The Grounding of the SS Princess Sophia
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- Опубликовано: 14 янв 2025
- On October the 25th 1918, one of Canada's worst maritime disasters occurred just off the west coast of Alaska and Canada. A tragedy that would claim hundreds of lives, but to the world as a whole, was relatively unknown. Find out just how the tragedy occurred and learn why it effected so many, but was known by so few as we look into the grounding of the SS Princess Sophia, Canada's Titanic.
#History #Disaster
Thanks for watching the first in my new series of Maritime Horrors. I hope to have a new video out each week. Each one will be packed with useful and historical information about famous and lesser known maritime tragedies and disasters.
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You should do one of these on the Royston Grange disaster in 1972 near Montevideo, It was an incredibly horrific but little known incident.
I thought the Impress Of Ireland was Canada’s Titanic
This was and still is the worst shipping disaster on the west coast of north America. My great grandfather once served in the engine room of the Sophia, luckily he left the vessel prior to the time of her loss. She was a very well built ship designed specifically for this trade, Captain Locke was a well experienced senior Master at the CPR. As a Master myself working in these waters I believe he acted correctly to try and wait for better conditions to evacuate the ship.
The fact that the inner hull had not been broached was doubtless a major factor in the decision to retain all the passengers.
Lets be honest though. He gambled in his decision to not evac the ship, but in the end he lost. Although everyone died, I’m sure he acted in what he thought was the best interest of his passengers. He just turned out to be sorely incorrect.
@@coderexe30 as far as I understand, any method to make a safe evacuation was tried after initial attempts to make it off the reef with the boat failed... by this time the list had grown to severe to launch the lifeboats off the upward side, whilst the listwards side was over the rocks.
the captain was also acutely aware of the danger he was putting the other ships in if he asked them to stay out in the storm... whether he believed the ship capable of survival or not, he knew that they could not help him at that time, so he did the thing to help save most lives... as a result, unlike in other rescues, non of the rescuers died.
My great grandfather wasn't as lucky. He was working as a Stoker on board when she went down.
@@CatherineDStapleton sorry to hear that, the two of them probably knew each other.
Since I was a child I have been in love with ships of all kinds. I bought models, books etc... of the history of ships, and historical maritime events. Life continued on and I lost the time to devote to my childhood passion, and so many of the events have been rehashed over and over (i.e. RMS Ttianic), that I haven't bothered with a lot of it. Your channel is bringing to life so many stories that I have never been acquainted with, and has helped to renew my childhood passion for maritime history and lore. I thank you for that!
A notch resulting from the grounding can still be seen on Vanderbilt Reef.
Good old sea hunters! Even pieces of the bow can be found. Opened her up like a can opener as they say.
@@k3D4rsi554maq mine camp? I think you mean Mein Kampf?
Mine camp....🤣👏👏👋
@@k3D4rsi554maq I may be white but I have no idea what you're getting at on a boat accident and speaking gibberish that has no relation to the content? Would you care to inform the rest of us?
Not true
@@paj.8361 Absolutely true.
this has to be one of the most frustrating sea disasters of all time
she was right there out of the water for so long that people could photograph her
and yet because of fear of what might happen if she was evacuated everyone ended up dying
Looking into the history of the bay, the Captain was probably thinking of a similar incident that a lot of people died due to launching lifeboats in less than favorable conditions
@@MiniCerberus991 Which is very reasonable
I hope as a response to this accident, they shortened their shipping 'year' to avoid the annual storms...
But who am I kidding? If this channel has a 'moral' to be learned, it's that individual people mean nothing to the folks in power - either government or private citizenry.
@@MiniCerberus991 basically: a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. you send out the lifeboats and you die quickly due to the storm, but if you stay you die slowly due to your ship sinking and the savagery of the elements. great choice...
This is fairly well-known in Juneau. In the state office building there's a library that has a big painting of the wreck. There was another ship that sank near here called the Princess Kathleen. Ran aground at Lena point. Apparently it had transported king George IV and Queen Elizabeth to Victoria in 1939.
Found this channel two days ago, im hooked, exellent pacing and comfortable to listen too when im working. Great to learn about these stories, as gruesome as they are.
