http://www.vintageseattle.org/img/wreck/

I sent a number of pictures of the old Wreck at Ballard Beach, including pictures of the SS Annete Rolf when she wasa complete ship plus others to Jesse Cliffe at: Cliffe@vintageseattle.org. Check and see if he received them.

I assume he can post or pass them on. If not, let me know.
Enjoy.

George Spears

The Family genealogy is traceable to the 1400’s in Norway. Still existing is the Lomen stave church from circa 1100 in the Valdres valley of Norway.

Best regards,

Howard Lomen

The Ship S.S. Annette Rolph was named after the daughter of James “Sunny Jim” Rolph, Jr. who owned the ship-building plant in the town of Fairhaven (also called “Rolph“) California where the ship was built and launched on July 4, 1918. James Rolph was Mayor of San Francisco for 18 years (1912-1931) and Governor of California (1931-1934), He died in office in 1934. The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge is unofficially named The “James “Sunny Jim” Rolph Bridge” and the James Rolph Jr playground is located in San Francisco. Gov. Rolph received considerable nationwide criticism for publicly praising the citizens of San Jose following the November 1933 forced lynching of the confessed murderers of Brook Hart, kidnapped son of a wealthy San Jose merchant. He earned the nickname “Governor Lynch” for his support of the lynch mob.

A 245 foot long wooden ship, the S.S. Annette Rolph sailed as a tramp steamer during the First World War. Later, she ran coast wise between Vancouver, B.C. , Caliao, Peru and way ports. She was laid up in the Oakland Creek for several years when she came to the attention of the Lomen Brothers in 1930.

The Lomen Brothers had developed a herd of a quarter million Reindeer that ranged over 4 million acres of muskeg on the Seward Peninsula. To service their reindeer and move the meat south, the brothers purchased the S.S. Annette Rolph, formed the Artic Transport Line and re-named the ship “Arthur J. Baldwin”. For six years the ship moved thousands of reindeer carcasses from far North Alaska ports to Seattle and came to be known as the “Reindeer Ship” In March, 1936, the Arthur J. Baldwin was sold to the Alaska Steamship Co. who renamed the ship “Bering” and put her in general service. Her special run was the salmon cannery ports and traveled as far North as Point Barrow in the Artic Ocean. During World War II, the government took over the ship and named her USS Bering and sent her north as part of the Alaska supply line. On her first voyage for Uncle Sam, on December 17, 1943, the crew put the USS Bering on a reef near Cape Spencer. After resting on the beach for several months, she was re-floated and towed back to Seattle with continuous pumping. Upon her arrival at Seattle, she was condemned and sold for $1.00 to the Tregonning Boat Co, who moored her as a breakwater for a proposed small boat mooring at the entrance to the Lake Washington Ship Canal. After some years fire destroyed part of the Tregonning plant and the vessel was beached near the canal entrance. The War Shipping Administration, for whom the steamship company had been operating the USS Bering. reimbursed the owners in the amount of $100,000. In 1963, The Ballard Elks bought the shoreline where the beached ship was slumbering and the Elks had the Fire Department burn the hulk in January, 1964.

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Steve Ducharme posed a question on 12/3/08 asking information regarding the old wreck at Ballard Beach. I tried to comment on his response blog (2009 VintageSeattle.org. RSS. Comment Rss. No. 5909) but it would not go thru.

Basically, the comment was that I have the original Seattle PI Sunday Pictorial article dated June 14, 1964 entitled “Death of the Reindeer Ship”. This article is a wonderful description of the
history and pics of the ship being burned (S.S. Annette Rolf) plus pics of the ship when it was launched, pics of the reindeer herds in Alaska before being shipped to Seattle on the old ship and pics of Ralph Loman of the Loman Brothers
(a pioneer family who owned the ship and the reindeer herds in the Alaska tundra). It also turns out that I have in my possession the original ship’s bell engraved “S.S. Annette Rolf S.F. 1918″. I believe this ship’s bell is the last remaining artifact not only of the ship but of the fabulous story it represents. It would be good if you could pass this info on to Steve Ducharme since he indicates much interest in the history of this ship.

Thanks

George Spears