FEBRUARY 1, 2018 // 23
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word
Crossword Answers
nerd
By RYAN HUME
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FOR COAST WEEKEND
IREDALE
[AɪƏR•DEɪL]
noun
1. Peter Iredale (ship):
This four-masted steel bark
famously ran aground on
Clatsop Spit near Fort Ste-
vens on Oct. 25, 1906. The
vessel was built in Maryport,
England, in 1890 by R. Rit-
son & Co. Ltd. Measuring
285 feet of steel plates upon
an iron frame, the Iredale
would prove to be the largest
ship Ritson ever constructed.
The wreck occurred on
the ship’s ninth voyage to
the Oregon Coast, all flown
beneath the Union Jack.
Having departed Salina
Cruz, Mexico, on Sept.
26, the Iredale reached the
mouth of the Columbia
River before dawn on that
fateful morning.
En route to Portland to
drop off 900 tons of sand
and gravel ballast and pick
up a supply of wheat bound
for the United Kingdom,
captain and crew lost control
of the ship around 6 a.m.
while waiting for a bar pilot.
A strong gale emerged, forc-
ing the bark into the break-
ers on a collision course
with Clatsop Spit. Upon
impact, three of the ship’s
masts split, leaving only the
jigger mast aloft. There were
no major injuries, and the
crew immediately shot off
flares. They were retrieved
by a team from the station at
Point Adams.
According to the Oregon
History Project, Captain H.
Lawrence offered his shaken
crew a bottle of whiskey,
saluted the ship, and said,
“May God bless you and
may your bones bleach in
these sands.” By the next
morning the shipwreck had
already become a spectacle
gathering onlookers, and it
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FILE PHOTO
The Peter Iredale, run aground
has continued to be a pop-
ular tourist draw for more
than 100 years as the winds
and tide have noshed those
bones Captain Lawrence
spoke of, leaving only the
bark’s steel hull and iron
frame to rust in the wet sand
and salt.
Origin
While there is some
debate, general consensus
concludes that Iredale means
“Valley of the Bright River.”
It is a locational British sur-
name, a variant of Airedale,
which can be traced back to
West Yorkshire and to the
winding route of the River
Aire and the Aire Valley.
The river slices wildly
above and below ground
through the green valleys
of Yorkshire before being
trained by canal through
downtown Leeds to empty
in the River Ouse in the
village of Airmyn, which
comes from the Old English
meaning “river mouth.”
The word Aire is of dis-
puted origin, but historical
English sources from the
19th century often translate
this as “bright river” or
“strong river,” and it may
have been adopted from
either a Celtic source or an
Old Norse term. Dale means
“valley” and is first noted
in 12th-century Middle
English, having arose from
the Old English dæl. The
surname is first recorded in
church records from the 16th
century.
What is firmly estab-
lished is that the infamous
bark is named after Liver-
pool’s Peter Iredale, the Brit-
ish shipping magnate and
partner in the firm Iredale
& Porter Ltd that commis-
sioned the building of the
ship.
Having gone to sea at
age 17, Iredale amassed a
generous fleet throughout
the second half of his life,
often christening his vessels
to memorialize the important
things in his life, includ-
ing his wife and two of his
daughters, his wife’s maiden
name and the Cumbrian,
which refers to the coastal
region of Cumbria where he
was born. He also owned a
ship named Astoria.
Iredale died Oct. 26,
1899, and did not live to
see his eponymous vessel
run ashore a day prior to the
seventh anniversary of his
passing.
“At 7:45 o’clock yester-
day morning, in a swelter of
mist and fog, with a fierce
Sou’east gale blowing, the
British four-masted bark
Peter Iredale, twenty-nine
days out from Salinas Cruz,
Mexico, in ballast, Asto-
ria bound for orders, went
ashore on Clatsop Spit, at a
point about one mile south-
west of the old Point Adams
lighthouse and a quarter of
a mile from the grave of her
English sister, the Cairns-
more.”
— “Bark Peter Iredale
Ashore on Clatsop Spit,”
The Morning Astorian, Fri-
day, Oct. 26, 1906, P. 1
“To the Editor: The Peter
Iredale, wrecked some 30
years ago on the stretch of
beach between Seaside and
Warrenton, still rides the
ghostly mists, and is a men-
ace to Japanese submarines.
“Last Sunday night,
when the Jap sub chanced
along our shores — look-
ing maybe for Shangri-La
— there was the old Peter
Iredale, poking her prow
at her. So what could any
self-respecting submarine
do but let her have it.
“The evidence seems to
show that the Japanese navy
can’t afford to take any
more chances, even with
ghost ships.”
— W. G. Bauman,
“Attack on Iredale,” The
Oregonian, Wednesday,
June 24, 1942, P. 8 CW
Every Thursday
Dec. 28, 2017
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