The SS Baychimo was a ship made of steel and weighed 1,322 tons. It was built in 1914 in Sweden and belonged to the Hudson's Bay Company. The ship was used to trade food and supplies for animal skins in Inuit communities near the coast of Victoria Island in Canada's Northwest Territories. In 1931, the ship was abandoned and became known as a ghost ship along the Alaska coast. It was spotted many times over the years, with the last reported sighting in 1969.

Early history

Baychimo was launched in 1914 as Ångermanelfven by the Lindholmens shipyard (Lindholmens Mekaniska Verkstad A/B) in Gothenburg, Sweden, for the Baltische Reederei GmbH of Hamburg. The ship was 230 feet (70.1 meters) long and powered by a type of steam engine called a triple expansion engine. It could travel at a speed of 10 knots (19 kilometers per hour; 12 miles per hour). Ångermanelfven was used on trade routes between Hamburg and Sweden until World War I began. After the war, the ship was transferred to the United Kingdom as part of Germany’s reparations for shipping losses. In 1921, the Hudson’s Bay Company purchased the ship. It was then renamed Baychimo and based in Ardrossan, Scotland. The ship made nine successful trips along the northern coast of Canada, stopping at trading posts and collecting animal pelts.

Abandonment

On October 1, 1931, after completing a trading journey and carrying a load of fur, the ship Baychimo became stuck in pack ice. The crew briefly left the ship, walking over half a mile across ice to the town of Barrow to stay safe for two days. When they returned, the ship had already freed itself from the ice. On October 8, the ship became stuck again, this time more deeply. On October 15, the Hudson's Bay Company sent planes to rescue 22 of the crew members. The remaining 15 crew members decided to stay on the ship if needed and built a wooden shelter some distance away. On November 24, a strong blizzard hit, and after it ended, there was no sign of Baychimo. The ship’s captain believed the ship had broken apart and sunk during the storm. A few days later, an Inuk seal hunter told the crew he had seen Baychimo about 45 miles (72 kilometers) away from their location. The 15 men followed the ship’s trail and, believing the ship would not survive the winter, took the most valuable furs from the ship’s hold to transport by air. After this, Baychimo was left behind.

Ghost ship

Baychimo did not sink, and many people saw the ship over the next several decades. People tried to board the ship more than once, but they either did not have the tools needed to save it or were forced to leave because of harsh weather. The last time Baychimo was seen was in 1969 by a group of Inuit, 38 years after the ship was abandoned. It was frozen in place within the thick ice of the Beaufort Sea, located between Point Barrow and Icy Cape in the Chukchi Sea near the northwestern coast of Alaska. What happened to Baychimo in the end is still unknown. However, because no one has seen the ship since 1969 and the ship’s metal would experience extreme temperature changes each year, it is believed that the ship sank.

In education

An article titled "Alaska's Phantom Ship" appeared in the textbook Galaxies (Houghton Mifflin: Boston, 1971, 1974, p. 180).