The Baychimo SS - Arctic Ocean Near Alaska, USA

The SS Baychimo was built in 1914 in the country of Sweden.  She served as a Swedish vessel through the World War I.  After the war, The Baychimo was given to Great Britain for war reparations and was the acquired by the Hudson Bay Company.  She served an import part of exploring the Arctic passageways through the 1920s.  However, in the fall of 1931 the Baychimo was returning home with a load of furs when the harsh Arctic conditions had other ideas for her.  She became lodged in the ice and the captain, fearing for the crew's safety, had them flown out of the ice pack to the coast.  

SS Baychimo, legendary ghost ship of the Arctic

An extreme winter storm wracked the area.  The crew returned to attempt to free the ship when conditions were better, however, the Baychimo was gone.  She would never return home as planned.  It was presumed that the ship had gone down in the shifting ice. 

Later in 1932, a few months after she disappeared, an explorer and his dog sled team spotted the ill fated ship several hundred miles away from where she was lost drifting in the Arctic.  The Baychimo was seen again and again that year by various parties traveling over the ice pack.  A year after she was lost, a group of Eskimos found the ship and had to take shelter in it for weeks when an extreme storm hit.

SS Baychimo, legendary ghost ship of the Arctic caught in an ice pack

In 1934, another ship exploring the Arctic came across the Baychimo and actually boarded and investigated.  She was seen many times after that over the years but the drifting ice and harsh winter freezing made it impossible to retrieve her.  Over the years the ship became a legend of the Arctic.  Baychimo was THE ghost ship of the Arctic Ocean.  It was the ship that wouldn't die.

Almost 30 years after the ship was lost, some local natives were fishing in the Beaufort Sea and spotted the ghost ship adrift and unmanned.  Eight years later in 1969, the ship was found one last time frozen in the ice.  After that, the Baychimo was never seen again.

SS Baychimo, legendary ghost ship of the Arctic was last seen caught in an ice pack in 1969 in the Beaufort Sea and has never been seen since

Efforts are being made by the Alaskan Government to determine the last known position of the Baychimo and perhaps raise her from the depths as she is a historic part of the exploration of the northwest passage and is a legend of her time.

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