Homer Alaska - News -

Being used as a military transport, the Torrent, with Capt. Richard Carlton as master, was carrying Battery F, Second United States Artillery, from Washington State to the newly purchased territory of Alaska. Under the command of 1st Lt. John McGilvray, their mission was to establish a military presence at "Fort Kenay." Aboard were five officers, 120 enlisted men, four laundresses, two servants and 11 children, as well as the Torrent's crew.

"These were the first military troops sent (to Alaska) to establish a fort in Kenai," Dave McMahan, state archaeologist and deputy state preservation officer, said of the Torrent's historical role in the newly purchased territory of Alaska.

Lifted from the ship's watery grave by Lloyd and his team Ursa Lively, Ken Koga-Moriuchi, Andrey Nikolaev and Nick Teasdale and onto the Hickory's deck with the help of the ship's crane were a 220-pound mountain howitzer cannon and cannon balls; portholes, some with the glass still in place; a toilet; copper spikes and other pieces associated with the Torrent.

Among those present on the Hickory was John Goodman of Anchorage. In 1980, while researching the military records of his great-grandfather, Capt. Charles H. Peirce, Goodman stumbled across McGilvray's account of the Torrent's sinking. Three years ago, when Goodman happened to read about Lloyd's interest in shipwrecks, he decided to share the document with Lloyd.

From the report, it appeared McGilvray mistook the Spit for Fort Kenay. Determining it was not the best place to develop a post, and hearing that Graham Harbor (Port Graham) or English Bay (Nanwalek) were more favorable, McGilvray directed the Torrent to explore those areas. The ship left the Spit the morning of July 12, 1868, arriving at the entrance of Graham Harbor three days later. At 7:20 a.m. July 15, the Torrent struck Bird Reef.

"Ten minutes after the vessel struck, the mates reported six feet of water in the hold, and at 8:20 a.m., same day, when the last person was removed from the wreck, all the decks were under water, except the starboard side of the forward deck as far aft as the forerigging," McGilvray wrote in his report, adding that the "drunkenness of her master" was to blame for the Torrent's sinking.

Through an amazing display of speed and organization, no lives were lost.

In the days that followed, survivors worked to retrieve items from the ship as it continued to be battered on the reef. Natives living in the area traveled by bidarka to inform military personnel in Kodiak of the situation. On Aug. 1, 1868, the USS Fideliter, which had been in Cook Inlet, carried the last of the survivors, including McGilvray, off the beach.

Based on his work with other shipwrecks, Lloyd recognized the value of the information shared with him by Goodman. First, from the report's description, the wreckage would be within a reachable depth. As far as Lloyd knew, no other efforts had been made to explore the site. In addition, McGilvray's account provided enough detail to help Lloyd pinpoint the location.

"He talked about the course the ship was on when it sank, what happened after it sank, how deep the water was, how far from shore, how far they had to row to get to the beach, other details about the actual wreck itself, as well as the Torrent's mission," Lloyd said. "With all that information, I had enough to know it could be a viable search."

From past experience diving in Cook Inlet, Lloyd was uncertain the inlet's conditions would be in his favor. When diving on the USS Farallon about 60 miles from Homer (Lloyd wrote about it in "Farallon Shipwreck and Survival on the Alaska Shore"),he encountered visibility that extended little more than two feet. However, a flight over Bird Reef in 2006 indicated the visibility was better than Lloyd had expected.

Later that year, Lloyd and his dive team began their underwater search for the Torrent.

"We picked what we thought was a likely spot and I took the first dive to do a visual search of the bottom," Lloyd said. "On my first dive I found a big copper spike."

By the end of the 2006 diving season, "we knew we were close," Lloyd said.

Diving continued the following year. With the help of a marine magnetometer, Lloyd and his team found the Torrent's anchors and rudder, which marked the ship's bow and stern. They then concentrated their search between those two points.

During the project, Lloyd worked with the Alaska Office of History and Archaeology and with McMahan. Because items onboard belonged to the military, the federal government also was involved.

"We knew there would be a huge historical and public outreach for the Torrent's story and we needed help funding what we felt would be the best way to tell the story a documentary film," Lloyd said. That help came in the form of a $10,000 grant from the Alaska Humanities Forum.

Through McMahan, Lt. Commander Greg Tlapa and the USCGC Hickory were enlisted to help transport recovered items from the site to Homer.

Tuesday, the Pratt Museum unveiled pieces that had not seen the light of day for exactly 140 years. The items now will be taken to Anchorage for conservation, a process that takes approximately a year, according to McMahan.

"The repository of record is the Alaska State Museum," McMahan said of an agreement that has been reached between the state and federal government. "And hopefully (the items) will return to the Pratt."

Lloyd closed his comments at the Pratt by saying the recovered items were "tangible reminders of the dangers" Alaska mariners face.

Accompanying Goodman on the Hickory and at the Pratt were his daughter, Kim Evans, and grandsons Connor Young, 11, and Brett Evans, 5. Seeing the objects recovered from the Torrent, Goodman was aware of that page of Alaska's past and the importance of the report from his great-grandfather's military file.

"I want my grandsons to carry on this history," he said, wrapping his arms around his family.

The documentary of the Torrent will premiere at the Alaska Historical Society's annual conference in Anchorage in October.

For more information on Lloyd, visit the Web at www.lostshipwrecks.com. Video of Lloyd's first Torrent dives can be seen on You Tube.