West Dawson
The remains of seven great stern wheel steamboats lie abandoned on shore in an historic shipyard at West Dawson. This site provides an unparalleled opportunity for historical nautical archaeologists to conduct detailed comparative studies of 110 year-old vessels, literally lying side-by-side. Work here and on related sites will answer many questions about the constructions methods and range of variation among these late 19th-century vessels.
In June 2009 PROMARE and INA supported the documentation hull of Seattle No. 3, a prefabricated wooden-hulled vessel, originally framed in Seattle at the Moran Brothers yard, and assembled at Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands in 1898. The ship measured 45.7 x 9.9 m with a gross displacement of 548.1 tonnes. Its superstructure has collapsed with only the aft crews quarters and steering compartment intact. Decking, deck beams and the wooden hull are intact and complete except at the bow. A single locomotice-style boiler and stack with breeching are in situ. The stern wheel and engines are missing. This vessel contains a unique but incomplete four-tiller and roller-steering system with the tiller arms positioned slightly above the freight deck. Iron-sheathed wooden arcs for tiller bearings are affixed to the freight deck, but the tillers, rudders and rudder posts are missing. The centerline king posts remain, but the outlying hog posts are removed.
Seattle No. 3 is heavily built with numerous truss-built longitudinal bulkheads and transverse beams supporting the single boiler and centerline hog posts. Our field methodology utilized a standard baseline survey combined with a Nikon reflectorless total station to map the partially collapsed bow and the transverse cross-sectional elevations . Final drawings were produced by the Vancouver-based nautical draftsman, John MacKay.
In August 2010 we returned to document the hull of 1908,
43.3 x 11.6 m, Julia B. This ship was built at Ballard, Washington and towed north. It is another example of a strongly constructed vessel used predominantly as a freight boat on the lower Yukon River. The ship displays a solid central longitudinal bulkhead comprised of a wall of heavy timbers atop a keelson plus two additional solid side longitudinal bulkheads. Four additional side keelsons support either hold stanchions or combinations of hold stanchions and trusses. Finally, two short truss-built engine girders were noted, for a grand total of nine longitudinal strength members. On the main deck, the remains of one engine, a heavily-constructed three rudder steering system, the paddle wheel, and two locomotive style boilers were mapped. A standard chine displayed cocked hat construction, and the boilers were supported by massive transverse carriers.
A paper on Seattle No. 3 was presented at the 2010 SHA meeting in Amelia Island, Florida. Plans for Julia B. and two other vessels are in preparation, and a second SHA paper was presented at the 2011 SHA meeting in Austin.
Click here to see images of the West Dawson "boneyard".
Click here to see the plans for the Seattle No 3.
The three-boiler battery on Mary F Graff
Looking across the decks of Schwatka, Seattle No. 3 and Julia B
A paddle wheel at West Dawson-intact except for the bucket planks