The Torrent Shipwreck Project
Imagine a summer day 139 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.
Our upcoming expedition has attracted the attention of The National Geographic Society, and although their decision whether to participate with The Torrent Shipwreck Project is still months away, one of our previous shipwreck discoveries—the passenger liner SS Aleutian, wrecked off Kodiak Island, Alaska in 1929—was profiled in the March 2004 issue of National Geographic Adventure magazine. Whether sponsored by a national network or produced by our team members, a filmed documentary of the Torrent discovery is a definite possibility.
We are actively seeking the support of select companies whose products we already use and endorse. We invite these leaders in their respective markets to support the expedition through in-kind donations of equipment, goods and services to The Torrent Shipwreck Project.
