J.P. Corry & Co.

The Star of Bengal was ordered by shipping company J.P. Corry & Co., which was founded in Belfast and headquartered in London.^[4][11] At the time of her launch on January 3, 1874,^[14] the Star of Bengal was the largest vessel in gross tonnage in service of J.P. Corry & Co. (in December 1874, she was surpassed by the 1,981 GT Star of Russia).^[15][16] These two Stars remained the company's largest sailing vessels.^[17] The Star of Bengal's maiden voyage officially began on April 25, 1874, when she sailed out of London towards Melbourne. She continued to San Francisco and returned to Liverpool.^[16]

The company's sailing vessels operated three main trading routes, linking London with Canada, India, and Australia.^[18] The Star of Bengal largely remained on the London-Calcutta route, with occasional visits to Melbourne, Bombay, and Valparaíso.^[19][20] The ship's average time for the London-Calcutta-London round-trip was 7 months and 24 days. The shortest trip was 7 months and 2 days, and the longest 8 months and 14 days.^[21]

John Smyth was the Star of Bengal's first captain.^[4] He remained at this position for eleven years, until he took command of another company ship, the Star of Erin in 1885.^[22] He eventually graduated to commanding large company steamers, earning the unofficial title of "the commodore of the Star fleet."^[19]

William Legg became the next Star of Bengal's captain in 1885.^[9] During the ship's 1886 voyage to Calcutta, the Scottish maritime novelist George Cupples sailed as the Star of Bengal's honorary first mate.^[21][23] The ship arrived in Calcutta on August 19, 1886; shortly after her arrival, the captain broke his leg.^[21][23] Under the circumstances, the 63-year-old novelist successfully assumed command.^[21][23][24] The Star of Bengal was about to leave India and sail out of Garden Reach, when on September 25, the steamship Gulf of Mexico collided with the moored Star of Bengal, resulting in a month of repairs.^[21] Cupples finally sailed out on October 26, bringing the Star of Bengal back to London on February 1, 1887.^[25]

Upon arrival, Cupples yielded the captain's position to DeGruchy, who remained the ship's captain for one voyage.^[26][27] In 1888, William Legg returned to the Star of Bengal's command.^[28] In 1892, after four more years of service, he was replaced by John M. Hart, formerly John Smyth's first mate.^[22][29] Hart remained in command of the ship until 1898, when J.P. Corry & Co.'s decision to put its money into steamers led to the sale of its last remaining sailing vessels, including the Star of Bengal.^[1][30]

J.J. Smith & Co.

San Francisco-based trading company J.J. Smith & Co. acquired the Star of Bengal in June 1898.^[31] At that time, maritime shipping out of United States Pacific ports was undergoing a major change. After the impact of the Long Depression on regional shipping peaked in 1896–1897,^[32][33] the demand for Pacific Coast maritime transportation unexpectedly soared.^[34] It was driven by the Nome Gold Rush, which intensified the colonization of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska and created numerous opportunities for new passenger and trade routes.^[34][35][36] As a result, many old vessels were purchased to service these routes.^[37]

J.J. Smith & Co. re-registered the Star of Bengal in the United States,^{[note 3]} and in 1898, the 25-year-old ship underwent a major overhaul. To make the ship's operations more cost-effective,^[40] her mizzen-mast was re-rigged from square to fore-and-aft, and the Star of Bengal turned from a full-rigged ship to a barque.^[10][11] She got new decks, but the number of bulkheads in service decreased from three to one.^[10] In 1904, a donkey boiler was installed on the ship to assist the crew with raising sails.^[41][42]

While the Star of Bengal sailed under J.J. Smith & Co., her captain was H. Henderson.^[5][43][44] The company operated the ship on a variety of trading missions, mainly trading grain and coal.^[11] In an incident in March 1899, the ship almost caught fire when, from Newcastle to San Francisco, her load of coal overheated and became spontaneously combustible.^[45] In 1905, the J.J. Smith & Co. could no longer operate the Star of Bengal with profit and sold her to the Alaska Packers' Association.^[11][41]

Alaska Packers' Association

The Alaska Packers' Association (APA) was another beneficiary of Alaskan exploration, and an active consumer of old vessels.^[37][46] Based in San Francisco, the company was engaged in Alaska salmon fishery; it operated salmon canneries across Alaska through a fleet of ships engaged in transporting packed salmon and fishery workers.^[5] The company purchased several iron sailing ships originally built for J.P. Corry & Co., including the Star of Bengal, and renamed all of its remaining ships by adding prefix "Star of-" to their names in an attempt to achieve instant name recognition.^[47][48][49] The APA became the largest company engaged in Alaskan salmon fisheries^[50][51] and, by 1908, the largest salmon-packing concern in the world.^[52]

