BRAVING THE
GRAVEYARD
OF THE PACIFIC
N
Did you know?
Submitted photo courtesy Nehalem Valley Historical Society
The Oakland wrecked on the beach in Manzanita in 1916. Unlike the 1913
wreck of the Mimi, the Oakland was repaired and returned to sea.
Submitted photo courtesy of Marine Arche-
ology Society
The Mimi, a German barque that ran
aground on Manzanita beach in 1913,
rolled over while salvage operations
were underway.
Submitted photo courtesy Columbia River
Maritime Museum
We remain fascinated by the stories behind local shipwrecks. They represent the best of people in the worst of circumstances
Story by DAN HAAG
Nicknames aren’t easy to shake. While they
may not always be a badge of honor, a nickname
can serve as a useful cautionary tale. Such is the
case with the waterways in the &olumbia3aci¿ c
region, long ago dubbed the “Graveyard of the
3aci¿ c´ by wary mariners.
What’s in a name?
7he title “Graveyard of the 3acific´ wasn’t
given lightly. Our regions’ coastal waterways
earned that moniker on merit.
The area stretches from Tillamook Bay on
the Oregon Coast northward to Cape Scott
Provincial Park on Vancouver Island, Brit-
ish Columbia. A combination of unpredict-
able weather conditions combine with coast-
al characteristics have caused a significant
number of wrecks in this area.
The title likely originated from the earli-
est days of the maritime fur trade. Incomplete
charts and out-dated navigational techniques
led to increasing numbers of traders’ ships
being wrecked.
If this region is the graveyard, than its
headquarters is the Columbia Bar, which has
claimed 2,000 vessels and 700 lives since
1792. Here, ships often battle strong winds
and mighty swells.
In 1862, U.S. Navy Cmdr. Charles Wilkes
12 | October 29, 2015 | coastweekend.com
gave this grim assessment: “Mere descrip-
tion can give but little idea of the terrors of
the bar of the Columbia; all who have seen it
have spoken of the wilderness of the ocean,
and the incessant roar of the waters, repre-
senting it as one of the most fearful sights
that can possibly meet the eye of the sailor.´
One only needs to see the skeleton of the
Peter Iredale embedded in the sand on Clat-
sop Spit in Fort Stevens State Park to be re-
minded of these dangers.
“The Columbia River is one of the most
dangerous waterways in the world,´ says -eff
Smith, curator at the Columbia River Mari-
time Museum.
Still, people are fascinated by the stories
behind these men and ships. They represent
the best of people in the worst of circum-
stances.
Chris Dewey, adjunct instructor of an-
thropology and archaeology at Clatsop
Community College, says these stories hold
historical importance for our area. “Ship-
wrecks hold a special place in peoples’
imagination,´ he says. “They bring togeth-
er the romance of the sea and the mystery
of how the vessel met its ultimate fate. For
centuries, brave sailors ventured over the
horizon to places unknown only to run afoul
of enemies, weather or bad luck. Shipwrecks
can tell those stories.´
The Mimi
The Mimi was a German barque that ran
aground on the beach at Manzanita in 1913. She
had become lost in dense fog, and the ship’s
master mistook the Nehalem River for the Co-
lumbia River. Amazingly, not a single crewman
was lost in the wreck. But things would take a
turn for the worse.
A salvage operation ensued April 6, 1913
with a team of 26 men. The group included the
ship’s captain, insurance representatives, and
crewmen.
Engineers were on hand to operate a “steam
donkey,´ a steam-powered winch employed by
the maritime and lumber industries. The plan
was to use the winch to help dislodge the Mimi
from the sand.
“The ship was in pretty good shape when it
ran aground,´ says Tom Mock, president of the
Nehalem Valley Historical Society. “They de-
cided they needed to remove the ballast to move
it, and it became too top heavy.´
During the operation, a heavy storm and
high surf rolled in. The pull of the steam donkey
caused the barque to capsize or “turn turtle.´
Twenty-two men were suddenly trapped in-
side the Mimi’s hull or clinging to her rigging
with night falling.
The Daily Capital, a Salem newspaper, re-
counted the events: “The fate of the men is
held a secret by the fury of the ocean, which
has made rescue impossible. Darkness tonight
saw the ¿ gures of men clinging to the boat, and
the wind brought their cries for help to the ears
of 1,000 or more people gathered on the shore
nearby, but every attempt at rescue met with
failure«´
Only four men were saved.
Manzanita beach has seen its fair share of
wrecks: the Frances Leggett sank in 1914 with
65 lives lost; the Oakland beached in 1916; the
Glenesslin ran aground near the base of Neah-
kahnie Mountain in 1913.
In her 2004 book “At The Foot Of The
Mountain,´ author -ane Comerford noted that
“by the turn of the 19th century, and into the
1920s, beached vessels were a somewhat com-
mon event.´
“You get in the lee of Neahkahnie Mountain,
and it’s real dif¿ cult to turn back,´ Mock says.
The Vaslav Vorovsky
In November 1941, the freighter Vaslav Vor-
ovsky became the ¿ rst Russian vessel to wreck
on the Columbia River bar. All things consid-
ered, the crew was very fortunate.
Loaded with heavy cargo, the ship encoun-
tered a ferocious gale and attempted to turn back
before suffering a steering malfunction.
Helpless, the ship grounded on Peacock Spit
near the Columbia’s mouth and was soon broken
apart by the surf. Fortunately, all of the 37 crew
Left: These spoons, now housed at
the maritime museum, are from the
Vaslav Vorovsky, a Russian freighter
that wrecked on Peacock Spit in 1941.
A crewman gave them to a member of
Submitted photo courtesy Columbia River Maritime Museum
the U.S. Coast Guard who helped with
the rescue of the crew.
