Cape Hinchinbrook is a headland with a light station on the south-western point of Hinchinbrook Island in Prince William Sound, about 79 miles (127 km) south-east of Whittier and 37 miles (60 km) south-west of Cordova, Alaska. The cape was named in 1778 by Captain James Cook for John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, Viscount Hinchingbrooke, Baron Montagu of Saint Neots. Hinchinbrook Island forms the eastern shore of Hinchinbrook Entrance, the primary maritime corridor for Prince William Sound and vessels bound to and from Valdez. The geology of western Hinchinbrook Island consists of a thick sequence of turbidites made up of sandstone, siltstone and mudstone. These turbidites were deposited by sediment gravity flows, chiefly turbidity currents, on a submarine fan complex during the late Paleocene to Eocene epoch and now comprise the Orca Group of rocks in the Chugach-Prince William composite terrane.
On September 13th 1906 the steamship Oregon, operated by the White Star Steamship Company and under the command of Captain Horace E. Soule, was on a voyage from Seattle to Valdez. That day the ship was en route from Katalla to Orca with 53 passengers and 68 crew members, and about 790 tons of freight. Owing to wind, darkness and rain squalls, the ship ran aground three miles (5 km) from Cape Hinchinbrook. The point of land had long been a menace to navigation, and just a few months before Oregon’s accident a congressional act had authorized funds for the construction of a light and fog-signal station for Cape Hinchinbrook. Providentially, the US Lighthouse Tender Columbine was surveying the area for the pending construction of the lighthouse and picked up passengers and crew from five lifeboats, proceeded to the wreck, took off the remaining crew, all mail and baggage, and safely delivered them to Valdez the next day. The ship was a total loss, and the master was exonerated from all blame.
President Theodore Roosevelt established the lighthouse reservation on Hinchinbrook Island by executive order in 1906, but the lighthouse was only partially funded and construction was delayed until 1909. Cape Hinchinbrook was the last light station constructed during the massive expansion of navigation aids spurred by the gold rushes in the Klondike and Nome. At the time Prince William Sound did not represent a main corridor to the interior of Alaska and the gold fields; however, with the development of copper mines at Kennecott the area gained significant importance. Cape Hinchinbrook Lighthouse was first lighted on November 15th 1910. Owing to earthquakes in 1927 and 1928, which caused instability in the cliff around the lighthouse, a new light had to be built on solid rock. The current structure was completed in 1934 with a light 67 feet (20 m) high on an octagonal tower with a concrete foundation. Other buildings included an oil house, a carpentry and machine shop, and a tram hoist house, all perched about 180 feet (55 m) above the water near a sheer rocky cliff. The lighthouse was automated in 1974 and a solar-powered Vega lens was installed. The original third-order Fresnel lens is now on display at the Valdez Museum and Historical Archive in Valdez. Read more here and here. Explore more of Cape Hinchinbrook and Hinchinbrook Island here: