2016 Edition
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Pictures of
2011,
2012,
2013,
2014,
2014,
2015 and
2016 trips to Fort Stevens.
Pictures of Cannon Beach visits in
2011
2013
2014
2014
2015
2016.
I was out to Ecola State Park earlier in
2014,
2014,
2015 and
2016.
I was out to see the
Wreck of the Peter Iredale in 2010 and
2016.
The Peter Iredale ran aground 110 years ago. As you can see, there's not
much left now. I'm guessing that the remains of the bow will collapse into
the sea within the next several years and that will be that. We always try
to take pictures of interesting things since you never know if they will
still be there the next time we return.
In Oct. 1906 there was fog and high tide and they saw the Tillamook lightouse too
late and ran aground. There was a life boat in Hammond and everyone was saved.
Had they just waited for low tide they could have walked to shore. The ship,
which was about at the end of it's useful life anyway was sold as scrap and this
is all that remains.
The Peter Iredale was a four-masted steel barque sailing vessel that ran ashore
October 25, 1906, on the Oregon coast en route to the Columbia River. It was
abandoned on Clatsop Spit near Fort Stevens in Warrenton about four miles south
of the Columbia River channel. Wreckage is still visible, making it a popular
tourist attraction as one of the most accessible shipwrecks of the Graveyard of
the Pacific.
The ship was named after Peter Iredale, who not only owned the vessel as part of
his shipping fleet, but was also a well-known figure in Liverpool, England, where
his business was headquartered.
The ship was built in Maryport in June 1890, by R. Ritson & Co Ltd for P. Iredale
& Porter. It displaced 2,075 tons and measured 285 ft in length and was fashioned
from steel plates on an iron frame. It had royal sails above double top and
topgallant sails, and was the largest vessel built by Ritson. The ship was
originally commanded by Captain G.A. Brown and later by Captain H. Lawrence.
Sailing from Salina Cruz, Mexico, on or about September 26, 1906, the Peter
Iredale was bound for Portland, Oregon with 1,000 tons of ballast and a crew of 27,
including two stowaways. The voyage up the coast was unremarkable until the night
of October 25, when Captain H. Lawrence sighted the Tillamook Rock Lighthouse at
3:20 a.m. local time. The crew altered course first east-northeast and then northeast
to enter the mouth of the Columbia River in thick mist and a rising tide. Under
strong winds out of the west, an attempt was made to wear the ship away from shore,
but a heavy northwest squall grounded the Peter Iredale on Clatsop Sands (now
called Clatsop Spit). High seas and wind drove the ship ashore. A lifeboat was
dispatched from Hammond, Oregon and assisted in evacuating the sailors, who were
tended to at Fort Stevens. No casualties occurred in the accident.
A Naval Court inquiry was held in Astoria on November 12 and 13, 1906, by the
British Vice-Consulate to determine the cause of the wreck. After investigating,
no blame was placed on Lawrence and the crew for the loss, and he and his officers
were commended for their attempts to save the ship.
There was little damage to the hull and plans were made to tow the ship back to
sea, but after several weeks waiting for favorable weather and ocean conditions,
the ship had listed to port and become embedded in the sands. She was sold for
scrap. All that remains is the bow, a few ribs, and a couple of masts.
Captain Lawrence's final toast to his ship was: "May God bless you, and may your
bones bleach in the sands."
The Oregon Coast saw live bombardment of the U.S. mainland from Japanese
submarines during the World War II when several shells were fired at Fort Stevens
on June 20, 1942. Though the wrecked Peter Iredale was in the line of fire, no
damage was done to it. The next day rolls of barbed wire were strung from Point
Adams southward to hamper invasion. The Peter Iredale was entwined in the wire
and remained that way until the end of the war.
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