HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Peter Iredale'' was a four-masted steel
barque A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts having the fore- and mainmasts rigged square and only the mizzen (the aftmost mast) rigged fore and aft. Sometimes, the mizzen is only partly fore-and-aft rigged, b ...
sailing vessel that ran ashore October 25, 1906, on the
Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idah ...
coast en route to the Columbia River. She was abandoned on Clatsop Spit near Fort Stevens in Warrenton about four miles (6 km) south of the Columbia River channel. Wreckage is still visible, making it a popular tourist attraction as one of the most accessible
shipwrecks A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. Shipwrecking may be intentional or unintentional. Angela Croome reported in January 1999 that there were approximately ...
of the
Graveyard of the Pacific The Graveyard of the Pacific is a somewhat loosely defined stretch of the Pacific Northwest coast stretching from around Tillamook Bay on the Oregon Coast northward past the treacherous Columbia Bar and Juan de Fuca Strait, up the rocky wester ...
.


Namesake

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 Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...
,
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
, where his business was headquartered. The ship was built in
Maryport Maryport is a town and civil parish in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England, historically in Cumberland. The town is situated just outside the Lake District National Park, at the northern end of the former Cumberland Coalfield. Locati ...
in June 1890, by R. Ritson & Co Ltd for P. Iredale & Porter. She measured 2,075
net register ton Net register tonnage (NRT, nrt, n.r.t.) is a ship's cargo volume capacity expressed in "register tons", one of which equals to a volume of . It is calculated by subtracting non-revenue-earning spaces i.e. spaces not available for carrying cargo, ...
s and was 87 meters (285 ft) in length. The vessel was fashioned from steel plates on an iron frame. She 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.


Wreck

Sailing from Salina Cruz,
Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...
, on or about September 26, 1906, ''Peter Iredale'' was bound for
Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...
, Oregon with 1,000 tons of ballast and a crew of 27, including two
stowaway A stowaway or clandestine traveller is a person who secretly boards a vehicle, such as a ship, an aircraft, a train, cargo truck or bus. Sometimes, the purpose is to get from one place to another without paying for transportation. In other c ...
s. The voyage up the coast was unremarkable until the night of 25 October, when Captain H. Lawrence sighted the
Tillamook Rock Light Tillamook Rock Light (known locally as Terrible Tilly or just Tilly) is a deactivated lighthouse on the northern Oregon Coast of the United States. It is located approximately offshore from Tillamook Head, and south of the mouth of the Colum ...
house 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 ''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 (left) and become embedded in the sands. The salvage rights to the ship were sold in 1917, though the wreck was never actually broken up. 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."


World War II

The Oregon Coast saw action on the night of June 21, 1942 from Japanese submarine ''I-25'' during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
when several shells were fired at Fort Stevens. Though the wrecked ''Peter Iredale'' was in the line of fire, no damage was done to it. The next day, rolls of
barbed wire A close-up view of a barbed wire Roll of modern agricultural barbed wire Barbed wire, also known as barb wire, is a type of steel fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the strands. Its primary use is ...
were strung from Point Adams southward to hamper a potential
invasion of the United States The concept of an invasion of the United States relates to military theory and doctrine which address the feasibility and practicality of a foreign power attacking and successfully invading the United States. The country has been physically invade ...
Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...
, especially after
Kiska Kiska ( ale, Qisxa, russian: Кыска) is one of the Rat Islands, a group of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. It is about long and varies in width from . It is part of Aleutian Islands Wilderness and as such, special permission is requir ...
and
Attu Island Attu ( ale, Atan, russian: Атту, link=no) is an island in the Near Islands (part of the Aleutian Islands chain). It is the westernmost point of the U.S. state of Alaska. The island became uninhabited in 2010, making it the largest uninhabit ...
s in
Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S ...
fell under Japanese hands two weeks earlier. ''Peter Iredale'' was entwined in the
wire Overhead power cabling. The conductor consists of seven strands of steel (centre, high tensile strength), surrounded by four outer layers of aluminium (high conductivity). Sample diameter 40 mm A wire is a flexible strand of metal. Wire is co ...
and remained that way until the end of the war.


Today

Over a century since it ran aground, the remains of ''Peter Iredale's'' rusted bow and masts are still visible jutting out of the sand and are a popular tourist attraction. The wreck is contained within Fort Stevens State Park, which is part of Lewis and Clark National Historical Park.


See also

* ''
New Carissa MV ''New Carissa'' was a freighter that ran aground on a beach near Coos Bay, Oregon, United States during a storm in February 1999 and broke apart. An attempt to tow the bow section of the ship out to sea failed when the tow line brok ...
'' (a more recent Oregon Coast shipwreck)


References

*


External links


Peter Iredale at iredale.de1906 port view of wrecked ''Peter Iredale''Historic image of the wreck of the ''Peter Iredale''
from Salem Public Library {{DISPLAYTITLE:''Peter Iredale'' 1890 ships Oregon Coast Clatsop County, Oregon Shipwrecks of the Oregon coast Barques Maritime incidents in 1906 Ships built in England