Observation: US Coast Guard / USA
Graveyard shift
On the perilous stretch of water where the Columbia river meets the Pacific, the US Coast Guard is refining the art of preparation. Can our reporter ride the wave?
“Sécurité, sécurité, sécurité,” says a member of the US Coast Guard in Ilwaco, Washington, as he leans into the microphone in front of him to read a weather forecast on the Columbia River Bar. “This is Coast Guard Station Cape Disappointment…”
Mariners tune in to this broadcast every day as they navigate what is known as “the Graveyard of the Pacific”, a perilous stretch of water at the mouth of the Columbia river on which there have been about 2,000 shipwrecks since 1792. Crossing the passage is always risky but it is often necessary. Draining a…