King and Winge mentioned in the video went on to have a very successful pilot boat and fishing career until springing a leak and sinking in moderate weather of the Bering Sea in 1994. Was an incredible ship itself. Having fished and traveled through Lynn Canal, including around Vanderbilt Reef, Captain Locke was in a very difficult situation. The waters, currents and weather would have made evacuation difficult if not impossible. Damned if you do and damned if you don't. I think he acted correctly, wx, tides and time conspired to doom even best efforts.
Sailors call weather WX too? In Aviation we call it that as well.
@@StrikeWyvern Airplanes and Boats share a lot more similarities than one would expect. The ones everyone knows being Knots and NM. Down to hydrofoils being, well, foils. Fluid dynamics are fluid dynamics. Even though most people think fluid can only be a liquid.
@@TylerCMilligan And I would assume since ships came first, airplanes simply borrowed a lot of the terminology from them?
The unexpected cut to the grave marker when he said "If anything should happen to me..." caught me off guard
9:47 - I'm one of those weirdos who is always interested in what a given amount of money, from some story set in the past, would be worth in today's currency. £100 in 1918 would be worth £5,967.82 in 2021. The conversion for the Americans among us (including me) would be $8095.05. This is the amount that our author of our letter gave individually to his mother, father, and of course... "wee Jack". The amount he left for his dear Dorrie was £17,903.46, or $24,285.15 in today's currency. And now you know.
That only compensates for inflation. I reality it was a lot more than that, in 1918 the average house price in the Greater London area was 195 pounds, the average yearly wage was 180 pounds (most earned a LOT less). he had done very well for a 31 year old.
@@marvindebot3264 -- Source? Because my data (an article from the Guardian) says the cost of a house in Central London was £14,000 in 1910. One by the Thames was £20,000 Also, in the U.S. the average wage for a Journeyman was $25 a WEEK in 1918 ($1,300 per YEAR)... so I highly doubt that the average salary in London was a meager £180 per year at the same time. It was probably closer to £1,000.
Well, we have a coin-jingler in the group. Aren't you a clever one to put people's lives at nothing. Much bad luck to you.
@@dehoedisc7247-- What the fuck are you talking about? How does anything I said equate people's lives to nothing? I apologize that an interest in math and history makes you feel inferior.
@@thebonesaw..4634 People tend to go out of their way to get offended.
If I had a dollar for every time I heard "she was on her final voyage of the season". . .
So, so, so many ship companies will try and make as much money as they possibly can with the ships they have. And one of the most common tactics is to push the shipping season dangerously close to wintery conditions.
Wow.
This one is brutal.
That letter to his finance was heart breaking.
Excellent storytelling. I’ve been watching these edits back to back for hours. Thanks for these they are Interesting, informative and educational.
In the military we tend to give crap to the coast guard, and see them ass if they are not part of the armed forces, this is true in the Navy (I am a veteran Navy corpsman). In reality, those guys have a tougher boot camp than us in the Navy, they have to fight not only to protect our coasts, but also the most lethal enemy of all which is bad weather! You can't shoot back at it, I wonder how many Soldiers, Marines, and Navy sailors would jump off a helicopter, in the middle of a hurricane type storm in the north Atlantic , and climb into a sinking ship to save a random stranger. Those guys in the coast guard Have courage for sure!
Happy 1 year anniversary Maritime Horrors! I had found your channel in early October and you had 1k subs and the content you've been posting is amazing. Keep up the great work!
Always a good feeling hearing your small industrial town mentioned on such documentaries
Hi, your writing and videos are superb! My dad was a sailor and your videos remind me of the stories he told me of his adventures earlier in life. Thank you and keep it up!
Man, never heard of this one, sad but narrated well!
You should do an episode on “the Mahogany ship”, the wreck found in Victoria, Australia during 1800s thought to be a Portuguese Caravel.
@@HavocHerseim how can there be wood specimens of something no one can find? Which is it?
I was holding out hope that Jack Maskell was going to make it out of this, and he wouldn't need his will for a very long time, then his tomb stone popped up on screen... Its awful how they were so close, yet so far from being rescued.
I havent played the video yet... And havent saw the other ones... But I love the sea, horror stories, lighthouses and ships... And then... Suddenly... I found this channel... This is going to be great!!!
This is wild. I've never heard of this tragedy!
