The Wreck of the Peter Iredale
A terrific view of the Milky Way in the night sky over the shipwrecked Peter Iredale on the coast near Astoria, Oregon in Fort Stevens State Park. A simple headlamp was used to light paint the right side of the wreck, and the lights of Seaside, Oregon can be seen on the horizon. This photo was taken at 11:50 PM the night of July 27th as part of a month long solo photography road-trip through the Pacific Northwest. I had spent nearly the entire day photographing the wreck and the beach in changing light conditions from 2 PM to sunset. After the sun disappeared over the horizon I waited until the stars shown brightly and the tide came in high enough to pass the buried hull. I set a timer on my camera and stood in ice-cold water up past my knees to light up the wreck in temperatures in the mid 60's.
Shot at 24mm 1600 ISO f/2.8 for 30 Seconds. Canon 5D Mk III.
The ship was sailing to the Columbia River channel from Mexico and encountered a storm on October 25th, 1906. The crew battled huge surges and strong winds in the last stretch past the Tillamook Lighthouse nearing the channel. Finally, she ran aground only four miles from her destination. Everyone on the crew (plus two stowaways) all survived and were commended for their efforts to save the ship. Most of the wreck was later salvaged and sold as scrap, but a large section of the hull remains buried in the sand