On March 11th, 1942, while performing zigzag patterns while under sail in an effort to avoid any torpedo launches from Japanese submarines thought to be in the area, the steamship Mount McKinley ran aground at Scotch Cap.

Now beached, all travelers on the vessel were able to disembark unharmed. But, the vessel was stuck firmly.

While salvage plans were underway later that Spring, huge storms moved through the Unimak Island area. The storms broke the vessel up. The vessel would never be salvaged from the beach.

The 360-foot Mount McKinley had its beginnings in 1918. The vessel was commissioned the USS Santa Luisa. It made two round-trip sailings to France hauling cargo for the war effort. With the war closing down later that year, the vessel was decommissioned and turned back over to the Shipping Board and its original owner WC Grace.

The vessel spent the next 24 years with the shipping line under the names El Salvador, Santa Ana and Mount McKinley before grounding on Unimak Island in 1942.

  grounding, japanese, mckinley, mount, scotchcap, steamship, submarines