princess Sophia (revision 1379370262), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section and section(s) “Wreck located”, “Aftermath of wreck”; condensed by selecting paragraphs; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.
Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).
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