Lightship? Beached? Astoria, Oregon

At Long Beach, Washington, we took our time getting up. We were less than an hour from our next campground and check in isn’t until noon. We left around 10:00am and went back over the bridge and back to Seaside, Oregon, where we had passed yesterday (see last week’s post). This campground is very nice. The ranger was happy and kind. The 50 amp sites are across the road on the north side but we took a loop on the south side, 30 amp, and found a corner site that is perfect for us. A few trees and bushes behind us, nothing blocking Starlink (footnote 1). It has a wood picnic table and fire pit. Also seems to have a lot of activities over the summer here. We quickly got set up, ate PBJ sandwiches and chips and homemade salsa and headed out. I had asked Kevin what he wanted to do today and he picked a tower in Astoria, Oregon, that you climb for a great view of Columbia River. On the way there, Autio (footnote 2) talked about Columbia River Maritime Museum. It was on my list of us to visit. When I looked at the times, I saw it closes at 5:00pm. That doesn’t work during work days so we changed plans and went there. We bought out tickets, $16.00 each, and were told the boat outside closes at 3:00pm. We didn’t know what the “boat outside” was but since it was 1:30pm we headed right on out there.

It is Lightship Columbia. I didn’t realize it until onboard the ship and read, “A lightship is actually a ‘floating lighthouse,’ employed where a major aid to navigation is required, but construction of a lighthouse is not feasible. Remaining at anchor on its appointed station in all weather, the lightship warns mariners of a hazardous reef, the entrance to a river or port, etc.” Most of the lightships were painted red so they could be seen better in the day. They also had fog horns, radio beacon transmitters, and on top of the mast were powerful beacon lights.  This lightship was built in 1950 and was named Lightship No 604. It was replaced by an automated navigational buoy on November 2, 1979.

The first lightship No 50 was placed in service in 1892. In 1899, there was such a fierce storm that the 2-inch anchor chain let go and it went adrift. Lightship No 50 was powerless to do anything and in the morning it was beached at Cape Disappointment. Amazingly, it wasn’t damaged even though it was sitting high up the beach. A rail system was built to transport the ship from the beach back into the ocean. It worked! After a few repairs it was back doing it’s job.

This follows right along with my interesting in lighthouses! LOL Lightship No 604 had a crew of 17, with 10 onboard at a time. They would get seasick when the storms were really bad and the waves were 30-ft high. In front of the boat is a light buoy. I liked seeing the boat and buoy together. Inside the museum we found more to see and read than we had time for, even with two hours. The rooms are wide open and displays are far apart. Kevin mentioned he liked that, as there was plenty of room for people and he never felt crowded.  We saw the actual hull plate from the Exxon Valdez! It was given to the museum by the captain of the salvage vessel.

From reading a poster about seasickness, we learned the word for nausea comes from the greek word, nafs, meaning ship. HA! There used to be a lot of canneries along Columbia River. Canning was developed in 1809 by French scientists to preserve food for Napoleon’s soldiers.

Oh my, our brains were full for all we learned and forgot already. What a great weekend.

1. Starlink is satellite internet. It works even when you are out of cell coverage area. You can make phone call through it, too.
2. Autio is an iPhone app that tells all sorts of history and stories about places all over the country. It is narrated and with my iPhone on accessibility, it shows captions of the words being said. So thankful!