Lynn Canal

Lynn Canal is an inlet (not an artificial canal) into the mainland of southeast Alaska.

Lynn Canal runs about 90 miles (140 km) from the inlets of the Chilkat River south to Chatham Strait and Stephens Passage. At over 2,000 feet (610 m) in depth, Lynn Canal is the deepest fjord in North America (outside Greenland) and one of the deepest and longest in the world as well.

The northern portion of the canal braids into the respective Chilkat, Chilkoot, and Taiya Inlets.

Lynn Canal was explored by Joseph Whidbey in 1794 and named by George Vancouver for his birthplace, King's Lynn, Norfolk, England.

Lynn Canal's location as a penetrating waterway into the interior connects Skagway and Haines, Alaska to Juneau and the rest of the Inside Passage thus making it a major route for shipping, cruise ships, and ferries.

During the Klondike Gold Rush it was a major route to the boom towns of Skagway and Dyea and thence to the Klondike gold fields. The worst maritime disaster in the history of the Pacific Northwest occurred in Lynn Canal during October 1918, when the S.S. Princess Sophia, steaming southbound from Skagway, grounded on the Vanderbilt Reef and later sank, with the loss of all 343 passengers and crew.

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