Mystery Ships Appear On Oregon Coast
Posted by Dennis Pease on Friday, February 29th, 2008 at 12:16am.T he seas off the Oregon Coast are brutal in the winter often bringing storm watchers from around the world to take in the magnificence of the wild Pacific Ocean, but this winter has not been especially rough compared to say the winter of 1998-1999 which pounded Oregon with five tremendous storms which experts considered 100-year events and eroded as much as 120 feet of beach in places.
Even that winter did not reveal the treasures hidden in the sand that this winter has. So far the beach erosion in recent weeks has uncovered three ships and two cannons with more artifacts being found nearly everyday, artifacts that have not been seen for a century or more. Archaeologists can not get to the historic relics fast enough.
The first Mystery Ship found at Coos Bay’s North Spit has been identified as the George L Olson that was a 223-foot-long wood-hulled schooner, launched on Jan. 22, 1917, from the W.F. Stone shipyards in Oakland, California had a 1,000-horsepower steam engine and could carry 1.4 million board feet of lumber which was its cargo when it ran aground at Coos Bay’s North Jetty on June 23, 1944.
Then came the next Mystery Ship found about 1.5 miles south of the South Jetty in Florence Oregon. This one named the Bella has been identified as a 121 foot local vessel that was first launched in 1897 to haul lumber and salmon to San Francisco. She was known to be fast three masted schooner, making the trip in about four days.
Without knowing the facts for this wreckage, but knowing the dangers of crossing the bar at the Siuslaw River to the open seas and most likely loaded with cargo I would venture to say it hit rougher seas than it expected and it is known to have washed ashore in 1905.
A third ship wreck has been found near Bandon’s Cut Creek says Megan Harper, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Land Management. Not much is known about this one as yet and we don't have any pictures at this time.
Artifacts are surfacing all along the Oreogon Coast
In addition the the mystery ships there have been two pre-cival war era cannons found at Arch Cape. The cannons, which residents and a state park official speculate came from the USS Shark, a survey schooner that ran aground on the Columbia Bar in 1846.
Gary McDaniel, a supervisor with the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department's Nehalem Bay management unit, said the cannons appear to be two of three cannons that were mounted on the USS Shark. The first cannon washed up in 1898 and is the namesake of Cannon Beach, about four or five miles north of Arch Cape.
According to Wikipedia, the USS Shark, a U.S. Navy schooner, was ordered to Honolulu in the spring of 1846 for repairs before an exploratory voyage up the Columbia River . The vessel reached the Oregon Coast that July and crossed the Columbia River bar.
But the ship ran into trouble upon its return, according to Wikipedia.
The ship was lost but the crew was saved.
If they do turn out to be from the ship, "they would be very significant to the history of Oregon ".
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Share7 Responses to "Mystery Ships Appear On Oregon Coast"
That is simply fascinating. Thank you for sharing this.
Posted on Monday, February 16th, 2009 at 9:44 PM.
Hi Ben,
It really is exciting to know these historical artifacts are being found. I took the pictures in the video of the Florence ship, the "Bella" and as you can see my dog loved checking it out as well. It really is fascinating to stand there on the beach with no one for miles and imagine what it must have been like sailing on these schooners back on those days. I have seen this ocean when it is raging with 50 foot waves or more and these ships that were hauling lumber and salmon to California and beyond were most likely on schedules so they sailed in any weather. There are said to be hundreds of these vessels that have met their fate off the Oregon Coast.
Posted on Monday, February 16th, 2009 at 9:45 PM.
It is really exciting to see history unfold before your eyes.
Things you never knew about become apparent and you can almost see what happened there!
While playing as children in Arkansas, my brother and I started finding some Indian arrowheads underneath the cliffs by our house. we told my mother about where we found them (when she asked) and she told some people at the town about it there was an investagation to see what they could see. they found Spanish armor and muskets along with some bodies that had been pierced by arrows.
Apparently there was an ambush of the Spanish by the Indians from the cliffs where our home was!
Posted on Monday, February 16th, 2009 at 9:47 PM.
That is an interesting story. I have always been interested in American History so I really like to hear about these amazing finds. You are right that so many times you can stand there and almost visualize what happened so long ago. Thanks for sharing that with us.
Posted on Monday, February 16th, 2009 at 9:49 PM.
That is pretty cool. I was in New York last summer on the beach and the best part was wondering down the shore and looking things the tide washed up.
Posted on Monday, February 16th, 2009 at 9:50 PM.
Well, these type of "findings" are very interesting but it's kind of a disappointment when no treasure or gold is found. But even if there was some, some country will probably try to sue saying that it's really there's...lol
Posted on Monday, February 16th, 2009 at 10:03 PM.
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This is a great time to get on the beaches and go for long walks. You never can guess what will be under some of that sand. Recently several ships have been uncovered between Florence and Coos Bay, OR.
If you get the time go explore!
Posted on Monday, May 26th, 2008 at 8:06 AM.