The last voyage of the Eliza Anderson: A gold rush tale of the worst ship to ever sail to Alaska

Sidewheeler Eliza Anderson, somewhere in Alaska in 1898, possibly approaching abandonment of the vessel. A much larger vessel can be seen at a wharf in the distance. on local history by local historian David Reamer. Have a question about Anchorage history or an idea for a future article? Go to the form at the bottom of this story.

As one of the most notable ships in the Pacific Northwest, the Eliza Anderson appears in several anecdotes. Among its more unique attributes, the steamer had a calliope, a steam whistle organ. While in the Canadian port of Victoria on one Fourth of July, the ship’s resident keyboardist drunkenly played American patriotic songs in the middle of the night. Unamused, the local constable raced to the docks to arrest him. Instead of compliance, the ship moved into the harbor.

The Eliza Anderson’s original heyday ended in 1870 when it was replaced on its circuit by a larger, newer vessel. By 1877, the outdated steamer was rotting away unused at a Seattle wharf, even sinking in 1882 and left resting on the mud for a year. In 1883, she was refloated, refitted, and returned to service for a few years. But by 1890, she was laid up on the Duwamish River, employed as a roadhouse with a reputation for illegal gambling.

The Dalles Daily Chronicle described the Anderson as “built so long ago that most steamboat people have forgotten her.” The unnamed author added, “She was in the boneyard for a dozen years and lay at the bottoms of the Sound for a year or two, a sunken wreck; but she is good enough for the gold-seekers.” The latter comment was definitely meant to insult the intelligence and worth of the gold rushers.

As soon as the steamer left port, she began leaking “like a barrel in the sun all summer.” Anyone with carpentry experience, crew or passenger, was pressed into action, patching holes and building makeshift pumps. The ship broke down three times before reaching Vancouver Island. Provisions and coal were already running short, and they had to stop at creeks to take on freshwater repeatedly.

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