Graveyard of the Pacific
Ghost Ships and Graveyards:
Harbingers for the future?
Pacific Coast's worst maritime tragedy: 350 perish as Sophia sinks in Alaska, oil spill damages ocean
| Princess Sophia |
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The ship left Skagway, Alaska, for Vancouver on Oct. 23, 1918. On her way to Juneau, in blizzard winds over 50 miles an hour, the Sophia veered off-course.
The ship struck Vanderbilt Reef with such force that the entire vessel ran high up on the jagged rocks, ripping open the outer hull. Almost 20 hours after the crash, the rising storm forced waiting rescue boats to flee for shelter without evacuating any of the Sophia's passengers. No living person witnessed the Sophia as she finally slid into the depths of the sea, taking all 350 passengers and crew to a watery grave. Many drowned in their cabins. Those who escaped the ship died of exposure and hypothermia, and still others suffocated in the thick fuel oil leaking from the ship.
The environmental repercussions of the Sophia wreck astonished rescuers. Fuel oil washed down the canal, coating beaches and islands. Thousands of seabirds were caught in the oil slick. Sailors searching for bodies could only watch helplessly as the birds died in the environmental catastrophe.
Human inattention at a perilous cost: shipwrecks hurt ocean creatures
| The cost of mistakes |
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This modern disaster was certainly a wake-up call. As the 20th century drew to a close, shipwrecks were often thought of as long-past ghost tales. The wreck of the Exxon Valdez was a chilling reminder that modern tankers carry with them the potential for great environmental disaster.
A plan for the Emerald Sea
The possibility of shipwrecks and catastrophic oil spills greatly concerns many people who live on BC's coast, particularly as shipping traffic increases along the North Coast of British Columbia. Three of B.C.'s high-traffic ports are in this region – Prince Rupert, Kitimat and Stewart. This shipping traffic runs over areas with sensitive, still-intact marine ecosystems, like the province's precious glass sponge reefs.
We need a plan to manage the various ocean industries and uses on this coast. This plan must address the need to conserve sensitive habitats that host whales, sea otters, tufted puffins, walking kelp and giant octopus. This is a special place. We need to plan for its future.
Ghosts of the past: promises for the future
We encourage the federal government to complete the comprehensive ocean management plan promised in 2002. This plan needs to balance industry with strong environmental protection measures.
Please ask to see B.C.'s ocean on the federal agenda. Contact a politician – find out how!