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Princess Kathleen: on rocks 1952 |
Princess Sophia: Vanderbelt
Reef 1918 |
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In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the beautiful Inside
Passage was largely uncharted, so groundings and more
serious shipwrecks were not uncommon occurrences. Today,
accurate charts, better weather reporting, reliable
navigation instruments and improved communication have
made marine disasters here extremely rare.
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- In 1918, the Canadian Pacific passenger liner Princess
Sofia ran aground on the dreaded Vanderbilt Reef
in Lynn Canal, some 40 miles (65 km) north of
Juneau. Since the stranded ship seemed in no
immediate danger, the captain decided to wait for
the storm to abate before evacuating passengers.
Unfortunately, the weather worsened, and sometime in
the middle of the night the ship slipped off the
reef and plunged to the depths, taking all 343
passengers and crewmembers to their deaths. The
sinking of Princess Sofia was one of
the worst maritime disasters in all of the Pacific
Northwest.
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- Thirty-four years later, a course
change miscalculation drove Princess Kathleen
ashore in the same area. Fortunately her passengers were
able to scramble down ladders to the beach before the
beautiful ship slide off the rocks and into deep water.
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- While not technically a shipwreck, the impact of
the
oil spill from Exxon Valdez in
March 1989 dramatically impacted fishing, wildlife
and tourism in Alaska’s Prince William Sound. This
ecological disaster focused worldwide attention on
the fragile, natural beauty of the area.
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- On March 2006, BC Ferry's Queen of the
North, carrying 101 passengers and crew,
sank in Wright Sound, 75 km south of Prince Rupert.
Queen of the North hit a rock shortly before
1:00 a.m. PST. The vessel reportedly began to tip to
one side before it sank off Gil Island in Wright
Sound. Residents of Hartley Bay rushed to the aide
of the people who abandoned the stricken ferry.
Sadly, two passengers where lost.
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