SS Clarksdale Victory lies wrecked off the west coast of Hippa Island, 1.5 miles (2.4 km) west of Graham Island in the Haida Gwaii Archipelago, about 49 miles (79 km) southwest of Masset and 42 miles (68 km) northwest of Queen Charlotte, British Columbia. The Haida called the island Nesto (Nasduu), meaning “impregnable,” and it once held three ancient villages. In 1787 British fur trader George Dixon, aboard the Queen Charlotte, was so struck by a Haida fort there that he named it Hippah Island, after the Maori forts he had seen in New Zealand. From 1848 border tensions with the United States made Esquimalt, near Victoria, an increasingly important Royal Navy port. In 1852 James C. Prevost commanded HMS Virago, a 180-foot (55-meter) wooden paddle steamer able to make 9.5 knots (18 kph) under steam. Virago left Valparaiso that December and reached Esquimalt on April 17, 1853; on April 28 she sailed for the Queen Charlotte Islands (now Haida Gwaii) to investigate reports of American gold prospectors. Prevost named Graham Island for Sir James Graham, First Lord of the Admiralty. A narrow channel separates it from Moresby Island, now part of Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve. The Haida have lived in the archipelago for at least 6,000 years, with 117 historical villages and camps recorded there. A half-mile (0.8 km) channel separates Graham Island from Hippa Island itself, just 3 miles (4.8 km) long and a mile (1.6 km) wide, once home to three Haida communities.

SS Clarksdale Victory was a Victory ship built for American President Lines by the California Shipbuilding Corporation in Los Angeles and launched on January 27, 1945. Victory ships were a class of cargo vessel produced in large numbers by North American shipyards to replace wartime losses. A more modern design than the earlier Liberty ship, they had a slightly larger hull and more powerful steam turbines, letting them join high-speed naval convoys and making them harder targets for enemy submarines. Each typically carried 62 civilian merchant sailors and 28 naval personnel, who operated defensive guns and communications equipment from crew quarters amidships. A total of 531 Victory ships were built under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. American President Lines acted as an agent for the War Shipping Administration, which purchased and operated the civilian shipping tonnage the United States needed for the war; the company refitted, crewed, and maintained its own ships as well as many other Liberty and Victory vessels. In 1944 a further 16 Victory ships were built specifically for American President Lines, including Clarksdale Victory, the 80th Victory-class ship, completed in just 86 days. In the war’s final months she served as a supply ship at the Battle of Okinawa, from April 26 to May 8, 1945. On April 27 an artillery shell landed just 45 feet (14 m) away, spraying fragments across the deck. Her Naval Armed Guard earned service stars for the assault.

After the war many Victory ships were sold as commercial cargo vessels, and a few were converted to carry passengers. At least 36 later served in the Korean War and 100 in the Vietnam War. In 1947 the U.S. Army still occupied Camp Sullivan in Whittier, Alaska, a strategic Cold War facility with a deep-water, ice-free port on Prince William Sound and Passage Canal, rail access secured by long tunnels, and cloudy weather that concealed it from air attack. Supplies for the post were shipped from Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles aboard American President Lines vessels. On November 24, 1947, Clarksdale Victory was en route from Whittier to Seattle when a severe storm off Graham Island produced waves up to 50 feet (15 m) high. The ship struck a reef and broke in two: the stern sank, while the bow stayed afloat and eventually grounded on Hippa Island. SS Denali, an Alaska Steamship Company passenger vessel, was diverted to help but had to abandon the rescue because of the conditions. The Coast Guard cutters Wachusett, out of Juneau, and Citrus, out of Ketchikan, rescued four survivors; 49 of the 53 crew perished. Read more here and here. Explore more of Hippa and Graham islands here: