stoneseeker2003
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Didn't see this posted, thought I'd add it.
A ship in the sands of time
A mystery vessel emerges amid winter storms after decades of being buried near Coos Bay.
Thursday, February 07, 2008LORI TOBIAS The Oregonian Staff
NORTH BEND -- A massive wooden ship that disappeared on the southern Oregon coast decades and decades ago is emerging from a sand dune eroded by wild winter storms.
On a remote beach of Coos Bay's North Spit, the seas are revealing the bow of a mystery ship.
Thirty feet of its thick, wooden bow protrudes from the dune. Forty feet wide at its broadest point, the hull sits dug into the dune, pointed toward the sea. Its iron supports are rusted and bent, its deck supports exposed, its portholes deep and square.
The ship was built from massive timbers and likely dates to the late 19th or early 20th century.
"We're pretty sure it is a lumber carrier built for the lumber industry in Coos Bay and bigger ports," said Calum Stevenson, coastal coordinator for the Oregon Department of Parks and Recreation. "We think it was built in North Bend at one of the larger shipping places and built from local wood, Douglas fir. We're thinking it's over 250 feet, and we know it has some interesting components not necessarily part of the construction, like the possibility of a bilge pump that may date it to the early 20th century."
But a lot is not known. What ship was it? How did it go down? When?
It's a lot to answer. And the sand is revealing its secret slowly.
Between 1852 and 1953, 58 ships wrecked in a span of about five miles off Coos Bay, said Vicki Wiese, collection manager at the Coos Historical and Maritime Museum. In those years, ships ran between Coos Bay and San Francisco carrying lumber, coal and other supplies.
"After the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco, ships from Coos Bay are what rebuilt California," Stevenson said.
Guessing the ship's identity has become something of a favorite pastime around here.
We get phones calls every hour," said Wiese.
One popular guess is the Captain Lincoln, an Army transport ship that went down in 1851. Its crew made it to the beach and traded with the Native Americans.
"It would be great to find that ship," said Stevenson. "It was the ship that basically opened Coos Bay and brought in settlers
But it's definitely not the Captain Lincoln, he said.
Others suggested it might be the C.A. Smith, a ship built in North Bend by Kruse and Banks in 1917 that went down during a storm in December 1923, taking the lives of its crew.
And still others suggest the Czarina, which went down in 1911. But that was an iron ship, said Stevenson. This one is wooden.
Jack Long, 86, who's lived in North Bend since the 1950s, thinks he knows the answer.
Back in 1960, Long and his father rowed across the bay, hiked over the dunes and found what he believes is the same ship. On its nameplate was carved George E. Long, a name he easily remembers. His father even wrote a letter to Mariner Digest telling of the find. Jack Long still has the letter typed on blue stationary from the editor, dated 1966, asking for more information.
But the sand reburied it.
Jack Long frequently looked for it, even taking his son-in-law, Scott Graham, now North Bend's fire chief, out to the spot. Fifteen years ago, Graham found a part of the ship. But again, shifting sands quickly reclaimed it.
Then, on Thanksgiving, as part of a family outing, the Grahams looked again. It wasn't there. Days later, Graham's son, Jim, found the tip peaking out. Within days, the seas tore away at the dune until a large portion of the bow and hull was revealed.
Now historians and researchers have five weeks to solve the mystery before beaches close March 15 for the snowy plover breeding season. They hope to use maritime records, personal memories and photographs to identify the ship. They may also bring penetrating radar to more accurately pinpoint how far back into the dune it extends.
But even without the beach closure looming, they fear the ship will not last long
"When preserved wood is re-exposed to the oxygen, it deteriorates much more rapidly than modern wood," said Stephan Samuels, cultural resource specialist with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. "It is deteriorating even as we speak."
Meanwhile, the newest coastal attraction is also becoming the biggest headache. The mystery ship is about a mile south of the wreckage of the more famous New Carissa, which ran aground Feb. 4, 1999. The seas are high, and approaching the ship can be dangerous, said Stevenson.
The wreck is accessible only by four-wheel-drive vehicles along three miles of a narrow stretch of sand that is in places soft, puddled and constantly changing. At high tide, the surf laps up and over the wreck, and even at lower tides there is the danger of unpredictable sneaker waves.
Researchers also fear that, even though it is against the law to disturb historical artifacts, people will attempt to take parts of it home, hastening the deterioration of what is already a piece of North Bend history.
"The concern is that people can visit it, and we can't really prevent that," Samuels said. "This is a historic artifact and a historic site. We are trying to preserve it. Don't damage it. Don't mess with it. Don't try to rip off pieces. It might also be a monument. People may have lost their lives. Respect it."
