SS Governor (1907)

SS Governor was a coastal steamship built in 1907 by New York Shipbuilding Corporation. Governor could make 15.5 knots (28.7 km/h; 17.8 mph) and carry 566 passengers.^[1] She was built for Pacific Ocean coastal service along with SS Congress and SS President, serving cities such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, Vancouver and Victoria.

History
United States
Name	Governor
Owner	Pacific Coast Steamship Co.
Ordered	1906
Builder	New York Shipbuilding Co., Camden, New Jersey
Launched	1907
Completed	1907
Out of service	1 April 1921
Fate	Sunk after collision[1]
Notes	Sister ship to the SS Congress[1]
General characteristics
Length	417 ft (127 m)
Beam	48 ft (15 m)
Draught	22 ft (6.7 m)
Depth	37 ft (11 m)
Speed	15.5 knots (28.7 km/h; 17.8 mph)
Capacity	566 passengers

Loss

On 1 April 1921, while bound from San Francisco to Seattle, she was struck by the USSB West Hartland amidships on her starboard side during foggy weather at Puget Sound.^[2][1] Power aboard was lost immediately. Impressively, thanks to West Hartland's captain ordering full speed ahead, the West Hartland kept her position, keeping the hole plugged and allowing the Governor's crew and passengers to jump aboard her. She sunk in under 20 minutes with the loss of only eight people.^[3][4]

Salvage attempts

Since her sinking in 1921, there have been a handful of attempts at salvaging the ship's cargo. The first dive to Governor happened in 1976 by Kelly Finn and Eric Morris. They returned yet again in 1981. A vault aboard Governor was rumoured to contain $1.5 million worth of gold coins.^[4] To this day, the safe has not been recovered.^[5]