Baychimo
The Baychimo was a steel 1,322 ton cargo steamer built in 1914 in Sweden and owned by the Hudson's Bay Company, used to trade pelts for provisions in Inuit settlements along the Victoria Island coast of the North West Territories of Canada. It became a notable ghost ship in this region.
Early history
The "Baychimo" was launched in 1914 as the "Ångermanelfven" under yard No 420 by Linholmens Mek. Verks. A/B Göteborg, Sweden for the Baltische Reederei K.G., Hamburg. She was 230'(70.15m) long, powered by a triple expansion steam engine and had a speed of 10 knots. The Baychimo was used on trading routes between Hamburg and Sweden until the First World War. After WWI she was passed to Great Britain as part of the reparations by Germany for shipping losses and acquired by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1921. Renamed "Baychimo" and based in Adrossan, Scotland, she completed 9 successful voyages along the north coast of Canada, visiting trading posts and collecting pelts.
The Baychimo is abandoned
On October 1, 1931, at the end of a trading run and loaded with a cargo of fur, the Baychimo became trapped in pack ice. The crew briefly abandoned the ship, travelling over a half-mile of ice to the town of Barrow to take shelter for two days, but then the ship broke free of the ice and the crew returned. The ship became mired again on October 8, more thoroughly this time, and on October 15 the Hudson's Bay Company sent aircraft to retrieve 22 of the crew. 15 crew remained behind, intending to wait out the winter if necessary, and they constructed a wooden shelter some distance away. On November 24 a powerful blizzard struck, and after it abated there was no sign of the Baychimo; the skipper concluded that it must have broken up and sunk in the storm. A few days later, however, an Inuit seal hunter informed them that he had seen the Baychimo about 45 miles away from their position. The 15 men proceeded to track the ship down and, deciding that the ship was unlikely to survive the winter, retrieved the most valuable furs from the hold to transport by air. The Baychimo was abandoned.
Ghost ship
The Baychimo did not sink, however, and over the next several decades there were numerous sightings of the ship. People managed to board her several times, but each time they were either unequipped to salvage the ship or driven away again by bad weather. The last recorded sighting of the Baychimo was by a group of Inuit in 1969, 38 years after she was abandoned. She was stuck fast in the pack ice of the Beaufort Sea between Cape Barrow and Point Barrow.
According to the UNESCO article cited below, the Baychimo was last seen not between "Cape Barrow" and Point Barrow, but between Icy Cape and Point Barrow, which would be in the Chukchi Sea off the northwestern Alaskan coast.
Baychimo's ultimate fate is unknown. She is presumed sunk.
See also
References
- Gunston, David, UNESCO Courier, Aug-Sept 1991
- Time Magazine, 29 February 1932, brief description of search for ship
- Alan Bolton site by the grandson of a person on the ship, with pictures
Further reading
- Dalton, Anthony, Baychimo: Arctic Ghost Ship, Heritage House, 2006, ISBN 189497414X
- Gillingham, Donald W., Umiak!, Museum Press, 1955
External links
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