Graveyard of the Pacific: Shipwreck and Survival on America’s Deadliest Waterway

by Randall Sullivan

A vivid portrait of the Columbia River Bar that combines maritime history, adventure journalism, and memoir, bringing alive the history—and present — of one of the most notorious stretches of water in the world Off the coast of Oregon, the Columbia River flows into the Pacific Ocean and forms the Columbia River a watery collision so turbulent and deadly that it’s nicknamed the Graveyard of the Pacific. Two thousand ships have been wrecked on the bar since the first European ship dared to try to cross it in the late 18 th century. For decades ships continued to make the bar crossing with great peril, first with native guides and later with opportunistic newcomers, as Europeans settled in Washington and Oregon, displacing the natives and transforming the river into the hub of a booming region. Since then, the commercial importance of the Columbia River has only grown, and despite the construction of jetties on either side, the bar remains treacherous, even today a site of shipwrecks and dramatic rescues as well as power struggles between small fishermen, powerful shipowners, local communities in Washington and Oregon, the Coast Guard, and the Columbia River Bar Pilots – a small group of highly skilled navigators who help guide ships through the mouth of the Columbia. When Randall Sullivan and a friend set out to cross the bar in a two-man kayak, they’re met with skepticism and concern. But on a clear day in July 2021, when the tides and weather seem right, they embark. As they plunge through the currents that have taken so many lives, Randall commemorates the brave sailors that made the crossing before him – including his own abusive father, a sailor himself who also once dared to cross the bar – and reflects on toxic masculinity, fatherhood, and what drives men to extremes. Rich with exhaustive research and propulsive narrative, Graveyard of the Pacific follows historical shipwrecks through the moment-by-moment details that often determined whether sailors would live or die, exposing the ways in which boats, sailors, and navigation have changed over the decades. As he makes his way across the bar, floating above the wrecks and across the same currents that have taken so many lives, Randall Sullivan faces the past, both in his own life and on the Columbia River Bar.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Memoir, Audiobook, Nautical, Adventure, Travel

272 pages, Paperback

Published June 18, 2024

Reviews

[Bon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay, no. This book is not what was marketed. It's more personal narrative about two senior citizens overcoming their childhood trauma by kayaking a risky route. I liked some of the geological history at the beginning, and the fact they used a Black audiobook narrator, but this isn't what I thought I was picking up.

Instead, i'd recommend James Gibbs' "Pacific graveyard: A narrative of the ships lost where the Columbia River meets the Pacific Ocean".

[Vivian · Rating 4 out of 5]

”Even the right day can be wrong.”

This is a self-reckoning book, primarily man against self, but highlighting the man versus environment. The challenge to do something before you are too old to do it anymore. To face death and win, hopefully. The challenge to cross the Columbia Bar in a small pedal/sail craft is cathartic exercise for the author and a close friend. It discusses abuse and the legacy of it. Honestly, after reading this I gotta say the idea of doing this crossing in a Hobie sounds absolutely insane.

The title sounds hyperbolic, but it’s really not.

[W]hile researching Peacock Spit that, though many of the hazards of the Columbia Bar were named for ships that had foundered on the, in nearly every case those particular wreck had not involved any loss of life and were if fact most notable of their rescue operations that had saved entire crews.

Which sounds sweet, but the cynical side of me says that if you did the opposite there would be too many choices and a fight over who gets the most prestigious placement recognition.

”Any line that can tangle, will.”

Yeah, I’m keeping this one to use for myself.

So, how fast is the flow?

[A]verage flow of 260,000 cubic feet per second that rise to 1.2 million cube feet per second at the height of the late-spring runoff […]

And because I had a hard time visualizing how powerful that was I decided to compare it to Niagara Falls which due to the drop makes it easier for me to conceptualize . Niagara’s “non-tourist flow” season is 50,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) which increases to a peak rate of 100,000 cfs.

So to clarify, Columbia Bar runs FIVE times the rate of the Niagara Falls on average and that increases to TWELVE times as fast during peak flow.

