Amateur historian Doug Davidge wasn't expecting the discovery of the Gold Rush-era sternwheeler – the A.J. Goddard – at the bottom of Lake Laberge to top National Geographic's list of most viewed archaeology discoveries this year.

It came as a pleasant surprise when he learned of it, though. He figures there are probably a few reasons for it.

"The uniqueness of it is one thing,” he said in a recent interview, also pointing to its ties to the U.S.

The sternwheeler was brought to the territory from Seattle by the boat's namesake.

With his wife, he accompanied the boat north and hauled it over the Chilkoot Pass before it was reassembled and put in the water again, continuing its journey north.

It was the first sternwheeler to make it to Dawson over the Chilkoot Pass and spent three years transporting people and cargo between Whitehorse and the Klondike.

On Oct. 18, 1901, the Goddard would meet her end when a storm hit Lake Laberge and the fire in the boiler was extinguished by waves, leaving the crew unable to steer the boat. Three of the five on board died that day. The two survivors were rescued by a local trapper.

While research has been compiled over the years on the sinking of the Goddard, the exact location of where it sank was unknown until this year.

Using research and sonar technology, Davidge first spotted the Goddard as a blip. A decade past and he eventually was able to send down a remote camera for pictures in July 2008 with financial support from the Canadian Geographic Society.

Last summer, with support from the National Geographic Society, Davidge and others did a total of 28 dives to explore the ship.

"It's pretty special to actually see the vessel,” he told the Star in November, when news of the discovery broke. "Just to be able to dive on it and actually touch it was pretty important to me.”

As it's noted on the National Geographic website listing the top 10 viewed discoveries, the sternwheeler is sitting upright and "remarkably intact.”

Like an early 20th-century snapshot, "everything is just like it was when it went down in that late October storm in 1901,” said project leader John Pollack, a nautical archaeologist and National Geographic Society Waitts grantee. (The National Geographic Society owns National Geographic News.)

On the boat are the boots of the five-man crew, and firewood is still in the boiler . Cooking pots and other utensils are scattered about while axes lay on the deck, it's stated on the National Geographic site.

Once water started sloshing over the iron steamship's deck, "this thing went down like a submarine,” Pollack said.

Finding such a well-preserved wreck is unprecedented in the Yukon, it's noted.

"This is about as good as it gets.”

The discovery of the boat beat out others such as the finding in July of the largest known Anglo-Saxon gold hoard, two Japanese "samuri subs” off Pearl Harbour and others in the amount of viewing of National Geographic finds.

While Davidge continues to field calls on the find, the territory is working on coming up with a plan to protect the site.

"That's still in (the works),” Davidge said. Further research on the ship is also expected to be done.

"There is a story there,” he said, noting it's hoped officials can find out as much as possible about the boat.