Life-saving boats : The U.S. Life-Saving Service was formed in 1848,
just as the Ship Graveyard of the Pacific was gaining its deadly rep-
utation around the mouth of the Columbia River. The station at Klip-
san Beach was established in 1891. The Life-Saving Service and the
Revenue Cutter Service merged to form the U.S. Coast Guard in
1915. — MATT WINTERS COLLECTION PHOTO
The Vazlav Varovsky 1941: The 374-foot Soviet freighter Vazlav Varovsky ran aground on Peacock Spit on the north side
of the Columbia’s entrance in 1941 while carrying a mixed cargo including $1.75 million in heavy machinery for Vladivostok.
Its crew of 37 was all rescued but the ship ruptured, spilling tons of goods including lard was used to make local pies
throughout the early years of World War II. — MATT WINTERS COLLECTION PHOTO
Lifeboats in surf: This circa 1900 photo captures some of the drama
and difficulty of rowing a rescue boat through the breaking surf near
Cape Disappointment. — MATT WINTERS COLLECTION PHOTO
Preparing a shooting line at Cape D: Coast Guard personnel shoot a rescue line to the Ray, a trawler stranded on the Long Beach
Peninsula’s wide shelf of sand on Aug. 31, 1938. The Ray was successfully refloated. — MATT WINTERS COLLECTION PHOTO
World War II Coast Guard beach patrol: During World War II,
beach patrols from the boat stations would routinely patrol against
“infiltration by saboteurs.”
Safeguarding Our Coast: U.S. Coast Guard 2015 • 15