Wreck of the Mimi, February 1913 and (attempted) Garibaldi Rescue, April 1913
The Mimi was an iron hulled sailing ship built in 1893 in Germany. A low dense fog in February 1913 camouflaged the Oregon coast and she ran aground north of Nehalem. At low tide, her crew was able to walk ashore.
Fisher Engineering and Construction Company was awarded the contract to refloat her. Against the advice of Captain Farley of the Garibaldi Life Saving Station, the Fisher engineers off-loaded 1200 tons of ballast. This was a fatal mistake.
During high tide on April 6th, they began the effort to refloat the ship. Inch-by-inch the vessel slid from the sand to the ocean. An extraordinarily high wave slammed into the Mimi. Because of the lack of ballast, she was twisted sideways and capsized.
Wave after wave pulled crewmen from the deck into roaring ocean, where they were slammed into twisted spars and broken masts. Fourteen crew were drowned. Only the captain, one crew member, and the floater survived, despite the best efforts of the Garibaldi life savers.
Real-picture postcards show the history of the Oregon coast.
