AH-WR-0084

Star of Bengal

Sailing Freighter · United States · Lost 1908 · The Inside Passage & Alaska

An iron-hulled sailing ship carrying cannery workers south for the winter that broke apart near Coronation Island, killing more than 110 people.

Become Captain of Record See Shipwreck on Map

Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents. See the documented evidence.

Historically Reconstructed. Drawn from partial documentation of this vessel together with her known class and configuration. See the documented evidence.

The Vessel and Her Loss

Star of Bengal was an iron-hulled square-rigger built in Belfast in 1874, later purchased by the Alaska Packers' Association to carry seasonal cannery workers and canned salmon between Alaska and San Francisco. On September 20, 1908, while under tow by the tug Beatrice, she was caught in a severe gale near Coronation Island. The towline parted and the ship drove onto the rocks and broke apart, killing more than 110 of those aboard, most of them cannery laborers. It remains one of Alaska's deadliest maritime disasters.

Vessel

Built: 1874
Registry: British registry no. 63957
Builder: Harland and Wolff
Yard: Belfast, Ireland
Material: Iron
Length: 263 ft
Beam: Not established
Tonnage: Not established
Propulsion: Sail, square-rigged
Owners: Alaska Packers' Association

Loss

Date: September 20, 1908
Cause: Storm
Location: Off Coronation Island, Southeast Alaska
Water: Gulf of Alaska
Voyage: Wrangell, Alaska (cannery), under tow toward San Francisco → San Francisco, California
Cargo: Canned salmon and cannery cargo
Aboard: Not established
Lives lost: 110
Master: Not established

The Wreck Today

Depth: Not established
Condition: Wreckage located and mapped by a volunteer research expedition in 2025.
Orientation: Not established
Discovered: 2025
Protection: Not established

Position

Coordinates: 55.85° N 134.15° W
Accuracy: Approximate position
Nearest: Coronation Island, Southeast Alaska
Region: The Inside Passage & Alaska

Star of Bengal wrecked on the rocky shore of Coronation Island; a 2025 volunteer/archaeological expedition located and mapped the wreck site near China Cove on the island's southeastern coast and recovered the ship's bell, but a precise numeric dive fix was not published in the sources found, so this is the named China Cove locale.