SS Ohio
Passenger-Cargo Steamship · United States · Lost 1909 · The British Columbia Coast
A former transatlantic liner turned Alaska steamer struck a rock in Finlayson Channel in 1909, her boilers exploding as she went down with the loss of four aboard.
Become Captain of Record
The Vessel and Her Loss
Ohio began her career in 1872 on the transatlantic Liverpool-Philadelphia run before being sold to the Alaska Steamship Company in 1898 for the northern trade. On 26 August 1909, steaming north through Finlayson Channel on the Inside Passage, she struck a rock at night, and a course change drove her onto a second rock. Rising water reached her boilers, which exploded as she sank near Carter Bay. Most of the 276 aboard escaped by boat, but four crew and passengers who stayed to help a seasick soldier were lost.
Vessel
- 1872
- US official number 19376
- William Cramp & Sons
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Iron
- 343 ft
- 43 ft
- 3488
- Steam, compound/triple-expansion engine, single screw, auxiliary sail
- Alaska Steamship Company
Loss
- August 26, 1909
- Grounding
- Finlayson Channel, near Carter Bay, British Columbia
- Finlayson Channel, Inside Passage
- Seattle, Washington → Prince William Sound, Alaska
- 1,100 tons of general merchandise
- 276
- 4
- John Johnson
The Wreck Today
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
Position
- Not established
- Approximate position
- Carter Bay, Finlayson Channel
Loss reported near Carter Bay in Finlayson Channel; precise coordinates not established in sources reviewed.
Evidence
Overall confidence: Documented (80/100)
The wreck's precise coordinates and present condition are not established in the sources reviewed.
Nauticapedia, The Virtual Maritime Museum of British Columbia
Build history, ownership, and loss narrative.
Alaska Shipwrecks database, U.S. Customs Wreck Report
Casualty names, cargo value, and passenger/crew count.
