In 1931, Chelan was at Squaw Harbor in the Territory of Alaska when she received word that the captain of the 21-gross ton motor vessel Gladiator had arrived at a lighthouse and reported that his vessel had drifted ashore and been wrecked on the coast of Unimak Island in the Aleutian Islands 20 nautical miles northeast of Cape Sarichef (coord) on 22 September after her steering gear broke in a gale