Benjamin Island (or Benjamin Islet) is an island in the City and Borough of Juneau, Alaska, United States. It was named by Captain Lester A. Beardslee of the United States Navy in 1880. Located off the eastern shore of Favorite Channel, it is northwest of the city of Juneau.USGS GNIS Feature Detail Report: Benjamin Island
Benjamin Island is long and wide.U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. United States Coast Pilot: Alaska, Part I: Dixon Entrance to Yakutat Bay. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1952. It is about north of the Sentinel Island Light and south of North Island; it is one of the northernmost islands in Favorite Channel.U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. United States Coast Pilot: Alaska, Part I: Dixon Entrance to Yakutat Bay, Fifth Edition, p. 50. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1908. The island is a part of the Channel Islands State Marine Park; it is used for picnicking and camping.
History The Canadian Pacific Railway's SS Princess Sophia grounded on Vanderbilt Reef to the north early in the morning of October 24, 1918, in the midst of a snowstorm. The United States Lighthouse Service tender Cedar, captained by John W. Ledbetter, had taken up shelter at a cove of Benjamin Island when it received word of the passenger liner's plight at 14:00 that day. The Cedar left Benjamin Island almost immediately but did not reach the reef until 22:00.Newell, Gordon R. ed., H.W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest, Superior Publishing, Seattle, Washington 1966 (no ISBN)O'Keefe, Betty and Macdonald, Ian. The Final Voyage of the Princess Sophia: Did they all have to die? Surrey, British Columbia: Heritage House Publishing Company Ltd., 1998.
Wildlife Humpback whales and Steller sea lions live in the area of the island. A cow moose was noted on the island in 2005.
A joint project between the National Marine Fisheries Service and the University of Alaska Fairbanks placed cameras on the island for the purposes of studying the sea lions.
See also Lynn Canal
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