SEATTLE – Saturday marks the 100th anniversary of what has been described as the worst maritime disaster in Puget Sound’s history: the sinking of the steamer Dix off West Seattle.
Forty-two people died the night of Nov. 18, 1906, when the vessel split as it crashed into a larger steamship called the Jeanie. At the time, the captain was collecting fares from the passengers, according to local maritime historian John Kelly.
Relatives of the victims plan to ride by boat Saturday morning to the spot of the disaster, where they will lay a wreath in the water to mark the centennial.
“My dad never talked about it,” said Mary Harris, whose grandfather perished along with his brother and sister. “And I never pressed him.”
The Dix was built in 1904 and ran from Seattle to the sawmill community of Port Blakely on Bainbridge Island. It remains 600 feet underwater in Puget Sound.
Crew members from the Jeanie saved 35 people.
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