A quick note: I will be publishing a short post tomorrow for Halloween.
She was born in Sweden in 1914. Her first name was Ångermanelfven. She hauled cargo between Hamburg and Sweden during World War I. After the war, Britain took her as reparations from Germany. The Hudson’s Bay Company later bought her and renamed her the SS Baychimo.
Her new job was hauling goods between Vancouver and Hudson’s Bay Company posts in the Yukon and Northwest Territories. She sometimes carried furs and other Arctic cargo. She made this run for years without much trouble. Then, in late September 1931, disaster struck. She was sailing back to Vancouver when a blizzard hit near Point Barrow, Alaska. Pack ice closed in around her. She was trapped.
The Hudson’s Bay Company flew 22 members of the crew out, but Captain John Cornwell and 14 others stayed behind. They built a wooden shelter nearby and prepared to wait through the winter. On November 24, another blizzard swept through the area. When it cleared, the ship was gone. The men assumed she had broken apart and sunk.
A few days later, an Inuk seal hunter told them he had seen her about 72 kilometers (around 45 miles) south. The men tracked her down and found her still floating. They removed the most valuable furs from her hold, but decided she would never survive the winter. They left her behind and went home. They were wrong. You can’t get much more wrong, as we will see.
That was the beginning of something strange. The Baychimo didn’t sink. She didn’t stay put either. Instead, she drifted through Arctic waters without a care, captain, or crew.
In March 1933, a group of Iñupiat hunters found her and climbed aboard. A storm arrived and trapped them on the wandering ship. Some accounts say they remained aboard for a week, while others say ten days. For that brief time, the abandoned Baychimo became a shelter again. Even without her own crew, she was still protecting people from the Arctic.
Others tried to claim her. Explorers boarded her in 1934. In 1939, Captain Hugh Polson attempted to salvage her, but the moving ice forced him to leave. Every time someone thought they had caught the Baychimo, the weather or the ice seemed to take her back.
The last confirmed sighting was in 1969, once again locked in ice. After that, nothing. No wreckage. No trace. In 2006, Alaska’s government talked about searching for her. The search never happened. Most people now believe she finally sank somewhere in the Arctic.
The Baychimo seemed willing to accept visitors. The Iñupiat hunters even found shelter aboard her during a storm. But whenever someone tried to claim her and bring her home, the ice and weather interfered. It was almost as if she were saying, “You can stay for a little while, but don’t try to take me.”
But no one has ever found her bones. So the mystery holds. Somewhere beneath the Arctic ice, the Baychimo’s story may finally have ended. Then again, perhaps she is still out there, looking for sailors or hunters who need a temporary home. So if you happen to be near the Alaskan coast, keep an eye on the ice.
Tomorrow, for Halloween, we will look at another kind of maritime ghost story, one that may have left its image behind.
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Max, these ghost ship stories are perfect for this time of year; great work finding them! It’s been a hectic week and my fingers are bleeding on my Mac’s keyboard! 🩸 I’ll have my companion piece up later today. Happy Halloween Eve! 👻
Happy Halloween Eve! I like this one because it’s creepy but no one got hurt anyway. I can’t believe she lasted until 1969 and maybe longer.
Max, this is a great story. Masterfully retold. Excellent
Thanks Arthur
An interesting story, Max that proves every crew needs a ship, but not every ship needs a crew. I am wondering if you will be writing about the Russian nuclear reactor accident involving the K-19 submarine which was the first major nuclear reactor disaster for the Soviet submarine fleet.
I have found some subs and lighthouses that I am going to write about…I will look this one up. I found a few through people…so thanks for mentioning it! I also have a commercial nuclear ship coming.
Back in the day, 1968, a Cuban shrimp boat washed ashore in Port Aransas: no crew, no nothing, not even a shrimp or cigars. This reminds me of the scene in Taylor Sheriden’s” 1923″ when the two folks hired fishing boat were hit by the ghost ship and their vessel overturned. Scarier than seeing two ghost Corgis on the Queen Elizibeth ocean liner. Good stuff, Max.
Scarier than seeing two ghost Corgis on the Queen Elizibeth ocean liner.
What a great line!!!
Yes! I love ghost stories…and there are some connected to Queen Mary…”Scarier than seeing two ghost Corgis on the Queen Elizibeth ocean liner.” lol
Another new one for me. Its quite remarkable, but it’s as you say, she had a purpose and just wasn’t really to give up.
It’s amazing that a ship could last that long in those conditions… thanks for reading Randy!
that’s really wild! Obviously a well-built ship to not give in to the pressure of being stuck in the ice frequently. I wonder if they will ever find it?
I don’t know…wouldn’t it be something (no I don’t believe it) if they found her incased in ice somewhere? Still above the water? Yes…she had to be built well to withstand 40 years (that we know of) of no crew!
So spooky!
It is! She could still be out there wandering around!
Here’s my companion piece, Max.
https://theelephantstrunk.org/2026/10/30/ss-baychimo-arctic-ghost-ship/
How fascinating! Sounds like no lives were lost, so that’s a good thing. The name is distinctive enough that if she is ever found I will remember this story.
Thanks Lisa! Yes it was nice having a nice “ghost” ship and one that gave comfort to strangers….but just don’t try to take her! I have to wonder…how long after 1969 did she float?
Max is it possible she is still floating up there somewhere?
Yes! There is…I doubt it after all of these years but…there is a chance. It lasted over 40 years on it’s own that we know of. Those hunters were grateful for her…but they did get kinda spooked because of the noises in the hull. Wouldn’t that be a great story if she was found?
YES! I don’t think it was a coincidence that the ship was there for the hunters. Imagining them saying a prayer for shelter and she answered the call.
Yes…and when that guy tried to take her…the weather crowded around her. Just think of the other people who probably have used her that I didnt find! And I just looked up the oldest ghost ship still floating ever found…yes indeed…it is the SS Baychimo.
This is straight out of some nautical ‘Believe It Or Not’ ghost story collection. Great tale, and fact is stranger than fiction.
Isn’t this great? The little ship that could lol. Over 40 years on her own…and making it! No maintenance or anything else…no cross waves sinking her. One of the reasons I would guess is…she spent so much time stuck in ice.
A great story! Your title reminds me of the B. Traven novel “The Death Ship”. A Death Ship can either be a ship worth more scuttled for its insurance coverage than continuing to be used or, in this case, a ship crewed by men who lack documentation, so they can never go ashore. They will die on the ship. The protagonist had his papers stolen and could not get them replaced, so he would sail on this decrepit ship for slave wages until he died.
Thank you! That novel sounds great! I’ll have to look into that book…thank you.
Yea there is a true story of a ship that a time bomb was placed on to blow her up so the owner could collect the money…called The Lucona. He got by with it for years until it was found and they proved it was blown up. There are so many great stories out there that center around ships…but yes…I need to get that novel though.
You certainly know how to find and narrate a famtastic story Max. A great read. That ship definitely had a mind of its own.
Thank you, Bruce…that means a lot to me coming from you! These ships carry so many good stories.
thiis is eerie