| Arch Cape cannon updates |
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| Next public viewing Aug. 2 |
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Posted July 24
The next public cannon viewing is Aug. 2 from 1-2 p.m. in the Nehalem Bay State Park maintenance yard.
A special treat after this viewing: drop by the campground amphitheater at Nehalem Bay State Park at 8:30 p.m. to hear National Park Service historian Greg Shine talk about the USS Shark - his speciality. Greg really knows his stuff ... you may have heard him speak either at Fort Vancouver where he works, or at a recent Portland presentation sponsored by the Oregon Historical Society. The guy's passionate about this chapter in Oregon history.
We're getting ready to issue a request to have conservation organizations bid on the work to stabilize the cannon and prepare them for public display. Updates coming!
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| Work mostly behind the scenes |
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Posted June 20
Been a while between updates, so here's a catch-you-up.
The next public viewing is July 5, from 1-2 p.m. Carpool or find some other way to reaxch the park ... this is a hgoliday weekend and parking will be tight. The viewing is in the Nehalem Bay State PArk maintenance yard (there will be signs ... it's just inside the netarnce to the park).
We had an exciting time in May. Oregon Public Broadcasting produces TV episodes for the nationally-broadcast show History Detectives. They're producing a show on the cannon with the question: Are these from the USS Shark? To help gather more information on their origin, the show arranged for some x-rays of the cannon. Fuji Corportation donated time on one of their portable x-ray machines, and a company called PSI from Portland volunteered their time as industrial radiographers. It was a challenge to get some good, clear images, but they did produce a couple. It was cool to watch them in action, and the x-rays give us a peek beneath the heavy, crusty shell (made of sand and iron, sort of a natural concrete). Here's a sample:
You can see the fullsize photos on our photo page ... just scroll to the bottom. We also had a another volunteer ... from another northwest outfit called EpicScan ... bring a laser-powered 3D object scanner out to create a digital model of the encrusted cannon. We'll bring this to you when it's ready. All these people ... OPB, History Detectives, Fuji, PSI, Epic Scan ... deserve a big round of applause for stepping up.
Our advisory committee is working on some documents right now we can use to select an outfit to do the conservation and restoration work. They're making good progress ... hard workers, all ... but stuff like this always takes longer than you thought it would. Everyone wants to do it right, and sometimes that means taking it slow.
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| USS Shark presentation on 5/8 |
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Posted 5/5
Greg Shine, Chief Ranger and Historian at the National Park Service's Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, is an expert on the USS Shark. The Shark visited what is now Oregon in 1846, just as the debate over where to draw our nation's boundary with British-ruled Canada was coming to a head. The Shark wrecked at the mouth of the Columbia River. Three of its cannon floated down to Arch Cape on a chunk of the ship's deck. They could be (could be) the same cannon found by Miranda Petrone near Arch Cape in February (one other cannon, also presumed to be from the Shark, was found on the same beach in 1898).
Greg will present a paper on the Shark at an event hosted by the Oregon Historical Society on May 8 (that's this Thursday). Details:
Sympathy and Prompt Attentions: the US Schooner Shark in the Oregon Country, 1846
May 8, 2008, 5:30-7:30 p.m.
Oregon Historical Society
1200 SW Park Ave., Portland, Oregon.
For more information, read the news release (Acrobat required).
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| Public viewing and team update |
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May 2, 2008
The public viewing on April 29 was fantastic. There were a dozen or so people around mid-day, but the real treat came in the morning. About 50 north coast schoolkids came out and heard about the artifacts and the possibility they're from the Shark. Seeing kids like these get excited about history and reach out and touch a piece of Oregon's past was amazing.
The advisory team (see list below) met the same day, and we got a lot done. Our first order of business is to figure out how we're going to select a professional contractor to work on the artifacts -- safely getting the thick shell of the concretions off, and making it possible to put these on public display. The process takes years and is delicate work, so we want to be careful and select the right organization for the job. We're lucky to have professional archaeologists and historians working for our Department to steer the team forward.
Some more photos are online. A TV program called The History Detectives is filming a show on the mystery of the cannons' origin. Our very own Oregon Public Broadcasting produces some of the episodes televised nationally. We'll share some of those details next week.
