November 12, 1970: A Whale Explodes
Sure, most urban legends are complete hogwash – but not all of them!
Further reading:
- Exploding whale? It’s a true Oregon tale at Offbeat Oregon History
- The infamous tale of an exploding whale at KATU.com
- Reporter Tells Story of Exploding Whale, Again at NPR.org
- TheExplodingWhale.com
October 25, 1906: Peter Iredale Wrecks on Clatsop Spit
The British barque Peter Iredale, bound for Portland, Oregon, had an exceptionally pleasant trip up the coast from Salinas Cruz, Mexico, until the early morning hours of October 25, 1906 (Morning Oregonian, 26 October 1906). At 2am Captain Lawrence spotted the Tillamook Rock Lighthouse and gave orders to make sail and head for the mouth of the Columbia River. At 6am, with breakers ahead, all hands were called to the deck and the crew attempted to work the Peter Iredale off shore. But strong southerly gales, the current, and the rising tide foiled that plan. Before 8am she struck the sands with her port bow.
ASTORIA, Or., Oct. 25 – (Special.) – With three of her masts gone and lying broadside high on the beach, the big four-masted British bark Peter Iredale is wrecked in the breakers about three-quarters of a mile below the old Point Adams lighthouse, south of the Columbia River jetty, with every indication that her bones will bleach in the sands, although there is a bare possibility that she may be saved.
The bark went ashore during a strong gale about 7:30 o’clock this morning. Her masts went overboard soon afterwards. All on board were rescued by the life-saving crew. Captain Lawrence, master of the bark, and his officers remained by the vessel all day. Tonight most of them are at the Point Adams life-saving station. Twenty members of the crew were brought to this city this evening, all safe and sound.
The wreck quickly became a tourist attraction, and continues to be to this day. Her bones are still lodged firmly in the sand at Fort Stevens State Park.
October 14, 1907: Roosevelt Creates Three Arch Rocks National Refuge
On October 14, 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt signed an executive order creating the Three Arch Rocks National Refuge. Only the third U.S. sanctuary, the three monolithic sea stacks, and six smaller rocks, a half mile offshore of Oceanside, Oregon were the first wildlife refuge west of the Mississippi.
Three Arch Rocks photo by Heather! Taken May, 2011 during a Cape Lookout camping trip.
October 10, 1874: Western Shore Launched, Only Clipper Ever Built in Oregon
The only true clipper ship built on the West Coast, the Western Shore, was launched from Asa M. Simpson‘s shipyard in North Bend on October 10, 1874.
Captain Asa Meade Simpson and his brother, Captain Robert W. Simpson, designed the ship and had a 50 percent ownership interest in it. In 1874, master shipbuilder John Kruse built the clipper at the Simpson shipyard in North Bend on Coos Bay at a cost of $80,000.
The Western Shore had a capacity of 1,188 tons. She was 184 feet long on keel, 204 feet overall. She was 133 feet high, with a 43 foot beam. And the three-masted, square-rigged Western Shore, built of Douglas-fir and Port Orford cedar and sporting cabins paneled in myrtlewood, laurel, and mahogany, was no run-of-the-mill ship, she was the fastest ship of her time (Morning Oregonian, 15 May 1875).
It is with a pardonable degree of pride that we publish elsewhere the fact that a vessel built in Oregon, the Western Shore, of Coos Bay, has made the quickest run of the season from San Francisco to Liverpool with a cargo of wheat. While the winds may have favored her, we have no doubt the expressions of admiration which her build and model called forth from those who saw her and who knew the good sailing qualities of a vessel, when she was first launched, that her construction and style of rigging helps to account for the fact that she outstripped the crack sailers of several nations, which have left this coast the past season. The San Franciscans wagered quite large sums of money on the race between the Three Brothers and The British King, tow ships which sailed from their city to Liverpool last winter, the fastest of which consumed over 150 dys in the voyage, while the Western Shore went past them both with her Oregon colors afloat and moored to the Liverpool docks in one hundred and four days. We are only sorry that the Western Shore did not carry a cargo of the best wheat that could be found in our state to add to the very considerable attention which she will doubtless receive on account of her quick trip, as it would have given a more complete idea of the great resources of this country. However, as it is, we are inclined to give one hurrah for the Oregon ship.
She set several speed records that stand to this day, including a 97 day trip from Astoria to Liverpool, and 110 days from San Francisco to the same port. In 1875 she left San Francisco behind the steamer Oriflame and arrived in Astoria two days later, two and a half hours ahead of the steamer.
Her glory was short lived, however, as her reportedly drunk captain, Captain Hotchkiss, ran her aground and sank her on Duxbury Reef, on July 9, 1878. It was the end of an era anyway. Sailing ships were rapidly being displaced by steamships, and no other clippers were ever built in Oregon.