The Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary covers 3,310 square miles of marine waters off the rugged Olympic Peninsula coastline. The sanctuary provides habitat for one of the most diverse marine mammal faunas in North America and is a critical link in the Pacific flyway. The sanctuary boasts a rich mix of cultures, preserved in the contemporary lives of members of the Quinault, Hoh, Quileute, and Makah tribes.

Its combination of fierce weather, isolated and rocky shores, and heavy ship commerce soon established the Olympic Coast as a graveyard for ships. More than 180 shipwrecks have been historically documented in the vicinity of the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary, an amount proportional to the commercial development in the region and the region's significance in the economies of the United States and Canada. There are few recorded shipwrecks prior to the mid-nineteenth century and no authentically reported shipwrecks during the eighteenth century. The number of losses increased significantly as Puget Sound developed into an economic center and as Victoria developed on the north side of the Strait in the later 19th century. Ship losses were predominantly weather-related, and included founderings, collisions and groundings. Many ships simply disappeared, their last known location recorded by the lighthouse keeper at Tatoosh Island before they disappeared into watery oblivion. "Last sighted, Cape Flattery," is the grim epitaph for many unfortunate ships and crew.

One of the best-known shipwrecks along the Olympic Coast is that of the Austria, a Bath, Maine-built "Down Easter" converted from a full-rigged ship to a bark to ply the West Coast trade. Her captainÖs journal tells the story of how she was blown ashore during a gale and impaled on jagged rocks. Fragments of the Austria remain visible at Cape Alava during extreme low tides.

Part 1 - Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary Data Exercise

 

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