The Schooner Janus: Soapy Smith Escape Ship.

A SCHOONER

 

OAPY SMITH'S ESCAPE SHIP. 

The Janus.

On the morning of July 8, 1898, the day “Soapy” was killed in the shootout on Juneau Company wharf, Soapy may have sensed the possible end of his reign in Skagway, Alaska, possibly preparing for an exit route, when he purchased the schooner Janus from Captain S. E. Bright. My first introduction to the boat was in the probate paperwork, on the sale of ship, on display at the Skagway Museum. After Soapy’s demise Bright claimed that Soapy had not paid him for the boat, although he had given Jeff a bill of sale. The Janus was returned to Bright on July 23, 1898.

     The Janus was a twenty-ton schooner, “is but little larger than a fishboat,” but large enough for Soapy and the Soap Gang to escape in. According to the dictionary a schooner is “a sailing ship with two or more masts, typically with the foremast smaller than the mainmast, and having gaff-rigged lower masts.”

     The first known newspaper account of the Janus came from my friend, Gay Mathis, published in the Oregonian, August 27, 1897.

 

Contents of article below

 

FITTING OUT A FISHBOAT.
The Little Schooner Janus to start for Alaska.

ASTORIA, Aug. 28. ― A party of 11 San Franciscans has purchased the little schooner Janus, and is fitting her out for a trip to Alaska. The adventurers expect to start within a few days. Some of the party will sale from here on the little vessel, but the majority will go on board of her at Port Townsend. The Janus will be taken as far as Dyea and there sold. E. C. Merwin will have charge. The Janus is but little larger than a fishboat, and the trip will be an extremely hazardous one.

The next newspaper account was reported in the Delta Atlas (Delta, Ohio) on September 24, 1897.

 

Seek Gold in Copper River
Delta Atlas
(Atlas Ohio)
September, 24, 1897
Contents of article below

Click to enlarge

 

Seek Gold in Copper River.

     One of the most interesting expeditions that have yet gone to the gold fields of Alaska or the Northwest territory left Port Townsend last week in a twenty ton schooner called the Janus, headed direct for the Copper River country. The party is in charge of a man named George I. Rinnacks, who has spent all of five years in the Copper River country and has brought out large sums of money at different times, aggregating fully $200,000. The other members of the expedition are mostly Californians. The party is incorporated as the “Oakland Mining and Trading Company” and starts out under a copartnership agreement that binds them to remain together for two years. Their schooner was purchased at a cost of $1,500, and they put on board $2,000 worth of provisions and supplies. In addition to this each man is supplied with two repeating rifles and 500 rounds of ammunition; also two revolvers.
     The schooner Janus is headed direct for Port Hidalgo lagoon, which is a new route for entering Alaska, the Janus party being the first to go in this way. A landing will be made at a point called Turnigar, at the head of the lagoon, a place where no boat has yet landed, and which in reality has no official name. In order to reach this lagoon it is necessary to sail through the narrow passage between Seal rocks and Cape Hinchumbrook-a dangerous undertaking, on account of the shoals and treacherous currents. This passage leads into Prince William sound, with open-sea sailing until Snug Corner cove is reached, when another narrow body of water must be sailed through, with Bligh’s Island on the left. Here the lagoon is entered and the journey to Turnigar is continued. This lagoon is a narrow neck of water, at places very shallow, which makes it difficult of navigation.
     The Janus party expects to reach Turnigar within thirty days. On the way north the schooner will call at Juneau and Sitka to take on board thirty dogs that will be used to transport the supplies overland from Turnigar to the Copper River, which will be reached at a point just above Beaver River. From this place the general direction of the river will be followed northward, and it will be crossed three times, the final destination of the expedition being Tonsina creek. Six members of the party will be left on Tonsina creek, where Rinnack’s partner, Michael O’Donnell, is now holding their claims and mining some work, and the others will be sent eastward to the tributary of the White River, where it is claimed that location can be made that will not only rival but surpass the famous Klondike. …

     Almost four weeks later the Janus was thought to have been sighted by the schooner Pilot, and appeared to be “wanting assistance.” The story was published in the Sacramento Daily Union, November 2, 1897.

