Torrisdale

The figurehead drifted ashore after the ship was wrecked at Grays Harbor in December of 1912, Jim Gibbs, Pacific Square-riggers., p. 122.

Citation: Tacoma Public Library

Torrisdale (bark)

A series of fierce gales which swept the coast late in December of 1912 caught the 2,184-ton four-masted steel bark Torrisdale at sea, 49 days from Callao for Portland in ballast. Far off course and with both anchors dragging, the big British bark drove into the south jetty at Grays Harbor early on the morning of December 28. Six hours of heroic effort by the Westport lifesaving crew reswted in the rescue of Capt. G. Collins and the 27-man crew, but the Torrisdale, her back broken, was soon engulfed by the sands off the south jetty. The bark was built at Glasgow in 1892 and was 390 feet in length with a beam of 42 feet. She was owned bv J. & A. Roxburgh of Glasgow and was under charter to Comyn Mackall & Co. of San Francisco to loaded a cargo of nearly 2,000,000 feet of lumber at Portland for the west coast of South America. Gordon Newell, Maritime Events of 1912, H. W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest., p. 212.

Citation: Tacoma Public Library