Sunken Tug
(Wreck of the Bahada?)
Painting by Steve Mayo
The Bahada - by Shawn Murphy
'Bahada' Word Origin from Spanish bajar meaning to go down literally means gradual descent.
The Bahada and its' sister tug the Wyadda were constructed in 1902 by 'Moran Brother's Shipyard' in Seattle. They were steel hulled, steel superstructure listed as 85'9", 132 g.t. with a 19'1 beam drawing 11' of water. These tugs were unique enough at the time of their construction that Clarence B. Bagley referred to them as notable in his three volume set of 'History of Seattle' printed in 1916. You'll find on page 609 of volume two that he refers to them as more of the notable ships built by the 'Moran Brother's Shipyard.'
They were sold after launching to Admiralty Tug and began working with said company in February 1903. They were involved as most tugs were in towing logs, barges, berthing ships along with search and rescue operations from Cape Flattery to points all over Puget Sound. These two tugs eventually went in different directions.
The 'Bahada' was for a number of years with 'Hercules Powder Company' in San Diego, Ca. In one article of the Los Angeles Times dated 2/16/1919 she was described as having a 400 H.P. compound engine with a Scotch Marine Boiler and a surface condenser. According to the article she could make 11 1/2 knots light, with a 350 barrels of oil capacity.
She was later sold to the 'Wilmington Transportation Company' for whom she was working when on 4/23/1923 she was struck by the 'S.S. Richmond' a tanker owned by 'Standard Oil Company' and sunk with one crewman 'Jess W. Forbes' a deckhand losing his life. She was going to meet the tanker to bring it to port for loading. A coroner's jury found the crew of the 'Richmond' negligent and recommended the crew to be arrested and prosecuted for manslaughter. It was said they were speeding and in the past there had been a number of complaints regarding this crew's actions. The crew of the 'Bahada' was said to be totally faultless in this sinking.
For the next couple of years nothing seemed out of the ordinary other than some crew members complaining of her supposed crankiness. Some complained of her difficulty to handle and in one case a fireman named 'Preston Holton' after crewing on her for 17 months got a change to other 'Gilkey Tugs' and this happened about two weeks before the tugs final sinking. Another crew member possibly 'Harry Johnson' a deckhand showed up drunk on the night of the final sinking and was sent home. Later the person in question claimed he had a "Bad Premonition" and got drunk. Why do I say him without definitive proof? He's found in many crew lists including recent ones on the 'Bahada' but not that night.
Before discussing the final sinking let's look at 'Gilkey Brother's Towing' and their start. The six 'Gilkey Brother's' the oldest my great-uncle by marriage (Mark E. Gilkey) started in 1918 with one small tug the 'Governor.' Their headquarter's was in Anacortes with offices in Bellingham, Tacoma and a subsidiary in Vancouver, B.C. known as 'International Towing Co.' Some of the known tugs owned by the 'Gilkey's' included the Sea King; Intrepid; Sound; Columbia; Hyak; Governor; Klatawa; Warrior; Hiomo; Favorite; Beatrice Baer; the Bahada with the Warrior being stationed in Bellingham.
March 3,1927 the Gilkey's announced the sale of 'International Towing' for more than $200,000.00 to 'Dominion Tug & Barge Company' under the control of the 'Pacific-Coyle Company.' The following tugs under Canadian Registry were included in the sale the Massett; Moresby; Czar; Queen; Imbricaria and Canada. This sale came on the heels of the Bahada sinking on 11/21/1926.
On 11/21/1926 while towing logs from Anacortes to Bellingham the 'Bahada' disappeared during the night on the north side of Huckleberry and Saddlebag Islands. The location of this sinking was known by finding the logs floating above the tug in its' 247' watery grave. What happened? It was announced by many at the time a massive boiler explosion took it down. Some alluded to the fact pieces of the wheelhouse, deck house and other material found floating as the evidence for the 'explosion theory' while others disagreed.Was it a collision, a squall that came up after it left, if it had a steer engine did it fail or did it get in 'irons?'
Lee Passmore- San Diego, CA
Ten days later the switchboard from the pilot house was found beached with no signs of damage. Eggs were found floating unbroken in a bucket. The only body found that of 'William (Bill) Hansen the brother of Captain George Bryan Hansen the tugs master was found clothed in his winter underwear in a life ring on 'Samish Island' dead from drowning brought on from hypothermia with no other apparent injuries. Some would argue because he should'be been in his bunk a massive explosion would make it extremely difficult for him to get up, exit the tug grabbing the necessary life ring.
In December of 1926 and January 1927 a local Hotel proprietor named 'George Henderson' claimed to have made a total of five dives in his diving tube looking for bodies. It was said his diving tube was 15' in length, 30" through with a four hour air supply having a mechanical arm. He claimed over $1000.00 was spent with much of the money coming from the 'Brannian family' whose family member 'Ulyssus Samual Brannian' was the engineer on this fateful voyage. He stopped the dives when the money ran out.**
September of 1933 a failed attempt was made to raise the 'Bahada' by 'Romano Salvage' and the man who rigged the tug for the attempt flatly stated it didn't look like it had an explosion. Why the explosion theory? One finding pieces of wood could have led to the theory or was it an attempt to keep would be salvagers away? The tug wasn't seen again until a recent dive by Rob Wilson, Paul Hangartner and Dan Warter of MDS and DCS Films in April of 2016.
Will we ever know with any certainty what caused the sinking? Possibly not but future dives quite possibly will prove what didn't cause it to sink.
Gilkey Brother's was owned by Mark, Charles, Walter, Frank, David and William Gilkey. They were true entrepreneurs who also were involved in civic duty including David once a deputy sheriff in Skagit County.
The real people not to forget are as follows;
Captain George Bryan Hansen age 30, master married to Winifred May Smith with two children Shirley age 6 and Carol age 4 Dewey/Anacortes
James A. Hird, mate abt. 45 married to Lucy M. Cannon with two children Marjorie abt. 6 or 7 and James infant
Ulyssus Samual Brannian, engineer abt. 36, Bellingham single
George Henry Northrup, asst. engineer 48 born and raised in Wrangell, Ak. living in Bellingham having fathered five children 4 living in Ketchikan
John Knake also seen as John Kanaka, fireman abt.20 single living in Anacortes
Charles Craig also known as Charles Smith, single living in Anacortes
A.E. (Ernest) Bigham, deckhand abt. 21 single from Seattle living in Anacortes
William (Bill) Hansen, deckhand age 18 single, Anacortes
Louis P. Christensen, cook age 51 married to Matilda Brunlow one step-daughter living in Bellingham
** During this salvage the “towing bit” was removed. We don’t know from what location this bit was taken but the stern bit on this wreck is still there. We tie into it on the video.
This wreck lies in 230 feet of water, and while it has the characteristics of the Bahada (tug, steel hull, no top pilot house) we will need more proof to positively identify.
