The Star of Bengal was an iron three-masted 1,877 GT merchant sailing vessel built in Belfast in 1874 by Harland and Wolff Industries, the shipyard that later constructed the Titanic. Although built towards the decline of the Age of Sail, the Star of Bengal was successfully operated for 24 years by the British trading company J.P. Corry & Co. The ship was mainly used on London-Calcutta trading route, but also made a few voyages to Australian and American ports.
By 1898, following the formative change in the shipping industry, J.P. Corry switched to steam vessels and sold its sailing fleet. On the other hand, merchant shipping along the United States Pacific Coast was experiencing a boom triggered by Klondike and Nome gold rushes which intensified the colonization of the Pacific Northwest, and spiked the demand for both passenger and cargo shipping in the area. As a result, the Star of Bengal was purchased by a San Francisco trading company J.J. Smith & Co. and, along with many other old European vessels, was taken around Cape Horn to the Pacific Ocean. J.J. Smith conducted an overhaul of the ship and re-rigged her from a full-rigged ship to a barque, aiming to decrease costs of her operations.
J.J. Smith operated the Star of Bengal for 7 more years, mainly for grain and coal trade. As the steamships were pushing sailing vessels out of business, the trading company could no longer operated her for profit, and in 1905, the Star of Bengal was sold to Alaska Packers' Association. This company was in business of canning Alaskan salmon, using its sailing ships for a single voyage a year: a spring sail from San Francisco to one of its Alaskan canneries with seasonal workers and supplies, followed by a return trip in early fall with the workers and a load of canned salmon.
On September 20, 1908, in the beginning of her return trip from Fort Wrangell to San Francisco, the Star of Bengal was in tow into the open sea when she encountered a storm. The ship struck the rocks near the shore of Coronation Island and sunk, killing approximately 110 of 138 people aboard. The Star of Bengal's captain, Nicholas Wagner, who survived the wreck, publicly blamed the tugboats' captains for the event, but after months of federal investigation, nobody was held responsible. As of 2015, the wreck of the Star of Bengal remains in the top five worst maritime disasters in Alaskan history.
Later, captain Wagner's daughter, Joan Lowell pursued acting and literary careers, which led to the Star of Bengal's portrayals in fiction. The Cradle of the Deep, the third best-selling book of 1929, contains an embellished account of the wreck. A melodramatic play Star of Bengal written by Thompson Buchanan and produced by Christopher Morley is set on the ship.
Video Star of Bengal
Specifications
The Star of Bengal was built by the shipbuilder Harland and Wolff Industries in Belfast, Ireland in 1873-1874. 1873-1874 were the years when the construction of three-masted iron ships reached its zenith, and during these years, the shipbuilding industry produced a series of fastest ships in this category, the Star of Bengal being one of them.
Initially constructed as two-decks three-masted full-rigged ship, in 1898 the Star of Bengal was re-rigged as a barque. Her gross tonnage was 1877, net tonnage 1694, tonnage under deck 1684. She was 262.8 feet (80.1 m) long, 40.2 feet (12.3 m) wide and 23.5 feet (7.2 m) deep, and designed to be operated by a crew of seventeen. The ship could load 2,530 long tons (2,570 t) of deadweight cargo on a draught of 21 feet 3 inches (6.48 m).
The Star of Bengal had 9-inch-deep (230 mm) bar keel. Her poop deck was 64 feet (20 m) long, forecastle 42 feet (13 m) long. The ship's moulded depth was 25 feet 3 inches (7.70 m) with freeboard of 5 feet 2.5 inches (158.8 cm). She was originally constructed with 3 cemented bulkheads, but after her overhaul in 1898, only one bulkhead remained in service. Overall, the ship's hull required 200 long tons (200 t) of stiffening.
Maps Star of Bengal
History of operations
J.P. Corry & Co.
The Star of Bengal was ordered by the shipping company J.P. Corry & Co. founded in Belfast and headquartered in London. At the time of her launch, on January 3, 1874, the Star of Bengal was the largest vessel in gross tonnage in service of J.P. Corry & Co., but in December 1874 she was surpassed by the 1,981 GT Star of Russia. These two Stars remained the company's largest sailing vessels. The Star of Bengal's maiden voyage officially began on April 25, 1874 when she sailed out of London to Melbourne, then continued to San Francisco, and returned to Liverpool.
