Photo by Pete (That is my good friend Craig 'Bomber' Ashworth hanging from the wreck.)From Coming To Amerika #4:
I spend a lot of time surfing the Oregon coast and consequently I spend just as much time exploring and searching for good waves. While wandering around, just south of the Columbia River mouth, in Fort Stevens Park, I came across another reckless Brit by the name of Pete who was spat out of the Pacific onto Oregon shores.
In 1906 a ship named the Peter Iredale got lost in dense fog and ran a round. No lives were lost but the ship took such a hammering it was written off. Go check the rotting hull out for yourself. As the Lonely Planet guide to the Pacific Northwest says, “The ship is just there, like the skeleton of a whale on the beach.”
Eight years later another British ship, the Glenesslin ran aground on the rocks below Neahkahnie Mountain (just south of Cannon Beach). This disaster was, allegedly, the result of a ferocious drinking session. Captain Owen Williams, a Welshmen (the shame of it!) was suspended for three months. No lives were lost and the 21 man crew stumbled for the shore to have their drunken pictures taken by the wreck.
In the words of Steve Albini This isn’t some kind of metaphor. Goddamn, this is real.
-'Squirrel Song' by Shellac.
