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375 stories matching wreck
- Who Left Four Men Clinging to the Buckeye?
When the steamer Buckeye swamped in Rosario Strait, survivors say Captain Hahn rowed ashore with the crew and never sent help back for the men freezing on the wreck.
- Two Frozen Men Drowned Within Twenty Feet of a Rescue Line
The new Ballard schooner Lily and Maud broke up off Deception Island, and the crews of the Utopia and Justine could only watch.
- Two Boys, Two Open Switches, and a Train Barely Saved
Jimmy Francis and Johnnie Harrier, ages 11 and 12, were sent to reform school after opening railroad switches near Snohomish and nearly wrecking a passenger train.
- The Ghost of the Tug Mystic
After being run down by a larger ship and sitting on the bottom of Puget Sound for months, the tug Mystic becomes the subject of a legal tug-of-war.
- The Great Northern's Bad-Luck Stop: Freight Wreck at Elk
A through eastbound freight slammed into the caboose of a local train at Elk, smashing six cars and tying up traffic for hours—just the latest wreck at a town with a reputation.
- The Tragic Wreck of the Ferndale
Twenty men perished when the British iron bark Ferndale was driven onto the beach near Grays Harbor during the most violent storm ever recorded on the Washington coast.
- Tragedy for the Portland Elks
An excursion train bound for an Olympia picnic plunges into a ditch near Chehalis, leaving many dead and injured.
- The Salvage Diver Threatens Dynamite in Seattle Harbor
A wreckage contractor, locked in a legal battle over a sunken steamer, vows to use explosives to clear the waterway despite an injunction.
- A Cow on the Track, a Freight Train in the Air, and Two Dead Railroad Men
A wandering cow derailed a freight train near Latona in 1894, killing two railroad workers and scattering thirteen cars while crewmen ran ahead to flag the passenger trains.
- The Worst Storm on the Sound: A Train Wreck, a Drifting Ship, and Dead Wires
A landslide derails a Northern Pacific freight near Castle Rock, a British ship is blown across Tacoma bay, and the telegraph goes dead from Seattle south.
- Rescuing 2,500 Tons of Steel from the Sea
A massive engineering project is underway to salvage thousands of tons of steel rails from the wreck of the Abercorn.
- Mystery Schooner Washes Ashore at Peterson's Point
A 106-foot wreck appears on the beach with no identification, leaving locals to speculate on its long, lonely voyage.
- The Ghost Ship in the Surf
A speculative salvage mission seeks to recover a fortune in iron rails from a shipwrecked vessel buried in the sand.
- The Seidlitz-Powder Scheme to Raise a Sunken Ship
Confident investors bought a wreck off Grays Harbor and promised to lift it with secret chemicals, carbonic gas, and a patent they had not quite finished.
- Grays Harbor's Deadly Bar — and the Lighthouse It Still Lacks
Army engineers say a light at Gray's Harbor would only be "desirable," not "indispensable." The Tribune answers with a catalogue of wrecks, lost crews and a harbor the board apparently cannot locate on a map.
- The Forgotten Wreck of the St. Stephen
For six weeks, the federal revenue cutter Wolcott sat idle while the public clamored for a search for survivors of a shipwreck off the Washington coast.
- Milwaukee Line Wrecked Near Priest Rapids
A freight train jumps the tracks, closing the line for nearly 24 hours.
- Boiler Explosion Wrecks Steamer Josephine Near Port Susan
A local steamer bound for the Skagit River suffers a boiler explosion near Fort Susan, leaving several dead and the vessel a total wreck.
- Terror on the Rails
Saboteurs remove a rail from the Northern Pacific track near Buckley, nearly killing hundreds in a deliberate act of destruction.
- A Nighttime Train Wreck Near Chehalis
A northbound express train derails after striking a steer, leading to a miraculous escape for the crew and passengers.
- A Switch Thrown in the Dark: The Plot to Wreck the Portland Train
Someone opened a Northern Pacific switch on a waterfront trestle just before the night express from Seattle came through — and a quick-thinking crew stopped a hundred passengers short of the deep water.
- A Dispatcher's 'Lap Order' Sent Two Freight Trains Head-On Near Orting
A single mistake on a foggy single-track line killed engineer Louis U. Harmon and critically injured fireman Edward F. Martin—and left the dispatcher waiting helplessly for the crash.
- Six Drowned and the Dead Looted: The Wreck of the Strathblane
Eyewitnesses described a fearful scene off North Beach as the iron ship Strathblane broke apart—farmers rode into the surf to save survivors while others rifled the dead.
- The Tragic Wreck of the Leonor
Survivors and debris on the coast near La Push tell a harrowing story of a ship lost to the jagged rocks during a gale.
- Ten Gales, Three Lost Schooners, and a Widow Who Wasn't
A Seattle seal hunter back from eight months in the North Pacific describes a season that swallowed whole crews — and explains why he'd rather kill seals with a spear than a gun.
Also about this, in other words
- The Iron Wreck: A Train’s Deadly Plunge Near Tacoma
Conductor Stroud and passengers suffer grave injuries when a tender axle fails at 25 mph, sending cars tumbling down an embankment in one of the region's most serious rail accidents to date.
- Teredo Worms Cut a Seattle Wharf Adrift
A shipworm-weakened pier at the foot of Dearborn Street collapsed into Elliott Bay, sending a warehouse down with a crash and leaving the wreckmaster to haul a floating dock back to shore.
- The Salvage Ship That Came to Raise Puget Sound’s Sunken Wrecks
A new wrecking schooner arrived in Seattle with a rubber-suited diver, hydraulic jacks and a plan to lift the sunken Mississippi and Warhawk from the Sound.
- The Great Train Wreck of 1907
A look back at a dramatic freight derailment that sent twenty-one cars into a Kennewick gully.
- A Peculiar Railroad Wreck Near Wallula
A freight car piled high with lumber capsized on a sharp curve, leaving a local blacksmith seriously injured.
- The Last Stand of the David Haley: Wreckers Burn a Tacoma Landmark for Scrap
Seattle wreckers traveled to Puget Sound to strip the iron and copper from the historic shipwreck of the David Haley, destroying a local landmark in the process.
- A Rock Slide Throws a Northern Pacific Freight Into the River
An eastbound freight wreck near Bristol leaves one brakeman missing and two crewmen injured, delaying the southbound overland train.
- Streetcar Smash-up on the Spur
A motorman is seriously injured in a collision at a local woodyard after a switch fails to be reset properly.