PRINCESS SOPHIA

Edmonton Bulletin

28 Oct 1918

n0xp0298

C.P.R. Steamer is Lost – All aboard Perish

French Capture

Princess Sophia Dashed across Reef by Terrific Storm - - Crew of 75 and 268 Passengers Perish

Tempest So Tremendous that Steamers which had gone to rescue of Stranded Ship were Powerless to Rescue Single Person

Alberta Man among Victims

Victoria, B.C., Oct. 27 – Pounded by mountainous waves and driven before a wind of terrible severity, the Canadian Pacific steamship Princess Sophia slid from the comparative safety of Vanderbilt reef, in Lynn Canad, midway between Skagway and Juneau, early Friday evening and carried 343 persons, passengers and crew, men, women and children, to their death in the raging northern waters. There were no survivors from the ship.

Stranded During Blizzard

The Sophia left Skagway Wednesday evening last for Vancouver with a passenger list made up largely of Dawson people and Alaskans from interior points, eager to get “outside” for the winter. Four hours out she ran into a blinding snowstorm, in which, it is supposed, she got out of her course slightly and piled up on the reef, where she rested for more that forty hours in what was thought to be a position of no danger. Lighthouse tenders and gas boats responded to the wireless call for assistance and the Princess Alice was dispatched from Vancouver to take over the passengers. Even though the seas were running too high to permit of the transference of the passengers on board Friday, no alarm was felt. Captain F.L. Lockem, of Victoria, a veteran seaman of the northern coast, on the night of the disaster had wirelessed his office here that the ship was hard and fast on the reef with her bottom badly damaged, but she was not taking water and the passengers were normal. It is evident that he believed the Sophia was planted so firmly on the rocks as to be secured from the severity of the storm which continued to rage.

Efforts at Rescue Fall

Friday morning the United States lighthouse tender Cedar had got within 400 yards of the Sophia, but her anchors would not hold on the rocky sea bottom and the seas forced her back. The waves were such that life boats could not have lived. When night shut down the Sophia was still on the reef. The wind increased and the air was filled with snow. At 8 o’clock the Cedar picked up the last wireless from the Sophia. The Sophia was sinking. She had been driven across the reef into deep water, in which her shattered bottom offered no support, and she filled quickly and went down. The Cedar rushed to the vicinity, but could see nothing of the Sophia. When morning broke her foremast was visible above the water. There was no sign of life, no wreckage and the bodies had scattered if they had not gone down with the ship.

It was not until late Saturday afternoon that word of the disaster came out. Details have come through slowly.

Ten Bodies Recovered

The body of one woman was picked up with four overturned boats on Lincoln Island Sunday morning. Reports to the Canadian Pacific railway officials in Victoria today announce the recovery of nine other bodies, eight of them women and all so far unidentified. Four bodies were on one of the Sophia’s collapsible rafts. The message added that there was no sign of life and no hope of any survivors. Vanderbilt reef, it is pointed out, is three and one-half miles from the nearest point where boats would drift ashore, and it was impossible that rafts or lifeboats or passengers with life belts could have survived for such a distance in the huge seas which prevailed Friday night. The search for bodies is being maintained.

Dawson Hard Hit

The passenger list was cabled from Sgagway Saturday night and shows that 285 passengers sailed on the Sophia, of whom 230 were men, 37 women and 18 children. The crew comprised 61 persons, including one woman – Miss H. Browning of Vancouver, the stewardess. According to these figures there were 246 persons aboard – 290 men, 38 women and 18 children. The passenger list gave the names only, and it has not been possible to identify all of them.

The city of Dawson was hard hit, and a dispatch from that city states that almost two-thirds of the passengers were Dawsonites.

Some of the Victimes

William O’Brien member of the Yukon legislature and of the Dawson city council, accompanied by his wife and five children, was on board. William Scouse, of Seattle, who was lost hoisted the first bucket of the fabulously rich gold gravel on Eldorado, the most noted of Yukon creeks. Mrs. Charles Vifquain was the wife of the assistant general agent for the White Pass & Yukon Company at Dawson. She was accompanied by her child. John Zaccarreili, John Helwinkle, A.D. Pinska, with his wife, and Sam Henry made up a part of prominent Dawson business men. Other Dawson victims included.

