Turn On It, Tune Out, Drop In

SW WIND 20 TO 25 KT. WIND WAVES 5 FT. W SWELL 12 FT AT 14 SECONDS. RAIN.
"May God bless you, and may your bones bleach in the sands."

The Wreck of the Peter Iredale.

There is not much I can add to this, perhaps, the most iconic shipwreck of the Oregon Coast.
The ship was a 4 mast steel bark built in England in 1890.
On September 26, 1906, it sailed from Salina Cruz, Mexico, bound for Portland.
Encountering heavy fog, they made for the mouth of the Columbia the morning of October 25.
Captain H. Lawrence recalled,
“A heavy southeast wind blew and a strong current prevailed...
Before the vessel could be veered around...
She was in the breakers and all efforts to keep her off were unavailing.”
The ship ran aground Clatsop Spit, three masts snapping from the impact.
Captain Lawrence ordered to abandon ship and rockets were launched to signal for help.
The Point Adams Lifesaving Station sent a team of men to rescue the crew.
The lifesavers brought all 27 crewmen, including two stowaways, safely to shore.
William K. Inman, helped Captain Lawrence ashore.
He remembered that the red-bearded captain stood stiffly at attention, saluted his ship, and said: “May God bless you and may your bones bleach in these sands.”
The Captain then turned and addressed his men with a bottle of whisky in his hand:
“Boys, have a drink.”
The British Naval Court ruled that the captain and his officers were “in no wise to blame.”
But that the sudden wind shift and the strong current were responsible for the stranding of the ship.

The Shipwreck for me is a mirroring metaphor for the sorry state of my neck.
Formerly sturdy and shipshape, my spine it is now a deteriorating hulk.
But unlike the Peter Iredale; I do have hopes of being dragged from the beach.
And to again float among the waves of the mighty Sea.