Many thanks to those who donated a total of $2,000 toward the restoration of the ship’s bell off the Star of Bengal shipwreck, through the Friends of the Wrangell Museum.

The Wrangell Museum will house the bell permanently and has agreed to loan the bell to the Wrangell Mariners’ Memorial board of directors to use every spring at the blessing of the fleet. The bell will be rung for each person who is memorialized on the walls.

In exchange, the Wrangell Mariners’ Memorial board has committed up to $2,000 toward the restoration. Julie and I have also committed $2,000. These donations total $6,000 raised locally to match a $6,000 grant from the Alaska Office of History and Archaeology in order to complete the restoration of the bell at Texas A&M University’s Nautical Archaeology Program and its Conservation Research Laboratory.

Additionally, Alaska Airlines has offered to ship the bell round-trip and supply insurance, as a donated service, which could be considerable for an artifact of this value.

A ship‘s bell is by far the most significant artifact to retrieve from a historical shipwreck. The 1908 wreck of the Star of Bengal is the second-largest loss of life in the maritime history of Alaska and the single-largest loss of life of the Alaska fishing industry’s history. The wreck is a profound illustration of cultural bias involving Asian workers at that time.

I am so very proud of the community of Wrangell, the Wrangell Mariners’ Memorial, the Friends of the Museum, and the Underwater Cultural Heritage Archaeological Research Team (U-CHART) for the support and recognition of the value of this important local artifact.

Thank you Wrangell.

Gig Decker