Gold trails and ghost towns. Bill barlee
The waters, islands, and mountains of the inside passage provide the most beautiful views I’ve ever experienced
It’s absolutely jaw dropping to be on those waters
On the subject of Vancouver, Canada ship wrecks: A great story to do would be the January 1906 wreck of the S.S. Valencia, 6 miles southeast of Cape Beale lighthouse.
It was the largest maritime loss of life prior to the Titanic, yet is almost totally forgotten today
Largest maritime loss of life with 136 deaths? Not sure about that one... but yeah, very interesting story and worth covering on this channel.
fantastic insight! very well produced dude, cant wait for more
This story was well told and gives me chills every time I think of this tragedy. I tendered salmon in 2019 near Vanderbilt Reef (Video on my RUclips channel) and had forgotten until now where the Princess Sophia had fallen off the reef. I knew that reef was a killer. I also fished Halibut on the King n Wing off Kodiak which was also famous for the 1914 rescue from Wrangel Island (Russia) of the remaining crew of the doomed KARLUK (Captain Robert Bartlett) which was the flagship of the failed Stefansson Canadian Arctic Expedition. I appreciate your videos.
SS Atlantic disaster in Nova Scotia claimed 535 lives. Was horrific. As mentioned I think you'd enjoy doing a story about her.
Amazing story well done.
A harrowing tale and entirely new to me. Well prepared and narrated: thanks.
RIP to the fallen, great vid Maritime Horrors.
My only unsolicited storytelling critique is to slow down at the first inflection point of the story 5:15. It was so sudden I thought you were telling an alternative story . Great stuff even as I go back to older ones
Awesome content. How you don’t have more subs astounds me.
Great episode my friend!!!🙏👍
Happy 2 year anniversary Maritime Horrors! It has truly been a journey.
Just found my new binge series!
There’s something about listening to this kind of videos while doing my work that’s just, perfect
You do excellent videos. Forgive me if I've missed it, but have you done one on the SS Valencia? Not as heavy a loss of life as the Sophia but one of the worst of the North West wrecks.
Well done!
I would like to thank you for all you hard work. Good content. Well presented and researched. You don't spoil it by flooding us with adverts. You show these greedy breed of you tube "creators " how it should be done. May I wish you much success and thanks again.
Well done. Thanks
My cousin's grandfather was supposed to be a crew member on the Princess Sophia's final voyage, but he traded shifts with another sailor and lived to head a large family.
It’s ashame they where all lost, you should do a video on the Rms Empress Of Ireland!
It's on my list of to-dos! Thanks for the suggestion, shipmate.
@@MaritimeHorrors no problem Captain !
Awesome video! If I may suggest a topic for a video, what about the life of KMS Prinz Eugan? The most stubborn Heavy Cruiser to ever exist, surviving and participating in damn near every Kriegsmarine combat operation, and participating in 2 atomic bomb tests only to come out almost unscathed.
Prinz Eugan also escorted the Bismarck on its only mission if I’m not mistaken, correct?
In which Universe did Prinz Eugen participate in nearly every Kriegsmarine mission?It had Rheinübung,the Channel Dash..than being torpedoed on route to norway before returning to germany.Having btw done nothing during her stay in norway except getting repaired
..And not really doing anything until the end of 1944...Admiral Hipper,Admiral Scheer..Technically even Lützow saw more action and had more interesting carreers.The thing with the atomic bomb tests is true though
Prinz Eugens combat record looks basically like this "And than,she had to be repaired or was stuck in harbor for several months"
@@NashmanNash lol true about the repairs thing, but that being said I think that honestly adds to the story. She was so resilient and refused to sink.
By my original statement I suppose I meant "participated in the most notorious Kriegsmarine missions". She did have truly the best luck of any of the Hippers and probably of any ship in the Kriegsmarine though.
@@OtterTreySSArmy Well...Lützow lost even more of her stern and didn´t sink..And Hipper got rammed by a destroyer and didn´t take serious damage...During the entire war none of the larger german warships that made it to 1944,except Leipzig,even came close to sinking
@@NashmanNash honestly that's just props to the entire Hipper class. I'd love to see a full length version of the entire service life of the class
It's one of those no-win situations. Take the risk launching boats, or take the risk waiting. Maybe they were all doomed either way. We'll never know, and it only adds to the feel of tragedy here.