The company's sailing vessels operated three main trading routes, linking London with Canada, India, and Australia. The Star of Bengal largely remained on the London-Calcutta route with occasional visits to Melbourne, Bombay, and Valparaíso. The ship's average time for London-Calcutta-London round-trip was 7 month and 24 days, the shortest 7 months and 2 days, and the longest 8 months and 14 days.
John Smyth was the Star of Bengal's first captain. He remained at this position for eleven years, until 1885, when he took command of another company ship, the Star of Erin, eventually graduating to commanding large company steamers and earning an unofficial title of the commodore of the Star fleet.
In 1885, William Legg became the next Star of Bengal's captain. During the ship's 1886 voyage to Calcutta, the Scottish maritime novelist, George Cupples, sailed as the Star of Bengal's honorary first mate. The ship arrived to Calcutta on August 19, 1886, and shortly after her arrival, the captain broke his leg. Under the circumstances, 63-year-old novelist successfully assumed the command. The Star of Bengal was about to leave India and to sail out of Garden Reach when on September 25, the steamship Gulf of Mexico collided with the moored Star of Bengal resulting in a month of repairs. Cupples could finally sail out on October 26, bringing the Star of Bengal back to London on February 1, 1887.
Upon arrival, Cupples yielded the captain's position to DeGruchy who remained the ship's captain for one voyage. In 1888, William Legg recovered and returned to the Star of Bengal's command. In 1892, after four more years of service, he was replaced by John M. Hart who was formerly John Smyth's first mate. Hart remained in command of the ship until 1898 when J.P. Corry & Co.'s decision to put its money on steamers led to the sale of its last remaining sailing vessels, including the Star of Bengal.
J.J. Smith & Co.
A San Francisco-based trading company, J.J. Smith & Co. acquired the Star of Bengal in June 1898. At that time, maritime shipping out of United States Pacific ports was undergoing a major change. After the Long Depression whose affect on the regional shipping peaked in 1896-1897, the demand for Pacific Coast maritime transportation unexpectedly soared. It was driven by the Nome Gold Rush, which intensified the colonization of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, and created numerous opportunities for new passenger and trade routes. As the result, many old vessels were purchased to service these routes.
J.J. Smith & Co. re-registered the Star of Bengal in United States, and in 1898, the 25-year-old ship has undergone a major overhaul. To make the ship's operations more cost effective, her mizzen-mast was re-rigged from square to fore-and-aft, and the Star of Bengal turned from a full-rigged ship to a barque. She got new decks, but the number of bulkheads in service has decreased from three to one. In 1904, a donkey boiler was installed on the ship which was used to assist the crew with raising sails.
While the Star of Bengal sailed under J.J. Smith & Co., her captain was H. Henderson. The company operated the ship on a variety of trading missions, mainly trading grain and coal. In an incident in March 1899, the ship almost caught fire when her load of coal from Newcastle to San Francisco overheated and became spontaneously combustible. In 1905, the J.J. Smith & Co. could no longer operate the Star of Bengal with profit and sold her to Alaska Packers' Association.
Alaska Packers' Association
Alaska Packers' Association was another beneficiary of Alaska exploration and an active consumer of old vessels. Based in San Francisco, the company was engaged in Alaska salmon fishery; it operated salmon canneries across Alaskan coasts and a fleet of ships engaged in transporting packed salmon and fishery workers. Alaska Packers' Association purchased several iron sailing ships that were originally built for J.P. Corry & Co., including the Star of Bengal, and then renamed all of its remaining ships by adding prefix "Star of-" to their names in an attempt to achieve instant name recognition. Alaska Packers' Association became the largest company engaged in Alaskan salmon fisheries and, by 1908, the largest salmon packing concern in the world.
Under Alaska Packers' Association, since 1905, the Star of Bengal's captain was Nicholas Wagner. The company had the Star of Bengal insured by Lloyd's. By 1908, the ship was appraised at $70,000-$75,000. Taking advantage of "good strong old British iron" and "lower insurance rates," Alaska Packers' Association operated the ship seasonally: in the spring, she would sail from San Francisco to Alaska, bringing seasonal workers, fuel, and other supplies to canneries; in the fall, she would sail back, loaded with canned salmon and the returning workers. In the winter, the Star of Bengal with other "Star fleet" was moored at Alameda, California.
At the time, salmon canneries required cheap, unskilled labor, and Alaska Packers' Association primarily hired immigrants of Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino descent as seasonal workers. These workers were provided in bulk by Chinese labor contractors, operating out of San Francisco. On the company ships, the "Orientals" were segregated from white workers and crew, in part due to separate habits and diet, in part because they were treated as second-class citizens. During the season, Alaska Packers' Association supplied these workers with housing, fuel, and water, while Chinese labor contractors provided them with food, whiskey, and opium.
