EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second in a two-part series about the wreck of the SS Governor in Admiralty Inlet. The first part can be accessed at the bottom of this home page.
PORT TOWNSEND — Ornate coat hooks, brass hinges and door handles, square portals, anchors, dish ware and other detritus are strewn on the sea floor at the final resting place of the SS Governor, say divers who have visited the wreck.
The 417-foot passenger liner met its fate SEmD as did at least eight of its passengers — the night of April 1, 1921 when it collided with the SS West Hartland a mile offshore from Port Townsend.
A manned submarine, the Antipodes — a 7-ton, 15-foot-long manned submersible operated by OceanGate of Everett — will dive down to the wreck on June 23-28.
Over the years, some have examined it without a submarine.
Few divers have risked life and limb to reach the vessel, resting in silt 240 feet below the shipping lanes of Admiralty Inlet.
Some of those have returned time and again to the tragic scene, enamored by its bulk, curious about its demise and eager to find artifacts that haven’t been above water in 90 years.
Rob Wilson, public relations contact for the Maritime Documentation Society of Seattle, said the organization’s members have made the sodden pilgrimage to the ruptured hulk more than a half dozen times.
The scene below entrances Wilson each time he has been to the SS Governor.
“It’s a true maritime disaster,” Wilson said. “The history that is there is really significant. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t like the challenge of it, though.”
The strong currents coursing down the Strait of Juan de Fuca combined with the murky depth of the wreck challenge even the most accomplished diver.
“It is one of the top two challenging dives in this region with the currents, tides and conditions. It has to be timed just right.”
Diving to the SS Governor also presents challenges because of the darkness of the waters and the girth of the ship.
After numerous dives, Wilson has developed a mental map of the ship, but he’s looking forward to the three-dimensional sonar images which will be taken of the ship by the crew of the Antipodes.
“I guess the thing I’m most excited about is they will produce a side-scan image,” Wilson said. “You can’t see anything in detail, but OceanGate with their imaging sonar will produce a really nice 3-D graphic.”
The problem for divers — even those with Wilson’s experience — is that limited visibility of perhaps 20 to 30 feet in good conditions means they can see only portions of the wreck, so it takes numerous dives to orient oneself to the details.
“The visibility is bad, and it’s disorienting,” Wilson said. “It would be cool to have a 3-D picture. It would be really valuable. It would help you to where you were on the ship.”
Wilson said the SS Governor is laying on its starboard side with a gaping hole in its bow. The wooden deck has long since disintegrated.
An anchor lays flat on the sea floor at the bow while another anchor can be found at the stern — an anomaly that Wilson can’t explain.
He didn’t mention seeing a purser’s safe — a treasure that was supposedly on the ship when it went down.
“There are a lot of plates, dishes and silverware and what’s left of a chandelier,” he said. “I found a big wad of tires that maybe are car tires — they’re too large to be bicycle tires.”
The salvage rights to the SS Governor belong to Mark Allen and Bob Mester, so anything taken from the ship belongs to them, but Wilson has a jug and a cup he brought to the surface.
Though he turned the items over to the salvage owners, they gave them to him after cataloging them.
“There’s an amazing amount of artifacts, and it’s largely untouched,” Wilson said.
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Philip L. Watness is a freelance writer and photographer living in Port Townsend. He can be reached at whatnews@olypen.com.