The Thetis was a Scottish-built steamer with a rich history. The steamer made several trips to Alaska during the summer of 1888. One of those trips was a four month, 10,000 mile exploration of Alaska's coastline from Sitka to Point Barrow, while another was to search for the missing schooner Jane Grey. Then resident Territorial Governor of Alaska, Alfred Swineford, was one of the distinguished passengers onboard, along with his wife and step daughter, Agnes Shattuck (b. 1879). This picture of the Thetis was from Agnes' collection during her family's residency in Sitka, Kechekan, and later Juneau, Alaska where she lived fro
m 1886 until 1960. 
Mrs. Shattuck's collection of photographs was prolific, with scenes of the coastline from the steamer to those of the Eskimos invited onboard or seen going about their daily life. She left a wonderful legacy of old prints of this region during this time period, with many prints taken onboard the Thetis. Eventually, the Thetis became part of the Revenue Cutter Service in 1899 which transported Siberian reindeer to Alaska. After 34 year of service, it was grounded off the coast of Newfoundland in 1950.Picture Captions: First picture is "USSThetis Leaving Norfolk, USA", collection of Mrs. Allen Shattuck . Below, the picture on the right "A Group of Women and Children on Ship's Deck", and on the left "Woman and Babe on the Thetis", collection of Mrs. Allen Shattuck, "A Summer on the Thetis", 1888, Alaska State Library - Historical Collections, Juneau, Alaska.