Additional wooden structures were added to the Star of Bengal's hold to accommodate the seasonal workers. In addition to the workers and supplies, the ship could carry a maximum load of 85,000 48-pound (22 kg) cases of salmon, an equivalent of 2,040 short tons (1,850 t) of cargo. In 1906, the wholesale price of one case of salmon was $5.80, so the ship's full load of salmon could cost up to $500,000 in 1906 dollars.
Wreck
Background
In the season of 1908, the Star of Bengal sailed from San Francisco on April 22, arriving at Fort Wrangell on May 5. She was loaded with supplies for Wrangell cannery, including the fuel for the season, and had 146 people on board, 110 of which were "Oriental" seasonal workers. Because maneuvering a sailing vessel through a maze of small islands and narrow straits is too risky, the last 90 miles (140 km) of the voyage, from Warren Island to Fort Wrangell, the Star of Bengal was tugged by the 172 GT 250-hp Chilkat, an Alaska Packers' Association's steamboat. That summer Wrangell cannery yielded 52,000 cases of salmon which were loaded on the ship while she was moored next to the cannery for the season.
The return trip began on September 19 with 137 or 138 people on board. This time, the tug Chilkat was unavailable to take the Star of Bengal into the open sea, so on the company's orders, she was towed by two smaller steamboats - the 80 GT 90-hp Hattie Gage and the 115 GT 225-hp Kayak, neither of which was large enough to perform the operation individually or even designed for vessel towing. The Kayak's draft was too shallow, so when towing a vessel she ran a risk of her propeller and rudder being not submerged deep enough for effective operation, especially in rough weather. The Hattie Gage's aft was not equipped with proper bitts, so 6-inch-thick (15 cm) and 750-foot-long (230 m) hawser had to be tied directly to her mast. Both tugs were also owned by Alaska Packers' Association.
The Hattie Gage was under command of Captain Erwin Ferrar who had 35 years of experience at sea, including 13 seasons in Alaska. The Kayak was under command of Captain Patrick Hamilton who recently obtained his captain license after 10 years of experience at see as mate and boatswain. Together with captain Wagner of the Star of Bengal, the captains decided to proceed with the tow, as the weather was calm. Captain Ferrar was placed in charge of the operation. The small flotilla left Fort Wrangell at 8:20 a.m. making about 5 miles per hour (8.0 km/h) and planning to reach the open sea at Warren Island in 12 to 18 hours. The vessels passed point Baker at 3:50 p.m., and reached the 5.8-mile-wide (9.3 km) strait between Coronation Island and Warren Island at 10:00 p.m. By that time, the wind has strengthened, and the visibility was poor due to rain, mist, and darkness. The lookouts on both tugs could no longer see the Star of Bengal which was 250 yards (230 m) behind them.
The events of September 20, 1908
The loss of control
By midnight, the flotilla was on its final leg between Warren Island and Coronation Island, and the captains of both tugboats became concerned with the freshening southeast headwind. The vessels were making very little forward progress and getting closer to Coronation Island than expected. In poor visibility, the crews of all three ships relied on lead lines to ascertain their positions with respect to land. As the wind continued to strengthen, by 1:00 a.m. captain Farrar and captain Hamilton, whose tugboats were moving 100 feet (30 m) from each other, negotiated a turn, aimed to jibe the Star of Bengal, i.e. to pull her through the wind and change her tack from port to starboard.
Meanwhile, the Star of Bengal's crew also became concerned, but could neither see the tugboats, nor communicate with them. At 1:45 a.m. the Hattie Gage blew a series of whistles, signaling the maneuver which was heard on the Star of Bengal. However, as the tugs started the turn, the Kayak's rudder proved ineffective in the rough weather, and she failed to turn into the wind. For some time, the tugs worked against each other, their combined effort overpowering the Star of Bengal's rudder and preventing her from making the turn to safety. Aware of the looming danger, the Star of Bengal's first mate begged captain Wagner to sever the Kayak's hawser which was dragging the ship in the wrong direction, but the captain refused, as the maritime law prohibited such action on the part of the vessel in tow.
