"Ma Onliest One," last song played on gramophone aboard AJ Goddard
While none of the 100-year old music records found at the wrecksite of AJ Goddard were playable, three song titles were recently identified by Conservator Tara Grant of the Canadian Conservation Institute and offer new insight into life aboard this "workhorse" vessel from the Klondike Gold Rush. Link to the news story and interview with Texas A&M student, Lindsey Thomas and listen to a recording of “Rendez Vous Waltz”! Go to CBCNews or to the Yukon Government website for the full news release.
During a survey of Klondike Gold Rush wrecks being conducted by an international team from the Institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA), the Yukon Transportation Museum, and the Yukon government led by INA Research Associate John Pollack, the wreck of AJ Goddard was found in the icy waters of Lake Laberge in Canada's Yukon. Ongoing since 2005, the collaborative survey project is designed to pinpoint and document the dozens of wrecks that mark the river and lake routes once used by gold seeking "stampeders" during the last great gold rush at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century.
Learn more about Goddard and the Yukon Steamboat Project.
The sternwheel of AJ Goddard, shown here with archaeologist Lindsey Thomas, churned for thousands of miles until overwhelmed by ice, wind and waves in October 1901. Photograph by Donnie Reid, courtesy INA.