Oneida
Salmon Packer · United States · Lost 1890 · The Aleutians & the Bering Sea
A San Francisco cannery ship carrying 155 people that stranded near Sanak Island in 1890, killing 77 Chinese cannery laborers aboard.
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The Vessel and Her Loss
The wooden ship Oneida was bound from San Francisco to the cannery at Thin Point, Alaska, when she stranded on a rock southwest of Sanak Island on the night of April 26, 1890. She carried 28 crew and more than 120 mostly Chinese cannery laborers along with cargo and provisions. Seventy-seven of the laborers drowned in the disaster; the rock where she struck was later charted and named Oneida Rock in her memory. Wreckage and cargo, including opium later found in the debris, washed ashore on nearby beaches for days afterward.
Vessel
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
- Wood
- 179 ft
- Not established
- 1074
- Sail
- Not established
Loss
- April 26, 1890
- Grounding
- Hennig Rock, approximately 8 miles southwest of Sanak Island, Alaska
- Gulf of Alaska / Aleutian approaches
- San Francisco, California → Thin Point, Alaska
- 550 tons of merchandise and provisions
- 155
- 77
- F.P. Anderson
The Wreck Today
- Not established
- Total loss; wreckage washed up on area beaches for days.
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
Position
- 54.47° N 162.93° W
- Approximate position
- Sanak Island, Alaska
Position corresponds to Oneida Rock, the charted hazard named for this wreck, southwest of Sanak Island.
Evidence
Overall confidence: Partially documented (72/100)
The vessel's builder and construction date are not established in the sources reviewed.
Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, "Alaska's Worst All Time Shipping Losses"
Loss date, location, casualty count.
Alaska Shipwrecks (alaskashipwreck.com), citing 1890 wreck report
Wreck report excerpts, tonnage, cargo, naming of Oneida Rock.
