Monday, January 11, 2010

The Graveyard of the Pacific



The winter months are truly treacherous ones for those who sail the waters of the "Graveyard of the Pacific"; a section of the Pacific Ocean that runs along the western coast of North America. The turbulent waters have claimed thousands of ships and many lives. This week alone marks the separate anniversaries of two different sinkings in that section of the "Graveyard" that is the mouth of the Columbia River, with more later this month and over the next two.

The most infamous of the sinkings took place 49 years ago this coming Thursday. On January 14, 1961, The Mermaid, a crab boat with two crewman aboard, ran into trouble when it lost its rudder in violent weather conditions. The Coast Guard came to the ship's rescue. Unfortunately, the rescue attempt failed and led to the sinking of The Mermaid as well as causing three Coast Guard vessels to capsize in the process. The Mermaid's crew was lost as well as five members of the Coast Guard who were aboard the rescue boat Triumph. The names of the lost Coast Guard members were added to the memorial in Maritime Memorial Park in Astoria, Oregon (see Maritime Memorial Park, Astoria, OR).

Unsuprisingly, the area has also been the location of claimed ghost ship sightings and other paranormal activity. It has also reportedly been home to one or more sea monsters.

Click here to brave the treacherous waters along the Mouth of the Columbia River to learn more about its shipwrecks and supernatural lore.

- Tom G

4 comments:

Chris 'Frog Queen' Davis said...

Thanks so much for this post. This is in my neck of the woods and I spend some time each year and now I have something new to investigate. This is great!!

Cheers!

Jessica Penot said...

Thanks for the post. I know so little about the Pacific NW and it is interesting to hear a ghost story from another part of the country. I love the ghost ships!

Anonymous said...

so many places in this world are charged with a supernatural activity, like Bermudas Triangle, Eastern Island, viagra online, and others places, but the sea is the worst place to suffer a little bit of paranormal activity.

Anonymous said...

I have lived in a small town called kamagra, it is near of the pacific coast, This kind of place is the best to live in pace!