SS Clallam
Passenger Steamship · United States · Lost 1904 · The Salish Sea
A Puget Sound Navigation Company steamer foundered in a violent gale in the Strait of Juan de Fuca in 1904, killing 56.
John W.
See Shipwreck on Map
The Vessel and Her Loss
Built in 1903 at Tacoma, the Clallam was an inland passenger steamer running between Seattle, Port Townsend, and Victoria, B.C., for the Puget Sound Navigation Company. On January 8, 1904, with 92 aboard, she was caught in a severe storm in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and began taking on water. She foundered with the loss of 56 lives, many of them women and children in lifeboats that could not be reached before the ship went down. The disaster remains one of the deadliest in Pacific Northwest maritime history.
Vessel
- 1903
- Edward Heath shipyard
- Tacoma, Washington
- Wood
- 168 ft
- 32 ft
- 657
- Steam
- Puget Sound Navigation Company
Loss
- January 8, 1904
- Storm
- Strait of Juan de Fuca, near the Washington coast
- Strait of Juan de Fuca / Salish Sea
- Seattle, Washington → Victoria, British Columbia
- Not established
- 92
- 56
- Not established
The Wreck Today
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
Position
- 48.27° N 122.93° W
- Reported, unconfirmed
- Strait of Juan de Fuca, Washington
Position is a researcher-plotted estimate (approximately 8 miles north of Protection Island) derived from 1904 newspaper accounts, not a surveyed fix.
Evidence
Overall confidence: Documented (82/100)
Exact wreck position is not established in the sources reviewed.
Loss date, route, casualty count, and storm details.
Canadian Disaster Database, Public Safety Canada
Event date, location, and casualty corroboration.
Estimated wreck coordinates derived from contemporary newspaper accounts.
