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COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL • JANUARY 2, 2019 • 9A Off beat Oregon: Youngesters’ summer shipwreck couldn’t happen today By Finn J.D. John For The Sentinel T he fi rst day of summer vacation in 1930 was a real red-letter day for Washington High School stu- dents Stan Allyn and Wally Sten- lake. Of course, every high-school kid looks forward to that fi rst day of freedom. But Stan and Wally had a special reason: Th ey had a little excursion planned. Th ey were going to take their bicycles and ride from their homes in the Mount Tabor neighborhood of Portland out to Astoria, cross the river to the Washington side, go out on Pea- cock Spit at low tide, and spend the night on a shipwrecked pas- senger steamer, with breakers crashing around them when the tide came in. Th e S.S. Admiral Benson was, in 1930, a fairly new and modern passenger steamer, built during the First World War at Bethle- hem Steel back east. Since 1927 You don’t have to face your problems alone Alan D. Walker A Masters Level Christian Counselor Specializing in: Premarital, Marriage, and Family Grief & Loss, Depression & Anxiety Offi ces in Cottage Grove, Yoncalla, and Roseburg 541-817-6271 AlanWalkerPACO@gmail.com NEW EXPANDED HOURS Mon- Th urs 11- 9 • Fri - Sat 11 - 10 • Sun 11 - 7 Locally Sourced PIG & TURNIP EST 2015 UNITE German Inspired Fo o d Beer Wine Cider 60 Gateway Blvd. Cottage Grove, Or 97424 541-942-6130 • pigandturnip.com 418 A St., Springfi eld, OR 97477 • 541-968-2403 she had been on the San Francis- co-Portland run. On Feb. 15, 1930, the big steamer was on her way to Port- land with a cargo of citrus fruit and other general cargo, along with 39 passengers; the crew (in- cluding stateroom stewards, din- ing-room staff , and an orchestra) numbered 65. For a February day, the seas were fairly calm, and it was a routine run. Th e only problem was, it was extremely foggy. Th is was, of course, before GPS made it possible to really navigate blind. So Captain Charles Gra- ham and his offi cers were peer- ing into the cottony darkness, looking for the telltale fl ares of light from the Tillamook Rock Lighthouse and Columbia River Lightship that would tell them where to steer. Soon, the big steamer was rounding the turn into the Co- lumbia River, and lookouts were peering into the darkness look- ing for the channel buoys. Shortly aft er, one loomed up in the distance, visible through a break in the fog — black with a stripe across the middle. Th ey were off course, it appeared; the buoy was farther to the north than they’d expected. Th e ship changed course, steering toward it. Th en the lookout saw some- thing else: Breakers. Th e engineer slammed the drive screws into reverse. But by the time you can see breakers from the bridge of a 3,000-ton steamship that’s heading straight for them at 10 knots, there’s not much you can do other than brace for impact. So, a few sec- onds later, still lumbering along at a good clip, the Admiral Ben- son fetched up on the sands of Peacock Spit. Th e “buoy” they’d been steer- ing for now revealed itself. It was not, in fact, a buoy; it was the smokestack of the steamship Laurel, which had wrecked there the previous June. ore We Fetch You M yo ur door! …and deliver it all to Unlike what had happened to the Laurel, though, the Admiral Benson’s was a relatively gentle grounding, and there was no reason to think they wouldn’t be off the beach and back under way in a few days. Capt. Gra- ham ordered the ballast tanks pumped full of seawater, trying to pin the big ship to the sea- fl oor so that the waves wouldn’t be easily able to pick her up and slam her against the bottom. Th en the ship’s radio operator got on the air to request a little help from the Coast Guard, to get the passengers on their way to Portland and then try to re- fl oat the ship. Th e passengers and nonessen- tial crew were soon off the ship; the Coast Guard’s new motor lifeboats made such rescues al- most routine. Many of the pas- sengers had to slide down wet ropes to get to the rescue boats, to the dismay of the women, who of course were all wearing dresses and skirts. A line was also made fast to land, so that the remaining crew members could be easily evacuated via breeches buoy (basically a zipline) if nec- essary. Unfortunately, the February weather declined to cooperate with the plans to salvage the ship, and soon a mammoth gale blew up out of the southwest. Huge breakers hammered the Admi- ral Benson, wedging her farther up onto the sand and fl exing her hull enough to pop rivets. Finally the captain admitted defeat, and he and the remaining crew rode the breeches buoy to shore. Th e breeches buoy was strengthened and turned into a sort of platform tram, and over the next month or two it was used to take all the cargo off along with the more manageable bits of personal property. By late spring, the wreck was wholly abandoned, and it sat there on the spit, slowly being worked into the sand — which would eventually envelop it. Th is, then, was Stan and Wal- ly’s destination. Th ey had lashed bedrolls and some food — cans of beans and loaves of bread — to their bicycles. Th ey’d checked the tide tables and confi rmed that a minus tide was scheduled — a clamming tide. And so off they went. T he two boys made it to As- toria in one day of pedaling along