At one point, the tugs succeeded turning the Star of Bengal on the starboard tack, but she immediately reverted to the port tack when either due to a sudden change in direction of the wind or due to an error on part of the Star of Bengal's crew, her sails were filled aback. This resulted in a more dangerous situation, pushing all three vessels towards the rocky shore of Coronation island. The two tugs continued to struggle to pull the Star of Bengal out of danger, but the ships continued to drift leeward. Both tugs started to experience mechanical problems with their boilers due to overloading, and the Hattie Gage also developed structural problems with her mast mounting. At 3:50 a.m. the Star of Bengal dropped her anchors in 17 fathoms (102 ft; 31 m) of water. Pulled into less than 10 fathoms (60 ft; 18 m) of water and occasionally as close as 100 feet (30 m) to the land, the tugs finally severed the hawsers at 4:00 a.m., steamed out of danger, and found shelter from still strengthening wind 12 miles (19 km) away, behind Warren Island.
The sinking
With the dawn, the Star of Bengal's crew realized how dangerous the ship's position was, just 100 yards (91 m) from the rocky beach of Coronation Island, barely held by her anchors amidst the storm. By 7:00 a.m., the wind turned into gale, reaching 60 miles per hour (97 km/h). With no tugs in sight, the crew started preparing for the worst. All men aboard received life-preservers, however most of the Chinese passengers did not put them on. Captain Wagner called for volunteers who would attempt to reach the shore in a lifeboat to secure a line on the shore in order to evacuate the passengers with a breeches buoy. The crew dumped oil into the sea to calm down the waves, but the first attempt to lower a lifeboat failed, as it immediately smashed into pieces.
The second attempt to lower the boat was successful, and manned by four volunteers, the boat reached the shore and broke into pieces on the impact with the rocky beach. All four men survived the crash, and by 9:00 a.m. they managed to secure a rope from the Star of Bengal to a tree. The donkey boiler was used to keep the rope strained. However, as another volunteer was climbing along the rope with the breeches buoy, the ship's anchors finally gave in to the storm. The rope became unstable and unsuitable for evacuation, and the volunteer was slingshot 60 feet (18 m) into the air and killed as he landed on the ship's deck. At 9:32 a.m. the ship struck the rocks. During the next 54 minutes, the ship's hull broke in three pieces, and she sank at 55°49?30?N 134°17?0?W with just her mizzen topmast visible above water.
Passengers and crew found themselves in 40 °F (4 °C) water surrounded by the wooden cases of canned salmon and the steel empty fuel drums from the ship's hold. The dangerous mishmash frenzied by the storm was almost impossible to swim through. Depending on the exact number of passengers aboard the Star of Bengal, 110 or 111 people died in the wreck, and 27 people survived. The beach was soon covered by dead bodies, many mutilated by the ship's cargo, and many drowned in the powerful undertow. The 27 survivors included the four volunteers and captain Wagner who was pulled unconscious from the water by the crew members.
The survivors used the leftovers of fuel to make fire and stay warm. They made an extensive search for survivors, buried white corpses, leaving "Oriental" corpses behind covered by ship's sails. The survivors were picked up by the Kayak, which found them the next day. The US government cable ship Burnside arrived at the scene of the wreck later and her crew buried the remaining corpses in a mass grave. With the high number of casualties, as of 2015, the wreck is in top 5 marine disasters in the history of Alaska.
The investigation
As soon as the survivors reached the shore, captain Wagner publicly accused the tugboats' captains of "criminal cowardice". He alleged that they abandoned the Star of Bengal in a dangerous situation, ignored her distress lights, thus missing the window of opportunity before the storm intensified at 8:00 a.m. when the passengers could have been taken from the Star of Bengal aboard the tugboats. The captain Ferrar denied the existence of such a window, as had there been a period of calm sea, captain Wagner could have evacuated his men ashore. The case came under federal investigation, and two inspectors started hearings in San Francisco on October 3, 1908.
The hearing was initially aimed to assess the responsibility of the Star of Bengal's crew. Captain Wagner and his first mate Victor Johansen were interrogated by the inspectors and repeated the accusation against the captains of the tugs. During the hearing, Alaska Packers' Association provided written testimonies of nautical experts, supporting the position of the tugs' captains. On October 7, captain Wagner and the first mate filed formal charges of cowardice against tugs' captains with the federal inspectors.