Canada's Titanic is not the Princess Sophia but another C.P.R. ship, the Empress of Ireland.
more like the Titanic of the North West.
Love ur channel, glad to be here
Can you make a story about the MV Don Juan a tragedy happened on 1980 after Collided with an Oil Tank Vessel Mt Tacloban
That's incredible that no human survived but somehow a dog did. English setters were breed to be bird dogs like Labradors and have webbed feet. So they are probably excellent swimmers. I still think if a dog could survive than a human might have been able to.
Dogs are also much better equipped to survive in freezing conditions than humans, especially in frigid water
This happened in Southeast Alaska not Canada. Just North of Juneau in lower Lynn Canal (we call it lower Lynn).
Wow. Never heard of this one. Great job!
Hmm...Jack Maskell of Dawson, Yukon. Chances must be very remote that the fictional Jack Dawson of James Cameron's Titanic was derived from this. Anyway so many historical maritime tragedies, and so many dead, that most are unaware of. This is a very worthwhile channel.
14:40 Ummmm.... The boilers of the ship were still intact, so it wasn't an explosion
I'm a former Coastguardsman that served aboard USCGC Planetree (a buoy tender) home ported in Juneau between 1977 and 1978. The wreck of the Princess Sophia was repeatedly talked about aboard ship and, as I was a quartermaster, charged with navigation and the proper locating of Aids to Navigation, I didn't miss any details. The former Sentinel Island Lighthouse and the Vanderbilt Reef light were part of our responsibility to maintain. Sentinel Island had been automated by that time and maintaining both aids to navigation required launching small boats in decent weather to replace light bulbs and batteries powering the aids. Southeast Alaska is festooned with navigation hazards that aren't visible at high tide (which can vary 36 feet), but can wreck any vessel stupid enough to not be paying attention to their navigation. The Captain of the Sophia should never have gotten underway when he did, in failing light. The Aids to navigation in the area now are adequate, but weren't in 1918. Good that he went down with his ship as he was a fool and a murderer. The tender that tried to assist them risked their own lives but the "old" Coast Guard motto was: you have to go out, you don't have to come back. My ship had several close calls in the 18 months I served aboard her. We rescued many, lost none, and all came back alive from a very dangerous operational area.
Speed kills. See: Titanic. Pressure from the owners shld never play a part. Thank you. Great story. R.i.p. 🙏
Great channel.
Bro the Clallam story is so incredibly brutal.
The popular Vancouver Island hiking trail, The West Coast trail was originally cut along the coast in response to this disaster.
Great video about a horrible event.
0:00 a legend was born
True to spirit. Great channel
Could you make a video about the Valencia on Halloween in October?
Hey man could you do a video one maybe the many many US battleships and cruisers that ran aground during the late and early 1900s? There was a surprising amount of them
Please tell me why there are 6 thumbs down …..unbelievable……..this program is just stating history ……..
I feel like some folk accidentally hit the dislike button. Not that it matters anymore, RUclips got rid of the thumbs down option so that they're not upset whenever people hate their next "rewind" video
@@Deathexia00 are they still doing those?
i sometimes dislike videos i like because i dont want to mess my racomendations, i feel like they did the same
@@notfreeman1776 you know there's a "don't recommend channel" feature for this?
@@imasspeons i find the results are more immediate this way
Imagine being a passenger… this must have been horrifying
Dead reckoning can factor in the effects of wind and current if they are known.
There is a variety of possible reasons for the term 'dead' but none mention the one that I came across...which is from 'd&d', that is 'direction and drift'.
After look up C.P.R's ship history, they just couldn't catch a break. May those lost to the waters rest in peace.
@18:00 I thought there may have been a wizard aboard as well, but after rewinding I realized it wasn't a hat. It was the silhouette of the arm behind him.
Leaves 3 hours late, and still a crewman misses the boat.🤔
Best bit of tardiness ever! I'll bet he spent his golden years glad that he'd dodged a proverbial bullet that time!
@@daviddunsmore103 or with severe survivor’s guilt
I would love to see one about the Bismarck if you could
As well as the USS Indianapolis
@@kalebdavis7245 The story of the Indianapolis has haunted me since I read the book on her. The first hand accounts are, horrifying to say the least. It’s hard to shake me up, I’ve seen a lot of awful brutal things in my life. But reading those first hand accounts shook me to my boots to this day
Will you be doing a video on the Clalum as well?
