SS Governor
Passenger Steamship · United States · Lost 1921 · Puget Sound & Discovery Bay
A Pacific Coast Steamship liner sank after being rammed by a freighter in the dark off Point Wilson in 1921.
Become Captain of RecordSee Shipwreck on Map
The Vessel and Her Loss
Built in 1907 at Camden, New Jersey, the Governor carried passengers along the West Coast between San Francisco, Seattle, and other ports for the Pacific Coast Steamship Company. Just after midnight on April 1, 1921, bound for Seattle, she was rammed by the freighter West Hartland less than a mile off Point Wilson in Puget Sound and sank. The collision and resulting loss became the subject of a federal admiralty court case. She had a sister ship, the SS Congress.
Vessel
- 1907
- New York Shipbuilding Company
- Camden, New Jersey
- Iron
- 417 ft
- 48 ft
- Not established
- Steam, single screw
- Pacific Coast Steamship Company
Loss
- April 1, 1921
- Collision
- Off Point Wilson, Admiralty Inlet, Washington
- Puget Sound / Salish Sea
- San Francisco, California → Seattle, Washington
- Not established
- Not established
- Sources indicate a small number of fatalities among passengers, though an exact figure is not firmly settled in sources reviewed.
- Not established
The Wreck Today
- Not established
- Lies in deep water in Admiralty Inlet.
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
Position
- 48.15° N 122.76° W
- Approximate position
- Point Wilson, Port Townsend, Washington
Approximate location off Point Wilson per court and historical accounts.
Evidence
Overall confidence: Documented (78/100)
Exact casualty figures and passenger numbers at the time of loss are not firmly established in the sources reviewed.
Wikipedia (SS Governor (1907))
Build details, ownership, and loss date.
Route, dimensions, and collision circumstances.
Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society
Vessel history, the collision and its aftermath.
Contemporary Seattle newspaper accounts, April 1921
Date, collision, rescue and reported casualties.
