Digital Bob Archive

Rescue missions were not unusual for the ferry boats that plied between Juneau and the island towns of Douglas and Treadwell in the early years of the century, and for the other small steamboats of this area, but the call that came on the morning of August 15, 1901, was out of the ordinary: the Islander had gone to the bottom.

The story of that tragedy has been told dozens of times, in newspapers, magazines and books, and there seems to be only one fact upon which all the stories agree: the Islander did go to the bottom of Stephens Passage. At the time there was a weekly paper in Douglas and two dailies on the Juneau side of the channel, and there were three diverse accounts of the affair right from the beginning.

The Douglas Island News reported that first word of the disaster was brought to Treadwell about 8 a.m. by the chief engineer, the mate and five other men in a rowboat. The Daily Alaska Dispatch at Juneau said the word was carried by a group of passengers, headed by the chief engineer, who walked the beach for 25 miles and reached Treadwell at 8:30.

Whatever the carrier, the bad news got to Treadwell Superintendent Joseph MacDonald. He sent a number of men to the nearest bunkhouse to gather as many blankets as they could carry and take them to the company tugboat, the Lucy. He rounded up the crew of the Lucy and ordered them to get up steam as rapidly as possible. And he telephoned to the office of the Juneau Ferry & Navigation Company and suggested that the Flosie be sent to the wreck scene. She had just returned from her regular trip to Skagway and still had some steam in her boiler.

MacDonald went with the Lucy but the two boats had to proceed down Gastineau Channel under a slow bell; it was crowded with bergs from Taku Glacier. The Flosie returned to Juneau some hours later with the surviving passengers and seven bodies. The Lucy remained at the scene to search for both survivors and bodies. It was said that 24 passengers and 16 crew members were missing, but it was not certain how many had been aboard.

The Islander, had left Skagway at 6:30 p.m. on the 14th, bound directly for Vancouver, B.C. Her purser, J.F. Bishop, tallied 107 passengers and 61 crew members. It was estimated there were also from seven to a dozen stowaways and workaways, and there were several young children who had not been counted because they did not need tickets. The final estimate was 180 adults on board, 113 saved, 67 plus several children lost.

Most of the survivors had only their night clothes, and the people of Juneau responded quickly to their needs. Decker Hall was opened for receiving donations and soon the survivors were ready to board either the Queen or the Farallon to continue their journey.

Fifteen bodies were taken to the C.W. Young Undertaking Parlor and most of them were buried in Juneau's Evergreen Cemetery.