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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, JUNE 19, 2018
Photos by R.J. Marx/The Daily Astorian
Tara Erben, John Piatt, Bob Keeler and Elaine Trucke at
the ribbon-cutting of a new historic marker along U.S.
Highway 101 in Arch Cape.
New historical marker
celebrates USS Shark
Extraordinary
ship lives on
Photos by Rob Hilson/Chinook Observer
Lt. Jessica Shafer was offered congratulations as newly installed commander of Coast Guard Station Cape Disappoint-
ment by outgoing Lr. Cmdr. Thomas Condit.
Cape D welcomes first
female commander
Shafer was once
stationed at
lifeboat school
Chinook Observer
ILWACO, Wash. — After
141 years, Coast Guard Sta-
tion Cape Disappointment
welcomed its first female com-
mander during a time-honored
ceremony Monday morning.
Lt. Jessica Shafer was for-
mally put in charge of the sta-
tion where she served between
2002 and 2006 with the neigh-
boring National Motor Life-
boat School.
During Monday’s tradi-
tional ceremony, departing
Lt. Cmdr. Thomas Condit
transferred command to Sha-
fer, with Capt. Bill Timmons,
commander of Sector Colum-
bia River, presiding.
Shafer most recently
served as executive officer at
Station Fort Lauderdale, Flor-
ida. Shafer received her offi-
cer commissioning in 2013
after starting her Coast Guard
career in 2002 as an enlisted
member. Her first assign-
ment out of Training Center
Cape May, New Jersey, was
at the National Motor Lifeboat
School, which partners with
Station Cape Disappointment.
During her enlisted career,
Shafer earned her coxswain,
heavy weather coxswain,
tactical coxswain and surf-
man qualifications, as well
as multiple boarding officer
certifications.
“Surfman” is among the
Lt. Cmdr. Thomas Condit conducted his last inspection of Cape Disappointment person-
nel, while newly appointed Lt. Jessica Shafer conducted her first this Monday.
Lt. Jessica Shafer, center, Lt. Cmdr. Thomas Condit and
Chaplain Anthony Stallings, right, listened to Capt. Wil-
liam Timmons’ opening remarks.
Coast Guard’s highest-level
qualifications. In 2006, Cape
D’s Beth Slade was the only
woman in the entire active
Coast Guard with the rank,
which allows those who have
it to drive boats on search-and-
rescue missions in the most
dangerous conditions.
As of this March, there
were only four active-duty
female surfmen.
All Shafer’s experience
will come in handy at Cape
D, one of the nation’s busi-
est maritime search-and-res-
cue facilities. Operations at
the cape and adjacent waters
are known as the “Graveyard
of the Pacific.”
Condit will be reporting
to the International Train-
ing Division at Training Cen-
ter Yorktown, Virginia, as the
branch chief of the Mobile
Training Team.
Condit has been an active
member of the local com-
munity during his three-year
tour of duty in south Pacific
County. He was promoted
from lieutenant to lieutenant
commander in July 2016
while stationed here.
Jewell approves hiring deputy superintendent
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
JEWELL — The Jewell
School Board has approved hir-
ing Stephen Phillips as second
in command for the next school
year.
Phillips was last dep-
uty superintendent of Bea-
verton School District, where
he resigned after reposting an
anti-immigrant tweet.
Hunsaker and Principal
The school board
Terrence Smyth, who
voted 3-1 Monday
are both retiring at the
night to approve the
end of next year. Hun-
saker has been with the
one-year contract with
district since 2013, and
Phillips. Board mem-
ber Brian Meier was
Smyth since 2016.
the lone vote in oppo-
Phillips’ contract
Stephen
sition, but declined to
runs through the end
Phillips
comment why.
of next school year but
Phillips will be auditioning can be extended by the March
to replace Superintendent Alice school board meeting. He will
make $105,000. He will be
introduced at the July school
board meeting.
The school board also
approved a $5.7 million operat-
ing budget, including $2.5 mil-
lion for instruction and $2.8
million in support services. The
small K-12 district, located in
the Clatsop State Forest, is pri-
marily funded by timber tax
revenue.
Oregon court fast-tracks gun control petition
By DIRK VANDERHART
Oregon Public Broadcasting
Backers of a gun control
proposal aimed for Novem-
ber’s ballot got some unex-
pected help from the Oregon
Supreme Court on Monday.
The proposal, Initiative
Petition 44, has less than three
weeks to collect and submit
more than 88,000 valid sig-
natures. The petition had been
tied up after opponents with
the National Rifle Associa-
tion, Oregon Firearms Feder-
ation and other groups chal-
lenged its ballot language.
No longer. In a surprise
move, the Supreme Court
announced it wouldn’t enter-
tain those challenges, which
it said were “not well taken.”
The court instead certified
ballot language drafted by the
Oregon Department of Justice.
That means supporters
can begin collecting signa-
tures immediately. They had
been bracing for a weeks-long
delay that likely would have
doomed their chances of gath-
ering enough signatures by the
July 6 deadline.
Shortly after the announce-
ment Monday, backers of IP
44 were still deciding how to
react.
“We thank the court for
their quick action, affirming
the attorney general correctly
titled our measure,” said Jake
Weigler, a campaign spokes-
man. “We are disappointed the
gun lobby attempted to run out
most of the clock to keep vot-
ers from considering this mea-
sure. We are working quickly
to determine if we see a path
to qualify it for the ballot.”
