ALASKA THE GREAT CHAPTER XIV Sailing through the winding Peril Strait and into the magnificent Sitka Sound reveals a world of breathtaking d

Sailing through the winding Peril Strait and into the magnificent Sitka Sound reveals a world of breathtaking danger and beauty. Baranoff Island’s snow-draped slopes and the perfectly domed Mount Edgecumbe frame a seascape dotted with countless emerald islands. The straits—full of whirlpools, sunken reefs, and narrow passages like Sergius and Whitestone Narrows—require precise navigation. Sitka Sound, with its maze of over a thousand islands and the historic Japonski Island, holds tales of Russian settlements, deadly tides, and natural wonder. At its heart lies Sitka, a town cradled by sea and forest, history and myth, where Alaskan wilderness meets cultural legacy.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter fourteen, sailing down Lynn Canal, Chatham Strait and the
narrow winding peril straight the sapphire watered and exquisitely island
Bay of Sitke is entered from the north. Six miles
above the Sitka of to day, A large wooden cross
marks the site of the first settlement, the scene of

(00:20):
the great massacre. On one side are the heavily and
richly wooded slopes of Baranoff Island, crested by many snow
covered peaks which float in the higher primrose mist around
the bay. On the other, water avenues growing to paler
silvery blue in the distance, wind in and out among
the green islands to the far sea, glimpses of which

(00:42):
may be had. While over all and from all points
for many miles, the round, deeply cratered dome of Edgecombe
shines white and glistening in the sunlight. It is the
superb feature of the landscape, the crowning glory of a
scene that would charm even without it. Mount Edgecumbe is

(01:02):
the home of Indian myth and legend, as is Nass
River to the southeastward. In appearance, it is like no
other mountain. It is only eight thousand feet in height.
But it is so round and symmetrical, it is so
white and sparkling see either from the ocean or from
the inner channels. And its crest is some can so

(01:25):
evenly into an unforgettable crater, that it instantly impresses upon
the beholder a kind of personality among mountains, in beauty,
in majesty, in sublimity. It neither approaches nor compares with
twenty other Alaskan mountains which I have seen. But like
the peerless Sheshalden to the far westward, it stands alone,

(01:47):
distinguished by its unique features from all its sister peaks.
Not all the streams of lava that have flowed down
its sides for hundreds of years have dulled its brilliance
or marred its graceful outline. I have searched Vancouver's chronicles
expecting to find Edgecombe described as a mountain having a

(02:08):
very elegant hole in the top to match his elegant fork.
On Mount Olympus of Puget Sound, Peril Strait is a
dangerous reach, leading and sweeping curves from Chatham Strait to
Salisbury Sound. It is the watery dividing line between Shishigov
and Baranoff Islands. It has two narrows where the rapids

(02:31):
at certain stages of the tides are most dangerous. Upon
entering the strait from the east, it is found to
be wide and peaceful. It narrows gradually until it finally
reaches in its forty mile windings, a width of less
than one hundred yards. There are several islands in peril Strait,

(02:52):
Fairway and Traders at the entrance broad and Outstown the starboard, Puvstoy, Ilovo,
Rose and Cane between Otsta and Poverstoe Islands. As dead
man's reach here are Peril Point and poison Cove, where
bare enough lost a hundred alleutes by their eating of
poisonous muscles in seventeen ninety nine. For this reason the

(03:17):
Russians gave it the name Pujibshi, which interpreted means destruction
instead of the pernicious or peril of the present time.
Dead Men's reaches as perilous for its reefs as for
its muscles. Haggit Reef, dolph rock Ford, rock a Lovo
Island and Krugler Reef are all dangerous obstacles to navigation,

(03:42):
making this reach as interestingly exciting as it is beautiful.
Fierce tides raised through sergious narrows, and steamers going to
and from Sitka are guided by the careful calculation of
their masters that they may arrive at the narrows at
the favorable stage of the tides. Boors racing several feet high,

(04:03):
terrific whirlpools, and boiling geysers make it impossible for vessels
to approach when the tides are at their worst. This
is one of the most dangerous reaches in Alaska. Either
Rose or Adam's Channel may be used going to Sica,
but the latter is the favorite. Cacol Narrows leads into

(04:24):
Salisbury Sound, but the sickened steamers barely enter this sound
ere they turn to the southeastward into Niva Strait. It
was named by Port Luck for the Marquis of Salisbury.
Entrance Island rises between Neva Strait and Saint John the
Baptist Bay. There are both coal and marble in the

(04:45):
latter bay. Hallick Island is completely surrounded by Naquasina Passage
and Olda Strait, joining into one grand canal of uniform
With all these narrow, tortuous and perilous waterways window around
the small islands that lie between Baranoff Island on the
east and Khrusof Island on the west. Baranoff is one

(05:09):
hundred and thirty miles long and as wide as thirty
miles in places. Kruzof Island is small, but its southern extremity,
lying directly west of Sika, shelters that favored place from
the storms of the Pacific. White Stone Narrows in the
southern end of Neva Strait is extremely narrow and dangerous,

(05:31):
owing to sunken rocks. Deep draft. Vessels cannot enter at
low tide, but must await the favorable half hour. Sitka
Sound is fourteen miles long and from five to eight wide.
It is more exquisitely island than any other bay in
the world, and after passing the sight of Baronoff's first

(05:52):
settlement and old Sika Rocks, the steamer's course leads through
a misty emerald maze, sweeping so slowly around the green
shore of one island a dozen others dawn upon the
beholder's enraptured vision, frequently appearing like a solid wall of green,
which presently parts to let the steamer slide through when

(06:14):
at once another dazzling vista opens to the view before
entering Sitka Sound. Halleck, Partov's, Chigov and crestof are the
more important islands in Sitka Sound, crow Apple and Japansky.
The latter island is world famous. It is opposite and
very near the town. It is about a mile long

(06:37):
and half as wide. Its name japan was bestowed because
in eighteen o five a Japanese junk was wrecked near
this island and the crew was forced to dwell upon
it for weeks. It is greenly and gracefully draped with
cedar and spruce trees, and is an object of much
interest to tourists around Japonski, cl Luster more than a

(07:00):
hundred small islands of the Harbor group. In the whole sound,
there are probably a thousand, but some are mere green
or rocky dots floating upon the pale blue water. A
magnetic and meteorological observatory was established on Japonsky by the
Russians and was maintained until eighteen sixty seven. Copyright by E. A. HEG. Juno,

(07:24):
courtesy of Webster and Stephen's Seattle and Alaskan road House
copyright by e ay heg Juno, courtesy of Webster and
Stephen's Seattle, an Alaskan road house,