On August 14, 1901, the S.S. Islander departed Skagway for Seattle, carrying
nearly 200 crew and passengers. Many of the passengers were successful miners
returning from the Klondike with their horde of gold. Later that night, the
Islander struck a rock near the southern tip of Douglas Island and sank
within twenty minutes—forty lives were lost.

In 1934, an attempt was made to salvage the ship and recover the six tons of
gold presumed to be present. During salvage, the bow broke away and
was not raised to the beach. It is assumed that most of the gold was in the bow
section of the ship and remains on the bottom.

In 2012, Ocean Mar Inc. was granted rights to initiate a salvage operation. If
indeed the wreck contains six tons of gold, it could be worth over $230 million
dollars.

The S.S. Islander is mentioned in Forging North.