WRECK; GOVERNOR ~~1921

 

GOVERNOR

April 1921
Capt. F. P. BartlettCapt. Thomas Marsden.
Pacific Coast Steamship Co.
Near Port Townsend, WA.
Loss of life: 7 passengers and 3 crew.

S.S. GOVERNOR
One photo and one lithograph postcard 
from the archives of the S.P.H.S.©
Click images to enlarge.

The Sinking of the Steamship GOVERNOR

A letter from E. W. Horsman to author R. H. Calkins of Seattle:
      "The memory of the collision is especially vivid in my mind as I had the unique experience of actually seeing the impact of the WEST HARTLAND on the starboard beam of the GOVERNOR. I was employed at that time by the Pacific Steamship Co. and was working out of the office of A. F. Haines on special assignments and happened to be on board the GOVERNOR in a deluxe stateroom directly under the bridge. I had retired but was not yet asleep and on hearing the danger signals, jumped up and went to the starboard railing. I saw the dark outline of the WEST HARTLAND about 20-ft from the GOVERNOR.
      One or two minutes after the collision, the lights on the GOVERNOR failed. This made a particularly dangerous situation on the starboard side, as the nose of the WEST HARTLAND had pierced considerably into the promenade deck of the GOVERNOR, leaving a large hole that extended into the engine room. This, I fear, may have caused some of the loss of life.

Captain F.P. Barlettt
Master of the GOVERNOR on this day. 
He was a graduate of the famed New York
nautical school ship St. Mary's and one of 
 the senior masters under H.F. Alexander.
Bartlett was exonerated of any blame;
he was not on watch at the time of the wreck.
Original photo from the archives of
 the Saltwater People Historical Society©

      Immediately after the collision, I reported to Captain Bartlett and was instructed to assist in getting the passengers out of their rooms and into lifeboats, which I did with all of my energy. After we had checked all of the staterooms and no other passengers seemed to be on board, I again reported to Captain Bartlett near the bridge and he instructed me to slide down the boat falls. He followed immediately behind me. To the best of my knowledge, we were the last persons leaving the ship.
      Our lifeboat pulled a safe distance from the sinking GOVERNOR and we watched her slowly settle by the stern. Finally, when the deckhouse was just about submerged, a bulkhead collapsed and the stern settled very fast. The bow of the ship rose high in the air and as she took her final plunge, there was much noise of escaping steam and crashing wood.
      One of the peculiar incidents the next days was the attitude of a well-known Seattle man, the president of one of the railroads. He had two valuable horses on board the GOVERNOR and they, of course, were lost. The Seattle railroad president threatened steamship company officials with everything but murder because of the loss of his horses."

WEST HARTLAND
Capt. John Alwyn
Original photo from the archives of
the Saltwater People Historical Society©

Above text by R. H. "Skipper" Calkins. High Tide. Marine Digest Pub., 1952.
For an excellent in-depth report by Douglas Egan with fine drawings from the pen of Ron Burke, see the Sept. 1993 issue of The Sea Chest, the quarterly membership journal of the
Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society.

And then the salvage crews––
Here's a link to read more about the divers' efforts over the years.

Maritime Venture, Inc., Aug. 1987.
Two divers in a pressurized bell 
drop into the water off Pt. Townsend, WA.
An effort to recover an estimated $9 million
 in gold coins, fine wines, and other goods
that went down with the luxury liner 
SS GOVERNOR.
From the archives of the S.P.H.S.©