	William		O’Brien	Member of the Yukon leg. And Dawson city council		Dawson	Accompanied by his wife and 5 children
	William		Scouse	Hoisted first bucket of gold gravel on Eldorado		Seattle
Mrs.	Charles		Vifquain	Wife of the assistant general agent for the White Pass & Yukon Company at Dawson		Dawson	Accompanied by her child
	John		Zaccarreili	Part of ‘Prominent business men’		Dawson
	John		Helwinkle	Part of ‘Prominent business men’		Dawson
	A.	D.	Pinska	Part of ‘Prominent business men’		Dawson	Accompanied by his wife
	Sam		Henry	Part of ‘Prominent business men’		Dawson
	Walter		Barnek	Rich Klondyke hydraulic operators		Dawson
	Allan		Barnek			Vancouver
	Edward	S.	Ironside	Collector of customs	En route for Ottawa on official buisness	Dawson	Accompanied by his mother
	U.	G.	Myers	Formerly United States commissioner in Eagle City		Dawson
	Murray		Eads	Dawson hotel man		Dawson	Accompanied by his wife
	Oscar		Tackstrom	Pioneer Dawson Business man		Dawson	Accompanied with his family
	Harry		Bridges	Dawson restauranteur		Dawson	Accompanied by his wife
Capt.	Augustine		Steward	Veteran of South African wars		Dawson
	Jack		Chisholm	Noted Klondyke logging contractor		Dawson	Accompanied by his wife
	Dave		Williams	Dawson Business Man		Dawson
	C.	J.	Bloomquist	Captain on Steamer Dawson		Victoria
	W.	W.	Schillinglaw			Victoria
	B.		Wilkinson			Victoria
	R.	C.	Haws			Vancouver
	P.		Pint			Vancouver
Capt.	J.	F.	Douglas			New Westminster

Most of the passengers belonged to Yukon and Alaska and the Pacific coast and none have been identified as yet as belonging to eastern Canada. Included in the crew was:

C.	J.	Black	Of Campbellford	Assistant purser
D.	M.	Robinson	Vancouver	Wireless operator (stuck to his post to the last) Formerly a wireless man on the Empress of Russia

The Sophia is reported from Dawson to have carried a gold worth a million dollars or more. She had a score or two of horse, otherwise little cargo. She was a steel screw ship of 2,320 tons gross and 1,466 tons net register and was built in Paisley in 1912.

The White Pass & Yukon Railway Company, which operates steamships and rail lines in Yukon and Alaska, have issued a list of eighty-four of their employees lost on the Sophia, three of them accompanied by their wives. Most of the eighty-seven men and women were Canadians.

Crew of the Sophia

The following comprised the crew of the Sophia:

Capt.	R.		Locke	Victoria	Captain
	Jerry		Shaw	Victoria	First Officer
	J.	G.	Goss	Victoria	Second Officer
	A.		Murphy	Victoria	Third officer
	C.	B.	Beadle	Victoria	Purser
	C.	J.	Black	Campbell, Ont.	Assistant Purser
	D.	M.	Robinson	Vancouver	Wireless operator
	Charles	H.	Wallace	Vancouver	Chief engineer
	Duncan		Ross	Vancouver	Second Engineer
	J.	M.	Macy	Vancouver	Third Engineer
	L.		Wood	Vancouver	Barber
	M.		Doris		Fireman
	J.	L.	Apierre		Fireman
	N.	E.	Dibble		Fireman
	J.		Carson	Vancouver	Fireman
	J		Evans		Oiler
	E.		Dougherty		Oiler
			Unknown		Oiler
	J.		King	Vancouver	Chief Steward
	A.		Cariwright	Vancouver	Second Steward
Miss.	H.		Browning	Vancouver	Stewardess
	W.		McDernell	Vancouver	Waiter
	J.	C.	Doppins	Vancouver	Waiter
	C.		King	Vancouver	Waiter
	O.	M.	Phillips	Vancouver	Waiter
	J.		Morrison	Vancouver	Waiter
	V.		Whitecross	Vancouver	Waiter
	D.		Templeman	Vancouver	Waiter
	P.		Burnham		Stevedore
	G.		Walker		Seaman
	H.		Simpson		Seaman
	G.	H.	Irish		Seaman
	G.		Roney		Seaman
	G.		Parker		Seaman
	W.		Griffiths		Seaman
	H.		Slattery		Seaman
	H.		Darling		Seaman
	V.		Herb		Seaman
	S.	W.	Macey		Seaman
	G.		Clarke		Seaman
	P.		Gaynor		Seaman
	M.		Walsh		Seaman
	W.	D.	Goynegan		Seaman
	F.		Verburggen		Seaman
	T.		Park		Seaman
	H.	D.	Park		Seaman
	A.		Munro		Seaman
	A.		Dallas		Seaman
						11 Chinamen on board also perished.

