Farallon

Shipwreck and Survival on the Alaska Shore

Steve K. Lloyd

Narrated by Frank B. Wright

Available from Audible

Book published by Washington State University Press

On a snowy morning in January 1910, the Alaska Steamship Company liner Farallon ran aground on Black Reef in lower Cook Inlet, Alaska. Thirty-eight men escaped in the ship’s lifeboats and reached the barren, ice-strewn shore of Iliamna Bay where they huddled under make-shift tents constructed from the Farallon’s sails. The ship had no wireless, and the men were stranded on a desolate, wilderness coastline in the full grip of winter with meager provisions, inadequate clothing, and little hope of rescue.

Six of the men took to the open sea in a 12-ft. lifeboat in a daring attempt to reach far-distant Kodiak Island and arrange for a rescue. They set out into vast Shelikof Strait—one of the most dangerous bodies of water in the North Pacific. These brave mariners, given up for lost, were finally rescued more than two months later.

The Farallon incident is particularly unique in that a compelling photographic record of the wreck and the stranded party’s travails was made at the time. John E. Thwaites, an amateur photographer and the ship’s mail clerk, took more than 50 high-quality images of the stranded steamship shrouded in ice, the frostbitten men with burlap wrapped around their feet, and the barren, treeless lagoon. These stark pictures vividly illustrate the desperation felt by the stranded passengers and crew during their ordeal when temperatures dropped as low as -40 degrees Fahrenheit. After 29 days, they fortunately were rescued by the steamship Victoria.

Steve K. Lloyd is an amateur shipwreck historian and avid scuba diver.