Farallon Steamship Disaster - The Brave Six

The Brave Six

Of the thirty-eight men aboard, six did not stay at Iliamna Bay. They instead, attempted to reach Kodiak Island in hopes of arranging a rescue. They set out on January 7, 1910 from the wreck in a 12-foot (3.7 m) lifeboat across one of the most dangerous regions of water in the western hemisphere, the Shelikof Strait. The six men were Gus Swanson, the second mate of the Farallon, Charles Peterson, a seaman, Ottoe Nelson, a seamen, Albert Bailey, a passenger, Charles Bourne, a resident of Afognak, and Captain Weiding.

When the men left the site the wind was blowing north by northwest, however, during the night, the wind increased and the group was forced to beach their rowboat at Ursus Cove and remain there until morning. The following morning, January 8, when the men returned to the water, there was a new northeast wind and a heavy snowstorm. Suddenly, mid-morning, the wind changed course and began blowing extremely strongly towards the northwest. The small rowboat stood no chance against the heavy seas and the men and boat soon became completely ice-coated. The ice weighed down the boat to the point where it could hardly stay above water and the group was once again forced to find a place to dock. That evening the defenceless lifeboat ran into a heavy pack of ice, completely crushing what was left of the already poorly functioning structure. The men were luckily not far from shore. However, their boat had sunk with almost all their provisions and they were forced to walk shoulder-high through the ice-cold water. They eventually reached the shore at Cape Douglas.

The following morning, January 9, the party trekked to the top of the cliff above the beach for protection from the vicious seas and wind, and there they constructed a makeshift tent and fire. The physical state of the men, however, was quickly deteriorating. All of them were frostbitten and some were showing the early signs of hypothermia. For the next 38 hours the men would stay on the cliff in desperation to regain strength. Once the high gales, strong winds, eventually were repressed, the men walked two miles from the cliff and found the camp of Michael Pablow, a fur trapper, who owned his own small schooner. While Pablow refused to cross the strait, he supplied the ravenous men with provisions and deprived himself of food in efforts to aid the weary travellers. The group did not leave Pablow’s camp until February 7 because of the intense storms. Albert Bailey and Otto Nelson then led the way to Kaguak on foot with, while Swanson, Peterson, Bourne, and Weiding followed in a bidarka because they had lost their capability to walk. The men found an old skiff and dug it out of the snow at Kaguak, and began making their way across the strait to Kafliar Bay on February 22. Charles Bourne was forced to stay with the natives at Kaguak because of the severe physical impairment the harsh conditions had induced upon him. The men were able to reach Cape Ugat before fierce wind once again destroyed their vessel. Fortunately, the party was able to travel on land to the Ugansk village, but would again remain stormbound until March 5. On March 5, the people of Ugansk provided the men with a dory, a small flat-bottomed boat. In this, the men would reach Afognak. Finally on March 11, 1910, just before midnight, four of the six men were brought into Seward, Alaska on the Tahoma, a revenue cutter that had been searching for the men for almost three weeks. Gus Swanson, Charles Peterson, Otto Nelson and Albert Bailey were all rescued. The Tahoma then retrieved Charles Bourne from Kaguak and Captain Weiding at Kodiak, where he had been forced to stay after suffering from hypothermia.