Beginning in 1905, the Star of Bengal's captain was Nicholas Wagner.^[41][43] The company had the Star of Bengal insured by Lloyd's.^[53] In 1908, the ship was appraised between $70,000^[54] and $75,000 ($1,900,000 and $2,000,000 in 2020 dollars^{[note 4]}).^[53][56] Taking advantage of "good strong old British iron" and "lower insurance rates,"^[46] APA operated the ship seasonally: in the spring, she would sail from San Francisco to Alaska, bringing seasonal workers, fuel, and other supplies to the canneries; in the fall, she would sail back loaded with canned salmon and returning workers.^[5] In the winter, the Star of Bengal was moored at Alameda, California with other ships of the "Star fleet."^[57]

At the time, salmon canneries required cheap, unskilled labor, and the Alaska Packers' Association primarily hired immigrants of Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino descent as seasonal workers.^[5] These workers were provided in bulk by Chinese labor contractors operating out of San Francisco.^[58] On the company ships, "Orientals" were segregated from white workers and crew, in part due to separate habits and diet and because they were treated as second-class citizens.^[59] The APA supplied these workers with housing, fuel, and water, while Chinese labor contractors provided them with food, whiskey, and opium.^[60]

Additional wooden structures were added to the Star of Bengal's hold to accommodate seasonal workers.^[61][62] In addition to the workers and supplies, the ship could carry a maximum load of 85,000 48-pound (22 kg) cases of salmon, an equivalent of 2,040 short tons (1,850 t) of cargo.^[63] In 1906, the wholesale price of one case of salmon was $5.80,^[5] so the ship's full load of salmon represented $500,000 in 1906 dollars ($13,000,000 in 2020 dollars^{[note 4]}).

Background

Coronation Island

Coronation Island on the map of Alaska

In 1908, the Star of Bengal sailed from San Francisco on April 22, arriving at Fort Wrangell on May 5.^[65] She was loaded with supplies for Wrangell cannery, including fuel for the season, and had 146 people on board, 110 of which were Asian.^[65] Because maneuvering a sailing vessel through a maze of small islands and narrow straits is too risky, the last 90 miles (140 km) of the voyage, from Warren Island to Fort Wrangell, the Star of Bengal was tugged by the 172 GT 250-hp Chilkat, an Alaska Packers' Association steamboat.^[63][66] That summer, the Wrangell cannery yielded 52,000 cases of salmon which were loaded on the ship while she was moored next to the cannery for the season.^[5]

The events of September 20, 1908

Investigation

As soon as the survivors reached shore, Captain Wagner publicly accused the tugboat captains of "criminal cowardice."^{[67][94][109]} He alleged that they abandoned the Star of Bengal in a dangerous situation and ignored her distress lights, thus missing the window of opportunity before the storm intensified at 8:00 a.m. when passengers could have been taken from the Star of Bengal aboard the tugboats.^[53] Captain Ferrar denied the existence of such a window, as had there been a period of calm sea, Captain Wagner could have evacuated his men ashore.^[113] The case came under federal investigation, and two inspectors started hearings in San Francisco on October 3, 1908.^[82][114]

The hearing was initially aimed at assessing the responsibility of the Star of Bengal's crew.^[114] Captain Wagner and his first mate, Victor Johansen, were interrogated by the inspectors; both repeated the accusation against the captains of the tugs.^[83][114] During the hearing, the Alaska Packers' Association provided written testimonies of nautical experts that supported the position of the tugs' captains.^[115] On October 7, Captain Wagner and the first mate filed formal charges of cowardice against the tug captains.^[116]

Captains Farrar and Hamilton provided their written testimonies,^[84] insisting that their actions were justified, as after the Star of Bengal dropped her anchors they were powerless to assist the large ship and responsible to ensure safety of their own vessels and crews.^[115] After completing repairs, the Hattie Gage steamed to Fort Wrangell to seek assistance of a larger ship, the Burnside,^{[note 8]} while the Kayak went searching for the Star of Bengal, eventually locating the survivors.^[117] The tugs' crews were summoned to San Francisco to testify on October 23;^[117] both crews supported their captains' testimonies.^[118] The hearing of witnesses ended on October 27,^[118] and the inspectors published their findings on January 27, 1909.^[119] They exonerated the tugboat captains, stating that there was not sufficient evidence of criminal cowardice.^[119] Moreover, on April 15, the inspectors revoked Captain Wagner's license, holding him responsible for the loss of life.^[120] Captain Wagner immediately appealed the decision^[120] and it was promptly reversed by the supervising inspector as "unsubstantiated."^[67][121]

