Following the Star: Preliminary Insights Into The Submerged Site of the Alaska Packers Association Ship Star of Bengal

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)", at the 2024 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

In September of 1908, the Alaska Packers Association ship Star of Bengal sunk near Coronation Island, Alaska, while on route from Wrangell, Alaska, to San Francisco. The ship carried a cargo of canned salmon and 111 Asian cannery workers, mostly Chinese. Of the 36 white crewmen, 21 survived, while most of cannery workers perished. The story of the wreck of the Star of Bengal left a lasting mark in the community of Wrangell, because of the tragic circumstances and disproportional loss of Asian cannery workers’ lives.

In 2022 and 2023, following the historic research and conversations with avocational divers who reportedly located the wreck, a group of researchers launched remote sensing and dive reconnaissance of two potential wreck locations. This presentation shares results of these survey and plans for further investigation, research, and community outreach.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2024   •
• Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow