Maritime Archaeology an the Last Frontier by John Odin Jensen
Most nautical archaeologists have shark stories. In Alaska, other fierce creatures guard shipwrecks. mining towns faded and died t the end of April 2004, I during the 1930s, Cordova got a call from Megan Lard~ ~ survived because it had a good ner, an associate producer of ~ harbor and salmon. Today, the History Detectives, a reali ty TV ยง internationally-famo us Copper program that airs on PBS. As his~ River Salmon is Cordova's cultorians, art experts, and antique ~ rural symbol, and fish provides appraisers, the History D etectives ~ its economic base. As luck had are a smart gro up. W hen it came ~ it, I arrived on the first day of to looking at a mys terious shipwreck in an Alaskan river, how- '------------------=---------' ~ the 2004 commercial salmon season. I found an active harbor ever, they needed a little help SS Portland in the Katalla River after hitting the rock in 1910. and energized and optimistic from a nautical archaeologistsomeo ne who studies old ships. location of SS Portland ebbed from cur- townsfolk. Such days are special. Fishing is an unpredictable business. In addition Alaska has many shipwrecks. With rent memory. 33,000 miles of rugged coastline and few In the winter of2004, environmental to natural fluctuations of the salmon run, roads, the sea has always been important activist Gab riel Scott encountered an old global market factors and environmental to Alaska. Co untless charted and un- wreck in the Katalla River. His curiosity disasters have given Cordova's economy a chaned rocks, bad currents, and unbeliev- and pers istent questions brought in the brittle quality. This was the town that took able North Pacific weather have destroyed Alaska Office of Archaeology and History, the brunt of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989. Many of those wounds, environthe Histo ry Detectives, and ultimately, me. Was this wreck Portland? Maybe. Local mental and social, have yet to heal. My host in Cordova is Steve Ranney, lore said so. When it comes to shipwrecks, however, local lore can be wrong. Besides, owner of the Orea Adventure Lodge. The old archaeological survey records indicated lodge occupies the former Orea Salmon that Portland had been located years earlier Cannery. The wet and windy climate is hard on wooden buildings, but the renoat Palm Point, just a mile way. I was to meet the team in Cordova, vated former bunkhouse rooms are simple, a lively town of abo ut 2,500 people that clean, and charming. In addition, they overlooks Prince William Sound. No roads come with a million-dollar view of Prince reach Cordova, one comes by air or by sea. William Sound. Established in 1886, the Cordova's early prominence came from old Orea Cannery, like many local sea Steamship Portland in her prime. cop per. During the early 1900s, demand otters and shore birds, fell victim to the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of boats for the useful metal sent prices skyrocket- Exxon Valdez oil spill. Ranney purchased and ships since Vitus Bering first claimed ing, and several mining towns sprang up the historic property about ten years ago Alaska for the Russians in 1733. This ship- around Alaska's Copper River region. In and has been waging what he calls "a wellwreck might be very special. It might be 1910, the completion of the nearly 200- organ ized retreat from rot." Portland, a ship whose 1897 arrival in Se- mile long rail road made Cordova Alaska's Dozens of such canneries once dotted attle with "a ton of gold" was covered by premier copper port. While other copper Alaska's coastline. More than processing newspapers around the world and helped to spark the Klondike Gold Rush. Abandoned dock at the Orea Cannery outside of Cordova. Significant land The celebrity vessel served Alaska for rise during the 1964 Good Friday earthquake made many such docks obsolete. many years, surviving many near-disasters navigating the cruel northern coasts until her luck ran out in 1910. Steaming off Katalla, the first home of the Alaskan oil industry, Portland struck a rock and began flooding. Seeking to save his ship, the captain headed for the shallow waters at the mouth of the Katalla River. His efforts fai led when the heavy surf broke up the ship near the beach. It became a total loss. Over the decades, as local oil hopes faded, the town of Katalla died, and the
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SEA HISTORY l l l, SUMMER 2005