New "Chena" and "Aviation" Displays At the Valdez Museum

 By: Laura Johnston    Friday, May 29, 2015     No comments

Life Vest on Display at the "Remembering Old Valdez Exhibit"
 at the Valdez Museum Annex
Worn by Old Town Valdez Resident Bernard
Whalen during the 1964 Earthquake

On display at the “Remembering Old Valdez Exhibit" in the Valdez Museum Annex is “The Chena Display.”  The SS Chena was tied to the Valdez city dock at the time of the 1964 Good Friday earthquake. Twenty-eight excited adults and children, as tradition, waited patiently on the city dock to receive fruits and candy from the Chena. As the earthquake struck, the city dock buckled due to a large underwater mudslide eventually swallowing the dock. Those on the SS Chena survived as the ship bucked and rolled 180 degrees resulting in it's eventual push back out to sea, unscathed. The Chena display houses a life vest worn by a Bernard Whalen, a crew member on the SS Chena, two diagrams of how the Chena miraculously survived, a black and white picture of the Chena in 1964 and a first hand account of the experience by Captain M.D. Stewart, Master of the SS Chena. The life vest on display was graciously donated to the museum by the Whalen family.

In addition, on display at the Valdez Museum is an aviator jacket believed to be owned by Owen Meals. The Christenson's, Mike and LeAnn, donated the aviator's jacket. Bernard Whalen, who wore the Chena life vest, mentioned above, is LeAnn's uncle. The Valdez Museum received a grant from the Museum’s Alaska Collection Management fund to restore the aviator’s jacket, as it was torn and crumbling apart. Owen Meals, a Valdez pioneer, is said to have brought flight to Alaska. He moved to Alaska in 1904 during the Gold Rush. As an avid engineer and mechanic he opened the first Ford car dealership in Valdez, started an electric utility plant and flew planes transporting people and cargo into the wilds of Alaska.