Discover Top Posts Tagged with #princess may

princess may's iconic stranding rppc ca. 1910

#postcard #postcards #shipwrecks #alaska #princess may #rppc #1910s #steamships

kids I miss

#i like drawing old characters that used yo mean a lot to me. feels like visiting someone i havent seen in a while #half upon a time #huat #james riley author #jack the thirteenth #princess may #cannot remember her last name oops #art

HSH Princess Victoria Mary “May” of Teck, later HM Queen Mary

#queen mary #mary of teck #queen mary of teck #british royal family #royal history #Queen #Princess May #Princess Mary #Victorian

S.S. Princess May wrecked on Sentinel Is., Alaska, August 5, 1910.

On 5 August 1910, Princess May, having departed from Skagway under the command of Captain MacLeod with 80 passengers, 68 crew, and a shipment of gold, was proceeding south down Lynn Canal in heavy fog. At a speed of about 10 knots (19 km/h), the ship ran aground on rocks near the north end of Sentinel Island, where there was a United States lighthouse station. It was high tide (the tidal range being about 16 feet at this point) and the momentum of the ship forced it well up onto the rocks, with the bow jutting upward at an angle of 23 degrees. This produced a number of photographs of the ship's predicament which were sold all over the west coast.

May was equipped with wireless, but at that time it was not standard practice to equip the wireless set with auxiliary battery power. Thus, if electrical power was lost on the ship in general, the wireless would also go down. This happened on May when the engine room flooded. The wireless operator, W.R. Keller, did not have time to send out a distress call before the main power was lost. Thinking quickly, he ran down to the engine room, where the incoming water was by then waist deep. Keller rigged an improvised electrical connection with the engine room telegraph battery, and using this was able to send out a wireless distress call before the engine room was completely flooded. The message sent by Keller stated: “S.S. PRINCESS MAY SINKING SENTINEL ISLAND; SEND HELP.”

The close proximity of Sentinel Island allowed a safe place to evacuate the passengers and crew, as well as land the gold shipment and the mail for safekeeping. Later the passengers and crew were picked up by Princess Ena and other rescue ships and taken to Juneau.

Over 120 plates were damaged on the hull. The largest hole was about 50 feet (15 m) long and 18 inches (460 mm) wide. The engine rooms were flooded, and the ship could not move on its own. To remove Princess May from the rocks, the ship's owners hired Capt. W.H. Logan and the Seattle-based salvage tug Santa Cruz, as well as the William Jolliffe, one of the most powerful tugs on the British Columbia coast. Temporary shipways were built and rocks were blasted, and after several previous attempts failed, on 3 September 1910, the salvors were able to refloat the ship and tow it to port. This was the 32nd time that Captain Logan had successfully salvaged a ship. The cost of the salvage and the subsequent repair was $115,000.

#shipwreck #princess may #alaska #sentinel island

‘It is to Princess May’s singular credit that...in the first weeks of their marriage, her husband fell deeply in love with her. By nature direct and monogamous, he never wavered from this devotion for the rest of his life.’

“I know I am, at least I am vain enough to think that I am capable of loving anybody (who returns my love) with all my heart and soul, and I am sure I have found that person in my sweet little May. You know by this time that I never do anything by halves, when I asked you to marry me, I was very fond of you, but not very much in love with you, but I saw in you the person I was capable of loving most deeply, if you only returned that love....I have tried to understand you and to know you, and with the happy result that I know now that I do love you darling girl with all my heart, and am simply devoted to you....I adore you sweet May, I can’t say more than that.” ~George to May, 1893, some months after their honeymoon

“Georgie is a dear....he adores me which is touching. He likes reading to people so I jumped at this and he is going to read me some of his favourite books.”

~May to Madame Bricka, 1893, during her honeymoon at York Cottage

Prince George wrote to his mother from Sydney, during their Australian Tour as Prince and Princess of Wales:

“Darling May is of the greatest possible help to me and works very hard, I don’t think I could have done all this without her. Everybody admired her very much which is very pleasing to me I hope you are as proud of your daughter in law as I am of my wife.”