Coast Guard Station Tillamook Bay

[nootka]

Friday was the 100th anniversary of the Coast Guard Station Tillamook Bay. Since my friend Bill's been working on (and completed) the shipwreck chart which also encompasses Coast Guard history of the region, we were invited to come take part in the event, and Bill invited me along to take photos.

I know there are a few of you here with Coastie family members, and thought I would share this piece of our country's history with you.

I was floored by some of the stories told by the older men who came by. One of them was there since WWII, though he has long since retired. He told stories of auctioning off the horses that the CG used during the war, and a very funny anecdote of being dumped off the horse on the way to the auction when the steam train frightened it. Life for these men was very different, then, though it is still a hard thing to jump into cold water and go into the worst weather to try and salvage hopeless situations...I admire them a lot, obviously, for they mean the last hope for men like my husband out in the ocean making a living.

A tribute to lives lost at sea, one of them the Taki Tooo, in which 11 lives were lost on the same bar that claimed my nephew, Craig in 2006. You can see the bar on the horizon in the distance behind this memorial.

A 36' MLB that wrecked on that bar also sits there to the right on display.

The bell from the shipwrecked Glenesslin, one of the more famous wrecks of the area/and the Oregon coast.

A Search and Rescue operation (lifting a man from a boat) w/ a 47' MLB and Jayhawk HH60 Helo.

I plan on putting up some video when I can get to town and a faster connection to upload it to YouTube.

Bill's shipwreck chart being perused by some of the guests at the event. It was great to see people stop and start looking for some of the wrecks shown on the slideshows behind, put together by Boatswain's Mate Tom Molloy there at the station.

Since the chart also contains so much Coast Guard memorabilia (it has a picture of the Cape Disappointment Lifesaving Crew ca. 1880 on it, as well as one of the most tragic losses ever on this coast, the loss of the USCG 52301, the Triumph, on the night of Jan. 12, 1961, in which five men were lost, along with the boat, two OTHER CG boats AND the crab boat and crew they were trying to save.), it was nice to be included by invitation of the USCG to be a part of this event.

There is and will be a little more on Bill's blog at NW Limited

My brother was stationed at this station in 1988, so that was an interesting angle for me. I used to take him there every weekend to drop him off.

Thanks for letting me share, hope you enjoy a little...

Liz

 

[Basketmiss]

Liz, cool info to know. I get mine from you!!

Thanks for sharing...

 

[Miniv]

Interesting stuff, Liz. Thank you for that.

 

[susanne]

I have a soft spot for Garibaldi, as that is where my dad grew up...

Liz, one of these days I need to show you some of my dad's watercolors of ships, boats and trains from WWII. He couldn't enlist, due to a congenital heart problem, so instead he worked in the shipyards in Portland. All of his sketches and paintings were done from memory, yet his mechanical engineering skills and artist's eye did him quite well.

 

[Shari]

That is sooo neat Liz!! One of these days need to go see that area. My Hubby stills loves the sea...being an old salt... ah....retired Navyman.

Someone should take a tape recorder with them, when they talk with the old salts and their life stories and do a book or such. So many of those kinds of wonderful stories are being lost with time.

Bet you and the family had a blast!! Thank you for sharing.

 

[nootka]

susanne, I would love to see those! I highly recommend a leisurely trip along hwy 101 for anyone interested in the most amazing vistas and roadside enjoyment. You don't even need spend much at all in order to have a great time (given that fuel costs are through the roof, anyway).

There is now a little slide show at

http://www.rhminis.com/cgnwl.html with some more photos.

Glad you had a chance to look and enjoy. I didn't take the family, as it was more of a "business" trip for Bill, and the boys one of them had school, and would have been very bored with most of it. They would have loved the helicopter, though.

Liz

 

[Shari]

We have been on 101 from San Diego CA to Lincoln OR a couple of times. Granted it was ages ago. Remember one small Deli/restaraunt.... in Florence OR, looking out to the Ocean, that had an outstanding Onion soup. Always wondered if it was still there?

Then from Aberdeen WA up to the Tip of WA and around back to Port Orchard.

Tillamook and that area is the only place on 101 we haven't been yet. Now I have the Van..sounds like a day trip this summer... feel the need to go explore and take photos.