Winter weather brings winter storms and the winter storms of the past brought many ships to ground along the coast of the Long Beach Peninsula. The Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum presents a special exhibition Graveyard of the Pacific: Dangerous Currents-Shifting Sands. The show coincides with the ship wreck season. The opening of the exhibit will be November 16, 2018 and it will be on view through March 9, 2019.
Historic artifacts, photographs, and first-person accounts from wrecks such as the Admiral Benson, the Alice, the Potrimpos, the Glenmorag, and over 20 more ships will be featured in the exhibition. In addition, The U.S. Life Saving Service, U.S. Coast Guard and volunteer rescue units who have risked and sometimes given their lives to saving victims of maritime accidents will be highlighted.
A portion of the show will be devoted to noted shipwreck historian James A. Gibbs, whose groundbreaking book Pacific Graveyard is still considered a primary source for shipwreck information. Ocean Park photographer Charles Fitzpatrick who worked from the late 1920s through the 1960s will be highlighted for his part in keeping the mystery and attraction to shipwrecks alive. Come immerse yourself in our local shipwreck history.