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All the United States Oregon Gold Beach The Wreck of the Mary D. Hume

The Wreck of the Mary D. Hume

This historic steamboat is scuttled just a few hundred feet from where it was built over a hundred years ago.

Gold Beach, Oregon

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The shipwrecked Mary D. Hume and the Patterson Bridge of Highway 101.   David Crane
At high tide, the Mary D. Hume is mostly submerged   David Crane
The Wreck of the Mary D. Hume   David Crane
  360NW / Atlas Obscura User
Wreck of the Mary D. Hume - May 2018   360NW / Atlas Obscura User
Sadly the current Ms. Hume   RemillardJourneys / Atlas Obscura User
  kayhoskins66 / Atlas Obscura User
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About

With 97 years of active service, The Mary D. Hume still holds the record for longest serving vessel of the Pacific Coast, and her retirement continues to this day as she slowly rots away near an Oregon beach.

Built in 1881 by Mr. R. D. Hume of Astoria, Oregon, the vessel Hume was named after his wife. The Mary Duncan Hume spent her first ten years hauling goods from Oregon to San Fransisco. Purchased in 1889 by Pacific Whaling Co., the vessel spent the ten years following her sale as an Arctic whaling vessel and obtained a record catch of Baleen in a single 29 month voyage. Another of her whaling voyages made history when the Mary D. Hume spent six years at sea. Both instances setting records for the ship's impressive performance. 

In 1899, the Mary D. started in towing service on the Nushagak River in Alaska, and was then sold to The American Tug Boat company. In 1914 she briefly served in the Alaska Halibut industry before returning to work as a tug boat for another 60 years.

Finally in 1978 the Mary D. Hume was retired to Gold Beach where she now sits, slowly sinking into the mud, only a few hundred feet from where she was originally constructed. In 1979 the ship was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

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From Gold Beach, Oregon head North on Highway 101. Turn left onto Harbor Way. You will see the wreck in the water very close to the road.

Community Contributors

Edited By

whitneykaharick, EricGrundhauser, kayhoskins66, 360NW...

  • whitneykaharick
  • EricGrundhauser
  • kayhoskins66
  • 360NW
  • RemillardJourneys

Published

September 11, 2014

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Sources
  • http://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g51887-d1911689/Gold-Beach:Oregon:The.Mary.D.Hume.html
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_D._Hume_%28steamer%29
The Wreck of the Mary D. Hume
29975 Harbor Way
Gold Beach, Oregon, 97444
United States
42.422319, -124.417413
Get Directions

Nearby Places

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Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Oregon

Oregon

United States

Places 208
Stories 31

Nearby Places

Prehistoric Gardens

Port Orford, Oregon

miles away

Nobuo Fujita's Sword

Brookings, Oregon

miles away

St. George Reef Lighthouse

Crescent City, California

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Oregon

Oregon

United States

Places 208
Stories 31

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