Wreck of ANCON at Loring / Ketchikan

[wolfepackin]

I had heard that at low tide you can see an old wrecked ship that had sunk long ago around Loring near Ketchikan..

 

Has any one seen this, and if so where abouts is it??,,.. And when is low tide?????

 

I plan on being there in early June..

 

Mike

[wolfie11]

To say that you can see the wreck at low tide is an overstatement. The boilers, which were probably too big to be salvaged, are visible. There is virtually nothing else left of the ship itself. The wreck was immortalized by a painting by the famous western artist Albert Bierstadt, but as wrecks go, it was pretty much a non-event. Getting a boat in and out of a dock in the narrow Alaska bays and channels with wind and tide is difficult at best (I once watched Star Princess take out a large section of the old wood dock at Skagway). Evidently after taking on a large cargo at the salmon cannery at Loring Bay, a dockhand released the line too early, causing the Ancon to swing around and hit some rocks, holing her. The crew and passengers got off, but when the tide went out, the weight of the cargo broke her back.

[wolfepackin]

Well heck,

 

Sure it would be nice to have more, Boilers are not that bad.. It may not be much of a wreck, buts its the best they have... :)

 

any thought on time you saw it???

 

Mike

[wolfie11]

I haven't actually seen it myself, but a friend of mine does archaeological site surveys and was there a couple of years ago. I have a copy of the report. Low tides in early June are around 7:30-10:00 am depending on what day you'll be there. You can either charter a boat or a float plane to get to Loring Bay.

 

I can check around to see if I can come up with a recent photo if you are really interested.

[diverearl]

I had heard that at low tide you can see an old wrecked ship that had sunk long ago around Loring near Ketchikan..

 

Has any one seen this, and if so where abouts is it??,,.. And when is low tide?????

 

I plan on being there in early June..

 

Mike

 

Here is a link to a tide chart for Ketchikan, just scroll down to your date, earl. http://co-ops.nos.noaa.gov/get_predictions.shtml?year=2007&stn=1421+Ketchikan

[wolfepackin]

Wow is there any question that can be asked of this board That is not to big or to small

 

Thank you so much for the chart... and wolfie11 thanks for the photos offer.. please do not go out of your way but if you come accross it.. I would be ever in your debt..

 

Mike

[dyeadave]

Okay, so there is some interest in shipwrecks here in the Southeast and some of the previous posters have done a pretty good job covering the Ancon.

So first let us cover the tides and how they have presoerved some of these wrecks. The tides in these parts are some of the most extreme in the world. Here in Skagway we get around a 24 foot variance every six and a bit hours, at certain times of the month! One must consult the tide books for the current tide times, since they are on a somewhat ongoing basis of about 25 hour cycles and are affected primarily by the moon. I use the term preserve because the tide prevented salvage by the true owners and later, looting of what have become historic sites! (I speak in this way because I have a background of working in commercial archaeology. Some of my comrades in the field will understand from where I speak!) Yet, at certain times, these wrecks are quite visible for the casual visitor.

We have such a shipwreck, near here in Skagway. It is quite historic because it is a ship which was carrying a load of supplies for the Chilkoot Trail at the height of the Klondike gold rush! It struck shore rocks, capsised and was blown up Naha bay where it came to rest, at the head of the bay, in the lower tide area. A lot of this ship was salvaged/looted and the main keel remains to be seen at low tide. There is much more to the story but I will spare the indifferent the details here.

Every summer I have people (usually refered by the Park Service) who wish to view/photograph the wreck and then we have to go through the tidebook to see the ideal time to go out there. The good news is that it is relatively cheap to get there and even when I don't have shipwreckophiles with me I always point out this little part of our history to my passengers.

Probably the most famous of all shipwrecks in this area was The Princess Sophia which was called the Titanic of the north since it actually wiped out a bigger percentage of our northern movers and shakers by far that the east coast lost of their moguls in the Titanic disaster, and it was even more outrageosly preventable than the Titanic ego trip!?!? This one is a good read for anyone interested in this venue or even just traveling this way. Your cruise ship has to pas very close by Poundstone reef if you come up to Skagway. Sometime you might ask the naturalist to point out the site of the wreck and fill in the story if you haven't found time to read of this tragedy! Happy travels! DD