Peril Strait

Peril Strait is a strait in the Alexander Archipelago in southeastern Alaska at 57° N 135° W. It is between Chichagof Island to its north and Baranof Island and Catherine Island to its south. The strait is 80 km (50 miles) long and reaches from Salisbury Sound on the west to the Chatham Strait on the east. It is entirely within the limits of Sitka City and Borough.

The strait was originally named by Baranof's fur seal hunting expedition in 1799. Baranof employed native Aleuts, which ate poisonous shellfish from the strait, which resulted in one hundred deaths. Beyond the strait are the points Poison Cove and Deadman's Reach, also named for the incident.

As the strait does run between two large bodies of water (the aforementioned Chatham Strait and Salisbury Sound/Pacific Ocean), the tidal currents pose a danger to large vessels navigating the body of water. This is demonstrated by the Alaska Marine Highway System only running its mainline vessels through Peril Strait at slack tide, with the exception of its fast ferries.

On May 10, 2004, the AMHS vessel M/V "LeConte" grounded on Cozian Reef in Peril Strait. There were no major injuries, and after an extensive salvage process, the "LeConte" was escorted to Ketchikan for successful repairs. The cause of the grounding was determined to be operator error, not tidal currents.

The Fairway Island Light, located on the eastern entrance to Peril Strait, was an important aid-to-navigation in the early 20th century.

References

* [http://books.google.com/books?id=EQeLinhUr5AC&pg=PA150&lpg=PA150&dq=peril+strait+deadman's+reach] - Google Books scan of "Alaska, The Great Country", 1908, Ella Higginson