Description du lieu patrimonial

The North Sea Wreck Site contains the remains of the 91 metre steel-hulled steam-powered passenger vessel SS North Sea, located in Seaforth Channel on British Columbia's central coast. The vessel struck Porter Reef in poor visibility conditions on January 29, 1947 and sat grounded on the reef until 1963 when it broke up and sank. The North Sea now lies broken into three sections covering an area of approximately 120 metres by 50 metres at Porter Reef.

British Columbia's Heritage Conservation Act automatically protects all heritage wrecks, including the remains of all wrecked vessels and aircraft once two or more years have passed since the date of loss. It is illegal to damage, alter or remove a heritage object from a heritage wreck except under a permit issued by the Archaeology Branch.

Valeur patrimoniale

The North Sea has historic value as a passenger and freight vessel, and cultural value in that it was a precursor to the modern cruise ships that ply the Inside Passage today. It also has recreational value as an adventure scuba diving destination.

The North Sea is valued as an example of the many combination freight/passenger vessels that historically moved people and goods through the Inside Passage to northern destinations in the first half of the 20th century, and for its service during the First World War. The North Sea was launched as the Plainfield in New Jersey in 1918 as an armed freighter for First World War service. It was later converted to a passenger vessel and underwent several ownership and name changes before ending up based in Seattle, Washington and renamed the North Sea.

The North Sea has cultural value in that its passenger cruises to Alaska in the early 1940s made it a forerunner of the modern day cruise ships plying the same route today. The vessel's voyages terminated at the historic city of Sitka, Alaska. Bookings on the North Sea were particularly heavy in 1940 and 1941 as the U-boat threat in the Atlantic diverted many pleasure-seekers to Alaska cruises. The vessel was taken over for war service in 1941 but continued on the Alaska run for the duration of the war. At the time of its loss, the North Sea was making scheduled passenger runs between Seattle and southeast Alaska. The vessel still bore its wartime grey paint at the time of its sinking.

The relatively shallow depth of the wreck and the abundance of marine invertebrates living on it also provide recreational value as a remote destination for recreational divers.

Éléments caractéristiques

The character-defining elements of the North Sea Wreck Site include:

- a three-dimensional bow section 7.7 metres in length lying on its starboard side on a northeasterly heading at the south end of the wreck site
- largely-collapsed stern section lying 29 metres northeast of the bow
- a steering quadrant and a rudder that remain attached to the stern section
- remains of the amidships section of the vessel lying 65 metres north of the stern section, that is substantially three-dimensional, with companionways and internal rooms still accessible to divers