Love these stories and the background music. Anybody know the song?
Fascinating!
It is so funny to me when I am watching your channel and get commercials for vacation cruises, talk about poor timing.
Why were they behind schedule?
Makes me wanna read Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series
5:14 that buoy is called a isolated danger marker
My takeaway from this story is that when someone offers you assistance, you take it. So many missed chances to prevent this tragedy.
Not really. If you're caught in what appears to be the middle of a storm and you have no weather measuring equipment, no easy method of getting accurately predicted data, is grounded on some rocks, have found minimal damage from inspections and have sailed the area while a similar event caused death and destruction for trying to evacuate, then you'd do as the Captain of this ship too. Especially in heavy weather, as storms at sea are 100% unpredictable. You don't know if the wind calms off in the next hour or if it increases. And you don't want to risk more lives, aka the rescue ships, if you can avoid to.
great story.... please consider ss taraua, nz shipwreck disaster
Nice to see a Fellow Kiwi
Can you make a video on the Annual Sourdough Dance?
Good info, but the name of the ship was pronounced so-FYE-a, not so-FEE-a. Apparently the traditional English pronunciation.
Well done.
What's the music he uses?
Was the Blackthorn a cutter? Or a bouy tender? Because I thought they two were different types of ships? I know that the USCG calls all their ships cutters. I grew up a Coast Guard brat who's dad spent years on the Dependable (law enforcement and littoral waters defense cutter) and the Sweetgum (bouy tender) in Florida, a 33 footer and 44 footer at the Coast Guard Station Michigan City in Indiana, Burton Island (ice breaker) and the Cape Hedge which was a 95 foot rescue cutter. One would think they would have a different designation for each type of ship, like our Navy does.
"Which is more than can be said for some CPR ships."
Empress of Ireland: "It's all the Storstadt's fault, damnit! I swear it is!"
So, correct me if I'm wrong here, but wasn't the Empress of Ireland considered to be the Titanic of Canada? She was lost with over 1,000 people perishing in the cold St Lawrence River...
Edit: No disrespect intended, it's just a question. The Empress went down May 29th, 1914, before this ship was lost. Granted of different coasts, but still. The Empress went down taking 1,012 souls with her.
History has indeed labeled the Empress as "Titanic's Canada." Honestly, though, you'll find that when any ship sinks with significant loss of life, it becomes labeled "[Country's] Titanic" for dramatics.
I remember the sea hunters episode on this ship.
Calling the innsid3 passage "calm" is like telling a soldier he will soon find the safety of battle
True it's largely sheltered but while that's true it isn't said that it has large expanses of open water in North/South alignment which with strong winds f4om either of those directions can make towering steep siided chop of over 10 feet or more, the narrow channels allowing for wave propagation and actually enhancing it due to the shape of the coastlines
Then there were also countless submerged rocks all over the passage that weren't always known until a ship crashed upon them.
The currents in the passage are some of the strongest in the world, and no sailing vessel could sail opposite the current, even early power vessels just didn't have the power to overcome a current that rivaled their top speed and also made dead reconing even more inaccurate in the days b3fore even radio nav.
Then there was the lack of infrastructure to.rescue any ships that did get jn trouble as so many of these stories reveal....making land after a shipwreck was only half the battle...then you battle wildlife, weather, starvation, exposure, and possible humdr3d miles walking through mountainous wilderness to find sparse population tk help.
That street is about 10 miles from my house. The street and house still exist today.
I have a picture of it on my phone.
Lucky doggo
4:17 Nautical mile is one of the few measures you don't have to translate.
As well as knots.😉
I recall the sinking of a Canadian vessel in this manner. The captain was intent on rescue by a Canadian vessel and rejected aid by American ships. Was this, perhaps, the same vessel?
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Leaving a ship for lifeboats is dangerous in the best of conditions.
"No survivors"
"One dog survived"
Make up your mind!
Do the princess may A beautiful ship with a more beautiful conducted rescue
That is sad 😔
1:48 never in my whole life will i be able to take that name seriously
Have to ask....was it because there was not an experienced ships" look out that it ran aground?
Would have been worse if they weren't vaccinated though.
More passenger liner stories soon?
FUCK YEAH BABY THE DOG LIVED