Dubbed “Oregonians for
Safe Gun Storage and Report-
ing Lost/Stolen Firearms,” IP
44 would force gun owners
to secure their weapons with
trigger locks or other mech-
anisms when they aren’t in
use or being carried. Viola-
tors of the law could face fines
of up to $2,000 and would be
liable for any injury caused
by an unlawfully unlocked
weapon, excluding self-de-
fense situations.
The petition is one of
two gun-control proposals
that could come before Ore-
gon voters in November. The
other, IP 43, would place
heavy restrictions on mil-
itary-style
semi-automatic
weapons and magazines that
hold more than 10 rounds of
ammunition.
Pro-gun groups have also
appealed ballot language for
that petition to the Oregon
Supreme Court. The court
could rule as early as this
week.
By R.J. MARX
The Daily Astorian
ARCH CAPE — The
USS Shark was no ordinary
ship.
In the mid-19th century,
it was a trusted military ves-
sel that fought in combat and
navigated the Strait of Magel-
lan and beyond. But it met its
match in Oregon with the
mighty Columbia River.
“Everything that ship did
is so mind-boggling,” Elaine
Trucke, director of the Can-
non Beach History Center and
Museum, said. “It went all
over the globe, then it thought
it could do the Columbia Bar!
And it couldn’t!”
In an effort to get the
Shark off the south spit, the
crew chopped down the
ship’s three masts and jetti-
soned the cannons. When the
ship began to break up, the
crew took to lifeboats and
all on board were eventually
saved.
The
ship’s
captain
received information from
Native Americans that the
three cannons had come
ashore south of Tillamook
Head. Realizing it would be
impossible to retrieve the
ship’s remains from such a
remote location, they made
no effort at recovery.
On Friday, volunteers and
state officials converged on
U.S. Highway 101 just north
of the fire station in Arch
Cape to celebrate a new inter-
pretative marker dedicated to
the shipwreck.
her dad were out walking
and she said, ‘This looks like
a cannon!’ A couple of days
later someone found the third
cannon right near there.”
The restoration of the
three carronades became
a community project, with
the assistance of the Garden
Club, the Arch Cape Com-
munity Club, Historic Mark-
ers Committee, the Cannon
Beach History Center and
Museum and the Columbia
River Maritime Museum.
Funds were raised and
the carronades were restored
at the marine archaeology
department of Texas A&M
University before returning
to the North Coast. Today, a
replica stands at the site of the
historic marker. One carron-
ade stands at the history cen-
ter and two are on exhibit at
the Columbia River Maritime
Museum.
How did the Shark arrive
here? Trucke provided an
eloquent recounting of the
ship’s creation and its ulti-
mate demise.
‘Manifest Destiny’
The secretary of the Navy
in early 1846 sent the vessel
to the Pacific Northwest to
join the Pacific squadron. The
ship’s role was to defend U.S.
interests in the Northwest
and to spread the concept of
“Manifest Destiny” in the
Oregon territory when there
was doubt about whether it
would be British or Ameri-
can land?
President James K. Polk
sent the Shark to Oregon in
August 1846. The ship, 86
feet long, was designed for
speed and maneuverability
to navigate the waters of the
Namesake
West Indies.
The Shark was one of
The Shark’s impressive
hundreds of ships sunk along career saw it transport the
the coast, but one of the most naturalist James J. Audubon
notable — and the one that in 1831 to collect research
gave Cannon Beach its name. specimens. The Shark was
The new marker stands just the first U.S. ship to navigate
north of Arch Cape firehouse, the Strait of Magellan in 1833
where an original marker en route to Peru.
According to the “Arch
was installed in the 1980s.
The new marker, made of a Cape Chronicles,” by David
wood resin, includes histor- and Alma English, in the
ical information, photos and summer of 1846 Lt. Neil N.
illustrations recounting the Howison received orders to
carry supplies from Hono-
ship’s story.
Annie Von Domitz, of lulu in readiness to ascend
the Oregon Travel Experi- the Columbia River as far as
ence, supervised the renova- the Willamette. Their reports
tion of the historic marker, would assist in formulat-
in the style of the state’s his- ing a decision on the loca-
tion of the boundary
toric wooden beaver
between England and
markers. Arch Cape
the American lands.
resident John Piatt
Americans wanted
played a key role in
the board to be 54
working on the text
degrees, 40 min-
and drafts, with his-
torical support from
utes latitude, the rea-
son for Polk’s slo-
Trucke and Jeff
Annie Von
gan, “54-40 or fight,”
Smith, senior cura-
Domitz
tor of the Columbia
immortalized in his-
tory books.
River Maritime Museum.
But due to a lag in com-
The postmortem is as fas-
cinating as the Shark’s career munications, crew members
in the waters. Long after it were unaware that the U.S.
ran aground, the search for Senate had already ratified
the ship’s three carronades — a treaty with Britain making
small, powerful cannons used the U.S. border the 49th par-
to fire at ships at near range allel, rendering the journey
— became a local obsession. unnecessary. Some of the ship
“For decades, the cannon deserted, but the lieutenant in
played peekaboo,” Trucke command was “impatient,
naive and somewhat impet-
said.
One was found in 1896. uous” in seeking his return
Two others were discovered south. He attempted to cross
a day apart more than a cen- the Columbia Bar without a
tury later, in 2008, revealed bar pilot. With a sparse crew
by extreme low tides and the and bad weather, on Sept. 10,
natural loss of beach sand due 1846, the Shark was pulled
to winter storms.
directly toward breakers.
Piatt recalled: “The sand While the crew survived, the
was way out and a girl and ship was destroyed.
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