The Oregon (Wreck)

 interesting place, invisible

You might feel that Captain Albert Lowe had bad luck with the pilot allocated at Falmouth to bring him safely up-Channel. After all, he had managed, without a pilot, to bring his three-masted steel-hulled barque Oregon all the way from Iquique, Chile, round Cape Horn and across the Atlantic with a cargo of nitrate of soda.
His orders were quite clear. He was to pick up a pilot once he reached Falmouth before continuing his voyage on to Newcastle. So aboard the 195ft Oregon as she headed up-Channel there was a pilot, in addition to the 18 crew and their captain.
The trouble was, he wasn't much of a pilot. In the dark and rain of the evening of 18 December, 1890, the Oregon managed to strike the Book Rocks, just off the beach near the dramatic arch of Thurlestone Rock in South Devon.
Captain Lowe immediately put his ship about, felt her come free and then headed out to sea. But she was badly holed and within minutes Captain Lowe had to order Òabandon shipÓ. The first boat was swamped as soon as it was lowered, but the second launch was better and all got off safely. The Oregon sank minutes later.
No one, least of all the pilot, knew where they were. In the dark they drifted for 12 hours before spotting a light on shore, which led them into the shelter of the fishing village of Inner Hope, where newspaper reports say "they were treated with great kindness".
The wreck of the Oregon was first dived by Kingston BSAC and was identified by the date of building - 1875 - cast into the boss of its wheel when it was built by Mounsey and Foster of Sunderland. Divers have recovered many of its lignum vitae rigging blocks.