|
The wooden hulled ship buried in sand on the North Spit of Coos Bay has been identified by archeologists as the George L. Olson.
The George L. Olson worked as a lumber carrying schooner in the Northwest for over 20 years until June 23, 1944 when it struck Coos Bay's North Jetty and drifted aground on Guano Rock inside the Coos Bay channel. There were no casualties when the ship wrecked, but the ship was declared a total loss. At the time it wrecked, the George L. Olson was loaded with about 1.4 million board feet of lumber. In December 1944, the hulk of the George L. Olsonwas towed to sea and was cut adrift with the intention she beach on the North Spit. During the following years, build-up of the foredune in the area covered the wreck. Photos of the Shipwreck | Photo Slide Show Aerial Tours
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
1-800-824-8486  E-Mail Us |
Coos Bay North Bend Charleston |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Recent storms have caused an amazing discovery on a Southern Oregon Coast, Ocean Beach near Coos Bay and North Bend. The sand has been washing away exposing a shipwreck from times past. No one is certain if this is part of a whole ship or a section - but people are flocking to the area to see what the Sea has exposed. We've assembled a whole cache of 
A Bureau of Land Management (BLM) archeologist, staff from Oregon Parks and Recreation Department and the Coos County Historical Museum, and the Maritime Heritage Program at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration conducted research over the past several weeks that included examining construction documents and historic photographs, as well as interviewing local community members in hopes of identifying the shipwreck.
This research suggests there is strong evidence that the mystery shipwreck is the steam schooner George L. Olson. Comparing historical photographs of the George L. Olson with current pictures of the shipwreck, both ships have three portholes with three chain plates aft of the portholes. The location of the Samson Post, Hawespipes, and the black vertical bumpers are identical. The pattern made by the through hull iron fasteners also appears identical.
Salvage of the ship's lumber cargo was conducted for the next six months. Five hundred thousand board feet of lumber recovered off of the ship was used to construct the Baptist Church in Charleston, Oregon.
Register Guard: Shipwreck set for Wrecking