Salt Lake Telegram | 1941-01-28 | Page 1 | U. S. Transport Crashes into Rocks Along inside Passage to Alaska

U. S. Transport Crashes Into Rocks Along Inside Passage to Alaska VICTORIA, B. C, Jan. S (I'D All uaMengers and crew member of the 1200-ton I'. S. army transport, hvichak, ground In Finlayson channel halfway up the British Columbia roast, are safe, W. J. Barman, radio superintendent of the British Columbia government telegraph agency, said today. SEATTLE, Jan. 28 (UP)-The 1200-ton U. S. army transport Kvichak settled agtound the rocky shore line half way up the British Columbia coast Tuesday as 23 passengers and most of the crew of 38 men took to lifeboats. Early report reaching U. S. coast .guard headquarters in Seattle Seat-tle said no lives were lost, although al-though one lifeboat capsized. The Kvichak struck the Sisters rocks In Finlayson channel and radioed Tor help late Monday night. As rough seas battered t the vessel It settled slowly. Captain W. W. Williamson, a veteran of the Alaska water route, indicated in later messages that "all passengers and most of crew are ashore as far as is known. The rest of us, all crew members, will have to stay board until rescued." res-cued." The coast guard cutter Nahama put out immediately from Ketchikan Ketchi-kan and expected to reach the stricken vessel late Tuesday. A dense fog and a "very rough sea'' limited the cutter's speed to 10 knots. The motorship, chartered by the army from the Alaska Packers' Pack-ers' association of San Francisco, left Seattle Saturday with supplies sup-plies for southeastern Alaskan ports. Passengers included officers, offi-cers, soldiers and civilian workmen work-men en route to far northern defense bases Army transport service headquarters head-quarters here set the number of passengers at 23 and the crew at 38 men. According to the coast guard radio, the original SOS said: "On rocks at Sisters rocks Finlayson Fin-layson channel. Need assistance. Lat. 52.32 N., long. 128.28 W. Need assistance badly." Coast guard and army transport offices said the locatiqn given in the message was about "90 or 100 miles north of Vancouver island." A subsequent message said: "Lifeboat capsized. Woman in water now. Can't find them." Early Tuesday another message followed: "Skipper says the ship is filling up fast, but is settled down on rocks okay. Will be probably safe." Ten minutes later the radio operator notified the roast guard station in Seattle that the crew and most of the passengers had taken safely to lifeboats. The army transport service In Seattle said the Kvichak's first stop was to be Tongass harbor, south of Ketchikan. The ship was following the "inside passage." winding through numerous islands most of the way to Alaska. The transport had made the trip "many times" in recent months, it was declared. Two experienced Alaskan pilots. Odd Haugcn and Hans Buhman, assisted Captain Williamson. Neither coast guard nor army transport headquarters could furnish fur-nish a probable cause for the accident.