The wooden steamship ''Dora'' was a passenger and cargo vessel that served the coastal trade in the

Territory of Alaska The Territory of Alaska or Alaska Territory was an organized incorporated territory of the United States from August 24, 1912, until Alaska was granted statehood on January 3, 1959. The territory was previously Russian America, 1784–1867; th ...

from 1880 to 1920. Built in

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California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

, it was active before, during and after the Klondike Gold Rush, and became known as "the bulldog of the North Pacific". After its sinking, a

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report referred to it as the "most historic vessel plying Alaskan waters." The Dora was first employed carrying fur seal skins from the Pribilof Islands to California for the

Alaska Commercial Company The Alaska Commercial Company (ACC) is a company that operated retail stores in Alaska during the early period of Alaska's ownership by the United States. From 1901 to 1992, it was known as the Northern Commercial Company (NCC). In 1992, it resumed ...

and subsequently became known for its cargo, mail and passenger service to small settlements along the Alaska coast. It frequently rescued the survivors from the wrecks of other vessels in Alaska and endured several near-disasters of its own, including a collision with an iceberg in 1899 and a storm-tossed 1906 voyage that left the ship virtually adrift for 63 days. Its passengers and crew provided one of the earliest firsthand accounts of the 1912 Katmai-

Novarupta Novarupta (meaning "newly erupted" in Latin) is a volcano that was formed in 1912, located on the Alaska Peninsula on a slope of Trident Volcano in Katmai National Park and Preserve, about southwest of Anchorage. Formed during the largest volc ...

volcanic eruption. Later that year, a storm in

Seward, Alaska Seward (Alutiiq: ; Dena'ina: ''Tl'ubugh'') is an incorporated home rule city in Alaska, United States. Located on Resurrection Bay, a fjord of the Gulf of Alaska on the Kenai Peninsula, Seward is situated on Alaska's southern coast, approximat ...

ran the Dora aground for three weeks, but the ship was refloated and repaired in

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Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

. The Dora's 40-year career ended on December 20, 1920 when it ran aground on

Noble Island Noble Island is part of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park in the Howick Group National Park and is about 100 km south-east of Cape Melville, Queensland. It is around 30 hectares or 0.3 square km in size. It was the home of the indigeno ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

while traveling from Seattle, to

Unga The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Curr ...

with a cargo of general merchandise and a crew of 29 aboard. The steamship ''Admiral Rodman'' rescued 10 members of the Dora's crew and provided first word of the wreck. Two Alaska islands were named after the Dora, one in the Aleutian Islands west of

Adak Adak may refer to: Places *Adak Island, one of the Aleutian Islands ** Adak, Alaska, a town on the above island ** Adak Airport, airport serving the town ***Adak Army Airfield, original name of the airport (1942–c.1943) *** Davis Army Airfield, ...

, the other near Seward. A bay in Prince of Wales Island is named after the Dora, as is a lake near the bay. Recreational divers continue to explore the remains of the Dora near Port Hardy, British Columbia.

References

Additional reading

* Goforth, J. Pennelope. ''Sailing the Mail in Alaska: The Maritime Years of Alaska Photographer John E. Thwaites, 1905-1912''. Anchorage: Cybrrcat Productions, 2003.

External links

In an audio recording, former Alaska governor Jay Hammond describes the SS Dora
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dora (1880) Steamships of the United States 1880 ships Shipwrecks of the British Columbia coast Maritime incidents in 1920