The Star of Bengal was an iron three-masted merchant sailing vessel built in Belfast in 1874 by Harland and Wolff Industries (the shipyard that later constructed the Titanic). Though built towards the end of the Age of Sail, she was successfully operated for 24 years by the British trading company J.P. Corry & Co. The ship mainly travelled on the London-Calcutta trading route, but made a few voyages to Australian and American ports.
Following a formative change in the shipping industry, J.P. Corry switched to steam vessels and sold its sailing fleet around 1898. At the same time, merchant shipping along the United States Pacific Coast was experiencing a boom triggered by Klondike and Nome gold rushes intensifying the colonization of the Pacific Northwest and increasing the demand for both passenger and cargo shipping in the area. As a result, the Star of Bengal was purchased by San Francisco trading company J.J. Smith & Co. and, along with many other old European vessels, taken around Cape Horn to the Pacific Ocean. J.J. Smith conducted an overhaul of the ship and re-rigged her from a full-rigged ship to a barque to decrease operating costs.
J.J. Smith operated the Star of Bengal for 7 more years, mainly hauling grain and coal. As steamships pushed sailing vessels out of business, the trading company could no longer operate her for profit, and in 1905, the Star of Bengal was sold to the Alaska Packers' Association. This company used its sailing ships for a single voyage a year: a spring sail carrying seasonal workers and supplies from San Francisco to one of its Alaskan canneries, followed by a return trip in early fall with the workers and a load of canned salmon.
On September 20, 1908, at the beginning of her return trip from Fort Wrangell to San Francisco, the Star of Bengal was in tow in open sea when she encountered a storm. The ship struck the rocks near the shore of Coronation Island and sunk, killing approximately 110 of 138 people aboard. Captain Nicholas Wagner survived the wreck and publicly blamed the tugboat captains for the event. After months of federal investigation, no one was held responsible. As of 2015, the wreck of the Star of Bengal remains among the top five worst maritime disasters in Alaskan history.
Later, Captain Wagner's daughter, Joan Lowell, pursued literary career, that led to the Star of Bengals portrayal in fiction. Her book The Cradle of the Deep, was the third-bestselling book of 1929 and contained an embellished account of the wreck. A melodramatic play, Star of Bengal, written by Thompson Buchanan and produced by Christopher Morley, is also set on the ship.
Specifications The Star of Bengal was built by shipbuilder Harland and Wolff Industries in Belfast, Ireland, in 1873 and 1874. Those were the years when the construction of three-masted iron ships reached its zenith, and the shipbuilding industry produced a series of the fastest ships in this category, the Star of Bengal being one of them.
Initially constructed as a two-deck three-masted full-rigged ship, in 1898 the Star of Bengal was re-rigged as a barque. Her gross tonnage was 1877, net tonnage 1694, and tonnage under deck, 1684. She was long, wide and deep, and designed to be operated by a crew of seventeen. The ship could load of deadweight cargo on a draught of .
The Star of Bengal had a bar keel. Her poop deck was long and forecastle, long. The ship's moulded depth was with freeboard of . She was originally constructed with three cement bulkheads, but after her overhaul in 1898, only one bulkhead remained in service. Overall, the ship's hull required of stiffening.
History of operations J.P. Corry & Co.
The Star of Bengal was ordered by shipping company J.P. Corry & Co., which was founded in Belfast and headquartered in London. At the time of her launch on January 3, 1874, the Star of Bengal was the largest vessel in gross tonnage in service of J.P. Corry & Co. (in December 1874, she was surpassed by the Star of Russia). These two Stars remained the company's largest sailing vessels. The Star of Bengal's maiden voyage officially began on April 25, 1874, when she sailed out of London towards Melbourne. She continued to San Francisco and returned to Liverpool.
The company's sailing vessels operated three main trading routes, linking London with Canada, India, and Australia. The Star of Bengal largely remained on the London-Calcutta route, with occasional visits to Melbourne, Bombay, and Valparaíso. The ship's average time for the London-Calcutta-London round-trip was 7 months and 24 days. The shortest trip was 7 months and 2 days, and the longest 8 months and 14 days.
John Smyth was the Star of Bengal's first captain. He remained at this position for eleven years, until he took command of another company ship, the Star of Erin in 1885. He eventually graduated to commanding large company steamers, earning the unofficial title of "the commodore of the Star fleet."
William Legg became the next Star of Bengal's captain in 1885. During the ship's 1886 voyage to Calcutta, the Scottish maritime novelist George Cupples sailed as the Star of Bengal's honorary first mate. The ship arrived in Calcutta on August 19, 1886; shortly after her arrival, the captain broke his leg. Under the circumstances, the 63-year-old novelist successfully assumed command. The Star of Bengal was about to leave India and sail out of Garden Reach, when on September 25, the steamship Gulf of Mexico collided with the moored Star of Bengal, resulting in a month of repairs. Cupples finally sailed out on October 26, bringing the Star of Bengal back to London on February 1, 1887.
Upon arrival, Cupples yielded the captain's position to DeGruchy, who remained the ship's captain for one voyage. In 1888, William Legg returned to the Star of Bengal's command. In 1892, after four more years of service, he was replaced by John M. Hart, formerly John Smyth's first mate. Hart remained in command of the ship until 1898, when J.P. Corry & Co.'s decision to put its money into steamers led to the sale of its last remaining sailing vessels, including the Star of Bengal.