Twelve times the volume. Twelve.
Mind-boggling expletives inserted here.

I know water always wins. But, I think this fact more than any other really hit just how fierce the Columbia Bar current is: every year the Coast Guard has to replace the buoys chains. These are one inch diameter hardened steel chains and by the time they are changed out 3/4 of that inch has worn away.

I’ve known harbor pilots, but the Caribbean is nothing like this. The insanity of the weather shifts and swells is so crazy you can’t not believe it because a lie would never be that outrageous.

This is a very thorough accounting of the most devastating wrecks, events, and people that propagated changes. There is a fair amount of personal storytelling interwoven and much of it handles physical abuse and the repercussions of it. I hope the author and his partner in this endeavor have found some sense of peace, because there are some hurts that go so deep that they permanently change one. I enjoyed it, but if you’re looking for just a straight data read of the Columbia Bar this might not be what you’re looking for.

Again, my love of the ocean has brought me here, ymmv.

[Jeremy Moore · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this topic tops out at "Wikipedia Deep Dive" - it's interesting in the aggregate, and something I'm glad I learned about as a recent PNW transplant. But all the shipwreck stories are essentially the same, so I lost interest in the details. The added personal narrative breaks the repetition, and I respect the willingness to share, but I didn't find it particularly engaging. I get why he wrote the book, I think it's cool that he did, but I don't think I would recommend it to others.

Also: I enjoyed the narrator's voice, but they needed to spend more time on the recording. There's hesitations and mispronunciations that make it obvious he needed another take. Whatever producer heard "Ore-GONE" and kept going, boo you.

[Kristen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Based on the title and blurb, what you would expect is a strictly historical record of shipwrecks at the mouth of the Columbia River. And while you do get a bit of that, the book is mixed with Randall Sullivan's abusive childhood, his quest to cross the Columbia Bar in a two-person kayak with his friend (both in their 70s), and a bit of rumination on toxic masculinity. Specifically, it's the way that masculinity was taught and how Sullivan's risky crossing is an effort, in some part, to prove something to himself.

It's an odd mix of topics that don't always go well together--especially as the chapters jump back and forth between the river's shipwreck history and Sullivan's partial biography with little to no segue. Both topics have the propensity to be interesting on their own, but I found that, together, I wasn't much of a fan.

I picked up this book because I expected it to be about shipwrecks (one of my odd interests) and was thus a little let down by the author's focus on (toxic) masculinity... especially since I didn't always agree with him. The chapters in which he describes the abuse he and his friend, Ray, endured at the hands of their fathers and the lasting effects of the abuse, as well as the complex dichotomy between love and hatred for a father figure, were as interesting as they were disheartening. It's extremely unfortunate that these two men--and others in their generation--experienced such abuse from someone they loved.

But one thing that stuck out to me was Sullivan's inclusion about the Boomer/Millennial generational divide. I've read the passage over and over again trying to formulate what Sullivan is trying to say, but I'm lacking. Here's the passage:

Hundreds of thousands of men of our generation were beaten by their fathers. This is the main fact obscured by Millennial attacks on baby-boomer men (for having hogged so much of America's wealth, mainly) and what, for me, makes those attacks so shallow and dishonest. As I recently pointed out to my son Gabriel, born in 1997, on the cusp of Gen Y and Gen Z, he has heard his father tell him that he is loved just about every day of his life while growing up. I never heard it from my father even once. There's no real way to account for such disparity in measuring which generation got the lousier deal, but it certainly deservers consideration.

I don't think he's necessarily wrong; he did get a rough hand dealt to him. But to assume that there is a generational divide between abuse, poverty, and financial disparity did not sit well with me. Just because he treated his son well does not mean that other boys aren't still being abused at the hands of their fathers in the same way Sullivan was, and, though not said, enduring abuse should not be the trade off for being financially comfortable. But I digress.

The book does leave a lot of room for discussion on masculinity, toxic or not, and the weight of generational differences, but this wasn't what I expected nor wanted from the book. So for me, this was just an okay, 2-star read.

