Clarksdale Victory

On November 24, 1947, while on a voyage from Whitier AK to Seattle WA this vessel broke in two and her stern sank. The rest of the hull ran aground on a reef near Hippa Island, near Graham Island in the Queen Charlotte Islands BC Canada. Rescue attempts were made but found no survivors on the beach and no evidence of life on the bow which was breaking up. There was a loss of 49 men, but four survivors were found in the remains of the bow section. With a death toll of 49 lives, this was the worst Pacific Northwest marine disaster of 1947 occurred on November24 with the sinking of the Clarksdale Victory. The steamship struck Hippa Island Reef in the Queen Charlotte group while southbound from Whittier under command of 29-year-old Capt. Gerald Laugeson. Shortly after striking, the vessel broke in two under the pounding of 50-foot waves, the after section sinking immediately, carrying 45 of her crew to their deaths. Only four men, including the second and third mates, who had been on the bridge, escaped. The steamship Denali launched a boat in a rescue effort, but it swamped and its eight- man crew barely escaped with their lives. Shore parties from the Coast Guard cutters Wachusett and Citrus later located the four survivors and the bodies of three of the victims.