The Columbia River Bar & Oregon Coast
The bar they called the graveyard
The Columbia meets the Pacific across a shifting bar that breaks heavily in almost any swell.
Outflow from a continental river meets Pacific groundswell here, standing the sea up in steep breakers over shoaling sand. Pilots crossed on a knife edge of tide and weather, and vessels that missed the channel went onto Clatsop Spit or Peacock Spit within minutes. South along the coast, rock headlands and fog account for the rest.
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Records in These Waters
AvailableAbbie M. Deering
AH-WR-0398Oregon coast
Date not established · Schooner
RegisteredBeeswax Wreck
AH-WR-0462Nehalem Spit, Oregon
Believed lost between approximately 1693 and 1705, exact date unknown · Galleon
AvailableBlue Magpie
AH-WR-0895Newport, Oregon
1983 · Cargo Ship
AvailableCaptain Lincoln
AH-WR-0891North Spit, Coos Bay, Oregon
1852 · Schooner
AvailableCharles W. Wetmore
AH-WR-0890Coos Bay, Oregon
1892 · Whaleback Freighter
AvailableCottoneva
AH-WR-0461Port Orford, Oregon
1937 · Steam Schooner · 0 ft deep
AvailableEmily G. Reed
AH-WR-0221Rockaway Beach, Oregon
1908 · Barque
AvailableFrancis H. Leggett
AH-WR-0889Tillamook Rock, Oregon
1914 · Steam Schooner
AvailableGalena
AH-WR-0896Gearhart, Oregon
1906 · Sailing Bark (or Barque)
AvailableGeneral Warren
AH-WR-0411Mouth of the Columbia River, Oregon
1852 · Steamship
AvailableGeorge L. Olson
AH-WR-0823North Bend, Oregon
1944 · Steam Schooner · 0 ft deep
AvailableGlenesslin
AH-WR-0077Manzanita, Oregon
1913 · Sailing Ship
AvailableGreat Republic
AH-WR-0893Sand Island, Columbia River mouth, near Ilwaco, Washington
1879 · Sidewheel Steamship
AvailableGussie Telfair
AH-WR-0892Coos Bay, Oregon
1880 · Steamship
AvailableInfidel
AH-WR-0396Oregon coast
Date not established · Schooner
AvailableJ. Marhoffer
AH-WR-0459Boiler Bay, near Depoe Bay, Oregon
1910 · Steam Schooner · 0 ft deep
AvailableLupatia
AH-WR-0827Tillamook Head, Oregon
1881 · Barque
AvailableMary D. Hume
AH-WR-1538Gold Beach, Oregon
1978 · Steam Whaler And Tug
AvailableMimi
AH-WR-0222Manzanita, Oregon
1913 · Barque
AvailableNew Carissa
AH-WR-0807Coos Bay, Oregon
1999 · Bulk Freighter · 11000 ft deep
RegisteredPeter Iredale
AH-WR-0075Warrenton, Oregon
1906 · Sailing Ship
AvailableSS Admiral Benson
AH-WR-0828Cape Disappointment State Park, Washington
1930 · Passenger And Cargo Steamship
AvailableSS Czarina
AH-WR-0460Coos Bay, Oregon
1910 · Steamer
AvailableSS Iowa
AH-WR-0137Cape Disappointment, Washington
1936 · Cargo Steamer
AvailableSS Laurel
AH-WR-0826Cape Disappointment, Washington
1929 · Cargo Freighter
AvailableSS Rosecrans
AH-WR-0076Cape Disappointment, Washington
1913 · Oil Tanker
Historical ListingUSS Peacock
AH-WR-0410Mouth of the Columbia River, Oregon
1841 · Sloop-Of-War
Historical ListingUSS Shark
AH-WR-0136Mouth of the Columbia River, Oregon
1846 · Naval Schooner
RegisteredVaslav Vorovsky
AH-WR-0829Cape Disappointment, Washington
1941 · Cargo Freighter
Historical ListingYaquina (Coast Guard patrol boat)
AH-WR-0894Newport, Oregon
1935 · Coast Guard Patrol Boat