[Brandon · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is like a joke about online recipes. To get to the recipe, you must wade through a 20000-word essay on life. To get to the shipwrecks, you must go through a lot of information about the author and his wealthy friends' families. The actual details on the mouth of the Columbia were fascinating and were the only reason I kept going, but I ended up fast-forwarding past the parts about the author or his friend's personal life, which made the book very short. If the book had been about the mouth of the Columbia, I would have given it 4 stars, but this book is more a memoir than a history book.
Also, a warning for anyone from PNW: if you are listening to the audiobook, the reader, nor anyone involved in the production, is from the PNW, so he mispronounces many locations, including Oregon, Willamette, and multiple indigenous people's tribal names.

[Brianna Hart · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first I wasn’t sure about this book. I had assumed it would only be about shipwrecks but there was an added twist of personal life included in this one too. As it went on, I found that the stories tied together and it made sense that the author would include his personal back story. With some interesting facts about ship wrecks and life, this was pretty enjoyable.

[Jackie Sunday · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s complex. While the reader is expecting stories about shipwrecks on the dangerous Columbia River, there’s more.

Randall Sullivan shares his personal thoughts with a lineage of fathers who beat their sons. The same thing happened to his friend, Ray. Randall unfolds some of his stories of his powerful, controlling father. He was determined to stop the repeating violent acts from his father, grandfather and great-grandfather with a kinder role of being a parent.

The two 70-year-old men – Randall and Ray – set up a strenuous challenge to cross the Columbia River Bar in a two-seat kayak at 19 feet long and two feet wide. Their wives were not happy as this is a seriously dangerous proposition.

He said, “Part of the book I wanted to write about would be about the effects on us both of having grown up amid so much violence, a great deal of it inflicted on us by our fathers.” He explained that’s why they were driven to do difficult and dangerous things.

The book includes a fascinating historical account of shipwrecks on the Columbia River near the city of Astoria where hundreds of people have died. While the mouth of the Columbia River is incredibly beautiful, the sandbars and weather conditions can change at an instant causing threatening effects.

The title of the book is great for marketing but it’s not all what readers may be expecting. However, I found the history to be interesting.

[Stefanie Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Columbia River Bar is one of the most treacherous areas for seacraft. There are several reasons why this particular area where the Columbia River meets the Pacific Ocean is known as the Graveyard of the Pacific. There are shifting sand bars, coral reefs, riptides, and changing shorelines. Weather is unpredictable, changing wave height and frequency with little warning. Issues with fog have been reported on many occasions. This has caused over 2,000 ships to wreck and hundreds of losses of life. The author of this book decided he and a friend should try to cross this area in a two-person kayak, which I found insane. It was interesting to hear about his life with a sailor father, and how he planned this trip. I surely would not have done this. I appreciated all of the history that was included in this book as well.

[Jamie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I downloaded this to listen to in a trip with my husband and daughter. We live in Washington and grew up in Oregon. An hour in and there was no story of ships only the author’s personal story of wanting to cross the bar and preparing for that. It got boring and the mispronounced local words in the narration made it so it turned annoying to listen to it any further.

[Sally · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was fine. I would have enjoyed it more had I read it and not listened to the audiobook. The author is a local but the audiobook narrator isn’t, so he pronounces Willamette incorrectly (kind of a big deal!!) and says Oregon like ore-eh-GONE among other bad pronunciation things.

[Lexi Morey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did enjoy this story and thought the history of the Columbia River Bar was really interesting! These guys are crossing it in a trimaran sailboat/kayak together and hearing their personal stories and why they ended up there, as well as the stories of prior shipwrecks was informative and sometimes deep. The audiobook reader wasn’t my favorite: sometimes awkward sentence breaks and not a good flow, but not bad enough for me to stop lol Happy I read it and also happy it’s over

[Gavin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay, let's start with the good. Randall Sullivan does an admirable job convincing the reader of the dangers of the Columbia Bar, and his storytelling skills are apparent when he recounts the various tales of doomed sailors, conniving businessmen, and the romanticism of the sea.

