Shipwreck Blog: Troop Transport Torrent, 1868, Alaska

"You are helping write history today," shipwreck historian and dive team leader Steve Lloyd of Anchorage told a gathering of more than 130 people aboard the USCGC Hickory Monday afternoon.

The significance of the moment was not lost on representatives from the Pratt Museum, archaeologists, historians, researchers, teachers, writers, Coast Guardsmen and others surrounding a collection of items spread across the Hickory's deck. Before them were pieces from the Torrent, a privately owned 141-foot, 641-ton ship, that sank after its oak hull crashed against the jagged rocks of Bird Reef the morning of July 15, 1868. Just off Dangerous Cape, Bird Reef is in southern Cook Inlet, near Port Graham.

Being used as a military transport, the Torrent, with Capt. Richard Carlton as master, was carrying Battery F, Second United States Artillery, from Washington State to the newly purchased territory of Alaska. Under the command of 1st Lt. John McGilvray, their mission was to establish a military presence at "Fort Kenay." Aboard were five officers, 120 enlisted men, four laundresses, two servants and 11 children, as well as the Torrent's crew.