Peter Iredale Shipwreck (Hammond, Oregon)

Last updated: August 1, 2021

As I made my way back up the West Coast, I visited the Lewis and Clark Historic National Park and during my exploration, I was pleased to discover that Fort Stevens State Park was part of the National Historic Park and included the remains of a shipwreck!

Peter was the owner of the ship which was sailing from Mexico to Portland, Oregon when in September of 1906, thick mist and a rising tide drove the ship ashore. There were no casualties of the 27 people on the ship (including two stowaways).

Most of the damage was done to the masts and little to the hull, so there were plans to move it and make an attempt to salvage it, however, after weeks of waiting for favorable weather and ocean conditions, the ship had come embedded in the sand and has been slowly deteriorating ever since.

Peter Iredale is extremely accessible; only about a ten minute walk from the parking lot. In fact, it’s the most accessible shipwreck of the Graveyard of the Pacific which records more than 2,000 shipwrecks along the West Coast which makes it a popular tourist destination.

If you’re ever driving the coast, put this on your list to see because it was quite intriguing!

As a side note, this brought to mind the 2002 film, Ghost Ship, that I specifically remember expecting to be cheesy but walked away so impressed, I still think about the storyline to this day. I haven’t watched it in almost 20 years so now it’s also on my list of movies to watch that the Pacific Coast has brought to mind.

Have you ever seen a shipwreck? This was my first one, but certainly not my last as I plan to do some diving to explore some shipwrecks in the future.