Peter Iredale was a four-masted steel sailing vessel that ran ashore October 25, 1906, on the Oregon coast en route to the Columbia River. She was abandoned on Clatsop Spit near Fort Stevens. Wreckage is still visible, making it a popular tourist attraction as one of the most accessible shipwrecks of the Graveyard of the Pacific.
Sailing from Salina Cruz, Mexico, on or about September 26, 1906, Peter Iredale was bound for Portland, Oregon with 1,000 tons of ballast and a crew of 27. The voyage up the coast was unremarkable until the night of 25 October, when Captain H. Lawrence sighted the Tillamook Rock Lighthouse at 3:20 a.m. local time. The crew altered course first east-northeast and then northeast to enter the mouth of the Columbia River in thick mist and a rising tide. Under strong winds out of the west, an attempt was made to wear the ship away from shore, but a heavy northwest squall grounded Peter Iredale on Clatsop Spit. High seas and wind drove the ship ashore. A lifeboat was dispatched from Hammond, Oregon and assisted in evacuating the sailors, who were tended to at Fort Stevens. No casualties occurred in the accident.
A Naval Court inquiry was held in Astoria on November 12 and 13, 1906, by the British Vice-Consulate to determine the cause of the wreck. After investigating, no blame was placed on Lawrence and the crew for the loss, and he and his officers were commended for their attempts to save the ship.
There was little damage to the hull and plans were made to tow the ship back to sea, but after several weeks waiting for favorable weather and ocean conditions, the ship had leaned to port and become embedded in the sands. The salvage rights to the ship were sold in 1917, though the wreck was never actually broken up. All that remains is the bow, a few ribs, and a couple of masts.
Captain Lawrence's final toast to his ship was: "May God bless you, and may your bones bleach in the sands.
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