Life-Line (mission boat) explained

Life-Line was a Baptist missionary boat used to conduct ministry work in the Coos Bay region of southwestern Oregon, United States, from 1914 to 1923.

Construction

Life-Line was designed by George H. Hitchings and built at Coos Bay for Reverend G. L. Hall of the American Baptist Publication Society.[1] The vessel was 402NaN2 long, propeller-driven, with a 24-horsepower gasoline engine.[1]

Operations

Once complete, "this little ship, under zealot Captain Lund, ran up and down the coast for the Baptist Missionary Society, saving the souls of erring seamen and longshoremen alike."[2]

Sinking

On May 26, 1923, Life-Line was being taken north from Coos Bay to Kelso, Washington, under command of Captain Lund who was operating the vessel with a deckhand. Life-Line foundered off the coast, just south of Neahkahnie, and Captain Lund and the deckhand swam to shore.[3] The vessel washed ashore and was later covered by the sand, where it was forgotten until 1949, when a bulldozer uncovered the wreck.[1] [2]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Newell, Gordon, ed., H.W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest, Superior Publishing, Seattle 1966, at pages 244, 343, and 344.
  2. Marshall, Don, Oregon Shipwrecks, Binford & Mort Publishing, Portland, Oregon 1984, at page 97.
  3. News: Boat Goes on Rocks; Two Swim to Shore. Oregonian (Portland, Oregon). 28 May 1923. 1.