Site Navigation:

Site Search:

Looking for more? Search for Articles on the Nauticapedia Site.

The 1907 Stranding of the Passenger Ship Northwestern

by John MacFarlane 2017

Northwestern

The Northwestern stranded on the beach (Photo courtesy of the MMBC. )

In 1889 she was built at Chester PA USA as the Orizaba. 336' steel hull displacing 3497 tons.

In 1898 she was owned by Pacific Coast Co. and operated by the Pacific Coast Steamship Co. In 1905 she was owned by the Ward Line. In 1906 she was owned by the Northwestern Steamship Co. In 1908 she was taken over by the Alaska Steamship Co. Ltd. In 1940 she was sold to Siems–Drake–Puget Sound (a joint-venture organization engaged in Alaskan airfield construction and sponsored by the Puget Sound Bridge & Dredging Co., Seattle WA). She served as a barracks ship at Dutch Harbor AK and sustained a direct hit amdships by Japanese forces but was still afloat.

On 01/01/1910 she was damaged when the steamship Montara went adrift in the East Waterway of Seattle Harbor. In 1910 she went ashore on San Juan Island WA. In 1912 she had electric lights installed in the vessel. On 11/12/1927 she went ashore at Cape Mudge BC, re–floated in 1928. On 25 July 1933 she went ashore on the beach at Eagle River AK. She was re–floated a few days later when a high tide lifted her off with the help of a salvage tug.

Northwestern

The Northwestern (Photo courtesy of the MMBC. )

In 1907 she went ashore at Latorchu AK USA and was salvaged by the Salvor.

Northwestern

The Northwestern (Photo courtesy of the MMBC. )

Northwestern

The Northwestern (Photo courtesy of the MMBC. )

Northwestern

The Northwestern (Photo courtesy of the MMBC. )


To quote from this article please cite:

MacFarlane, John M. (2017) The 1907 Stranding of the Passenger Ship Northwestern. Nauticapedia.ca 2017. http://nauticapedia.ca/Gallery/Northwestern.php

Nauticapedia

Site News: November 2, 2024

The vessel database has been updated and is now holding 94,538 vessel histories (with 16,140 images and 13,887 records of ship wrecks and marine disasters). The mariner and naval biography database has also been updated and now contains 58,599 entries (with 3989 images). Vessel records are currently being reviewed and updated with more than 35,000 processed so far this year.

Thanks to contributor Mike Rydqvist McCammon for the hundreds of photos he has contributed to illustrate British Columbia's floating heritage.

My very special thanks to our volunteer IT adviser, John Eyre, who (since 2021) has modernized, simplified and improved the update process for the databases into semi–automated processes. His participation has been vital to keeping the Nauticapedia available to our netizens.

Also my special thanks to my volunteer content accuracy checker, John Spivey of Irvine CA USA, who continues (almost every day) to proof read thousands of Nauticapedia vessel histories and provided input to improve more than 14,000 entries. His attention to detail has been a huge unexpected bonus in improving and updating the vessel detail content.

© 2002-2023