Sunken Klondike Gold: How a Lost Fortune Inspired an Ambitious Effort to Raise the S.S. Islander - Softcover

Delano, Leonard H.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1450736602 ISBN 13: 9781450736602

Publisher: Delano Pub, 2011

Synopsis

When the 240-foot SS Islander hit an iceberg in Alaska's inside waters just twelve miles from Juneau, Capt. H.R. Foote decided to make a desperate run for nearby Douglas Island. But it was too late. Water was pouring into a huge gash in the port bow. The stern was rising. The pride of the Canadian Pacific fleet quickly sank. Sixty-five of the 176 passengers and crew were lost, including Captain Foote, whose final words were: 'Tell 'em I tried to beach her.' The newspapers had a field day. Gold worth $3 million was rumored to have been put aboard in Skagway. There was talk of a salvage operation, but for thirty-three years the passenger vessel lay out of reach in 350 feet of water. In 1933, Seattle and Portland house-mover Frank Curtis proposed a bold salvage plan using two lift vessels, giant winches, diving bells, tidal power, and a determined crew of thirty or so house-movers, loggers, and rigging mechanics. Curtis was backed by a group of businessmen including future Weyerhaeuser Ti

About this title

About the Author

Leonard H. Delano of Portland worked on the Islander salvage crew and was its official photagrapher. Later, he worked as a motion-picture cameraman for the 1938 film 'Call of the Yukon.' Delano died in 1989. His son, Doug, fulfilled his late father's dream in 2011 with the publication of this book.

Edition details

• Publisher: Delano Pub
• Publication date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1450736602
• ISBN 13: 9781450736602
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 166