Wreck of the Peter Iredale - Fort Steven's State Park, Oregon - Page 2

How did she get there? It was October 25, 1906, Captain H. Lawrence, master, picked up Tillamook Rock Light at 2 a. m., and called all hands. They would stand off the Columbia to await a Pilot. A heavy southwest wind was in the making and sail was shortened. Before the faint glow of dawn the befuddled skipper found his ship amid a surging mass of breakers. Crunching over the bottom, the shock sent the mizzen top hamper crashing to the deck. The men scattered like frightened mice. The bark struck again. More sections of the masts, rigging, blocks and tackle, thundered to the deck. Again the crew scattered.

Captain Lawrence summoned all hands aft. The deck became a welter of wreckage. The Point Adams Lifesaving crew, assisted by volunteers from Fort Steven's, hastened to the wreck. All of the survivors were landed safely, though shaky from their experiences.

The Peter Iredale, 28 days out from Salina Cruz, Mexico, was under charter to Balfour, Guthrie and Company, and was to have loaded wheat on the river. Peter Iredale and Porter, large ship owners of Liverpool, owned her. The vessel's hull was little damaged from stranding and an air of optimism brought high hopes of salvage. It was planned to tow the ship, stern first, through the breakers into deep water. Nature was, however, the superior force and finally the underwriters had to admit defeat. They paid the ship's full insurance value.

For a few more weeks the shipmaster stood by, hoping against hope for a miracle, but all salvage operations were soon abandoned and the ship, now on a severe starboard list and half imbedded in the sands, was deserted. During World War II, the only enemy shells to strike Oregon soil landed near the Peter Iredale. They were shot by night from a Japanese submarine and soared directly over the wreck and into empty fields at Fort Steven's. No damage was done. The very next day the Army strung rolls of barbed wire from Point Adams south, to thwart a would-be enemy invasion. The old Peter Iredale was entwined in it and remained so throughout the war.