Cthippo's shipwrecks and derelicts thread

Discussion in 'All Things Boats & Boating' started by cthippo, Apr 15, 2011.

  1. WestVanHan
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    WestVanHan Not a Senior Member

    Great thread,great pictures....
     
  2. cthippo
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    cthippo Senior Member

  3. KnottyBuoyz
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    KnottyBuoyz Provocateur & Raconteur

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  4. cthippo
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    cthippo Senior Member

    I desperately want to go there. Probably the only thing that would get me to go to New York!

    I've been doing a lot of paddling, pictures coming as soon as I can get them processed!
     
  5. cthippo
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    cthippo Senior Member

    While I was down on the Columbia with mom a few months ago chasing wrecks, she decided she liked the area a lot. She found a lot for sale in Skamakowa and we went back down to take a look at it. The lot itself is on one of the numerous sloughs of the lower Columbia and has a dock, so I wanted to take a look at it from the water side. The lot next door (also for sale) has an old net shed on it and there were a couple of derelicts there, which I also wanted to get pictures of. What I didn't realize is that the area is a freakin cluster of wrecks!

    All of them appear to be old wood fishing boats in the 20-50' range, and in varying states of decay. One is resting on the remnants of an old marine railway adjacent to the net shed, and the largest one is nearby. Two of the remaining three are so covered in weeds as to be invisible from shore, and the last is sunk with only the top of the pilothouse visible at low tide.

    It really makes me wonder what else is stuffed up those sloughs!
     

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  6. cthippo
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    cthippo Senior Member

    Last week I was feeling in serious need of a long paddle after a long week. I took the Raptor down to Deception Pass State park and launched from Coronet bay and headed along the island chain to Kikkit Bay. I wasn't really looking for wrecks, but still managed to catch a few.

    The first is the Windjammer, a 65' ferrocement sailboat which I've posted pics of before. Her shrouds are starting to fail so I expect the mast won't be upright much longer.

    Second up is an old barge sunken at the yard of an outfit that operates floating cranes. They were actively working in the yard so I couldn't get close enough for good pics.

    Finally, I found this old speedboat upside down at the head of the bay. It seems like you can't swing a cat in this part of the world without finding wrecks!
     

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  7. cthippo
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    cthippo Senior Member

    Last weekend I was down in Aberedeen with mom to get her new bike and I took her paddling for almost but not quite the first time. She's been out a couple of times on the lake, but this was her first trip in anything but flat water, and also the first time anyone had paddled my new guest 'yak (an Emotion Comet, $200 at Cabela's).

    We were paddling in the lower Wishkah River where it empties out into Grays Harbor, and I have to say the current was more than I was expecting. Nor was I expecting the number of wrecks we found. In addition to the wrecks, Aberdeen is also the winter home of the tall ships Lady Washington and Hawaiian Chieftain. I also fell in love with a gorgeous old boat called the Mamala, which needs a lot of work, but would probably be worth it.
     

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  8. whitepointer23

    whitepointer23 Previous Member

    terrific pics again cthippo.
     
  9. BPL
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    BPL Senior Member

    Yes, great pics!
    Really enjoy following your trips!
     
  10. cthippo
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    cthippo Senior Member

    I'm on vacation in California which means new wrecks, of course!

    My friend Leslie and I drove down the Oregon and California coasts to the San Francisco area where my dad lives and we've bagged some pretty good wrecks along the way.

    The first is the remains of the USS Plainview, which was an experimental US Navy hydrofoil. Once the navy was done with her they stripped out the engines (2 GE J79 gas turbines), the foils, and much of the systems and sold the aluminum hull for scrap. Apparently they buyer planned to turn her into a fishing boat, but instead she ended up on a mudflat on the Columbia River across from Astoria. I have known about this wreck for a while, and actually got pictures of it back in April (see post #22 of this thread), but this time we launched the kayaks and saw it up close. I'm planning to do a video on the Plainview and her history which I will post here somewhere.

    Next up is the Mary D Hume, which was built in Gold Beach OR in 1881 as a steam schooner, and came back there to die as a tugboat in 1978.

    The next one is a former dredge we found in the lagoon at Bolinas CA. I don't know much about this one, but I suspect it originally looked something like the Robert Gray, which is also in post #22.

    The last one is a wreck I found on Google Earth some time back and finally got down here to take a look at. I think it's an old coastal freighter, which I suspect was sunk as part of a breakwater in Richmond CA, just north of the Richmond - San Rafel bridge. Position is 37°56'17.94"N, 122°24'52.05"W. If anyone knows anything about this one, please pass it along as I'm rather curious about it.

    And finally, not quite a wreck, but interesting none the less is the Ship Ashore, formerly the yacht Caritas which was built in 1925, then taken over by the navy as they patrol yacht USS Garnet (PYc 15) in 1941. Sometime later she was literally drug ashore using 12 large bulldozers and now serves as a museum at an RV park. Perhaps not the most glorious end, but I suppose better than razor blades!
     

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  11. thudpucker
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    thudpucker Senior Member

    Chippo really gets around in his little CanoeYacht.
    Takes good photos too.
    There's probably some good fishing near those Relics.
     
  12. Milehog
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    Milehog Clever Quip

    Are you going to be near Eureka? There is a 22 ish foot dugout power launch close by that makes a good photo opportunity. If so let me know and I'll give directions.
     
  13. cthippo
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    cthippo Senior Member

    We actually already passed through there, unfortunately. Maybe next trip.

    Tomorrow we're headed south and will be looking for the SS Palo Alto, the concrete tanker on the beach at Aptos CA. We're headed to LA over the next few days, so if anyone knows of more stuff to check out between here and there, please pass it along.

    Next week we're going to head up to Suisun Bay and the NDRF fleet, then take a look at an old San Diego ferry that's rusting away in the delta area.

    I'd like to get down to the wreck of the USS Thomaston in the south end of the San Francisco bay, but it's a mile and a half offshore and I brought the wrong boat for an open water trip of that length.
     
  14. Petros
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    Petros Senior Member

    I just returned from the Los Angeles area visiting my parents. The coast at Redondo Beach is where I spent much of my young life. There used to be a freighter called the Dominator wrecked on the Palos Verdes peninsula that I used to climb on 40 years ago. There was also the hull of an all wood yacht that was getting pounded every high tide (long gone now I am sure). Not sure how much is left of the Dominator, but the bow was up on the rocks on its side. you might find some interesting wrecks between San Pedro and Torrance beach along the rugged parts of the Palos Verdes Peninsula. You can drive most of the coastal bluff on pubic roads where there are trails down to the rocky coves, lots of popular places to surf. talk to the locals about any local wrecks.
     

  15. thudpucker
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    thudpucker Senior Member

    It's a wonder we are not salvaging all those old derelicts for the Metal.

    I marvel at all the Undersea Camera work that does NOT find leftovers from two world wars and other bad weather disasters.
     
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