Casco Cove.
General. At the retaking of Attu by the US Forces during WW2, Massacre Bay, off which Casco Cove is, claimed 70 of their 74 landing craft in the first 10 days of engagement due mainly to the fog and conditions. Now-a-days, with modern charts and GPS positioning there is very little to cause concern.
Reported. July 2003 by Fine Tolerance
Charts. NOAA 16421, NOAA 16423, large scale harbour chart NOAA 16432.
Approach. There are many rocks in this area but all that we know were well marked on the chart. There is plenty of room between the various widespread rocky outcrops and reefs.
Anchoring. We anchored in two spots. The first was at 52° 48.7 N, 173° 10.1 E in eight meters, black sand, good holding. This spot can get a bit rolly when there is a swell running outside and after sounding out the area with a lead line from the dinghy we moved and re anchored at 52° 48.5 N, 173° 09.8 E. in 3.5 meters. This puts you further in behind the breakwater. The bottom here is also black sand with a light weed cover. If the wind is from the north you may wish to anchor in the northern part of the bay. From what we could discover there are no rocks of obstruction here although you will need to anchor about 200 plus meters out as this end of the cove gently slopes up. We would have been quite confident in anchoring at this end if the need had arisen as it appeared to be all good holding black sand. In 1995 a friend with a centerboard yacht drawing 800mm tied to the old seaplane poles that are just inside the breakwater.
Points of Interest. WW2 relics abound. If you walk out on the track towards the coast you will come across heavy gun sites with trenches and wooden ammo racks. When we were there, there was a nine person archeologist team evacuating an early Aleut home which dated back to pre Russian contact. The old buildings at the south end of the cove were once the Loran station. The new Loran station, you can’t miss it as the tower reaches quite a height, is at the other end of the cove. This is manned by 20 Coastguard personal. They do have a small store for there own use where it is possible to buy some chocolate bars or corn chips, etc, but this would depend entirely on their current policy and availability. They did have Attu Loran Station sweat shirts and caps for sale. No diesel is available. They are also not equipped in any way to affect a rescue. Their only vessel is a small inflatable kept for recreational purposes. There is a well maintained track leading up to Engineers Hill from the current Loran station.
Looking into the southern end of Casco Cove. Seaplane poles and jetty ruins
visible.
Chichagof Harbour Massacre Bay Casco Cove Navy Cove Pyramid Cove