This cache was originally placed last year but was archived a few months later when a large section of the cemetery entrance road disappeared in a landslide. The road has been diverted and stabilized and the cemetery is now open to the public once again, so the cache at this interesting historic location has returned.
On November 3, 1891 the British ship "Strathblane" had been bound for Portland, Oregon, sailing in heavy weather that continued to worsen. As she sailed into what was at the time one of the worst storms recorded in the Columbia-Pacific region, the ship suddenly ran aground on the beach near the L.A. Loomis estate, south of present-day Loomis Lake State Park. The ship's captain had been sailing with a faulty navigation instrument, and had believed himself to 60 to 70 miles off the mouth of the Columbia. The surf pounded the ship mercilessly, and she began to break up. As the telegraph lines had blown down in the storm, an SOS message had to be delivered by horseback to the Fort Canby Lifesaving Station. As a result, lifesaving crews were not able to reach the disaster until more than four hours after the vessel went aground.
Six sailors washed up dead on the beach. Those unknown dead sailors, along with the ship's captain, were given a fitting burial in the Ilwaco Cemetery, looking over Baker's Bay and the Columbia River. A few years ago their crumbling headstone was replaced by a new marker, shown in this photo.
In memory of Laurie Freeman aka geocache reviewer "Wizard of Ooze", aka geocacher Half-Canadian and Scooter the Wonder Dog. This geocache was originally placed by her for the enjoyment of the geocaching community.