The selected voyages with best timings of the Star of Bengal for J.P. Corry & Co. Origin Destination Departure date Arrival date Timing (days) CaptainLondonMelbourneApril 25, 1874July 15, 187481J. SmythMelbourneSan FranciscoAugust 19, 1874October 16, 187458J. SmythSan FranciscoLiverpoolMarch 4, 1875June 23, 1875111J. SmythCalcuttaLondonJanuary 14, 1876April 21, 187698J. SmythLondonCalcuttaJune 30, 1876September 25, 187687J. SmythCalcuttaLondonOctober 24, 1876January 31, 187799J. SmythLondonCalcuttaMarch 24, 1877June 25, 187793J. SmythCalcuttaLondonMay 22, 1879August 29, 187999J. SmythLiverpoolCalcuttaAugust 26, 1884December 3, 188499W. LeggCalcuttaLondonDecember 17, 1885March 25, 188698W. LeggLondonCalcuttaMay 22, 1886August 19, 188689W. LeggCalcuttaLondonOctober 26, 1886February 1, 188798G. CupplesLondonMelbourneMarch 12, 1887June 4, 188784DeGruchyMelbourneValparaísoJuly 12, 1887August 27, 188746DeGruchyPisaguaFalmouthNovember 2, 1887January 23, 188882DeGruchyCardiffSan FranciscoMarch 30, 1888July 22, 1888114W. LeggSan FranciscoFalmouthSeptember 5, 1888December 26, 1888112W. LeggLiverpoolCalcuttaFebruary 7, 1889May 3, 188985W. LeggLondonMelbourneNovember 8, 1890January 27, 189180W. LeggNew CastleValparaísoApril 7, 1891May 22, 189145W. LeggHullAlgoa BayApril 18, 1894June 11, 189454J. HartSwanseaCape TownMay 30, 1896July 30, 189661J. HartBased on Basil Lubbock's compilation.
J.J. Smith & Co.
San Francisco-based trading company J.J. Smith & Co. acquired the Star of Bengal in June 1898. At that time, maritime shipping out of United States Pacific ports was undergoing a major change. After the impact of the Long Depression on regional shipping peaked in 1896–1897, the demand for Pacific Coast maritime transportation unexpectedly soared. It was driven by the Nome Gold Rush, which intensified the colonization of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska and created numerous opportunities for new passenger and trade routes. As a result, many old vessels were purchased to service these routes.
J.J. Smith & Co. re-registered the Star of Bengal in the United States, and in 1898, the 25-year-old ship underwent a major overhaul. To make the ship's operations more cost-effective, her mizzen-mast was re-rigged from square to fore-and-aft, and the Star of Bengal turned from a full-rigged ship to a barque. She got new decks, but the number of bulkheads in service decreased from three to one. In 1904, a donkey boiler was installed on the ship to assist the crew with raising sails.
While the Star of Bengal sailed under J.J. Smith & Co., her captain was H. Henderson. The company operated the ship on a variety of trading missions, mainly trading grain and coal. In an incident in March 1899, the ship almost caught fire when, from Newcastle to San Francisco, her load of coal overheated and became spontaneously combustible. In 1905, the J.J. Smith & Co. could no longer operate the Star of Bengal with profit and sold her to the Alaska Packers' Association.
Alaska Packers' Association
The Alaska Packers' Association (APA) was another beneficiary of Alaskan exploration, and an active consumer of old vessels. Based in San Francisco, the company was engaged in Alaska salmon fishery; it operated salmon canneries across Alaska through a fleet of ships engaged in transporting packed salmon and fishery workers. The company purchased several iron sailing ships originally built for J.P. Corry & Co., including the Star of Bengal, and renamed all of its remaining ships by adding prefix "Star of-" to their names in an attempt to achieve instant name recognition. The APA became the largest company engaged in Alaskan salmon fisheries and, by 1908, the largest salmon-packing concern in the world.
Beginning in 1905, the Star of Bengal's captain was Nicholas Wagner. The company had the Star of Bengal insured by Lloyd's. In 1908, the ship was appraised between $70,000 and $75,000 ($1,900,000 and $2,000,000 in 2020 dollars). Taking advantage of "good strong old British iron" and "lower insurance rates," APA operated the ship seasonally: in the spring, she would sail from San Francisco to Alaska, bringing seasonal workers, fuel, and other supplies to the canneries; in the fall, she would sail back loaded with canned salmon and returning workers. In the winter, the Star of Bengal was moored at Alameda, California with other ships of the "Star fleet."
At the time, salmon canneries required cheap, unskilled labor, and the Alaska Packers' Association primarily hired immigrants of Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino descent as seasonal workers. These workers were provided in bulk by Chinese labor contractors operating out of San Francisco. On the company ships, "Orientals" were segregated from white workers and crew, in part due to separate habits and diet and because they were treated as second-class citizens. The APA supplied these workers with housing, fuel, and water, while Chinese labor contractors provided them with food, whiskey, and opium.
Additional wooden structures were added to the Star of Bengal's hold to accommodate seasonal workers. In addition to the workers and supplies, the ship could carry a maximum load of 85,000 cases of salmon, an equivalent of of cargo. In 1906, the wholesale price of one case of salmon was $5.80, so the ship's full load of salmon represented $500,000 in 1906 dollars ($13,000,000 in 2020 dollars).
Wreck Background