Waves in Boiler Bay

I decided to post this picture of waves in in Boiler Bay, because of International Mermaid Day.  I am sure, if one looked closely enough--a mermaid could be seen in this splash of the sea.

Boiler Bay is located just North of Depoe Bay--a beautiful little town along the Central Oregon Coast.  It is named after what remains of one of the most spectacular shipwrecks in American history. The J. Marhoffer was a 175-foot, 600-ton steam schooner built at John Lindstrom’s shipyard in Aberdeen, in Washington's Grays Harbor, in 1907. On May 18, 1910, she was still practically brand-new and was coming back to her home port in Portland from a run to San Francisco when an assistant engineer accidentally over-pressurized it.

By the time ship's Captain Gustave Peterson asked someone to open the valves and flood the engine room, the heat of the fire had made the valve handles too hot to touch, and the fire had spread. Since the engineer could not get into the engine room to shut the power off, the ship was still steaming along at a steady nine knots and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

Three miles off shore Captain Peterson got gave the order to abandon ship. Though there were no casualties from the J. Marhoffer, a cook from a boat assisting the survivors, drowned. 

As for the J. Marhoffer, now thoroughly and spectacularly on fire, she was heading straight for the rocky shoreline.  She hit with an enormous crash and explosion. 

The stranded vessel keeled over and burned fiercely for a time; then she was ripped apart by a massive steam explosion that threw chunks of wood and iron in all directions. Fortunately, none of the spectators were hit, although today there’s still a piece of iron pipe sticking out of the bluff above that probably came from the wreck.

Today, the ship’s boiler can still be seen from the highway at low tide--I have seen this for myself at low tide.  You can hike a rough trail leading down from Highway 101 just north of the entrance to Boiler Bay State Park when the tide is extremely low.  It is because of this rusty remnant the little bay, formerly known as Briggs Landing, is now called Boiler Bay.

Have a lovely day.

NOTE:  Sweet Wendy--if you get this--the link you sent won't allow me to comment because it says my account on bethniquette@gmail.com doesn't have permission for access.  I'd sure love to see your lovely valentine!