Dora Shipwreck Northeastern Vancouver Island

Captain Matthew Turner built the Dora for Alaska Commercial Company in San Francisco.  She was launched on the evening of March 11, 1880.  The length of her wooden hull was 112′, with a beam of 27.2′, and a 13.2′ depth of hold. At the time of her launching, she was rigged as a two-masted brigantine and was reported to carry a good spread of canvas.   She had an elliptical stern and no figurehead.  Her gross tonnage was 320 while her net tonnage was 217.

The Dora began her career with the Alaska Commerical Company in the summer of 1880 by making trips to St. Paul Island, Alaska in the Bering Sea to gather cargoes of sealskins.  It is reported that this job earned the ship the nickname of “Dirty Dora’ due to the putrid odour produced by the sealskins.

LOSS:
The ora set sail on her final voyage from Seattle, Washington on December 17th, 1920 bound for Dutch Harbour, Alaska with a load of general merchandise.  At 3:00 AM Monday, December 20, the Dora was hugging the eastern shoreline of Goleta Channel between Port Hardy and Cape Scott when she struck a reef extending out from Noble Island.

Backing off the reef, Captain Hovick discovered the vessel was leaking badly.  In order to save the vessel and effect repair, Captain Hovick headed the Dora for the Vancouver Island shore.  The pumps could not keep up with the inflow of water and the vessel was run onto a small gravel beach in front of Songhees Creek on the eastern shore of Vancouver Island……..

For more information on the Dora and other shipwrecks of Northeastern Vancouver Island, go to: UASBC.Com. You can order the publication Historic Shipwrecks of Northeastern Vancouver Island from the Underwater Archaeological Society of British Columbia publications.

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