List of Passengers

The following list of passengers is compiled from a list cabled from Skagway and from a list of employees of the White Pass and Yukon railway who were on board, as handed out here by officials of that company. It is possible that some names are in the list twice, owing to variation in initials and spelling through cable communication. The cabled list was without addresses of the passengers and these addresses have been filled in where possible as the result of information secured from various sources:

The list follows:

Capt.	O.	J.	Bloomquist		Master	steamer Dawson	With his wife	Shawinigan Lake	B.C.
	J.	R.	Young		Chief Engineer	steamer Dawson	With his wife	Milwaukee	Wis.
	Alex		McLeod		Second Engineer	Steamer Dawson		New Westminster	B.C.
	C.	S.	Chinery		Purser	steamer Dawson	With his wife	Holyburn, West Vancouver	B.C.
	R.	C.	Haws		Chief Engineer	Steamer Casca		Vancouver	B.C.
	P.		Vint		Second Engineer	Steamer Casca	With his wife	Vancouver	B.C.
	W.		Wright			Steamer White Horse		New Westminster	B.C.
	W.		McWaters		Fireman	Steamer White Horse		New Westminister	B.C
	R.		Matheson					Point Grey	B.C
	H.		Davies				With his wife	Victoria	B.C.
	George		Tribe					Victoria	B.C.
	W.	W.	Shillinglaw					Victoria	B.C.
	R.	W.	Shillinglaw					Sarnia.	Ont
	A.	D.	Lewis					Victoria	B.C.
	B.		Wilkinson					Vancouver Island	B.C.
	Guy		McCrait					Seattle
	J.		Bowker					Seattle
	Frank	M.	White					Seattle
	W.	A.	Thompson					Detroit	Mich.
	J.	P.	Douglas					Hythe	Alta
	T.	L.	Haering					Vancouver	B.C.
	W.	P.	Smith					Victoria	B.C.
	W.		McWaters					New Westminister
			McNeill					Address Unknown
	H.		Vandercar		Deckhands
	R.	H.	Smith		Deckhands
	W.	P.	Smith Jr.		Deckhands
	C.	E.	Kilway		Deckhands
	R.		Hager		Deckhands
	J.		King		Deckhands
	A.	W.	Walker
	Tony		Mabin
	John		Allan
	S.		Litchfield					Victoria	B.C.
	W.		Parson					No address
	H.		Rutherford
	N.	G.	Blythe					Victoria	B.C.
	Joe		Shimads		Cook
	Giles		Holmes		Cook
	J.		Hatcher					Address Unknown
	A.	W.	Kandall					No address
	H.		Strain					No address
	R.	H.	Davis				With his wife	Oroville	Cal.
	R.		McTavish					No Address
	H.	A.	Robinson
	Fred		Smith
	Thomas		Neilson
	G.	S.	Leavitt
	A.	J.	Grenny
	L.	E.	Clark
	Sam		Koulouris
	F.		Aftaiken
	D.		Solomyer
	J.		Abelson
	Charles		Craven
	R.	W.	Williams
	J.	W.	Brown
	H.	J.	Kenyon
	A.	W.	Anthony
	R.		Finlay
	A.	H.	Sutherland
	Fred		Beyer
	G.	M.	Dano
	H.		Bennett
	C.	W.	Seyistra
	Charles		Headland
	E.		Taggart
	A.		Campbell
	Charles		Guy
	J.	G.	Zone
	B.	Van	Alkenburg
	M.		Meyer
	Jack		Haynes
	A.		Bellison
	W.		Murphy
	H.		Lawless
	W.	F.	Shaw
	A.	W.	Pratt
	H.		Russell
	L.	M.	Lee
	Thomas		Wishart
	E.	A.	Wondel					Seattle
	E.		Fepiss
	H.	A.	Robinson					San Francisco and Lake Bennett	Y.T
	A.	S.	Bourne					Iditarod	Alaska
	H.	E.	Pardin					Ruby	Alaska
	R.	M.	Hall		Wireless operator			Iditarod
	F.	E.	Sole					Iditarod
