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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JULY 29, 2016
HISTORIC
PHOTOS OF THE WEEK
SHIPWRECKED
By ELAINE TRUCKE
Special to The Daily
Astorian
I
n early January 1881,
the Bri tish ship Lupatia
wrecked on Tillamook
Rock, a wreck that killed 16
sailors and had only one sur-
vivor — a shepherd dog that
accompanied the crew.
The Lupatia met its doom
130 years ago this month, and
we need only read a newspa-
per to be reminded of other
ships that never came back to
port again. For example, the
remnants of the 1908 wreck
of the Emily Reed in Rock-
away Beach recently resur-
faced only last month, after
the less-than-hospitable Ore-
gon Coast weather shifted
sands that hide the wreckage
for decades at a time.
Only eight crewme n
from the Emily Reed were
claimed by the tumultuous
waters of the Pacifi c, but over
1,000 lives have been lost on
the n orthern Oregon Coast
alone due to the unfavorable
weather, dangerous coast-
line, and treacherous river
crossings seafarers dealt with
year round, but especially in
winter.
The Lupatia was known
as a bark ship, or a ship with
three masts, and wrecked a
mere three weeks before Til-
lamook Rock Lighthouse
went into full operation.
Capt. Wheeler, who was in
charge of construction of the
lighthouse, roused his crew
when startled by the sound of
voices outside.
“The weather was thick,
with a strong southwest gale,”
says Lewis and Dryden’s
“Marine History of the
Pacifi c Northwest.” “They at
once sighted the red light of
a ship inshore, and heard a
terror-stricken voice give the
order, ‘Hard aport.’”
Wheeler ordered his crew
to place lanterns in the uncom-
pleted tower and began build-
ing a bonfi re to warn the ves-
sel of the rock only 600 feet
away. Unfortunately for the
Lupatia it was too late.
“Her yards were aback,
and she seemed to be work-
ing out of the dangerous
place, but soon afterward the
red light disappeared, and no
further cries were heard from
those on board,” says Lewis
and Dryden.
The lighthouse workers
were optimistic that perhaps
some crew had survived the
incident, but the following
day 12 dead bodies were dis-
covered on the nearby beach.
Whining amongst them was
the dog, more fortunate than
his human companions.
Not every shipwreck on
the Oregon Coast claimed
the lives of sailors. In fact,
the wreck of the Peter Iredale
in 1906 left all 27 people on
board unharmed, including
two stowaways.
By the time the Peter Ire-
dale reached Tillamook Head
in October 1906, Tillamook
Rock Lighthouse had been in
operation for nearly 25 years.
The ship’s lookout sighted
the lighthouse at 3:20 a.m.,
so the course was altered, but
the wind shifted, a heavy north-
west squall struck the vessel,
and the ship ran aground.
“We consider that every-
thing was done by the master
to get his ship out of danger,”
said P.L. Cherry of the Brit-
ish Vice -Consul in Novem-
ber 1906. “The set of the cur-
rent and the sudden shift of the
wind drove him so close in that
in the act of wearing around to
get his ship’s head off shore,
she stranded.”
Most coastal residents have
seen the wreckage of the Peter
Iredale at Fort Stevens State
Park, formerly a military out-
post, where the rescued sail-
ors from the wreck were fed,
clothed and housed after the
incident.
Not all shipwrecks occurred
in poor weather, however. On
Oct. 1, 1913, a beautiful day
with calm seas and nearly no
clouds, the Glenesslin, bound
for Portland, was sighted sail-
ing unusually close to Nehalem
shores.
Cannon Beach’s Paul Bartels
recounted his impressions of the
wreck in a 1978 oral history.
“The Glenesslin came in at
Neahkahnie Mountain,” Bartels
told the Cannon Beach History
Center. “I took the picture with
one of those old-timey cameras,
you know the kind that you have
to throw the black rag over your
head.”
“The day was nice and the
old sea captain, he had been hit-
tin’ it pretty heavy, because they
were coming ashore. You see,
they wanted to get rid of the
whiskey,” Bartels said. “They
were all pretty well loaded up,
and he said he was going to
lay down a while. At 2 o’clock
he was woken up and they had
changed course. They were
coming up on the rock and there
was no wind so they just plowed
right into the rock.”
The Court of Inquiry held
to determine the cause of the
wreck confi rmed the suspi-
cions of helpful beachgoers who
helped tie lines to the rocks on
shore and pull the 21 drunken
crewmen to safety.
There was no mistaking the
odor of liquor on many of the
survivors, reports said.
For his negligence, Capt.
Owen Williams, master of the
ship, as well as his second mate
John Colefi eld, were suspended
for six months. The fi rst mate
Submitted Photos
Glenesslin
Graveyard of the Pacifi c holds
the ships’ ghost stories some-
where in her stormy depths.
Elaine Trucke is the exec-
utive director of the Cannon
Beach History Center and
Museum.
F.W. Harwarth got off with a
reprimand.
No matter the cause of
the tragic ends of the thou-
sands of vessels that have met
their deaths on the Oregon
Coast, one thing is for sure, the
Peter
Iredale
?
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