Highway 30 — just over 100 miles. When they arrived, they were naturally exhausted; they found an abandoned street- car to roll out their bedrolls in, and the next day boarded the ferry to cross the Columbia River to Ilwaco. Th e crossing was long enough for them to enjoy a hot breakfast of ham and eggs, with hot coff ee, in the ferry’s café. Once on the Washington side, they worked their way down to Peacock Spit. Th ere was the Ad- miral Benson, looking as if she were sinking by the stern into a sea of sand. Th e boys stashed their bikes, collected their bed- rolls and food, and hustled down onto the beach. Th ey intended to spend the night on the wreck. When they got there, they found it wasn’t entirely high and dry. Th e ship sat in the middle of a great pool of tidewater, sever- al hundred yards across. So the two of them hastily lashed to- gether a makeshift raft made of drift wood, and made their way across to the hulk. Th e breakers had torn a hole in the stern of the ship, and they were able to paddle right into this, as if driving a car into a ga- rage. Th ey carefully worked their way around a huge sheet of steel that hung from the overhead by a dangerously frail-looking sort of hinge made of thin metal — it had been an engine-room bulk- head — and tied their raft off to a metal grate. Th en they climbed into the engine room and pulled their raft up high, out of reach of the incoming tide. Th en they set about exploring the derelict. T hey poked around the pas- senger rooms a bit, climbed to the bridge, stood on the peak of the bow nearly 100 feet above the sand. Th ey found payroll re- cords in the captain’s desk, and learned that he was paid $300 a month for his services. Stan found a dollar pocket watch in working order. And of course they nicked a few souvenirs — bits of easily removable ship trim and so forth. Th ey weren’t nearly done ex- ploring, though, when the entire ship trembled and a deafening crash was heard. Th e fi rst break- er of the incoming high tide had slammed into that loose bulk- head, pounding it forward like a pendulum to smash into the next bulkhead. Th en it happened again, and the boys realized that that piece of steel was going to repeat the performance every time a wave hit the ship … all the rest of the day, and all night. Although it was early summer, the seas were running high. Th e boys were, of course, now stuck on the wreck until the mi- nus tide returned the following day. Th ey would be on board the ship, listening to that constant racket, for a full 24 hours. Th ey wouldn’t get much sleep that night, up there on the tilt- ed fl oor of the bridge. And aft er night fell they wouldn’t be able to see the great combers pounding down on the wrecked hulk. But between the impacts of the great walls of water, and the hammer blows of that huge sheet of steel below, the two of them were more than a little afraid the ship would break up under their feet that very night and they’d drown on Peacock Spit. It didn’t, of course, and they didn’t, and the next day, their raft was still there and ready to take them back to shore. Th ey stashed all the souvenirs they’d taken, planning to come back for them sometime when they had use of a car; climbed on their wheels; and pedaled on back home. It was the kind of summer ad- venture that kids used to be able to have in Oregon, 75 years ago. Such a lark would be unthink- able today. Shipwrecks on the Oregon Coast are almost un- heard-of; when they do happen, as with the New Carissa incident in 1999, state bureaucrats get very excited and start fi ling law- suits, demanding instant remov- al. And any parent who allowed their teenage kids to pedal 100 miles to strand themselves on a wrecked ship like this would be in danger of losing custody. Modern teenagers can only wish they could undertake an adventure like this. In almost ev- ery way, the world is a far better place today than it was in 1930. In this one way, though … argu- ably, it’s not. (Sources: Th e Day the Sun Didn’t Rise!, a book by Stan Al- lyn published in 1991 by Bin- ford & Mort of Portland; Pacifi c Graveyard, a book published in 1950, also by Binford & Mort; “SS Admiral Benson grounds on Peacock Spit…,” an article by Daryl C. McClary in Histo- ryLink.org Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History at historylink.org.) Finn J.D. John teaches at Ore- gon State University and writes about odd tidbits of Oregon history. For details, visit www. fi nnjohn.com. Another dental visit? Turns out, you have better things to do with your time. Get FREE e-edition access with your subscription! 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Once the above discounted period ends, you will be billed at the regular subscription rates. S entinel C ottage G rove 116 N. 6th St. • PO Box 35 Cottage Grove, OR 97424 www.cgsentinel.com 541-942-3325 We know your time is valuable. That's why we've invested in CEREC technology that allows for a faster experience when you need crowns, fillings or veneers. With CEREC, there's usually no need for a temporary and return visit. Everything is done in one visit, in about an hour - leaving more time for whatever is important to you. Implants · Teeth Whitening · New State-of-the-Art Building Dr. Brent Bitner, DDS 350 Washington, Cottage Grove (behind Better Bodies) 942-7934 CEREC® is a registered trademark of Sirona Dental Systems.