Mrs.	F.		Beaton				With her two children	Iditarod
	D.	A.	McDonald					Iditarod formerly of Washington
	W.	S.	Almond				With his wife	Ruby	Alaska
Mrs.	Al		Winchell					San Francisco
	S.	J.	Baggerty				With his wife	Ruby	Alaska
	Peter		Gurkovitch					Fairbakns
	H.	M.	Smartz		U.S. transport service			Seattle
	H.	B.	Parkin		General manager Pacific Coast Cold Storage Co.			Seattle
	J.		Pugh		U.S. customs collector of Juneau
	H.	A.	Somerset
	G.	A.	Miles					Iditarod
	Sam		Henry				With his wife
	William	S.	Scouse					Dawson	Alaska
	John		Zaccharelli					Los Angeles
Mrs.	George		McKaws				With her daughter		Alaska
	W.	K.	McArthur
	M.	S.	Eads				With his wife	Dawson
	George		Milton					Pantlus	Alaska
	A.	R.	Garner					Fraser River
	W.	F.	Shaw		Steamship agent			Skagway
Mr. And Mrs.	O.	E.	Tackstrom				With their two children	Ruby Formerly of Stanwood, Wash.
	R.		Rutherford
	J.	C.	McNeil					Dawson	Alaska
Mrs.	Charles		Cousins					Victoria	B.C.
Mrs.	Dan		Gillis		Wife of Yukon Gas boat operator
	Thomas		McMahon					Flat City formerly of Arlington, Wash.	Alaska
	E.	S.	Ironside		Customs Collector			Dawson	Alaska
Mrs.	M.		Ironside			Mother of E.S. Ironside
Mrs.	C.	J.	Vifquain			Husband a Dawson agent for the White Pass and Yukon Railways	With her two Children
	W.	J.	O’Brien		C.P.R Agent		With his wife and five children	Dawson	Alaska
	H.	F.	Robinson					Dawson	Alaska
Capt.	J.		Alexander				With his wife	Windy Arms	B.C.
	J.	A.	Segbers				With his wife	Dawson	Alaska
Capt.	J.	F.	Douglas					New Westminster
Mrs.	W.	C.	Carr					White Horse
	George		Hewey		Fireman	Casca
	J.	M.	Colver					Iditarod
Mr. And Mrs.	W.	H.	McDonald					Dawson	Alaska
	Walter		Barnes		Mining man			Dawson	Alaska
	Alton		Barnes		Mining man			Dawson	Alaska
Mrs.	C.	J.	Perkins
	W.	C.	Sharron
	T.	E.	Thorson
	Oscar		Backman
	H.	M.	Bridges				With his wife
	John		Patterson					Dawson	Alaska
	A.	R.	McClean		Employee of Yukon Cold Company
	Fred		Steinberg		Has big mine holdings in Stewart River Country			Yukon
	Frank		Brown		Employee Yukon Gold Company
Capt.	N.		Stewart		Employee of North American Trading and Transportation Co.
	James		Kirk		Helper accompanying horse shipment
Mrs.	M		Vary				With her daughter	Prince Rupert	B.C.
	Thomas		Hennessey	Unidentified/missing
	C.		Castleman	Unidentified/missing
Mr. And Mrs.	A.	D.	Hinska	Unidentified/missing				Dawson	Alaska
	T.	M.	Turner	Unidentified/missing
	W.		Harper	Unidentified/missing			With his wife
	F.	W.	Elliot	Unidentified/missing
	T.	E.	Sanford	Unidentified/missing
	W.	H.	Growe	Unidentified/missing
	I.	L.	Abrie	Unidentified/missing
	George	R.	Hendrix	Unidentified/missing
	A.	W.	McQueen	Unidentified/missing
	F.	M.	Bell	Unidentified/missing			With his wife
	J.		Laird	Unidentified/missing
	J.	P.	Anderson	Unidentified/missing			With his wife
	J.	G.	Nichols	Unidentified/missing
	Eugene		Meyers	Unidentified/missing
	James		Dubois	Unidentified/missing
