In November 1924, the bow from a wrecked ship burned in the harbor at Port Orford, Ore., freeing tons of salvageable metal, including spikes and drift bolts.
Three years earlier, a strong sou’wester forced the fully loaded schooner Joan of Arc against a rock at the Rogue River reef. The nearby ship City of Topeka rescued the entire crew without mishap, but left behind the schooner and its load of fir railroad ties and mining timbers. The Joan of Arc, lights still burning, drifted and landed broadside in the breakers at Port Orford.
An insurance company tug arrived from San Francisco to evaluate the ship’s damaged condition. Salvage crews stripped furnishings and fittings, but left the vessel to the ocean tempest, which twisted the hull apart, forcing cargo and wreckage upon the beach. Carpenters used the salvaged lumber in the construction of several Port Orford buildings.
The bow remained exposed, pointed seaward and partially buried in the sand where the salvage fire burned three years later.
In 2006, coastal storms uncovered a suspected portion of the Joan of Arc’s long-buried bulk.
Sources: "Deserted Ship of 1921 Cremated for its Iron." Gold Beach Reporter, 20 Nov. 1924;
West, Victor C. “A Guide to Shipwreck Sites Along the Oregon Coast.” North Bend, Ore, Victor C. West & R.E. Wells, 1924, pp. 68-69; Nelson, Shirley. "The Wreck of the Joan of Arc." As It Was, Jefferson Public Radio, 14 June 2006.
