UPDATE – Canadian Steamer SS City of Medicine Hat Discovered in Saskatchewan

 

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

CC Image Courtesy of Space Ritual on Flickr

UPDATE 3/12/13 – The Star Phoenix released a story yesterday concerning recent archaeological work performed on the SS City of Medicine Hat which sank under mysterious circumstances on June 7, 1908. The lead archaeologist on the project, Butch Amundson, now believes that the steamer was wrecked on purpose. This is due to a surprising lack of personal effects on the wreck and the removal of expensive items such as its 6-foot tall brass music box just prior to the ship’s sinking.

PREVIOUS POST – The Star Phoenix reported earlier last week that more than 1,000 artifacts have been recovered from what is believed to the wreck of the SS City of Medicine Hat. Designed and built by the wealthy and eccentric Scottish nobleman Horatio Hamilton Ross, the ship was intended to operate as an inland steamer in Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, Canada.The ship sank on her maiden voyage from Medicine Hat, Alberta to Winnipeg, Manitoba on June 7, 1908. City of Medicine Hat’s rudder was rendered inoperable when it snagged an underwater obstacle and the vessel drifted against a bridge abutment where it capsized under the swift river currents of the South Saskatchewan River.

There were no casualties in the sinking and the ship sank into both metaphysical and physical obscurity. This August, though, a crew working to replace a bridge across the South Saskatchewan River recovered more than 1,000 artifacts from approximately 25 feet below the surface. Archaeologists working with the project believe with substantial certainty that the artifacts belong to the City of Medicine Hat. Miscellaneous artifacts such as an anchor were previously recovered in 2006 and 2008, but this is the first comprehensive recovery of items since initial salvage efforts concluded on the vessel in 1908. While the final disposition of the artifacts is still in question, they most certainly will assist historians in painting a more complete picture of turn of the century riverine life in central Canada.