	J.	F.	Kelly	Unidentified/missing
	S.	A.	Neison	Unidentified/missing
	O.		Poppent	Unidentified/missing
	G.	F.	Maywood	Unidentified/missing
	W.	H.	Smith	Unidentified/missing
	J.	W.	Hellwinkle	Unidentified/missing				Dawson	Alaska
	S.	M.	Dalby	Unidentified/missing
	M.		Davis	Unidentified/missing
	F.	L.	Gibbs	Unidentified/missing
	C.		Knutson	Unidentified/missing
	John		Eyes	Unidentified/missing
	R.		Young	Unidentified/missing
	T.	D.	Pobert	Unidentified/missing
	L.	A.	Hanson	Unidentified/missing
	W.	L.	Libert	Unidentified/missing
	Marlo		Colombra	Unidentified/missing
	John		Schenck	Unidentified/missing
	E.		Senff	Unidentified/missing
	A.	H.	Allison	Unidentified/missing
	A.	R.	Farner	Unidentified/missing
	Charles		Holmes	Unidentified/missing
	C.	H.	Liston	Unidentified/missing
	Sam		Chinquist	Unidentified/missing
	C.	W.	Barlow	Unidentified/missing
	O.	B.	Platt	Unidentified/missing
	J.		Howard	Unidentified/missing
	Frank		Wheeler	Unidentified/missing
	Nick		Peterson	Unidentified/missing
	W.	P.	Smith Jr.	Unidentified/missing
	J.	S.	Scholmand	Unidentified/missing			With his wife
	C.	H.	Wilkenson	Unidentified/missing
	J.	.	Christenson	Unidentified/missing
	M.		Stange	Unidentified/missing
	Tom		Sinch	Unidentified/missing
	James		Hallmark	Unidentified/missing
	John		McLeod	Unidentified/missing
Mrs.	James		Hall	Unidentified/missing
	W.	A.	Foster	Unidentified/missing
	T.		Kagawa	Unidentified/missing
	E.	J.	Johnson	Unidentified/missing			With his wife
Mrs.	Anna		Lenez	Unidentified/missing
	George	J.	Baker	Unidentified/missing
	A.	W.	Kingall	Unidentified/missing
	N.		Steward?	Unidentified/missing
	A.	S.	Winkler	Unidentified/missing
	C.	L.	Queen	Unidentified/missing
	D.		Williams	Unidentified/missing
	C.	W.	Allan	Unidentified/missing
	W.		Barton	Unidentified/missing
	W.		Wright	Unidentified/missing
	N.		McLeod	Unidentified/missing			With his wife
	J.		Maskell	Unidentified/missing
	William		Haggerty	Unidentified/missing
	C.	E.	Kilway	Unidentified/missing
	H.	S.	Trant	Unidentified/missing
	V.		King	Unidentified/missing
	J.	J.	Flannigan	Unidentified/missing
	Arthur		Johnson	Unidentified/missing
	Sam		Sorenson	Unidentified/missing
	H.		Truccot	Unidentified/missing
	J.	A.	Clark	Unidentified/missing
	Thomas		Milne	Unidentified/missing
	O.	A.	Gridlund	Unidentified/missing
	Thomas	J.	Collin	Unidentified/missing
	Leo		Ryan	Unidentified/missing
	J.		Trainor	Unidentified/missing
	A.		Fleming	Unidentified/missing
Mr. And Mrs.	J.	S.	Smith	Unidentified/missing			With their two children
	C.		Watson	Unidentified/missing
	C.	S.	Verill	Unidentified/missing
	L.		Heinzer
	Elmer		Stitzel
	Nino		Climinton
	H.	W.	Irlet
	R.	M.	Eston
	Charles		Nelson
	Jim		George
	William		Staples
	Sam		Brown
	P.		Kontest
	E.	M.	Nelson
	Joe		Blate
	J.	L.	Clay
	M.		Mercer
	P.		McCaskey
	M.	H.	Strupp
	C.	C.	Faires
	C.	W.	Porter
	G.	W.	Wares
	A.	U.	Smith
	N.		Dube
	C.	A.	Paddock
	G.	M.	Shiartin
	J.	G.	Buzle?

