4 // COASTWEEKEND.COM
Books, gardening, hiking, hobbies,
recreation, personalities, travel & more
In Their Footsteps: Discover Oregon’s oldest-known shipwreck
Manila Galleon at sea by Roger D. Morris
ASTORIA — The next In
Their Footsteps free speaker
series event is “Oregon’s Old-
est Known Shipwreck: A
Spanish Galleon of 1693,” by
Cameron La Follette, is 1 p.m.
Sunday, May 19 at Fort Clat-
sop in the Lewis and Clark
National Historical Park.
It has long been known
that a large ship, probably
Spanish, wrecked on Nehalem
Spit centuries ago. Recently
an archaeological team (the
Beeswax Wreck Project)
determined it was most likely
Manila trade of which
the Santo Cristo de
the Santo Cristo de
Burgos, which left the
Burgos was a part.
Philippines in 1693
This talk will sum-
bound for Acapulco,
marize these archival
and was never seen
findings, the native
again.
traditions about the
La Follette and
Cameron La
shipwreck, and the
her team of indepen-
Follette
dent researchers then
150-year aftermath of
spearheaded research
treasure-hunting in the
into Spanish, Philippine and
Neahkahnie area that the gal-
leon wreck ignited.
Mexican archival sources
La Follette was the lead
that revealed for the first time
author on most of the articles
information about Capt. Iñi-
guez del Bayo, the crew, the
in the Summer 2018 issue of
cargo, the ship and the fabled
Oregon Historical Quarterly,
“Oregon’s Manila Galleon.”
She is the director of Oregon
Coast Alliance, a coastal con-
servation organization. She
is also lead author of “Sus-
tainability and the Rights of
Nature: An Introduction.”
These programs are held in
the Netul River Room of Fort
Clatsop’s visitor center and
are free of charge.
For more information, call
the park at 503-861-2471,
check out www.nps.gov/lewi,
or Lewis and Clark National
Historical Park on Facebook.
Wickie Weekend! A celebration of Pacific Coast lighthouse keepers
ASTORIA — Head
over to the Columbia
River Maritime Museum,
1792 Marine Drive, this
weekend where they will
shed some light on our
area lighthouses and their
keepers.
From noon-1 p.m. Satur-
day, May 18, attend “Light-
houses for Kids” (ages 5-10
accompanied by an adult).
Join the museum’s educa-
tion staff in a fun presenta-
tion on why we have light-
houses. All participants will
leave with a working model
of Cape Disappointment
Lighthouse.
From 2-3 p.m., join
Debra Baldwin of Light-
house Digest for “Light-
house Keeper Tales of
the Pacific Coast: Humor,
Heartache and Heroism.”
At 11 a.m. Sunday, May
19, there is a U.S. Coast
Guard grave marker place-
ment ceremony honoring
Tillamook Rock Lighthouse
Head Keeper Robert Gerlof
at Ocean View Cemetery in
Warrenton.
Since 2011, Light-
house Digest, a Maine-
based national publication,
has been sponsoring grave
marker placement ceremo-
nies across the United States
to honor U.S. Lighthouse
Service and U.S. Coast
Guard keepers and person-
nel. Participants will include
personnel from USCG Sec-
tor Columbia River, Aids
to Navigation Team Astoria
and the Marine Safety Unit
Portland.
Robert Gerlof
of the Tillamook
Rock Lighthouse
from 1903 to
1928
Debra Baldwin of
Lighthouse Digest
Lighthouse Keeper Robert Gerlof
Robert Gerlof was one of the most famous lighthouse
keepers on the Pacific Coast. He served at Tillamook Rock
Lighthouse, arguably the most difficult lighthouse assign-
ment in the history of the service, for 25 years from 1903 to
1928, the last 10 of which as head keeper.
Keeper Gerlof had no family and it was often said that the
lighthouse was wife and children to him. He was extremely
dedicated and never wanted to leave the light, even to the
point of requesting upon his death to be put in a special
weighted bag “slide me off the West side of the Rock, you
know, where it is the steepest as I always want to be near
the Rock.”
Of the 115 known keepers that served during the 76-year
history of Tillamook Rock Lighthouse, Robert Gerlof is most
deserving of this honor, not only because he served there
the longest, but for his unwavering commitment to duty
and deep love of the rock as his only home.