Andelana

- On January 14, 1899 a more tragic accident had occurred in the harbor of Tacoma. In contrast to the frightening uproar attending the Kingston - Glenogle collision, this disaster took place without warning and in almost complete silence. The four - masted, full - rigged British ship Andelana was lying at anchor preparatory to taking on cargo. Her ballast had been removed and she was held upright by logs chained to her hull on either side at the waterline. During the night Commencement Bay was swept by winds of nearly forty miles an hour and as a gust hit the towering tophamper of the 2,579-ton ship she capsized and sank in 180 fathoms of water, carrying Capt. George W. Stalling and all hands to their death, the ordy survivor of the Andelana's crew being an apprentice, Percy B. Buck, who was ill at a Tacoma hospital. Efforts of four tugs to pull the sunken vessel into shallow water where she could be salvaged failed, and to this day the square-rigger lies at the bottom of Commencement Bay, the tomb of 17 unfortunate seamen. Later a deep-sea diver attempting to locate the wreck was killed when his air pump packing gland failed. In 1935 Ge

Citation: Tacoma Public Library