The following are quotations and excerpts from the Coos Bay Times regarding the shipwreck and disposal in 1944 of the steamship George L. Olson.

June 24, 1944

Ship On Rocks In Lower Bay

Outbound Lumber Vessel Grounded

With a heavy list to the portside and part of her cargo awash, the lumber ship George Olson was hard aground on the rocks opposite the east end of the Coos Bay south jetty today. The crew has been taken ashore and the coastguard standing by. An attempt will be made to move the vessel at high tide tonight.

In coastal lumber service, the ship, owned by the Albert J. Olson company in San Francisco and commanded by Capt. Conrad Arnke, was outbound with a capacity load of lumber Friday night when she hung up just outside the channel buoy.

No one injured

According to unconfirmed reports the George Olson, plowing toward the bar, was caught in the suction of a ship entering the jaws and thrown off course onto the rocks. Attempts were made immediately to move her but she settled back. No one was reported injured.

Coos Bay seamen say that the cargo can be lifted if necessary to help refloat the vessel provided the sea remains calm, but that a heavy wind such as swept the bay around Friday night might batter her against the rocks.

Scores of townspeople lined Coos Head during the day, watching the craft directly below.

Monday, June 26, 1944

Tries To Float Vessel Fail

Attempts to move the George Olson, coastal lumber ship aground near the entrance to Coos Bay, met with failure over the weekend.

The ship apparently was grounded on Guano Rock and lay south of the channel and inside the nun buoy which marks the lowest water in the bar, and at  low tide Sunday listed heavily to port with the main deck slightly awash. The deckload was intact and there was only a slight roll to the craft. With the incoming tide in the afternoon the roll became more perceptible but the ship’s position was unchanged.

According to the latest published hydrographer’s chart the channel where the Olson came to grief shows the rocky bottom a sounding at mean lower low water of 25 feet.

Coos Head was packed with cars Sunday as bay folk turned out to watch the grounded vessel. Many combined the sight-seeing trip with a day’s outing and spread picnic lunches under the trees.

Tuesday, June 27, 1944

Vessel Refloated In Lower Harbor

 The George Olson, coastwise lumber ship aground three days near the Coos Bay harbor entrance, was refloated last night after part of its deck load had been removed. It was pulled into harbor moorings and inspection was started to determine whether or not it had been damaged by the rocks in which it had been hard aground since Friday.

Thursday, June 29, 1944

The Watchers Who Watched in Vain

A Modern Parable as Told to W.K.B.

This is a story of a grounded ship, of lumber, and of anxious watchers with very ordinary priorities; of potential garages, cottages, and additions, no end; and of blasted hopes. For three days and three nights it seemed almost within grasp as the ship groaned and strained there against the rocks. Surely the dawn of each day would find the beach strewn with the flotsam and jetsam which is his who claims it.

But came the dawn of each day and the ship, like the Stars and Stripes, was still there. Tugs tugged at it and waves buffeted it but still the deckload was intact, and still the underwriters/agents and the anxious watchers had hopes — each to a different purpose.

Then came the lighters and longshoremen and tugs and the ship’s burden forward was lightened and she shook herself like a retriever coming up out of a pond; and then more tugs and more tugging, and, lo, the manacled ship was freed from her lodgement and towed up the stream to safe moorings. And the watchers with the very ordinary priorities thereupon lost heart and sighed, for the war was still on and the hopes of new and newer buildings had gone glimmering.

And there was neither flotsam nor jetsam; but there are other days, and sawmills still operate and ships still go down to the sea with cargoes which make for cottages and garages and additions no end.

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Dec. 5, 1944

Olson Salvage Work Started

(Paraphrased) The Coos Bay Dredging Company will dismantle the George Olson under a contract with the Army Engineers, which took over after attempts to refloat the vessel failed. The vessel has remained aground between Charleston and Empire for some months out of the shipping channel. The contract requires the job to be completed within 60 days.

Dec. 22, 1944

S.S. George Olson Cracking Up Outside Coos Harbor

The S. S. George Olson, with about 600,000 feet of lumber in her holds, is cracking up in the north spit beach, about a mile and a half north of the north jetty outside the Coos Bay harbor, it was announced today by the U.S. coast guard headquarters in Empire. The Olson started on her last trip June 23 of this year form the Coos Bay Lumber Company docks with 1,400,538 board feet of lumber aboard. She hit the north jetty at about 10 p.m., and drifted aground in Guano Rock. Capt. Conrad Arnke was taking the ship out of the harbor at the time of the accident and at a subsequent hiring the steamboat inspector suspended his master’s license.

Contract Sold

Frank Messina of the Acme Lumber and Wrecking Company of Los Angeles, a firm that specializes in wrecking houses, had the original contract to salvage the Olson and her cargo. He later sold the contract to D. D. Hall of Portland. Hall ran into trouble when the ship drifted into a shoal and capsized. The U.S. engineers then moved in on the job. They righted the ship and towed it to its present resting place.

The Coos Head lookout first reported to the coast guard Tuesday of this week that the Olson was cracking up in a heavy surf. Investigation determined that it had been so badly battered in earlier collisions.

The Olson was launched in May of 1917 at Oakland, Calif., as the S.S. Gabriel. She later was named the S.S. Ryder Hanify, and became the S.S. George Olson when she was purchased by the Oliver J. Olson Steamship company.

(Editor's note: Historical records provided by the NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries show the vessel was first named the S.S. Ryder Hanify and re-named the S.S. Gabriel when the vessel was sold to the government of France.)