Shipwrecked

At Horsfall Beach, which has been nothing but pristine, long stretches of sand every time I've visited, surprised me the other day when I went out for a story on beachcombing. The U.S. Forest volunteer told me there was a shipwreck being uncovered, which I had no idea resided in the sands of Horsfall.

It's rusty and quite old, and after some research, I've figured out what ship it is, and that it gets uncovered after winter storms. According to The World newspaper information from when the Sujameco was discovered: 

The 3,542-ton, 324-foot steel steamer was built in 1920. It was traveling from San Francisco to Coos Bay on Feb. 28, 1929, and ran into fog while trying to find the entrance to Coos Bay. On March 1, the Sujameco hit the beach at full speed roughly eight miles north of Coos Bay. The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Redwing and two Coos Bay tugboats couldn’t pull it from the beach. Its crew of 29 abandoned the vessel; it was later cut up for scrap during World War II. Its remains can sometimes be seen at Horsfall Beach during winter when sand recedes. 

And so here it is, peeking out! It was a nice surprise, though low tide had passed so I was unable to get much closer — it was so stormy that waves still were periodically lapping around the remains. I've seen photos online showing nearly the entire outline of the ship, so I know there's much, much more hiding under there!

It was a nice day and I was working. On the beach. I like the photo of this whole shell, but didn't use it for my beachcombing story and I wanted to share it. Horsfall Beach is one of my favorite places, if only we didn't have to pay to park there.