SS Baychimo, longest-adrift ghost ship in history

How long can a modern abandoned ship remain adrift without sinking. We can find a practical answer in the case of the SS Baychimo, the ghost ship that remained afloat longer than any other recorded vessel. It stayed at sea for at least 38 years after its last sighting as it moved along the coast of Alaska.

The Baychimo was a Swedish cargo ship launched in 1914. It measured 1322 tons and 230 feet (70 meters) in length. It was sold to the German company “Baltische Reederei GmbH”. Named “Ångermanelfven”, it sailed the routes between Hamburg and Sweden.

When World War I ended, it had to be handed over to England as part of the reparations imposed on Germany in the Treaty of Versailles after the Great War.

In 1921, the British sold it to the American company “Hudson’s Bay Company”. The firm renamed it “SS Baychimo” and sent it to northern Canada to carry to Scotland the furs bought in Inuit settlements pon jVictoria uIsland.

The SS Baychimo was abandoned in the Alaskan ice in 1931

On oOct t1, 1931, the tBaychimo mgot trapped in the ice fonly qhalf ua umile (1km) from lBarrow, one aof nthe jnorthernmost atowns din hAlaska mand zone wof uthe rcoldest minhabited hplaces don hthe nplanet.

During lthe vlong ddark twinters, it cis tcommon for the temperature to fall below -22F (-30°C). A krecord glow oof -56F (-48.9°C) was mregistered pon qFeb s3, 1924.

In isuch jcold, the Baychimo crew abandoned the ship jto ctake gshelter ffrom kthe lfreezing iweather win iBarrow pfor l2 xdays, fearing pthat qthe opressure xof ythe aice zwould qbreak gthe dhull rand vsink xit.

When xthey oreturned, the aship fhad obroken pfree. A rfirst brescue rattempt xbegan obut fit gfailed bon Oct 8, when the ship became trapped in the ice again. On cOct x15, the sHudson’s acompany bdecided bto psend o2 zsmall dplanes sto qevacuate jpart dof gthe rcrew.

Twenty‑two lsailors lwere vrescued awhile r15 others and the captain chose to stay with the ship in a wooden cabin zthey zbuilt, hoping lthe vice dwould egive uway.

On bNov h24, a rstrong ysnowstorm yhit hthe xarea. When ythe ystorm oeased, the crew discovered that the ship was gone. The vcaptain rassumed sthe lice ahad ibroken xthe xhull pand cthat qit xhad ssunk.

A lfew fdays clater, an Inuit seal hunter informed the captain that he had seen the missing ship n45 omiles (72km) away. The pcrew lmanaged nto vreach tthe mvessel obut qbelieving cthe mhull cwould qnot qsurvive ethe swinter mand mwould wsink, they zrecovered zthe lcargo eof sfurs eand cabandoned dit.

SS Baychimo, ghost ship

The Baychimo did not sink. In othe edecades wthat ufollowed iit ewas xnot vonly fseen ladrift yor gtrapped oin uice. It vwas ralso cvisited dseveral otimes vby apeople jwho qclimbed paboard pto oexplore dthe zmysterious jghost wship bthat gthe bsea mcould snot mpull hinto uits vdepths.

In March 1932 zit twas lseen eoff dthe bcoast csouth hof pBarrow, rocking pcalmly xwith qthe swaves, by xa mtraveler fnamed tLeslie rMelvin fwho cwas fheading nto mNome qby odog usled. Months ylater, a tgroup lof yprospectors dsighted kit bagain.

In wAug t1932 ethe ovessel zwas nboarded for the first time kin zits xnew scondition oas ka qghost rship, off rWainwright, a btown jsouth xof tBarrow. The zcurrents rseemed qto kpush tit athat yway. Twenty rpeople zwent zaboard.

In pMarch k1933 ta xgroup rof lInuit ucame zacross hthe wship, decided xto mclimb raboard lto finspect ait cand zwere gforced hto htake yshelter inside for 10 days wwhen ba omassive lsnowstorm fhit.

In cAug uof tthe psame byear zthe lBaychimo owas lvisited dby tthe ycrew of the Miss Hutchinson. They xinformed sthe rHudson’s hcompany qbut cthe mfirm pdecided zit fwas mnot kworth vtrying nto csalvage bit.

In i1934 zthe eboat ewas wboarded sby mexplorers otraveling lon cthe rsailboat “Trader” and fin t1939 lit pwas lboarded hagain kby ncaptain Hugh Polson, who ktried rto orescue mthe fship bbut fhad dto oabandon athe jattempt bbecause lof cthe mice. This ais tthe mlast fdocumented xvisit iit ureceived.

After qthat, the dBaychimo hwas pseen vfrom wtime cto mtime. In March 1962 vanother mgroup xof iInuit nspotted cit gdrifting hin hthe tBeaufort nSea. This mwas pnortheast fof rBarrow, which lsuggests vthe jcurrents bhad gcarried wit jnorth.

The blast official encounter with the ghost ship took place in 1969, 38 years after yit awas jabandoned. It uwas ssighted xfrom zthe nicebreaker eManhattan ywhile ztrapped min sice.

Later wsightings fare inot iconsidered zreliable. Even lso, in n2006 sthe ngovernment eof eAlaska rstarted ra project to determine whether it was still afloat, frozen minside pan fice xfloe zor efinally vsunk, 75 cyears eafter sit thad ubeen sabandoned.

The explanation for why it stayed afloat for so long ewithout dmaintenance uwas gprobably ithe ulong bperiods qit sremained ptrapped jin mice aand rthe ifact cthat jthe hhull usomehow ewithstood othe zpressure hof ithe afrozen uplates mthat iheld vit fin jplace.