page_title: Princess May (steamship)
section_title: Stranding
hierarchical_section_title: Princess May (steamship) / Stranding
caption_attribution_description: English: From John Cobb field notebook: C.P.R. SS Princess May on the reef at Sentinel Island, Alaska. Aug. 7, 1910 Subjects (LCTGM): Ship accidents--Alaska--Sentinel Island Subjects (LCSH): Princess May (Steamship); Steamships--Alaska--Sentinel Island; Marine accidents--Alaska--Sentinel Island
context_page_description: Princess May was a steamship built in 1888 which was operated under a number of different names and owners. The ship is best known for having been involved in a grounding in 1910 which left the ship jutting completely out of the water, which became the subject of a famous shipwreck photograph.
context_section_description: On 5 August 1910, Princess May, having departed from Skagway under the command of Captain MacLeod with 80 passengers, 68 crew, and a shipment of gold, was proceeding south down Lynn Canal in heavy fog.  At a speed of about 10 knots (19 km/h), the ship ran aground on rocks near the north end of Sentinel Island, where there was a United States lighthouse station.  It was high tide (the tidal range being about 16 feet at this point) and the momentum of the ship forced it well up onto the rocks, with the bow jutting upward at an angle of 23 degrees. This produced a number of photographs of the ship's predicament which were sold all over the west coast.
  May was equipped with wireless, but at that time it was not standard practice to equip the wireless set with auxiliary battery power.  Thus, if electrical power was lost on the ship in general, the wireless would also go down.  This happened on May when the engine room flooded.  The wireless operator, W.R. Keller, did not have time to send out a distress call before the main power was lost.      Thinking quickly, he ran down to the engine room, where the incoming water was by then waist deep.  Keller rigged an improvised electrical connection with the engine room telegraph battery, and using this was able to send out a wireless distress call before the engine room was completely flooded.  The message sent by Keller stated: “S.S. PRINCESS MAY SINKING SENTINEL ISLAND; SEND HELP.”
  The close proximity of Sentinel Island allowed a safe place to evacuate the passengers and crew, as well as land the gold shipment and the mail for safekeeping.  Later the passengers and crew were picked up by Princess Ena and other rescue ships and taken to Juneau.
  Over 120 plates were damaged on the hull.  The largest hole was about 50 feet (15 m) long and 18 inches (460 mm) wide.  The engine rooms were flooded, and the ship could not move on its own.  To remove Princess May from the rocks, the ship's owners hired Capt. W.H. Logan and the Seattle-based salvage tug Santa Cruz, as well as the William Jolliffe, one of the most powerful tugs on the British Columbia coast.  Temporary shipways were built and rocks were blasted, and after several previous attempts failed, on 3 September 1910, the salvors were able to refloat the ship and tow it to port.  This was the 32nd time that Captain Logan had successfully salvaged a ship.  The cost of the salvage and the subsequent repair was $115,000.
caption: Princess May on the rocks, August 7, 1910
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