[Milsurplus] Wreck o' the General Meigs

[Hue Miller]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Cal Pitts"   Subject: Re: Gen. Meigs wreck - reply

( The troopship General Meigs was being towed from the "Reserve
Fleet at Olympia, Washington (which i never knew existed! ) to 
California for scrapping in winter 1972, but the storm had other ideas.
The tow line parted and General Meigs ended up on the rocks near
Neah Bay, Washington, out on the wild Olympic Peninsula. Mr. Pitts
has a pretty interesting account of his hike to visit the wreck and his
earlier experiences on the Meigs; this is available in Wikipedia. )


> Dear Hue,
> Glad to hear from someone interested in what became one of my great
> adventures....
> The Makah (tribe)  were very hard for the Navy to deal with,  so as a result,
> according to a salvage
> dealer (non-Indian) who lives in Nea Bay and was an eye-witness,  the Navy
> set charges on the Meigs and
> reduced it mostly to rubble.
> I was able to locate one very large piece on an isolated beach,  with
> another smaller piece nearby.
> The larger piece was maybe15 feet tall and probably just as wide.   I
> climbed up on it and had my
> wife take a picture.
> The remainder is under water.    At low tide,  I was able to walk out maybe
> 50-75 yards toward the
> hugh rock which broke it in two pieces.    Standing on one of the slippery
> rocks just at water-level,  I was
> able to see the upper metal parts of some of the ship,  but was unable to
> tell which part....

> There is a way to get there which is allowed by the Makah tribe.    There is
> also a way which crosses > some "No Trespassing" land.
> I stopped at the Makah Museum and told them what I was doing,  and received
> friendly cooperation.
> As for original equipment,  much of it was still on board at the time the
> Meigs was being towed to
> San Francisco for storage.
> When it broke loose from its tow-line during a Force 8 gale,  it was
> unmanned when it hit the rocks.
> The very next day,  two young men took their own boat approached it from the
> seaward side.
> They were able to extract the main helm,  lots of tools,  and other
> equipment such as radios.
> Fortunately,  I was able to visit with them in their home,  and saw the helm
> hanging over their
> fireplace.    Their own account was interesting.

http://www.ridolfi.com/MakahNALEMP/pdfs/MakahSite19_fs.pdf    One photo of 
a piece of the wreck; ship was still pretty substantial before, apparently, the Navy
blasted it.  -Hue