[email protected]
A ship in the sands of time
A mystery vessel emerges amid winter storms after decades of being buried near Coos Bay.
Thursday, February 07, 2008LORI TOBIAS The Oregonian Staff
NORTH BEND -- A massive wooden ship that disappeared on the southern Oregon coast decades and decades ago is emerging from a sand dune eroded by wild winter storms.
On a remote beach of Coos Bay's North Spit, the seas are revealing the bow of a mystery ship.
Thirty feet of its thick, wooden bow protrudes from the dune. Forty feet wide at its broadest point, the hull sits dug into the dune, pointed toward the sea. Its iron supports are rusted and bent, its deck supports exposed, its portholes deep and square.
The ship was built from massive timbers and likely dates to the late 19th or early 20th century.
"We're pretty sure it is a lumber carrier built for the lumber industry in Coos Bay and bigger ports," said Calum Stevenson, coastal coordinator for the Oregon Department of Parks and Recreation. "We think it was built in North Bend at one of the larger shipping places and built from local wood, Douglas fir. We're thinking it's over 250 feet, and we know it has some interesting components not necessarily part of the construction, like the possibility of a bilge pump that may date it to the early 20th century."
But a lot is not known. What ship was it? How did it go down? When?
It's a lot to answer. And the sand is revealing its secret slowly.
Between 1852 and 1953, 58 ships wrecked in a span of about five miles off Coos Bay, said Vicki Wiese, collection manager at the Coos Historical and Maritime Museum. In those years, ships ran between Coos Bay and San Francisco carrying lumber, coal and other supplies.
"After the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco, ships from Coos Bay are what rebuilt California," Stevenson said.
Guessing the ship's identity has become something of a favorite pastime around here.
We get phones calls every hour," said Wiese.
One popular guess is the Captain Lincoln, an Army transport ship that went down in 1851. Its crew made it to the beach and traded with the Native Americans.
"It would be great to find that ship," said Stevenson. "It was the ship that basically opened Coos Bay and brought in settlers
But it's definitely not the Captain Lincoln, he said.
Others suggested it might be the C.A. Smith, a ship built in North Bend by Kruse and Banks in 1917 that went down during a storm in December 1923, taking the lives of its crew.
And still others suggest the Czarina, which went down in 1911. But that was an iron ship, said Stevenson. This one is wooden.
Jack Long, 86, who's lived in North Bend since the 1950s, thinks he knows the answer.
Back in 1960, Long and his father rowed across the bay, hiked over the dunes and found what he believes is the same ship. On its nameplate was carved George E. Long, a name he easily remembers. His father even wrote a letter to Mariner Digest telling of the find. Jack Long still has the letter typed on blue stationary from the editor, dated 1966, asking for more information.
But the sand reburied it.
Jack Long frequently looked for it, even taking his son-in-law, Scott Graham, now North Bend's fire chief, out to the spot. Fifteen years ago, Graham found a part of the ship. But again, shifting sands quickly reclaimed it.
Then, on Thanksgiving, as part of a family outing, the Grahams looked again. It wasn't there. Days later, Graham's son, Jim, found the tip peaking out. Within days, the seas tore away at the dune until a large portion of the bow and hull was revealed.
Now historians and researchers have five weeks to solve the mystery before beaches close March 15 for the snowy plover breeding season. They hope to use maritime records, personal memories and photographs to identify the ship. They may also bring penetrating radar to more accurately pinpoint how far back into the dune it extends.
But even without the beach closure looming, they fear the ship will not last long
"When preserved wood is re-exposed to the oxygen, it deteriorates much more rapidly than modern wood," said Stephan Samuels, cultural resource specialist with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. "It is deteriorating even as we speak."
Meanwhile, the newest coastal attraction is also becoming the biggest headache. The mystery ship is about a mile south of the wreckage of the more famous New Carissa, which ran aground Feb. 4, 1999. The seas are high, and approaching the ship can be dangerous, said Stevenson.
The wreck is accessible only by four-wheel-drive vehicles along three miles of a narrow stretch of sand that is in places soft, puddled and constantly changing. At high tide, the surf laps up and over the wreck, and even at lower tides there is the danger of unpredictable sneaker waves.
Researchers also fear that, even though it is against the law to disturb historical artifacts, people will attempt to take parts of it home, hastening the deterioration of what is already a piece of North Bend history.
"The concern is that people can visit it, and we can't really prevent that," Samuels said. "This is a historic artifact and a historic site. We are trying to preserve it. Don't damage it. Don't mess with it. Don't try to rip off pieces. It might also be a monument. People may have lost their lives. Respect it."
[email protected]