 

Unlucky Voyage of a schooner
Sacramento Daily Union
November 2, 1897
Contents of article below

Click to enlarge

 

UNLUCKY VOYAGE OF A SCHOONER.

Caught in a Terrible Storm in Northern Waters.

The Little Craft Comes Near Going to the Bottom of the Sea.

Her Crew of Four Men Compelled to Subsist on Quarter Rations for Many Days, the Vessel Not Being Able to Get Into Port Until Her Provisions Were Nearly Exhausted.

PORT TOWNSEND, Nov. 1. — The schooner Pilot returned to-day from an unlucky voyage to the halibut district of southeastern Alaska, her crew of four men having been on short rations for two weeks, and subsisting on quarter rations for the past eight days.
     The Pilot left Port Townsend eight weeks ago, but met with contrary winds from that time till she arrived home to-day.
     Passing out through Dixon's Entrance three weeks ago, a terrible storm was encountered. For twenty-eight hours Captain Johnson stood in the storm with bare poles, and the little craft was tossed about like a chip. When the storm was first broken he sighted a little schooner heading northward with the American flag flying. She appeared to be wanting assistance, but gave no further indications as the Pilot hove nearer, and Captain Johnson again hove off. The schooner was finally lost sight of. At no time could her name be distinguished, but her description fits the schooner Janus, which left here September 5th with a party of twelve California men bound for Copper River.

     Eight days later a newspaper article in the San Francisco Call on November 10, 1897 clarifies that it was not the schooner Janus that Captain Johnson of the Pilot saw in distress and “wanting assistance.”

 

"All is well with the schooner"
San Francisco Call
November 10, 1897
Contents of article below

Click to enlarge

 

    PORT TOWNSEND, Nov. 9.- A letter has been received from one of the members of the schooner Janus’ crew bound for Copper River.
     The letter was dated October 10 and sent from Port Neville, off Vancouver Island, about forty miles from Alert Bay. At that time all was well with the schooner.
     This makes it improbable that it was the Janus in distress that was sighted in a storm in Dixon’s entrance by the schooner Pilot.

     The success of the expedition is unknown, as is the fate of the Janus, before and after the time Captain S. E. Bright took possession and sold it to Soapy Smith on July 8, 1898. The original probate document reads as follows.

 

Probate document
July 23, 1898
Contents of document below
Courtesy of Skagway Museum

 Click to enlarge

IN THE U.S. COMMISSIONER’S COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF ALASKA

AT DYEA.

IN PROBATE.

IN THE MATTER OF THE ESTATE

OF

JEFFERSON R. SMITH, DECEASED. Affidavit of Capt. S. E. Bright.

S. E. Bright, being first duly sworn, says “I am the owner of the Schooner “JANUS” and other property, which I conveyed to Jefferson R. Smith on the 8th day of July, 1898; but the same was conveyed in trust only; and no consideration was passed from said Smith to me, although I gave said Smith a Bill of sale for the same.

The said property, although conveyed by me to said Smith was conveyed for the purpose of having said J. R. Smith to attend to and handle said property for me; and belongs entirely to me.

[signed]
S. E. Bright

Subscibed and sworn to before me this 23rd day of July, 1898.

[signed]
C. A. Sehlbrede U. S. Commissioner for Alaska.

     If only Soapy had not waited around in Skagway, escaping that same morning. A completely different story of Jefferson Randolph Smith II would be known.

Visit the Soapy Smith Soap Box blog

 

Apr. 13, 2010
Apr. 13, 2010
Nov. 16, 2011

The Janus: pages 530, 545.

"There are few things that are so unpardonably neglected in our country as poker. The upper class knows very little about it. Now and then you find ambassadors who have sort of a general knowledge of the game, but the ignorance of the people is fearful. Why, I have known clergymen, good men, kind-hearted, liberal, sincere, and all that, who did not know the meaning of a 'flush.' It is enough to make one ashamed of the species."

—Mark Twain