The Sinking of the Torrent/ Kachemak Bay

Note From First Sea Lord: Captains found debauched within a cable's length of leeward rocks shall be immediately detached the service. Mates displaying cowardice in crisis shall be severely upbraided, or hung, as regard to circumstances.

(Originally published in January, 1872, in Overland Monthly under the title, "Cook's Inlet, Alaska")

"(Upon entering Cook Inlet on July 8, 1868, aboard the Torrent) muskets were loaded and a watch set, for the instructions said: 'Beware of the Northern Indians. They are represented to be savage, treacherous and warlike, and should, on no account, be trusted.' This character the natives of Cook's Inlet do not deserve. We found them generally truthful; by no means warlike (although great hunters) and thieves only under great temptation. Even when we were later shipwrecked and at their mercy, they stole no more than wreckers' law permits. ...

"(On the evening of July 13, sailing south from 'Kenay Harbor'), the gale became so severe that several of our sails were blown away, and finding we could not weather Anchor Point, the Mate, now in command [the captain being intoxicated] put back to Kenay Harbor, where we lay at anchor all night. The following day we passed Anchor Point and reached the open waters of the inlet . ... On the morning of July 15th the Mate headed the ship into the harbor (at Port Graham).

"The coast appeared very rugged: as far as we could see it was a high rocky cliff against which the surf was beating furiously. There was but one landing-place -- a little sandy cove -- toward which the ship was headed. Extending out from the land was a reef of rocks, about a mile and a half in length, some above water and others sunken and only marked by the breaking of the sea. Across the reef a current was setting at a rate of seven miles an hour.

"The mate, fearing the responsibility, left his post on deck and running below called the Captain. He being still under the effects of his debauch, came on deck, and knowing, probably, his condition, said, 'We will not go in now; we will send a boat ahead to sound' -- and gave the order to tack ship. But while he had been hesitating, the current had carried us fearfully near the rocks. The yards were hauled, but the ship did not answer to the helm, and we saw that she was doomed."