It is also apparent how much research went into this book. In between reflections on his and his friend's childhoods and abuses suffered from their fathers, the author exhaustively retells each tragedy minute-by-minute (occasionally to the detriment of the overall story). However, I am not sure that the manner in which he structured the book is to the benefit of the reader. I am certainly not opposed to the idea of having personal reflections in between prose, but something about his delivery and manner of writing makes this work feel disjointed and incongruent to me, rather than being greater than the sum of its component parts.

If that was all of my issues with this book, I would certainly still have rated this 3-stars. However, throughout reading this I was struck by something less significant to the plot, and yet much more important to me personally. In several places, Sullivan seems to lose the script and abruptly changes tack to make borderline contemptuous remarks about generations younger than him. It was certainly off-putting, but also confusing, to hear him diverge from discussions over fatherly abuse to prop himself up as a paragon of manhood. What confounds me the most, however, is how he can be so thoughtful and reflective about his own upbringing, but then, by virtue of the fact that he never hurt his own children -- and according to him, was a great father -- talk so demeaningly about millennials and Gen Z. If anything, this random diatribes give me more of the impression that the editor made an effort to cut out other examples of this behavior.

I truly appreciate the effort that the author and his friend made to "beat the cycle", but at the end of the day, his own arrogance around the supposed superiority of his ilk reminds me much more of the same type of pigheadedness that every generation seems to grow into, rather than the triumphal story of someone who evolved into one with tolerance and grace. Unfortunately, to me, this quasi-memoir is an interesting read, but nothing more, and my impression of the author at the end is much lower than it was near the beginning.

[De Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Graveyard of the Pacific by Randall Sullivan is much more than a dry recounting of the many dangers encountered by ships attempting to cross the Columbia Bar. His shared research of the shipwrecks, successes, and seamen is detailed and quite interesting. The introductory geological and exploratory history perfectly set the stage. Sullivan is joined by a friend on this journey to cross, shares their similar childhood traumas, and how that had shaped them as men. In the end, they had survived it all.

[Leanne Olson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Graveyard of the Pacific is a fascinating mix of memoir, adventure, and history.

Randall Sullivan writes about his attempt to cross the Columbia River Bar in a kayak with his friend, Ray. The Bar is where the Columbia River flows into the Pacific Ocean; over 2,000 ships have been wrecked in this location.

Sullivan gives the history of crossings of the bar, highlighting the people, politics, and economics involved in some of the biggest disasters. He describes them vividly and I loved his look at the personalities behind the sailors and rescuers. Some of the stories are exciting and some are heartbreaking.

Sullivan also takes a hard look at his own motivations for trying to cross the deadly waterway in a kayak, at the age of 70. I wasn’t expecting the heavy focus on memoir in this book, but it was a fascinating, moving read. Sullivan talks about the history of his family and the abuse he survived at the hands of his father, a former sailor. Sullivan shares his own views on toxic masculinity and generational trauma.

I’m not normally a memoir reader but I found myself completely captivated. Lynch Travis’s narration of the audiobook definitely helped suck me in.

Thank you to Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for my review copy of this audiobook.

[Mickey Smith]

There are like 8 Barbara's Bookstore's at O'Hare and I managed to scour the smallest one in the whole place. This was like a pre-packaged Fresh Market airport meal in book form.

[Apriel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second book in as many weeks that I’ve read that has some serious problems deciding what it wants to be. No where in the title does it state that this book is going to be a trip down memory lane for the author but it is.

Weaving the tale of his tumultuous upbringing (and that of his best friend) with the numerous shipwrecks of the Columbia River Bar is a bizarre choice in my opinion. There is a tenuous connection through the authors need to cross the Bar in a tiny boat with his friend but it’s not enough to justify including his life’s story in a book that is supposed to be about shipwrecks. I have no idea who this guy is and had no desire to read about his life and how his dad used to beat the shit out of him. I did, however, want to read a book about shipwrecks. And I throughly enjoyed the bits about the shipwrecks and wish there had more. I hated the rest. I’m not sure the audiences for these two stories are the same and feel the author would have done better to write two different books.

