Umpqua 11

On 2 September 1970, Gunderson Bros. Engineering Corp. of Portland, Oregon launched a pair of 240 x 60-foot oceangoing gravel barges, Umpqua 10 and Umpqua 11, into the Willamette River (Anonymous 1970, Barber 1970). Built at a cost of $1 million, it was the first twin barge launching in the Pacific Northwest since World War II (Anonymous 1970). Umpqua 10 and Umpqua 11 were originally built for the Umpqua River Navigation Company (Gunderson Marine LLC 2018); acquired by the Bohemia Lumber Company (FundingUniverse 2018). The two steel barges were designed to transport rock and large boulders for jetty fill; and constructed for full ocean service to American Bureau of Shipping standards and U.S. Coast Guard requirements (Gunderson Marine LLC 2018).

Ship Stats:

Vessel Type: Freight Barge
Casualty Location: Moss Landing, Monterey County, California, USA; scuttled at Monterey Canyon
Location Status: Located (see Important Note)
Casualty Date: 1982 (July 10)
Owner: Umpqua Division of Bohemia Lumber Co., Inc. (Eugene, Oregon, USA)
Home Port: Reedsport, Oregon, USA
Length: 240 feet Beam: 60 feet
Gross Tonnage: 2,030
Builder: Gunderson Bros. Engineering Corporation
Launched: 1970 (Portland, Oregon, USA)
Official Number: 528635

Nature of Casualty:

On 10 July 1982, Umpqua 11 ran aground near Moss Landing, California. Considered a hazard to navigation, the barge was towed to a mooring buoy offshore at Monterey Canyon and scuttled on 24 July 1982. Scuttling of the wreck would not be allowed today, as Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary is protected from the intentional sinking of vessels.

During a research cruise on 29 October 2014, to study an active earthquake fault in Monterey Bay, a rectangular structure on the seafloor was detected with sonar using MBARI’s seafloor-mapping autonomous underwater vehicle D. Allan B. (MBARI 2014). The object was further investigated with video cameras using MBARI’s remotely operated vehicle Doc Ricketts. The stern of the sunken vessel with the name, Umpqua 11, and its original home port of “Reedsport, Oregon,” was clearly visible. The sunken vessel rests in 5,453 feet (1,662 meters) of water on the muddy seafloor in Monterey Canyon.

Due to copyright issues, newspaper articles cannot be reproduced here. Referenced and additional resources listed below.

Referenced and Additional Resources

Anonymous. 1970. Pair of 240-foot barges launched by Gunderson at cost of $1 million. The Oregonian (Portland, Oregon); 3 September 1970, p 39.

Barber, L. 1970. Portland News: Two gravel barges go down Gunderson Ways. Marine Digest 49(3):27.

Clark, Samantha. 2014. Researchers discover shipwreck in Monterey Bay. The Mercury News (San Jose, CA), 5 Nov 2014. World Wide Web electronic publication. Accessed [11/5/14].

FundingUniverse. 2018. Bohemia, Inc. History. World Wide Web electronic publication. Accessed [6/12/18].

Gunderson Marine LLC. 2018. Umpqua #10 and 11 vessel drawings and construction records, Gunderson Bros. Engineering Corporation. Gunderson Marine LLC archives. Accessed [4/19/18].

Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI). 2014. Researchers find wreck of sunken barge in Monterey Canyon. Phys.org, 24 Nov 2014. World Wide Web electronic publication. Accessed [11/24/14].