150 Bodies Recovered

White Horse Y.T., Oct. 27 – A dispatch received from the Dominion Telegraphs from Juneau late this evening says that 150 bodies of victims of the Sophia wreck had been recovered up to nightfall.

Terrific Blizzard

Juneau, Alaska. Oct. 27 – Officers of the Canadian Pacific steamer Amy, which returned from the scene of the wreck of the Princess Sophia, said last night that two feet of snow fell in forty hours and a strong northeast wind developed into the blizzard which was responsible for the Sophia’s heavy loss of life.

When the Amy left the Sophia, that vessel was resting for about two-thirds of her length on the rocks of the reef, which is four miles west of Sentinel Island and half way between Juneau and Skagway. The Sophia was then taking no water. She was surrounded by deep water on both sides, but with only her stern over deep water it was though there was no danger of the steamer sliding off the rocks. The reef was covered, however, at half-tide and the heavy sea had prevented attempts to take off the passengers.

The Sophia’s only freight cargo is said to have consisted of forty horses.

Twenty-five Vessels are busy Lynn Canal searching for Victims

Juneau, Alaka, Oct 28- The shore near the scene of the wreck of the steamer Princess Sopha are strewn with dead bodies, according to wireless messages received here Sunday evening from vessels searching the waters near where the Sophia went down. A heavy stormy Sunday prevented the relief ships from getting to the land. Bodies of 12 victims were brought here Sunday afternoon. Ten were identified as follow:-

	A.	W.	Kendall	Identified
Mrs.	H.	M.	Bridges	Identified
	Amy		Hall	Identified
	J.	R.	Young	Identified
	Edward	G.	Wheelden	Identified
	Harry	A.	Rutherford	Identified
	Henry		Bradley	Identified
	Henry	B.	Parkens	Identified
	George	W.	Booth	Identified
Capt.	Frank		Gosse	Identified

No word of any survivors has reached here. Governor Riggs, of Alaska who is at Lynn canal, where the Princess Sophia went down, has taken person charge of the rescue work. Over 25 vessels yesterday were reported searching for bodies.

All flags throughout Alaska were ordered by Governor Riggs, Sunday to be put at half-mast. Watches on the boat brought here were stopped at 10 minutes to 7 o’clock. This was behaved here to indicate that the vessel went down at that hour. Earlier reports said she sank late Friday evening.

179 Bodies of Wreck Victims recovered

Juneau, Alaska, Nov. 1.- Total recoverles of bodies from the wreck of the Canadian Pacific steamer Princess Sophia, which foundered in Lynn Canal a week ago with a loss of 340 lives, today had reached 179. Of these all but 21 have been identified and some of the unidentified have been partly identified. Although the search for the dead continues, it is now believed that many bodies may never be recovered.

Thousands of ducks, who wings had been filled with crude oil from the Sophia’s tanks, which covered the water for miles were reported dead and dying by Game Warden John C. Lund.

Will Care for Unclaimed Dead

Vancouver, Nov.1. – The unclaimed dead from the Princess Sophia disaster will be cared for by former Yukoners now resident in Vancouver, it was decided by a committee of former residents of the northland who met to make arrangements for the funerals tonight. The committee will make further arrangements later. All the assistance that will be needed was promised by a large number of old Yukoners, who empowered those present to speak for them.

Sara Howard 2004/07/15