Also the audiobook narrator is the absolute worst. I hated his voice. His super slow speech. His horrible pronunciation and enunciation. Just everything about his narrating. And I seriously question the judgment of the person who hired him.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was under the impression that this book was solely about historical events. The memoir portion about the author and his friend did not interest me in regards to the subject matter at hand. I wanted more history. The memoir would’ve been better on its own.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Grove Atlantic, Atlantic Monthly Press for an advance copy of nautical history on a troubled area for ships and crew, and the men that are both drawn to the danger and looking for meaning and understanding in the troubled seas of their own psyches.

Even in the 21st century taking to the seas is as dangerous for people as it was for mariners who travelled the seaways throughout time. Sure there are helicopters, GPS trackers to find lifeboats, and find where a lost sailor might have washed up. However the sea is a harsh landscape, plays no favorites and even the largest ship or smallest raft can run into trouble, a rogue wave, a sudden storm, a mistake that made sense at the time. Libraries are filled with books about rough passages, or ships that set out without reaching their destination, or finding a port at the bottom of the sea. A lot of dangers are known, Capes not to sail near, places that the water is too much for even the wisest of sailors. One of the dangers is the Columbia River Bar, nicknames the Graveyard of the Pacific. A place where the Pacific Ocean meets the Columbia River, creating a patch of rough water that has been responsible for many lost craft and crew. A place that two men plan to sail across one day in July, to prove something to themselves that even they aren't sure of.. Graveyard of the Pacific: Shipwreck and Survival on America’s Deadliest Waterway by journalist and writer Randall Sullivan is a history of an area in the ocean, the men who sailed and died on it, and the legacy of fathers have on their sons, and the call of the sea.

Randall Sullivan has a plan. Even though he is close to seventy, Sullivan is still in good shape, and thinks of a great adventure for himself and his Roy, a lawyer who shares many of the same traits, and family upbringing as Sullivan. The two man will cross the Columbia River Bar, a dangerous stretch of water that has sunk many a ship, on a sail Kayak a Hobie Adventure Island trimaran. Most of the people Sullivan speaks to, Coast Guard rescue men, fishermen, their family think they are crazy, that the area is called the Graveyard of the Pacific for a reason. Yes under certain conditions, weather, temperature, current, water levels, it could be possible. But still dangerous, and foolish. As Sullivan prepares he reads and learns much about the area. The indigenous people who called the area home, the many ships that attempted to cross the area, the men who died. And why people try to do these things. As Sullivan shares what he learns about the Columbia River Bar, Sullivan shares about his life, his father a Merchant Marine with very quick hands, and the things that still effect him from his childhood.

Not the book that I expected, but a book I far more enjoyed. With the title I was expecting stories about boats sinking and tales about storms, and rough crossing. What Sullivan has done has written a book that looks at both his and Roy's childhood, with fathers who were terrible, and how that might have made them the men they are. However the book is also about the sea. What draws people to risk their lives on the ocean. Did these sailors ever find what the were looking for. In risking their lives will Sulllivan and his friend feel different, or are they so damaged by their legacy of violence. The writing is very good, informational on the Bar and the ships that sailed it, and yet almost poetic in what Sullivan has seen and been effected by. The sailing scenes are thrilling, the way the two men bicker is funny. And at the end there is a lot to contemplate.

A book that brings on in with a strong title, and yet asks a lot of questions, about masculinity, the sea, friendship, being a parent, and living with abuse. Not what I expected, but one that I enjoyed and made me feel emotions I did not expect.

[Dezirah Remington · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to #NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the audio-ARC

As a multi-generational Oregonian, I’m always interested in books that explore this wild and wonderful state. It’s been years since I was last in Astoria, but the area is amazing in the violence of its beauty and long history. The historical accounts of the Columbia Bar were interesting in this book, however it was an uneven read.

There are some really strong points to this book: 1. The memoir element seems to attempt to dive deep, but relies heavily on the trauma surrounding the author and the other characters. 2. The accounts of past wrecks intertwined with the author's own journey to cross the bar are well researched and written in an engaging way.

While it is nice to read an account from a 70ish year old white male who is attempting to deal with the legacy of violence that created the toxicity he struggled with throughout his life, there is a lack of beauty or passion that shows how he actually overcame all of that violence. Also, the choices of side stories to include are somewhat chaotic. Why do we suddenly go off on a tangent of a man he knew who was murdered by a prostitute and her drug addicted partner? I wish I knew, it didn’t seem to be necessary for the story and doesn’t happen near the Columbia Bar.

The narration of this book was ROUGH. I almost DNF’d during the first chapter as the narrator mispronounced EVERY place name. Many of the place names in Oregon and Washington come from the indigenous tribes that were displaced for the settlers to take control of that land, at the very lease pronouncing these correctly. Oregon, Willamette, the Oregonian, Skatgit, etc were butchered in that faux phonetic East Coast attempt at pronunciation. Further the fact that 1. These are very commonly used names in Oregon with LOTS of examples to reference, and 2. That later in the book the narrator gets some of them correct, shows me that this was not a very well produced audiobook. If you are looking for this one, I would recommend going for a physical or e-book.

[Kassie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The description of Randall Sullivan's Graveyard of the Pacific is a bit misleading; rather than a study of shipwrecks in the Columbia River mouth, a la an author like Erik Larson, Sullivan focuses on memoir, his own experiences as a 70-something man attempting to cross a notoriously dangerous waterway in a two-person kayak.

The historical notes are well-researched, with a few misleading details (e.g. the life expectancy in 1800 was low due to infant mortality rates and no one was actually surprised Merriwether Lewis didn't drop dead at 35). The focus is on men, which makes sense considering the time (largely 19th-century) and context (ships captains), but I was still surprised to find no mention of women who have also navigated the Columbia River mouth (Deborah Dempsey, a Columbia River Bar Pilot, only recently retired).

The autobiographical sections of the work focus on Sullivan's relationship with his abusive father and how that shaped him into the kind of man who would attempt such a dangerous crossing. These sections are dripping with machismo in a way that reads defensive rather than exploratory or revelatory; though Sullivan recognizes that the way he embodies masculinity is probably "toxic," he defends this as a virtuous kind of manliness that should be above reproach (including boomers' economic policies) because it indicates progress away from physically abusive fathers.

Lynch Travis' narration was perfect. He conveyed the attention to historical details with the emotions of personal reflection.

This is definitely a dad book.

Thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the advanced audiobook.

[Paula Lang · Rating 5 out of 5]

I totally enjoyed this book. It is well researched with intense and provocative details that Sullivan discovered through reading, listening to historians, and by examining obscure archives. I learned about the details of numerous shipwrecks (some sudden, some excruciatingly prolonged), the amazing engineering feat of constructing the two the jetties at the mouth of the Columbia River, the personal lives and fortunes of the Columbia bar pilots and other fascinating stories of this treacherous river bar. Most interesting to me was the personal story of two friends, Randall Sullivan (the author) and Ray Thomas (an attorney). Both men are admitted risk takers, who have succeeded in their chosen careers. Crossing the dangerous bar in a small two-man kayak ended up facilitating a deeper understanding of themselves, their relationships and how being victimized by their abusive fathers played an important role in their lives. These personal stories were told honestly yet with compassion and understanding. Both were grateful to have avoided making the same mistakes in their relationships with their own adult children. I lived in Astoria Oregon for 9 years. In fact, my house was on the same block as the last descendants of the famous ship captain, George Flavel. Captain Flavel’s, great-great grandson, Harry Flavel, stabbed my second cousin once removed (Alec Josephson) in front of my house. I was appreciative and surprised to read that detail in this book.

