Daily Event for October 7


October 7, 1883: The schooner J.C. Cousins grounded on shore near Clatsop Spit at the Columbia River mouth Oregon. The ship was employed by the State of Oregon as a pilot ship from 1881 until 1883. On Oct. 6 the J.C. Cousins had departed to meet and escort arriving vessels across the Columbia River Bar and was seen anchored off Clatsop Spit that afternoon.

By early evening she was seen heading for the bar but, after nightfall the story is lost. The next morning the ship was seen by several ships acting in an erratic way moving in and out to sea back and forth. In the afternoon she made a dash across the bar and through the breakers and grounded on shore. The ship seemed to be in good condition with no reasonable explanation as to why she grounded. The crew could not provide a reason for the mishap either because they were missing, along with lifeboat and the ships log.

Why the crew abandoned the ship will never be known, because they were never found, nor was the lifeboat or the log. Some of the reasons given by writers and historians for the missing crew include being spooked by a ghost ship or even being  murdered by rival captains coveting the formerly exclusive use of private pilot ships, (piloting was for many years done by private ships and the captains did not like the State taking their business).

The mystery of why the crew left the ship will never be known. Perhaps and accident led the crew to believe their ship was about to sink. We can't know and those who were there did not have enough time to examine the boat because she broke up in the waves only a couple of days later, forever lost with her secrets along with her crew.

© 2005 Michael W. Pocock
MaritimeQuest.com