Thinking About Climate Catastrophe and Peter Iredale Shipwreck Near Astoria, Oregon October 25, 1906

Charles Knowles from Meridian Idaho, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

London’s Board
of Trade noted December 24, 1906
“an
exceedingly heavy west north-west squall struck the vessel”
overpowering
captain and crew,
forever
grounding the 285 foot steel barque
on shore
of Clatsop Beach
“in a
thick mist” and tidal pull of Columbia River.
Photos
showed the vessel was glorious
with tangled
sails and three snapped masts.

Later, according
to June 7, 1960 Enterprise-Courier,
“Clatsop county residents [protecting the wreck
from a possible
salvager] established machine gun nests [ . . . .]
for armed
conflict” if necessary
but over
the years tide, rust, storm tore her apart
leaving an
iron skeleton on the beach.
Oregon
photographer Danielle Denham posted images
from 1900
to 2020 showing the decay.

Escaping Nakia
Creek Fire in October 2022,
hiking by Iredale
with my dogs
makes me
dream a beach of ghost ships
as far as
the eye can see
scattered like
fire-bombed houses,
names of
countries on their bows.