Daily Event for January 12, 2011

The 410' long cargo ship West Cadron was built in 1920 at Western Pipe & Steel Company in San Francisco, California for the U.S. Shipping Board, in 1928 she was sold to the States Steamship Company and renamed Iowa. On January 12, 1936 Iowa and her thirty-four man crew attempted to cross the Columbia River bar and head to sea in the face of a fierce storm, which turned out to be a a tragic mistake.

The master, Edgar L. Yates, for unknown reasons, elected not to take a pilot on his ship and sail into the storm, which turned out to be one of the worst storms in memory. The winds reportedly reached almost 80 mph and forced the ship on to Peacock Split where it became stranded. At 4 a.m. Yates sent a distress signal, but because of the storm no rescue was possible. The Coast Guard ship Onondga under the command of Captain R. Stanley Patch nevertheless responded to the call, but when he arrived on the scene his ship was almost driven onto the split.

Patch stated that he saw the bridge and the funnel carried away and that "no life existed" on the Iowa, the waves took the ship apart and she settled on an even keel in the shallow water, but the violence of the storm had claimed every soul onboard. An inquiry found the master was justified in taking the ship out to sea, but why he made such a decision can never be answered.
© 2011 Michael W. Pocock
MaritimeQuest.com



Roll of Honor
In memory of those who lost their lives in
SS Iowa
"As long as we embrace them in our memory, their spirit will always be with us"

Name
Rate
Notes
Aben, Johannes
Seaman
Barrett, Tom
Oiler
Bendizen, Carl C.
Chief Engineer
Browne, Hubert
Messman
Caldwell, Frank
Radio Operator
Cloherty, V.
1st Assistant Engineer
Cooper, Ed
Steward
Doehring, Otto
Seaman
Epison, Theodore J.
2nd Assistant Engineer
Graham, Donald
3rd Mate
Houston, James
2nd Cook
Kidd, Donald
Seaman
Kreiger, Alfred G.
1st Mate
Luick, Frank H.
Chief Cook
Marr, George
Wiper
McCaughan, Allan E.
Messboy
McHenry, James
Oiler
McLeod, Donald
Seaman
Mercereau, Homer T.
Fireman
Meyers, August O.
Boatswain
Mislok, Edward
Ordinary Seaman
Nael, Philip J.
Seaman
Canadian
Ogan, Charles
3rd Assistant Engineer
Olsen, Milton A. K.
Ordinary Seaman
Perich, Marion J.
Carpenter
Severine, Elven
Deck Engineer
Spencer, Walter
Ordinary Seaman
Steinmetz, Charles
Fireman
Tardy, William
Messman
Welsh, James W.
Fireman
Weltel, Wilbur W.
Seaman
Whiteside, Fred W.
2nd Mate
Wolfsehr, Edward
Oiler
Yates, Edgar L.
Master


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January 13, 1936: Front page of The Salt Lake Tribune, Salt Lake City, Utah.






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