Any month of the year, cold winds can blow along the rocky, barren coasts of Alaska, churning the sea into towering waves. By October, winter has already begun with its deadly cold and fierce storms. It was in October of 1918 that the ship, The Princess Sophia, left Skagway, Alaska, with close to 300 people on board, headed for the warmer port of Seattle, Washington.
At 10:00 p.m. the ship pulled away from the lights of Skagway. Captain Locke, a captain of many years, stood at the helm. In order to reach the open sea, The Princess Sophia would have to pass through the Lynn Canal. The weather was usually poor in this area, and as the ship entered the region, it ran into a blinding snowstorm. The captain, feeling sure of his decision, ordered the ship to sail ahead at normal speed. He did not know that this decision would result in one of the largest maritime disasters of the northwest Pacific coast.
The Princess Sophia was a comfortable ship and most of the passengers were sound asleep in their berths. At 3:00 a.m. they were suddenly awakened by a tremendous jolt! At full speed, the ship had struck an underwater part of the Vanderbilt Reef. Its steel hull was jammed between two submerged rocks.
The captain sent some of his crew to investigate the damage done to the ship. Fortunately, the double-plated hull had not been pierced and there were no leaks. However, the ship was not able to pull itself off the rocks.
Sensing their danger, several passengers put on life jackets. Captain Locke sent out a call for help over the wireless telegraph, requesting all ships in the region to come help. By morning several rescue ships had reached the area where the passenger ship was stuck on the rocks.
One of the ships, named The Cedar, was commanded by Captain Leadbetter. Standing on the pitching deck of his small ship, he shouted through a megaphone to the ship in distress, “Do you want to transfer passengers from your ship to my ship?”
Captain Locke studied the heavy seas which he could see would make the transfer difficult. He didn’t think his ship was in any immediate danger, so he called back, “No, we will wait for more favorable weather.”
Favorable weather did not come. The winds became stronger, driving waves into The Princess Sophia. All hope of transferring any passengers disappeared as the storm grew worse. No one knew that there would not be another opportunity to escape.
The rescue ships circled the stranded The Princess Sophia for a day and a night. They anxiously watched for a break in the weather so that they could transfer the passengers. By the second day the storm had grown so bad that the rescue ships had to protect themselves from the fierceness of the wind by finding shelter behind various islands. Around 5:00 p.m. they received an urgent message over the telegraph from Captain Locke that pleaded for their immediate help. The rescue ships steamed out to see what they could do, but they could not even find The Princess Sophia in the blinding storm.
The next day at dawn they found the broken mast jutting out of the water where the ship had been grounded. A black film of fuel oil covered the area. Apparently, the ship had broken in half from the constant pounding of the waves. The ship and all the people on board were lost. Not one person escaped.
This sad story should make us stop and think that we never know when a day might be the last day of our life. The captain of The Princess Sophia did not mean to put everyone on his ship in danger, nor did he mean to wait too long to have everyone rescued. But his waiting meant the end of life for everyone on his ship. Are you still waiting to get saved? I hope not. The Bible tells us, “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:22(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.) (2 Corinthians 6:2)). God, who is all-wise and who loves us so much, knows that if we wait until tomorrow to be saved, tomorrow may never come for us.
Messages of God’s Love 2/2/2025