The Shipwreck of the Peter Iredale

The Peter Iredale, built in June of 1890 was named after her owner, a prominent member of the Liverpool shipping and trading business community of the day. This newest addition to Peter Iredale’s fleet was a 285 feet long, four-masted steel ship and was the largest ship built by the construction company at the time. Records show that it completed multiple successful voyages to and from trading ports during the 1890’s and all the way up until 1906.

Around September 26, 1906, the Peter Iredale departed from a port in Salina Cruz, Mexico carrying 1,000 tons of ballast (and two stowaways) set to be delivered to Portland, Oregon. Captain H. Lawrence and his 27 man crew’s month-long journey up the Pacific Coast was largely uneventful. Then, on October 25, 1906, the Peter Iredale ran into rough weather. Winds grounded the ship on Clatsop Spit, at the mouth of the Columbia River, early that morning. No casualties or injuries were reported and the crew was safely evacuated by ziplines onto lifeboats sent from the city nearby. The Captain’s final toast to the ship was “May God bless you, and may your bones bleach in the sands.”

The ship itself suffered very minor damages from the wreck and was originally intended to be towed from Clatsop Spit and repaired. However, after weeks of waiting for the proper weather conditions to begin this process, the tide had already buried most of the Peter Iredale’s hull into the sands, making it impossible to tow. The ship sat abandoned on Clatsop Spit for 11 years before salvage rights were sold. However, even after being sold, the ship remained untouched and slowly deteriorating on the beach.

In the years since its relatively uneventful grounding, the Peter Iredale has been at the center of some action. One night during World War II, Fort Stevens, located nearby on the Oregon Coast, was fired upon by Japanese submarines. Despite being in the direct line of fire, the Peter Iredale suffered no damage. The following morning, massive rolls of barbed wire were unfurled on the beaches in front of Fort Stevens and beyond, including Clatsop Spit, in the hopes it might help stave off a possible Japanese invasion in the future. The ship was entwined with barbed wire until the end of the war two years later.

The Peter Iredale wreckage’s accessibility on Clatsop Spit has made it a popular tourist attraction and a well-loved local landmark ever since its grounding. So much so, that when a man from a nearby county attempted to claim ownership of the wreckage in order to salvage it in 1960, Clatsop County’s local government hired armed guards to protect the wreckage and then hired a legal team to disprove the man’s ownership claim. The wreckage was left untouched and is still a popular destination to visit along Oregon’s coast today.

Allen, Cain. The Wreck of the Peter Iredale, Oregon History Project. 2006. Accessed October 8th 2020. https://www.oregonhistoryproject.org/articles/historical-records/the-wreck-of-the-peter-iredale/.

Beach Connection Staff. Wrecking the Peter Iredale: How Oregon Coast History Played Out in 1906, Beach Connection. July 5th 2020. Accessed October 8th 2020. https://www.beachconnection.net/news/wrecking_peter_iredale_history_oregon.php.

Board of Trade. Peter Iredale, Iredale. December 24th 1906. Accessed October 8th 2020. http://www.iredale.de/maritime/peter.htm.

Gibbs, James A. Shipwrecks of the Pacific Coast. Edition 1st. Hillsboro, Oregon. Binford & Mort Publishing, 1983.

Hale, Jamie. Watch Oregon's iconic shipwreck fall apart over time, The Oregonian. March 13th 2018. Accessed October 8th 2020. https://www.oregonlive.com/travel/2018/03/watch_oregons_iconic_shipwreck.html.

John, Finn J.D. Schemers sought to seize Peter Iredale shipwreck, sell for scrap, Offbeat Oregon. August 12th 2012. Accessed October 8th 2020. http://offbeatoregon.com/1208d-schemer-sought-to-sell-peter-iredale-shipwreck-for-scrap.html.