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| Next public viewing set |
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Posted April 11 // public viewing date is April 29
The cannon are sitting in tanks of water, drawing out the salt and protecting them from the air. This prevents further corrosion. Once a week, we change the water, and can sometimes open our maintenance area to visitors so you can get a closer look at the artifacts. The next public viewing will be on April 29 from 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m..
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| Advisory team formed |
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Posted Apr. 4, 2008
We have a team! Local, state and federal partners have stepped up to help us come up with a plan to protect and display the cannon. Here they are as of today:
- Roger Roper, Oregon Parks and Recreation Department Assistant Director, advisory team leader
- Dennis Griffin, Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, state archaeologist
- Jerry Ostermiller, Columbia Maritime Museum
- John Williams, Cannon Beach Historical Society and Cannon Beach Mayor
- Dale Mosby, Arch Cape Community
- Julie Curtis, Oregon Department of State Lands
- Greg Shine, Fort Vancouver National Historic Site
- Dr. Bob Neyland, US Navy
- Cyndi Mudge, Destination The Pacific
- Deborah Wood, Lewis and Clark National Historical Park
- David Brauner, Oregon State University
- Pam Endzweig, University of Oregon
- Dave Eshbaugh, Oregon State Parks Trust
Thanks to these folks for agreeing to give us some much-needed advice. The team will discuss how best to preserve the cannon (which could involve paying specialists tens of thousands of dollars to work on the artifacts for a couple of years), and then how to display them afterward.
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| Cannon education day |
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March 18, 2008
We had more than 150 schoolkids come out from Cannon Beach and other nearby communities. Check out our video page for the highlights, but the Nehalem Bay State Park crew did a fantastic job exploring naval cannon technology, the history of the USS Shark, even why things buried on the beach end up all crusty. The whole crew pitched in, but park interpreter Shelley Parker led the charge with help from Ramona Radonich, John Benson and Jim Newell.
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| Cannon stored in water tanks |
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Feb. 19, 2008
Cannon found at Arch Cape have been moved to Nehalem Bay State Park. Dennis Griffin, the state archaeologist, supervised. Dennis is part of our Heritage Programs Division. The people in this part of the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department are the specialists who help land owners and other government agencies understand the importance of Oregon's history (and pre-history). They provide advice, permits and other aid when people need expert help understanding state and federal laws.
Using some heavy equipment, straps, shovels and a lot of care, state park staff carefully excavated around the cannon and hoisted them up on to a truck. They drove the two cannon to Nehalem Bay State Park, purchased large stock tanks to hold them, and lowered them in. You can see video.
Several universities and businesses contacted Dennis when the story broke, and lent advice on what we should do with the cannon until we figure out what should happen to the cannon. They advised keeping the cannon under water; exposure to the air could cause a lot of damage. We'll keep them in the tanks, changing the water once a week, and get to work on figuring out what the next steps are. We'll need help with that ...
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| Cannon found at Arch Cape |
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Feb 18, 2008
An alert teen stumbled into history over President's Day weekend. Miranda Petrone was walking with her Dad on the beach near Arch Cape (on the north Oregon coast south of Cannon Beach). We lose beach sand in winter in Oregon ... the waves take their toll. We've had a particularly strong winter storm season, and this beach had lost sand 10-15' deep in places, exposing centuries-old tree stumps. Miranda saw a stump ... with rusty bits. This is where alertness pays off ... she knew it was something more than another cool ancient tree relic.
Cannon Beach, just north, is so named for a cannon recovered in the mid-1800s. The salvaged cannon was one of three that washed up here in 1846, after the wreck of a U.S. Navy survey ship, the USS Shark. One of the three was hauled off the beach, but the other two were left on the beach ... and lost.
The crowds gathered, and our local state park staff (out of Nehalem Bay State Park, just south) brought in our North Coast Beach Ranger to survey the scene. Another visitor found a second cannon-shaped lump, much closer to the ocean than the first. The tide was very low, and storms were poised to move in. Staff acted quickly, with fast help from the Arch Cape community. The second cannon was photographed in place (that's important to archaeologists), then moved up to the first cannon. Even this high position wasn't safe from high tide, though.
The beach here below the high tide line is owned by the public ... the Department of State Lands. They signed off on an archaeological permit, giving us permission to move the cannon off the beach before the ocean moves back in and reclaims its prize. Now all we need is the means and a place to store them.
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