The 2009 Field Project - Documenting the Hull of the Seattle No. 3
The Seattle No. 3 was a prefabricated wooden-hulled vessel, originally framed in Seattle at the Moran Brothers yard, and assembled at Dutch Harbour in the Aleutian Islands in 1898. The ship measured 45.7 x9.9x1.8 m with a gross displacement of 548.1 tonnes. The ship was built for the Seattle-Yukon Transportation Company and initially worked on the run between the mouth of the Yukon River and Dawson City. The vessel's later history is unclear. Currently the vessel lies above water and derelict. Its superstructure has collapsed with only the aft crews quarters and steering compartment intact (Figure 7). Decking, deck beams and the wooden hull are intact and complete except at the bow . A single locomotice-style boiler and stack with breeching are in situ. The stern wheel and engines are missing, Thiis vessel contains a unique but incomplete four-tiller and roller- steering system with the tiller arms positioned slightly above the freight deck. Iron-sheathed wooden arcs for tiller bearings are affixed to the freight deck, but the tillers, rudders and rudder posts are missing. The centerline king posts remain, but the outlying hog posts are removed.
Despite the mass of collapsed superstructure on the main deck, most of the hull was intact aft of frame 12, and easily accessible with helmets and headlamps.
Our primary goal was to produce a plan view with longitudinal and transverse elevations. A standard baseline survey was utilized combined with a Nikon reflectorless total station to map the partially collapsed bow and the transverse cross-sectional elevations .
These efforts yielded some interesting findings. The Seattle No. 3 is the most heavily built stern wheel steamboat yet examined in the Yukon, with a total of nine major longitudinal strength members contained within her hull. Most Yukon River paddle wheel steam boats contain a centerline keelson supporting either a solid longitudinal bulkhead or hold stanchions. Also, the typical vessel displays two truss-build longitudinal bulkheads or girders running from the transom as far forward as the curve of the bow will allow. Additional pairs of short girders support the engine beds to port and to starboard.
In the Seattle No. 3, these in-board cylinder girders have been lengthened and extend as far forward as possible, and end at frame 12 rather than frame 54. This design creates four great truss-built, longitudinal bulkheads running the length of the ship. Likewise, the chine is massively constructed with a large triangular bilge keelson that becomes rectangular in cross-section in the bow area. Because the bilge keelson was too heavy to steam and bend into shape, the builders instead used intricate mortises in the bow area. Finally, frames and floors were commonly single, but often doubled or even tripled in no clear pattern. The ship displayed a total of 75 frame stations incised with Roman numerals .
In addition to lengthened and over-sized longitudinal strength members, the vessel also contained 5 large transverse beams or carriers supporting the boiler and two king posts. We have noted similar transverse beams resting atop the side and centerline keelsons and supporting kingposts in the Schwatka, but it is an uncommon design. In addition to the centerline kingposts, there were two rows of hog posts were not supported by transverse beams, but rather by footlings, or short timbers running longitudinally on top of the floors.
The heavy construction of the Seattle No. 3 would have made it difficult to operate in the shallow water upstream of Dawson City. Generally this vessel operated on the lower river, between Dawson City and St. Michael. The ship is more robust than the Evelyn, a vessel of somewhat smaller size that contained only short truss-built longitudinal bulkheads under the cylinder timbers, and a lightly constructed "cocked hat" chine. Likewise, the Seattle No. 3 is more heavily constructed than the twelve "assembly line" stern wheelers built by the Moran Bros. in Seattle and then moved north to St. Michael under their own power. These latter vessels did not display the dramatically lengthened truss-built longitudinal bulkheads under the inboard cylinder timbers.
A second finding concerns the use of the hold to haul freight. A large hatch was located between frames 45-48, and numerous pallets were found in the hold adjacent to the hatch. It is possible the additional longitudinal bulkheads outboard of the centerline, to make up for the reduction in size of the centerline longitudinal bulkhead and utilize a sparse number of hold stanchions above the center keelson. This open design in the main hold aft of the boiler, when combined the hatch and a 1.83 m hull depth, suggests the Seattle No. 3 carried freight below decks, sited on top of pallets that lay on the frames. If this is correct, then it is the first such vessel noted in Western Canada.
Our third finding was the discovery of a substantial and unexpected collection of spare parts in the hold, including two spare rudders, a rudder post, a paddle wheel spoke, numerous iron circles, the remains of large diameter (freshwater storage) casks, and other unidentified hardware and fittings. Clearly material culture exists in the holds of the vessels at West Dawson, and further examination is warranted.