30 March 2019

Arctic Ghost Ship

Just a fascinating bit of  history.



A list of sightings of SS Baychimo after her abandonment:


  • A few days after Baychimo had disappeared on 24 November 1931, the ship was found 45 mi (72 km) south of where she was lost, but was again ice-packed.
  • After several months, she was spotted again but about 300 mi (480 km) to the east.
  • In March of the following year, she was seen floating peacefully near the shore by Leslie Melvin, a man travelling to Nome with his dog sled team.
  • A few months after that, she was seen by a company of prospectors.
  • In August 1932, she was boarded by a 20-man Alaskan trading party off Wainwright, Alaska.[4]
  • March 1933, she was found by a group of Alaska Natives who boarded her and were trapped aboard for 10 days by a freak storm.
  • August 1933, the Hudson's Bay Company heard she was still afloat, but was too far a-sea to salvage.[4]
  • July 1934, she was boarded by a group of explorers on a schooner.
  • September 1935, she was seen off Alaska's northwest coast.[4]
  • November 1939, she was boarded by Captain Hugh Polson, wishing to salvage her, but the creeping ice floes intervened and the captain had to abandon her. This is the last recorded boarding of Baychimo.[5]
  • After 1939, she was seen floating alone and without crew numerous times, but had always eluded capture.
  • March 1962, she was seen drifting along the Beaufort Sea coast by a group of Inuit.
  • She was found frozen in an ice pack in 1969, 38 years after she was abandoned. This is the last recorded sighting of Baychimo.

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