The Wreck and the Williwaw: Archival Identification of a World War II Shipwreck in the Aleutian Islands

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "From Whalers to World War II: Guam Underwater Archaeology", at the 2024 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

The history of World War II is replete with stories of famous maritime losses. Arizona, Royal Oak, Bismarck, Yamato – these names are etched into collective memory. But the losses of non-naval vessels are often less well known. This is especially true in distant theaters like the Aleutian Islands, which stretch for over 1,000 miles from Alaska almost to Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula. The Aleutian Campaign of WWII is sometimes called the Forgotten War. So it is unsurprising that the identity of a shipwreck in Alcan Harbor, Shemya Island – now the home of Eareckson Air Station – had also been forgotten. Dedicated archival research, particularly at the Alaska State Historic Preservation Office and the UAA/APU Consortium Library in Anchorage, brought to light the harrowing tale of a supply ship that grounded in the rocky harbor just before Christmas 1943 and met its final end during a January 1944 williwaw, or major Aleutian storm.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2024   •
• From Whalers to World War II: Guam Underwater Archaeology

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow