W.J. Pirrie
The W. J. Pirrie was built in 1883 in Belfast. She was an iron-hulled, four-masted bark 308
feet
long. In 1904, while unloading coal in Chile, she was gutted by fire. The hull was abandoned until
World War I when she was purchased by the W. R. Grace Company and refitted as a schooner-barge;
capable of sailing, but more often towed behind other ships carrying lumber along the
coast.
November 24, 1920 the steamer Santa Rita left Tacoma for San Francisco, towing the
Pirrie. The
following evening they rounded Cape Flattery and encountered such severe weather that the Santa
Rita was forced to cast off the tow line and return to the Straits, leaving the crew of the
Pirrie
to fend for themselves. Sails were raised, but they were shredded by 85 mph winds. The starboard
anchor was lowered, but couldn't find bottom. At the mercy of the storm, the Pirrie was driven onto
a reef near Cake Rock, where she broke in half. Before lifeboats could be launched heavy seas
washed over the decks carrying off the crew, the captain, his wife and small child.
Only two crew members survived the wreck. They swam to shore near Cape Johnson where they wandered
about without food or dry clothing until they were found by Quileute searchers who helped them to
safety in La Push. In the following days searchers recovered the bodies of 18 victims, including
those of the captain's wife and child. They were buried in a common grave at Big Bay, southwest of
Cape Johnson, at a site now known as Chilean Memorial.
Read about individual shipwrecks in the sanctuary:
Austria
H.M.S. Condor
Emily Farnum
Lamut
Leonore
Pacific
Prince Arthur
Skagway
Southerner
St. Nicholas
Temple Bar
See Shipwreck Map
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