The North Coast times-eagle., October 01, 2006, Page 16, Image 16

PAGE 16
NORTH COAST TIMES EAGLE, OCTOBER 2006
WRECK OF THE PETER ¡REDALE
One hundred years ago the British four-masted sailing ship Peter Iredale was hurled onto
Clatsop Beach, where it has remained stuck in the surf and sand like an extinct beast in a tarpit.
The Iredale was on a record-breaking sail from Santa Cruz, Mexico to Portland, Oregon to take
on a cargo of wheat, and was making for the Columbia River when it was driven ashore near Fort
Stevens by a storm in the early morning darkness of October 25, 1906.
A century of wind and water in consort with salt and sand have rotted Peter Iredale to
rusted bones resembling a desert skeleton. Its gravesite acts as a museum to the vanished era
of windships and also as a symbol for the hundreds of vessels (sail, steam and diesel) and crews
that have perished in the waters around the Columbia River bar.
A legend grew that Iredale's captain toasted his deceased ship with a glass of whiskey
from a bottle rescued from the ship’s battered corpse, and then turned around and walked away
forever. Not true. What he actually did was salute its dying and surf-spasmed wreckage with a
swallow of whiskey, then passed the bottle around to rescuers. Afterward he and a mate pitched
a tent near the beached steel corpse (that a century later looks like an old cow bone) to keep
looters off until its cargo was unloaded.
A letter to the Oregon Historical Quarterly (March, 1963) by Rowena L. and Gordon D.
Alcorn, says that “Captain (H.) Lawrence and First Mate (John W.) Clayton camped on the sands
of Clatsop Spit within sight of the ship, to prevent any unauthorized visits, but a small party
managed to board the ship at low tide. When the visitors attempted to return to shore, strong
swirling eddies in the out-going tide swept one of the men around the end of the ship and out to
sea _ the only casualty of the wreck.” The body washed ashore later. The ship’s “stores and
rigging were removed, but hope of salvaging the Iredale eventually was given up.
The Alcorns wrote that by the evening of October 24,1906, Iredale was just 28 days out
of Santa Cruz when it ran into fog. “It was still foggy, but a strengthening wind seemed to indicate
that the fog would be dissipated by morning; then the ship could be turned toward the mouth of
the Columbia River." Captain Lawrence, who had made the passage many times before, thought
his ship was about 50 miles offshore. He was considerably closer. “Early on October 25, they
were still in a ‘swelter of mist and fog,’ though a fierce gale was blowing. The ship was skimming
along at a good clip, when suddenly breakers were sighted. All hands were called to bring the
ship about, but the strong southerly gale, combined with the force of the current and tide, drove
the ship closer to shore. The Iredale was now wallowing broadside in the toughs of the combers.
Then, with a grinding crash, the ship slammed down against a shelving bar of Clatsop Spit!"
The Alcorns quoted William K. Inman, who had been a member of the Cape Disappoint­
ment Life Saving Crew, which was located at Fort Canby (Washington) and was called out to
rescue the Iredale's crew. Inman’s rescue boat got across the Columbia River and over to the
wreck, which was toppled over on its side in the surf, its mizzen-mast snapped. Other boats were
already taking off the crew. Inman waded waist deep into the surf and carried Captain Lawrence
ashore from one of the boats. Inman “smiled as he recounted what happened next.
Captain Lawrence had brought only three things with him from the wreck. In one arm
he held the ship’s log and sextant; in the other he clutched a demi-john of whiskey. When I set
him down on the dry sand, he thanked me very politely. Then he did a most surprising thing.
Standing stiffly at attention, he peered sadly at the battered hulk, then he solemnly and with
great dignity, saluted his ship. "May God bless you.. and may your bones bleach in the sands "
Relics of Peter Iredale, including its binnacle and a painting of the ship by a Chinese
artist commissioned by a crewmember (which was and probably still is a common practice among
ships' crews) are on display at the Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria.
A personal note: As a former employee and sometime docent at the Maritime Museum,
whenever I enter the shipwreck gallery with a crowd or with friends, I compare Iredale's demise
with that of a tuna fishboat I was aboard {Meteor} that capsized in the Columbia River bar 34
years ago (August 29, 1972). As I usually do whenever anybody brings up RMS Titanic, as they
often do, I respond that no matter how large or small a vessel, “It’s the same sinking feeling for
anyone aboard whenever the rail goes under the water."
'-MICHAEL McCUSKER
COLUMBIA RIVER
MARITIME MUSEUM
VISIT THE MUSEUM SHOP
IN ASTORIA, OREGON
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