Captains Farrar and Hamilton provided their written testimonies, but the tugs' crews were summoned to San Francisco to testify on October 23. Captain Farrar and captain Hamilton insisted that their actions were justified, as after the Star of Bengal dropped her anchors, they were powerless to assist the large ship and had the responsibility to ensure safety of their vessels and crews. After completing repairs, the Hattie Gage steamed to Fort Wrangell to seek assistance of a larger ship, the Burnside, while the Kayak went searching for the Star of Bengal, eventually locating the survivors. The crews of both tugs supported their captains. The hearing of witnesses ended on October 27, and the inspectors published their findings on January 27, 1909. They exonerated the tugboats' captains, stating that there was not sufficient evidence of criminal cowardice. Moreover, on April 15, the inspectors revoked captain Wagner's license, holding him responsible in the loss of life. Captain Wagner immediately appealed the decision, and it was promptly reversed by the supervising inspector as "unsubstantiated".
The aftermath
The wreck of the Star of Bengal was described as "one of the worst disasters" of the Pacific coast. Due to the high number of casualties, as of 2015, the wreck of the Star of Bengal in top 5 marine disasters in the history of Alaska. Both, the ship and her cargo were declared total loss. The cost of the cargo was estimated at $227,000, bringing the total value of hull and cargo to $330,000, which was the largest maritime loss in Alaska waters at the time. The ship and her cargo was insured at Lloyd's which limited the losses of Alaska Packers' Association. The Association made volunteer donations to the families of the lost of more than $16,000 in total, which was considered generous at the time.
After his license was restored, captain Wagner continued to command other sailing vessels. Captains Farrar and Hamilton were tried by the court of public opinion, and as of 2001, their role in the wreck remains uncertain. In later years, divers made numerous attempts to locate the wreckage of the Star of Bengal, but as of 2005, they were unsuccessful. In 2008, a centennial commemoration of the wreck was organized in the Wrangell Museum.
In fiction
The Cradle of the Deep
In March 1929, captain Wagner's daughter, Joan Lowell, published a book titled The Cradle of the Deep that purported to be her authentic autobiography. In the book, Lowell spends the first seventeen years of her life aboard her father's schooner, the Minnie A. Caine barefoot and surrounded by the all-male crew. Initially, The Cradle of the Deep received multiple positive reviews from different sources, including The Washington Post, Time, Life, and the Los Angeles Times.
The book soon became a bestseller, topping the non-fiction part of The New York Times Best Seller list. Even though it was quickly exposed as a hoax, the subsequent literary scandal and the media frenzy have propelled The Cradle of the Deep into the fiction part of The New York Times Best Seller list, and The Cradle of the Deep finished 1929 as the third best-selling book of the year.
In chapter 11 of The Cradle of the Deep, Lowell gives her account of the Star of Bengal's wreck which is loosely based on the stories that she heard from her father. In the book, ominous signs foreshadow the wreck, and the full responsibility of the disaster is placed on the shoulders of the tugs' captains who mishandle their drunken and inexperienced crews, become "panic-stricken," and flee the scene. Furthermore, in the chapter, the tugs' captains commit other acts that are "beyond human comprehension" including burning the corpses of the Chinese passengers "like rubbish" on Coronation Island, salvaging the food from the Star of Bengal's hold that was mixed with the dead men, and selling the cooked mixture to Eskimos.
Inspired by the scandal, humorist Corey Ford published a parody on the Lowell's book that was titled Salt water taffy; or, Twenty thousand leagues away from the sea; the almost incredible autobiography of Capt. Ezra Triplett's seafaring daughter, by June Triplett, which also became a best-seller. In his book, Ford inflates the most grotesque details of The Cradle of the Deep, thus demonstrating the fraudulent nature of the "autobiography". In chapter 6 of Salt Water Taffy that mimics chapter 11 of The Cradle of the Deep, Ford ridicules Lowell's devotion to maritime omens which allegedly preceded Star of Bengal's last voyage and the portrayal of her father as an infallible captain.
Broadway play
In 1929, Joan Lowell's husband, Thompson Buchanan wrote a play Star of Bengal which is set on the ship. The play was produced by Christopher Morley and opened in late September, starring Charles Starrett, Joan Lowell, and William P. Carleton. This "consciously superannuated" melodrama features a love affair between captain's daughter (Lowell) and a sailor (Starrett) that leads to their elopement. The runaways are caught, and the captain (Carleton) is about to hang the sailor; however, upon learning that his daughter is expecting, the captain eventually turns magnanimous. The play lasted only until November and was generally regarded as unsuccessful, its failure rumored to be a contributing factor in Buchanan's and Lowell's subsequent divorce.
See also
- Lists of shipwrecks
Notes
References
Literature cited
External links
- Partial registry of the Star of Bengal's voyages
- The Star of Bengal in the wreck registry
Source of article : Wikipedia
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