Bow of the Bella |
Jetties at Florence, Oregon |
These photographs are of the Bella which grounded on the South Jetty area of the Oregon Coast in January 1906. It is not to be confused with the La Bella which was lost in Australia the same year. The Bella was a 121 foot long 3 masted schooner built upriver of Florence, Oregon on the Siuslaw River at Acme (now known as Cushman) in 1897. She served the lumber trade hauling lumber from Florence to San Francisco and bringing supplies back to Florence as the town did not have road access at the time. The Pioneer Museum in Florence has a nice room dedicated to the Bella with a number of photos of her life in service of the coastal lumber trade.
It is reported that the Bella arrived at Florence when the bar was rough and was laying off shore waiting for better weather when she was blown ashore. It is reported that the crew walked ashore through the surf, and that the supplies were salvaged, but the ship was lost. Most of the time there is no trace of her but occasionally winter storms erode the intertidal area a bit lower than normal which was the case in winter of 2007-2008 and remains of the ship are exposed.