The Final Voyage of the Princess Sophia: Did they all have to die?

by Betty O'Keefe, Ian Macdonald

October 25, 1918, is the day that goes down in history as the Inside Passage's worst maritime disaster. More than 350 people lost their lives and the CPR's British Columbia Coast Service was forever tarnished when the Princess Sophia went down off Vanderbilt Reef in Lynn Canal between Skagway and Juneau, Alaska. In this book, the authors relive the tragedy of the Princess Sophia and her last voyage and tackle questions that still linger. Was the sinking really just a "peril of the sea," as the inquiry concluded? This story explores the heroic efforts of those who answered the SOS and tried to save the passengers and crew but were later the ones to recover bodies instead.

Genres: History

192 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1998

Reviews

[Charis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very resourceful book about the sinking of the SS Princess Sophia and its surrounding events and maritime disasters. This book spends a lot of time talking about the Canadian Pacific railway and it’s repercussions around the disaster. Also included is information about similar disasters in the Inside Passage and some prominent people aboard. While redundant at times, and I wish the book had spent more time on the sinking and speculation of it itself, this was a good overview of a disaster unfortunately buried by the CP.