The Torrent Shipwreck Project, Alaska

The Torrent Shipwreck Project

Imagine a summer day 140 years ago. A wooden bark is sailing close along the rugged, uncharted coast of Cook Inlet, Alaska. The mariners aboard have no sonar, no GPS, no depth sounder, no radar, and no emergency radio. Crashing waves break along a ridge of black reefs a mile offshore, and the square-rigged canvas flaps weakly as a strong tidal current sweeps the 641-ton sailing bark toward the white-rimmed rocks and destruction.

The Torrent carried a crew of about 15 civilian sailors under the command of Captain Richard Carleton. The US Army contingent consisted of expedition commander Lt. John McGilvray, a handful of his officers, and 125 soldiers comprising Battery F of the Army's Second Infantry division. The company also included four women, two servants, and 11 children.

The Torrent is one of Alaska’s most historically important shipwrecks. She was carrying more than a hundred US Army soldiers of Battery F, Second Artillery division; men who had been sent north to protect American interests in the Cook Inlet region following the American purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867. The loss of the Torrent—and the supplies and provisions she carried when she sank—changed the course of Alaska history.

The Torrent's Story

Permit Application

2006 Expedition

Slide Show

Education and community outreach is an important part of The Torrent Shipwreck Project's mission. Although our current focus is on the logistical and organizational details that will allow us to launch Phase II of the project this summer, we are already beginning to assemble ideas and material that will bring shipwreck and maritime history education to a new level, including interactive multimedia with concrete learning units that are chock full of adventure and role-playing for primary and secondary students. By involving students at the university level, and forming a strategic alliance with the underwater archaeology department at an Outside university, we hope to compliment the skills and experience of our team members by involving scientists with expertise in the investigation and excavation of historic shipwreck sites like the Torrent.