Russian sailors abandon the doomed freighter Vaslav Vorovsky, which wrecked in the Columbia River in 1941.
were rescued thanks the prompt actions of the
U.S. Coast Guard.
Smith enjoys recounting the human story that
sprang from the Russian freighter’s demise.
Early in his tenure at the Columbia River
Maritime Museum, Smith came across a collec-
tion of photographs that depicted the wreck of
the vessel and the ensuing rescue of its crew.
He noticed several different
spellings of the ship’s name and de-
cided to dig deeper.
“It was early in my time at the
museum, and it kind of became my
shipwreck,´ Smith says. “It was just
one of those stories that wouldn’t
quit.´
He began to research the back-
ground of the incident and the peo-
ple involved. “The crew got safely
away, but the captain refused to
leave,´ Smith says. “Russian cap-
tains were apparently under strict orders from
Stalin not to leave their ships or face severe con-
sequences.´
The Coast Guard returned the next day and
was able to convince the captain to leave. The
fact that the ship was breaking apart under him
helped mitigate his fear of Stalin.
Smith says determining the facets to the story
was only the ¿ rst phase.
Several years later, a woman visited the mar-
itime museum and inquired after information on
the grounding of a Russian freighter in the riv-
er. Smith met with the woman and came to ¿ nd
that her husband had been with the Coast Guard
during the rescue of the Russian crew.
“It was a story he told her and then shared
with his kids,´ Smith says. “They all grew up
hearing about the Vaslav Vorovsky.´
One crewman had been so thank-
ful for his rescue that he gave the
woman’s husband a set of spoons
from the ship. In the course of his
conversation with the woman,
Smith mentioned that the maritime
museum would be a great place for
the spoons.
“About two weeks later I get this
padded envelope with four spoons,´
he says. “On the back of each was
the name of the ship stamped in Cy-
rillic writing.´
While the crew and captain were returned
safely to Russia, the captain was never heard
from again.
‘The Columbia
River is one
of the most
dangerous
waterways in
the world.’
Marine archeology
Formed in May 2015 in Astoria, the Marine
Archeology Society has set out to search for,
identify and document shipwrecks in Oregon
and Washington.
The society has already worked on projects
Submitted photo courtesy Columbia River Maritime Museum
The U.S. Coast Guard helps rescue Russian sailors from the Vaslav Vorovsky,
which wrecked in the Columbia River in 1941.
with the National Park Service at the Lewis and
Clark National Historical Park, and the Garibal-
di and Columbia River Maritime Museums.
Dewey, founder and president of MAS, is ea-
ger to ¿ nd the stories that are hidden within so
much sunken history.
He believes that the causes of shipwrecks
and glimpses into the lives of the sailors aboard
are vitally important to the bigger historical
picture. “In some cases, shipwrecks can pro-
vide new insight into the lives of passengers
and maybe tell us something new about past
societies,´ he says.
Dewey adds that while the larger, more fa-
mous wrecks capture most of the attention, he is
intrigued by smaller, relatively unknown vessels
that are wrecked around the area.
Case in point was the survey MAS recently
conducted of a small boat wreck in Lewis and
Clark National Historical Park.
Trained volunteers went out to the park at low
tide and took measurements of the boat’s details,
made drawings of the site, and took photographs.
Dewey says MAS plans to conduct oral histo-
ry interviews and compare the drawings to ves-
sels at the Columbia River Maritime Museum
and at Pier 39’s Bumble Bee Cannery Museum.
MAS is also in the process of raising mon-
ey to purchase an underwater remotely operated
vehicle (ROV) kit that will be assembled and
operated by students from Clatsop Community
• The Vaslav Vorovsky was
part of the Lend Lease Program,
in which the United States sup-
plied Free France, United King-
dom, the Republic of China, and
later the USSR and other Allied
nations with food, oil and ma-
chinery to fi ght Nazi Germany.
• A table that belonged to
Ben Lane, fi rst mayor of Man-
zanita, was recently located at
CRMM and brought to NVHS
for display. The tabletop is teak
from the still-mysterious bees-
wax ship, and the legs are wood
from the Mimi.
• When the Frances Leggett
sank off Manzanita in 1914, her
cargo of railroad ties washed
ashore and was quickly sal-
vaged by locals to use in house
construction.
• Peacock Spit is named for
the U.S. Navy sloop USS Pea-
cock, which wrecked at the foot
of the promontory marking the
north side of the Columbia Riv-
er’s entrance in 1841. The par-
tially submerged sand pit there
became known as Peacock Spit.
College and Warrenton High School.
Dewey says the goal of the project is to use
the ROV to search for, identify and monitor un-
derwater cultural heritage sites in Clatsop Coun-
ty and the surrounding areas.
“We are not treasure hunters; we seek infor-
mation not gold or silver,´ he says. “Maritime
archaeology is important because shipwrecks
are links to our past.´
Those in peril on the sea
Major wrecks are now few and far between
since the sailing ship gave way to power, but the
danger is ever-present. A mix of container ships,
¿ shing vessels and recreational craft still vie for
space on the ocean and the Columbia on any giv-
en day, and the dangerous conditions will always
be there to challenge them.
Thanks to the vigilance of the U.S. Coast
Guard and the Columbia River Bar Pilots, rec-
reational and commercial shipping have safe-
guards that mariners of 100 years ago couldn’t
have imagined.
In the meantime, mariners continue to put
faith in their experience, each other and their
vessels.
Capt. H. Lawrence, master of the Peter Ire-
dale, offered a ¿ nal, thankful toast to the ves-
sel that brought his men to shore in 1906: “May
God bless you, and may your bones bleach in
the sands.´
October 29, 2015 | coastweekend.com | 13