Elizabeth Swift shipwreck

Nature of Casualty

Abandoned after trapped in ice. Tornfelt, Evert E., Burwell, Michael, Shipwrecks of the Alaskan Shelf and Shore, U.S. Department of the Interior, Minerals Management Service, Alaska OCS Region, 1992

The five northernmost ships, the Roman, Comet, Concordia, Gay Head, and George, were completely surrounded. Slightly to the south the John Wells, Massachusetts, Contest, J. D. Thompson, Henry Taber, Fanny, Monticello, and Elizabeth Swift were not as tightly gripped. Bockstoce, John R., Whales, Ice, and Men: The History of Whaling in the Western Arctic, University of Washington Press, Seattle Washington, 1986: 154

Official Number: 8176

Type: Bark

Length: 119 Feet

Home Port: New Bedford, MA

Place Built: Fairhaven, MA

Date Lost: Sept. 14, 1871

Captain When Lost: George W. Bliven

Where: Point Belcher, near Wainwright Inlet

Cause: Trapped in Ice and Abandoned

Cargo: 700 Barrels of Whale Oil