SS Iowa (1920)

History
Name:	SS Iowa (1928-1936) SS West Cadron (1920-1928)
Operator:	U.S. government (1920-1928) States Steamship Co. (1928-1936)
Builder:	Western Pipe & Steel Co.
Yard number:	12
Completed:	1920
Fate:	ran aground January 12, 1936
General characteristics
Tonnage:	5,724 (gross)
Length:	410 ft (120 m)
Beam:	54 ft (16 m)
Installed power:	359 nhp
Propulsion:	triple-expansion engine
Speed:	10.5 knots

SS Iowa was a steamship built by the Western Pipe and Steel Company of San Francisco, California in 1920 for the U.S. government and was known as the SS West Cadron. It served in the Quaker Line subsidiary of the States Steamship Co. from 1928—when it was renamed the Iowa—until January 12, 1936, when it encountered a gale and ran aground on Peacock Spit, Washington, part of the Columbia Bar at the mouth of the Columbia River. The Coast Guard cutter Onondaga was dispatched after an SOS was received at the Coast Guard station in Astoria, Oregon, but no survivors were found. All 34 people aboard the ship died, and only six bodies were recovered from the wreckage that dotted local shorelines for days.

References

• "Ship Name: Iowa", shipwreckregistry.com. Retrieved March 4, 2011.
• "SS Iowa (+1936)", wrecksite.eu. Retrieved March 4, 2011.
• "Ship wrecked with 34 aboard lost: Freighter is hit by gale off Astoria", Fairbanks (Alaska) Daily News-Miner. January 13, 1936. Page A1.