Aftermath

The wreck of the Star of Bengal was described as "one of the worst disasters" of the Pacific coast maritime history.^[122] Due to the high number of casualties, as of 2015, the wreck of the Star of Bengal remains in the top 5 worst marine disasters in the history of Alaska.^[54][123] Both, the ship and her cargo were declared a total loss.^[70] The cost of the cargo was estimated at $227,000 ($6,000,000^{[note 4]}),^[115] bringing the total value of hull and cargo to $330,000 ($8,800,000^{[note 4]}): the largest maritime loss in Alaska waters at the time.^[124] The ship and her cargo was insured by Lloyd's, which limited the losses of the Alaska Packers' Association.^[43] The APA made volunteer donations to the families of the lost of more than $16,000 ($425,000^{[note 4]}) in total,^[69] which was considered generous at the time.^[125]

After his license was restored, Captain Wagner continued to command other sailing vessels.^[126] Captains Farrar and Hamilton were tried by the court of public opinion,^[90] and as of 2001, their role in the wreck remains uncertain.^{[38][127][128]} In 2008, a centennial commemoration of the wreck was organized in the Wrangell Museum.^[51]

Wreckage

In later years, numerous attempts have been made by divers to locate the wreckage of the Star of Bengal, but as of 2022, they were unsuccessful.^[129] On 6 May 2022, an eight-person team embarked on the research vessel Endeavor to find and authenticate the wreckage, as well as to retrieve artifacts. The expedition consisted of both divers and cultural experts, who sought to document the cultural and social significance of the shipwreck.^[130]

The Cradle of the Deep

In March 1929, Captain Wagner's daughter, Joan Lowell, published a book titled The Cradle of the Deep purported to be her autobiography.^[132][133] In the book, Lowell spends the first 17 years of her life aboard her father's schooner, the Minnie A. Caine, barefoot and surrounded by the all-male crew.^{[132][134][135]} Initially, The Cradle of the Deep received multiple positive reviews from different sources,^[136] including The Washington Post,^[132] Time,^[137] Life,^[138] and the Los Angeles Times.^[134]

The book soon became a bestseller,^[135] topping the non-fiction category of The New York Times Best Seller list.^[139] Even though it was quickly exposed as a hoax,^{[135][140][141]} the subsequent literary scandal and the media frenzy propelled The Cradle of the Deep into its fiction category,^[142] and The Cradle of the Deep finished 1929 as the third best-selling book of the year.^[143]

In chapter 11 of The Cradle of the Deep, Lowell gives her account of the Star of Bengal's wreck, which is loosely based on the stories she heard from her father.^[144] In the book, ominous signs foreshadow the wreck,^[145] and the full responsibility of the disaster is placed on the shoulders of the tugboat captains,^[38] who mishandle their drunken and inexperienced crews, become "panic-stricken," and flee the scene.^[146] Furthermore, the tug captains commit other acts "beyond human comprehension," including burning the corpses of the Chinese passengers "like rubbish" on Coronation Island, and salvaging the food from the Star of Bengal's hold that was mixed with the dead men and selling the cooked mixture to Eskimos.^[147]

Inspired by the scandal, humorist Corey Ford published a parody on Lowell's book titled Salt Water Taffy; or, Twenty thousand leagues away from the sea; the almost incredible autobiography of Capt. Ezra Triplett's seafaring daughter, by June Triplett,^[148] which also became a bestseller.^[149] In his book, Ford exaggerates the most grotesque details of The Cradle of the Deep, thus demonstrating the fraudulent nature of the "autobiography."^[150] Chapter 6 of Salt Water Taffy, which mimics chapter 11 of The Cradle of the Deep, Ford ridicules Lowell's devotion to the maritime omens that allegedly preceded the Star of Bengal's last voyage^[151] and the portrayal of her father as an infallible captain.^[152]

Broadway play

In 1929, Joan Lowell's husband, Thompson Buchanan, wrote a play titled Star of Bengal, which is set on the ship.^[153] The play was produced by Christopher Morley and opened in late September, starring Charles Starrett, Joan Lowell, and William P. Carleton.^{[154][155][156]} This "consciously superannuated" melodrama features a love affair between the captain's daughter (Lowell) and a sailor (Starrett) that leads to their elopement.^[157] The runaways are caught, and the captain (Carleton) is about to hang the sailor; however, upon learning that his daughter is pregnant, the captain turns magnanimous.^[157] The play lasted only until November and was generally regarded as unsuccessful. Its failure was rumored to be a contributing factor in Buchanan's and Lowell's subsequent divorce.^{[158][159][160]}