It’s not the same as being 70 feet underwater, searching for the remnants of a 1908 Southeast Alaska shipwreck, but it will be drier and warmer for the public when the dive team reports on their latest efforts.
The divers will share their work in a public presentation, “Exploring the History of a Shipwreck: The Star of Bengal,” at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, May 29, at the Nolan Center.
The team was on site last week, mapping the seafloor, looking for more pieces of the cannery sailing ship Star of Bengal which sank and broke apart in 1908 about 80 miles southwest of Wrangell.
“They will have some underwater footage,” Nolan Center Director Jeanie Arnold said.
The video will show divers bringing the ship’s bell to the surface.
“Watching it breaking the surface after 117 years underwater was an emotional moment,” the recovery team posted on Facebook.
“They’re going to set the scene for people who aren’t as familiar with the Star of Bengal,” Arnold said of Thursday’s presentation.
More than 120 people died in the sinking.
Wrangell’s Gig Decker has been searching and researching the shipwreck for more than 30 years. He was joined in last week’s effort by Wrangell’s Steve Prysunka, who served as videographer, Arnold said.
The team also included William Urschel, of Petersburg, president of Alaska Endeavour, a member-supported nonprofit and captain of the research vessel Endeavour; marine archeologist Jenya Anichenko; and Kevin Lansdowne and Shawn Wells.
The May 29 Nolan Center event is free and is sponsored by the Friends of the Wrangell Museum. “We, of course, will be trying to push some memberships” in the nonprofit organization, which helps support the community’s museum, Arnold said.
Appetizers will be served, but organizers may not have enough food for everyone if they get a good crowd, she said. The public is asked to bring potluck dishes to share; plates and utensils will be provided.
This is the second public presentation on the dive and research efforts. Anichenko led a presentation last fall in Wrangell, crediting Decker as the “heartbeat” of the search for the Star of Bengal.
More than 30 years ago, Decker and some friends found an anchor chain from the ship in about 70 feet of water, establishing the location that led to the yearslong quest to learn more.
The iron-sided, 270-foot-long sailing ship served Alaska Packers Association canneries, including the one located at the site now occupied by the Wrangell airport. It sank off the coast of Coronation Island, on a voyage south at the end of the salmon season.
The ship was carrying more than 100 Chinese, Japanese and Filipino salmon cannery workers, and 32 white crew members. The crew’s survival rate was over 50%, but less than 10% of the Asian cannery workers survived.
Former Wrangell resident and historian Ronan Rooney assembled a five-part podcast series on the wreck in 2022. The series is available at his website wrangellhistoryunlocked.com.
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