Hi, I'm new here,
But when I lived near Humboldt Bay, Eureka CA., I read a Coast Guard sign which said that there have been 142 shipwrecks at the mouth of Humboldt Bay, since the 1800's. The entrance to the bay is approximately 1/4 mile wide, and there are paved roads that run the length of the beaches, out to the entrances on both sides of the entrance. The beaches are accessible to the public for several miles, from those paved roads, which run just behind low sand dunes from the beaches.
The reason for the numerous shipwrecks is the horrific ocean currents that constantly flow past the entrance of the bay, running north and south. They forced the ships trying to enter the bay onto the ocean beaches north and south of the entrance, wrecking them. Ships wrecked include sailing ships from the 1800's, several Navy ships including destroyers and submarines, and coast guard ships, passenger vessels, cruise ships, freighters, fishing vessels, just about anything that floats. Its been reported that some of these ships were carrying treasures of one sort or another, and some of those goodies were lost in the surf.
During WWII, the Army Corps of Engineers had to build two long jetties out into the ocean from both sides of the mouth of the bay, using huge quarried rocks brought in by trucks, to facilitate allowing ships to enter the bay between the jetties, despite the heavy currents rushing past. Those jetties are about 1/4 mile long. And that worked. In recent years, there have been very few shipwrecks there. And the U. S. Coast Guard maintains a station beside the bay just north of the entrance, with at least a Cutter in residence, and I have seen three C.G. helicopters there, which patrol up and down the coast. The sea is very rough there at times, and the weather is cold and rough.
If you should decide to go check out the approximately four miles of wide beaches to the north and south of the entrance, be prepared for cold weather. Also be aware that the northern Calif. coast plays host to what are called "Rogue Waves", which are occasional much larger waves than normal. My father was swept off the rocks by a Rogue Wave while rock fishing and almost drowned. And about three years ago, a family was on the beach to the north, and their little boy playing on the beach was swept away by a Rogue Wave and drowned.
I myself experienced a Rogue Wave when I was detecting down on wet sand near the north jetty at the mouth of the bay. I had been down there next to the jetty with my Garrett GTI 2500 for about 10 minutes, and the waves were 50 yards further down the beach. But suddenly a huge wave swept up the beach, against the big rocks of the jetty. It engulfed me and my detector, knocking me flat on my back in the icy salt water, and it carried me and my detector, inundated, up the beach about 50 feet further before setting us down again. It actually carried me up and over some big rocks that were above me on the beach. I'd heard instructions to "Never turn your back on the ocean" before, but my attention to detecting was my downfall.
Of course, I tried to keep the detector up out of the water, but I sunk deep into the water and it got soaked.
Needless to say, it didn't work after that, and had to be sent back to the factory for repair. So if you go, remember to keep one eye on the ocean and the weather at all times.
Those 142 shipwrecks at the mouth of Humboldt Bay no doubt left many things of interest, and some things of value in the sands of the approximately four miles of very wide beaches on the oceanfront along Humboldt Bay.
I never got to use my detector there again, as I moved inland. I had found nothing before the wave hit me.
But when I lived near Humboldt Bay, Eureka CA., I read a Coast Guard sign which said that there have been 142 shipwrecks at the mouth of Humboldt Bay, since the 1800's. The entrance to the bay is approximately 1/4 mile wide, and there are paved roads that run the length of the beaches, out to the entrances on both sides of the entrance. The beaches are accessible to the public for several miles, from those paved roads, which run just behind low sand dunes from the beaches.
The reason for the numerous shipwrecks is the horrific ocean currents that constantly flow past the entrance of the bay, running north and south. They forced the ships trying to enter the bay onto the ocean beaches north and south of the entrance, wrecking them. Ships wrecked include sailing ships from the 1800's, several Navy ships including destroyers and submarines, and coast guard ships, passenger vessels, cruise ships, freighters, fishing vessels, just about anything that floats. Its been reported that some of these ships were carrying treasures of one sort or another, and some of those goodies were lost in the surf.
During WWII, the Army Corps of Engineers had to build two long jetties out into the ocean from both sides of the mouth of the bay, using huge quarried rocks brought in by trucks, to facilitate allowing ships to enter the bay between the jetties, despite the heavy currents rushing past. Those jetties are about 1/4 mile long. And that worked. In recent years, there have been very few shipwrecks there. And the U. S. Coast Guard maintains a station beside the bay just north of the entrance, with at least a Cutter in residence, and I have seen three C.G. helicopters there, which patrol up and down the coast. The sea is very rough there at times, and the weather is cold and rough.
If you should decide to go check out the approximately four miles of wide beaches to the north and south of the entrance, be prepared for cold weather. Also be aware that the northern Calif. coast plays host to what are called "Rogue Waves", which are occasional much larger waves than normal. My father was swept off the rocks by a Rogue Wave while rock fishing and almost drowned. And about three years ago, a family was on the beach to the north, and their little boy playing on the beach was swept away by a Rogue Wave and drowned.
I myself experienced a Rogue Wave when I was detecting down on wet sand near the north jetty at the mouth of the bay. I had been down there next to the jetty with my Garrett GTI 2500 for about 10 minutes, and the waves were 50 yards further down the beach. But suddenly a huge wave swept up the beach, against the big rocks of the jetty. It engulfed me and my detector, knocking me flat on my back in the icy salt water, and it carried me and my detector, inundated, up the beach about 50 feet further before setting us down again. It actually carried me up and over some big rocks that were above me on the beach. I'd heard instructions to "Never turn your back on the ocean" before, but my attention to detecting was my downfall.
Of course, I tried to keep the detector up out of the water, but I sunk deep into the water and it got soaked.
Needless to say, it didn't work after that, and had to be sent back to the factory for repair. So if you go, remember to keep one eye on the ocean and the weather at all times.
Those 142 shipwrecks at the mouth of Humboldt Bay no doubt left many things of interest, and some things of value in the sands of the approximately four miles of very wide beaches on the oceanfront along Humboldt Bay.
I never got to use my detector there again, as I moved inland. I had found nothing before the wave hit me.
's to pray. 
