THE PETER IREDALE

 

The Peter Iredale was a four masted sailing ship. She was steel plated over an iron frame. The ship was classed as a .barque I am not even an amateur when it comes to classifying a ship by how the sails are configuared. Four masts, lots of sails to keep in good condition. 

To be honest I was surprised to discover that sailing ships of the Iredale's size were still being built in the late nineteenth century. 1890 to be exact. The was 285 feet long and had a cargo capacity of just over 2,000 tons. 

And I'm not sure why we call ships she, but there it is. Her final voyage began at Salina Cruz in Southern Mexico on or around September 26, 1906 with a crew of twenty five bound for Portland, Oregon carrying one thousand tons of ballast. No paying cargo. 

On the night of October 25 the captain sighted the Tillamook Rock Lighthouse at about 3:20 AM. And over a century later the rest of the story gets a little weird. It's night. There's a heavy mist. The tide is rising. The captain decides to make a run for the entrance of the Columbia. Made it around the south jetty in the shipping channel but a squall with heavy west winds drove the ship ashore on the Clatsop Sandspit at the mouth of the river. The Iredale was grounded, lifeboats took the crew ashore at Hammond, Oregon near Fort Stevens. And the fort is a story for later. 

A court of inquiry under the jurisdiction of the British Vice-Consulate was held in early November. The court held the captain and crew blameless for the grounding. Honestly I wish I knew more about how

you handle a very large sailing ship at night, in the fog with the wind basically pushing you in the wrong direction, towards a river entrance that already a dangerous reputaion.

Plans were made to refloat the ship. Mother Nature had other plans. After weeks of bad weather the Iredale was well and truly embedded in the sands of the Clatsop Spit.

The salvage rights were sold in 1917 but never acted on. She slowly rusted and broke up over the years. A mast and what is left of the bow is all that remains of the Peter Iredale. And what you can see of that bow changes from year to year depending on how many storms we have each winter. Mother Nature brings the sands and Mother Nature takes the sand away. You can get to the wreck through the state park at Fort Stevens. And when you are done checking out the remains of the past you can watch cargo ships head up the Columbia to the Port of Portland.