DENALI RESCUE ATTEMPT
for the CLARKSDALE VICTORY tragedy
DENALI
Alaska Steamship Company
Captain Ben Aspen
CLARKSDALE VICTORY
US Army Transport
Captain: Gerald Laugeson
Location: Hippa Island, BC.
24 November 1947.
Victims: 49 crew reported lost.
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Rescue attempt from the crew of DENALI at the scene of the wreck of the CLARKSDALE VICTORY on Hippa Island, BC. Photo by William F. Wilson, 28 Nov. 1947. Original photo from the archives of the SaltwaterPeopleHistoricalSociety© |
"Nine men whom death brushed terribly close, when they launched a lifeboat in tempestuous seas in a heroic but futile effort to take aid to survivors of the wrecked CLARKSDALE VICTORY on Hippa Island, landed at Pier 42 yesterday afternoon aboard the Alaska passenger vessel DENALI.
“We were mighty lucky to get back alive,” said big Chris Nilsen, first mate of the DENALI, an Alaska Steamship Co vessel.
Forty-nine men––all but four of the crew were lost when the CLARKSDALE VICTORY, an Army transport, piled up on a reef of Hippa Island, off the Northern B.C. coast.
Nilsen had command of the lifeboat, and eight of the crew went with him. They could see the severed bow section of the transport hanging on the reef, but huge breakers made it impossible to approach it.
As the only possible alternative, the lifeboat crew attempted to row around to the opposite side of the island, the northeast side, where there was calmer water. They planned to land there and make their way across the steep little hump of an island to the wreck scene, where coast guardsmen in a plane had seen three survivors.
The lifeboat crew fought waves in an attempt to skirt the island, but it was not long before they saw there was no chance––human strength just could not do it.
They had been swept within 100 yards of the reef which held the CLARKSDALE VICTORY bow when they gave in.
“There wasn’t a chance of making it around the island. We started back to our ship. We rowed for a full hour before we could make any headway,” Nilsen said.
Capt. Ben Aspen, the master of the DENALI, saw the plight of his men and put his ship about, to return for them. He had moved the DENALI about a mile offshore, but now he swung her in closer and got the lifeboat in her lee.
“We couldn’t save the boat, but we felt pretty lucky just to get back to our ship and lucky again to get aboard. The deck crew threw us a line and put nets over and we cut the lifeboat loose and clambered up the side.”
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Ship's officers and lifeboat crew DENALI, trying to aid the passengers on the wreck of the CLARKSDALE VICTORY, November 1927. Click image to enlarge. Original photo from the archives of the Saltwater People Historical Society© |
Nilsen praised his lifeboat crew as “good men,” and said it was fortunate they were all huskies” or they would not have been able to row their boat away from the island, once in the grip of the current and waves.
Third Officer William M. Rasmussen, and Clair E. Driscoll were flown in a Coast Guard plane to Ketchikan and Second Mate Henry H. Wolfe, was flown to Annette Island and taken by boat to the hospital.
The fourth survivor, Carlos Sanabria, of Honduras, was aboard the cutter WACHUSETTS, that continued the search for bodies.
With Nilsen in the lifeboat were Boatswain Jack Adams, Quarter-masters Ed Rod and James Nelson, and Martin Carlson, John Totland, Cecil Longacre, Ralph Erlandson and Reino Ross, able seamen.
Capt. Aspen said he could not understand how the CLARKSDALE got so far off course as to hit Hippa Island. He showed a sketch that he had made of the island, that showed Hippa as a small, steep hump in the sea.
A second landing party was set ashore on the island this forenoon in a final search for missing crewmen.
A party was to go aboard the bow section of the wreck as soon as winds and seas abate."
Text from the Seattle-Times Nov. 1947.
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