Just an hour and forty-five minute drive from the city, you’ll encounter something strange on the beach at Fort Stevens State Park — the shipwreck of the Peter Iredale. The circumstances of its extended stay on the sand are unfortunate, but amazingly, rescuers were able to save all 27 crewmen, including two stowaways, when it ran aground in 1906.
Afterward, Captain H. Lawrence reportedly saluted his ship, and said “May God bless you and may your bones bleach in these sands.” With a bottle of whiskey in his hand, he then addressed his crew. “Boys,” he said, “have a drink.” The vessel may have escaped Davy Jones’ Locker during its voyage to Portland, but it fell victim to a different kind of hell — becoming the subject of countless tourists’ photos.
