SS Admiral Sampson

History
Name:	Admiral Sampson
Owner:	American Mail Steamship Company
Port of registry:	United States
Builder:	William Cramp & Sons Shipbuilding Co. of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Completed:	1898
In service:	1898
Out of service:	1906
Name:	Admiral Sampson
Owner:	Alaska Pacific Steamship Company
Port of registry:	United States
In service:	1906
Out of service:	1912
Name:	Admiral Sampson
Owner:	Pacific-Alaska Navigation Company
Port of registry:	United States
In service:	1912
Out of service:	1914
Identification:	Code Letters and radio callsign KNSB
Fate:	Rammed and sunk on August 26, 1914 in Puget Sound
General characteristics
Class and type:	Admiral-class steamship
Tonnage:	2,262 GRT
Length:	280.0 ft (85.3 m)
Beam:	36.1 ft (11.0 m)
Depth:	22.7 ft (6.9 m)
Installed power:	2,500 hp

The SS Admiral Sampson was an American-flagged cargo and passenger steamship that served a variety of owners between 1898 and 1914, when it was rammed by a Canadian passenger liner and sank in Puget Sound. Following its sinking off Point No Point, the Admiral Sampson has become a notable scuba diving destination for advanced recreational divers certified to use rebreathing equipment.

The Admiral Sampson was one of several Admiral-class steamships built by William Cramp & Sons Shipbuilding Company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for the American Mail Steamship Company.^[1] Named in honor of U.S. Navy admiral William T. Sampson, the other ships in the class were the Admiral Dewey, Admiral Schley, and Admiral Farragut. The Admiral Sampson was a steel-hulled, twin-propeller design with two upper decks constructed of wood, and a single smokestack.^[2][3]

Ordered by the American Mail Steamship Company, it was put in the service of the United Fruit Company and made regular trips between Philadelphia and Caribbean Sea ports.^[4] In February 1900, it came to the rescue of the U.S. Army transport ship McPherson, which was disabled by a broken propeller shaft off Hampton Roads, Virginia.^[5]

In 1909, the Alaska Pacific Steamship Company acquired the Admiral Sampson and its sister ship, the Admiral Farragut, as a result of its growing business on the West Coast shipping routes. Both ships were placed on the San Francisco-Puget Sound shipping route.^[3] In 1912, the Alaska Pacific Steamship Company acquired the remaining Admiral-class steamships and merged with the Alaska Coast Company to form the Pacific-Alaska Navigation Company. The new company offered freight and passenger service between San Francisco and Puget Sound and Alaska ports as far north as Nome.^[3]

Sinking

On the morning of August 26, 1914, the Admiral Sampson left Seattle en route to Juneau, Alaska with a full load of 160 passengers aboard. The weather was particularly foggy, and the ship's captain, Zimro Moore, ordered a slow crawl of 3 knots, extra lookouts, and the ship's whistle sounded at regular intervals. At the same time, the steamship Princess Victoria was inbound to Seattle with similar precautions in place.^[1]

Despite both ships' precautions, the Princess Victoria rammed the Admiral Sampson at 6:05 a.m. near Point No Point, 18 miles north of Seattle.^[6] The Princess Victoria struck the Admiral Sampson broadside, near the Admiral Sampson's after hatch, a spot about midway between amidships and the ship's stern. After realizing what had happened, Capt. P.J. Hickey of the Princess Victoria kept his ship's engines operating and pushed the Princess Victoria into the gash torn into the hull of the Admiral Sampson. This action both reduced the amount of water rushing into the hole and allowed some of the Admiral Sampson's passengers and crew to evacuate onto the Princess Victoria.^[6]

Immediately after the collision, the Princess Victoria's crew lowered that ship's lifeboats to aid the Admiral Sampson's passengers and crew, as it was apparent that ship was sinking. Captain Moore ordered the same action aboard the Admiral Sampson, but only one boat could be lowered in time as Moore sawed through its ropes with a pocketknife.^[7] Moore ordered that the passengers be dropped overboard for pickup by the lifeboats. He ordered the crew off the ship and said he would stay with the ship.^[8]

In addition to tearing a gash that stretched below the Admiral Sampson's waterline, the impact of the Princess Victoria ruptured several of the Admiral Sampson's fuel tanks and started fires aboard the ship. The fires spread rapidly, and within 10 minutes, the Princess Victoria was forced to pull away from the Admiral Sampson. Minutes afterward, the Admiral Sampson broke in half and sank with seven passengers, seven crewmen and Captain Moore still aboard.^[6]

Casualties

During the accident, the radio operators of both vessels transmitted SOS signals constantly. Aboard the Admiral Sampson, radioman Walter E. Reker stayed at his post transmitting messages until he was killed as the ship sank.^[9] Thanks to the signals sent by Reker and the radioman aboard the Princess Victoria, a large crowd met the Princess Victoria when it reached the Canadian Pacific Railroad wharf shortly after 10 a.m. From the dock, the damage to the Princess Victoria was revealed as a gash two or three feet above the waterline and extending 20 feet (6.1 m) back from the bow. The injury had been partially repaired by the ship's carpenters by the time it reached Seattle.^[6]

After the wounded Admiral Sampson survivors were taken to a hospital, the other survivors gathered in the Princess Victoria's ladies' cabin for a roll call. That roll call (and another fatality at the hospital) revealed the list of those killed in the accident:^[1][6]

An initial investigation by the United States Shipping Commissioners indicated the Admiral Sampson was carrying 55 passengers and 65 crew and that eight crew and three passengers were killed. Later reports corrected the tally to seven passengers killed of 160 aboard, and 16 total deaths.^[8]

Salvage

The wreck of the Admiral Sampson remained undisturbed for 80 years, owing to its depth and the difficulty of a salvage operation. In 1991, Gary Severson and Kent Barnard used side-scan sonar to locate the Admiral Sampson's resting place after a brief search. The following year, the two men obtained exclusive salvage rights for the ship. They began diving on the wreck with a small, two-man submarine and pulled up artifacts including the ship's whistle.^[1][7]

The wreck rests about 320 feet below the surface of Puget Sound, directly under a major shipping route. The hull lies in two pieces, having broken apart either as it sank or shortly after it hit bottom. In 1994, the two men expressed hopes that they might find the ship's safe, which was believed to contain a valuable diamond necklace. Another potential prize was a suitcase containing gold brought aboard by a stowaway passenger.^[7] The search failed to discover the safe, but the salvagers did recover the ship's engine order telegraph and various galley equipment.^[1]

Since the pioneering dives in the early 1990s, the Admiral Sampson has become a destination for a handful of technically advanced and experienced divers. Owing to its depth and location, it is believed that fewer than 15 divers visited the Admiral Sampson before 2005. Diving the Admiral Sampson remains a highly technical and involved experience. Owing to its location in Puget Sound shipping lanes, coordination with the U.S. Coast Guard is required.^[10][11]

References

• Annual List of Merchant Vessels of the United States, Volume 44 Part 1912. U.S. Government Printing Office, 1912. pp. 47

Notes