[Scott Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Audiobook) (3.5 stars) This work has two main focuses. One is describing the history of transit along the mouth of the Columbia River, which has been one of the more treacherous waterways in American history. Over a 100 people have died in recorded transits along that tough currents/waterway in shipwreck. The waters are so dangerous, that one of the biggest potential treasure finds is in that area, with untold millions in gold and silver, and no one has or can salvage that area. Even with modern navigation and shipping technology, these waters are still some of the most dangerous in the world, and only experienced ship captains are allowed to navigate these waters.

The other part is an exploration by the author into his life and his family’s history. The family has a connection with the area and made their living in this region. Yet, the author also has to face the years of abuse from his father as well as the struggles of the men in his family trying to define what the role of a man is and should be. Given all the recent concerns about what it is to be an American man, this aspect of the memoir holds some significance for the current reader.

Perhaps if the work focused on one topic over the other, it would help streamline the book. It is solid, but maybe tried to be too many things at once. Still, worth a library checkout, regardless of format.

[Susan Olesen · Rating 4 out of 5]

In some ways, this is a long windy tale of a man who wanted to sail across one of the deadiest patches of waterway in the world, a place where thousands of ships of all sizes and makes have been lost, in a trimaran, and talked his buddy into it.

Yup. A trimaran, powered by sail and pedals. Yes, pedals. And short form spoiler - they nearly die on the very last wave at landing, because the Columbia bar is extremely finicky and unforgiving.

On the other hand, this was exactly what I wanted to read, a multitude of stories about shipwrecks in a waterway I'd had no idea was dangerous, with more a million cubic feet of water *per second* spilling into the ocean from the Columbia River on the border of Oregon and Washington, the second largest in the country, and running head on into the tide of the Pacific Ocean and creating monster waves and storms that can come up faster than a North Dakota blizzard.

I only knew of the river and its tributaries through Woody Guthrie's song, but now I have a burning desire to make a trip out there to see Cape Disappointment and see these waves and sandbars and jetties for myself. In Long Island Sound, a two-foot wave is pretty impressive. A six-footer? I'd have to go to Maine. A twenty-footer? Unimaginable. Do I plan on boating? Nope. Landlubber I am.

A good, interesting read about something I knew nothing about. Highly recommeded.

[Don LeClair · Rating 2 out of 5]

For me this was a very peculiar book. Approximately half of the book tells many stories of the extensive loss of life and shipwrecks on the Columbia River bar. There is no shortage of disasters to include in this story, and Randall Sullivan indicated early on that he could not include all of them in this book. It is clear that even now the Columbia River bar is a very dangerous and unpredictable place.

The other half of the story is focused on Randall Sullivan and his friend who make the crazy decision to cross the Columbia River bar in a small trimaran, with pedals and oars as additional equipment, at the ripe age of 7o. This part of the story is a crazy contradiction from the rest of the book. Generally, all disasters in the books happened to people trying to do their jobs or travels. The author and his friend apparently took this adventure on as a way to help them get past the horrible physical abuse each of them received from their fathers when they were younger.

Aside from my inability to see the beauty or fulfillment in their plan, the lack of an orderly timeline was not helpful. The story of the author and friend bounced back and forth between their youth and this sailing plan. This was all intertwined with the sections of sailing disasters which were presented in no clear order of their own.

[Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I only read a description of the book and no reviews when I decided to read. I tend to slow read books like this that I find interesting but aren’t always enthralling. This book is enthralling for so many reasons and I feel there are so many opportunities to expand on what was written. Not in a way that anything was missing from the book but I would all most certainly want to read more about the stories and experiences that were related.
I was not expecting the very emotional and relatable history of the two men and their relationships with their fathers. Simply wasn’t expecting it and it added so much to the thoughts a rationale for doing what they do. It’s why a lot of us do what we do.
The detailed, and in some cases, minute by minute accounts of the numerous failed attempts to make this crossing were terrifying and inspiring. Only with the increased technology did these crossings become less frequent but they have not disappeared and the Coast Guard plays a major part in the book.
I don’t typically write reviews for books and I still haven’t read any of the reviews but I thought this book deserved all five stars. I was surprised to see it was only 3 but to each their own I guess.

[Holland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting book combining history of the Columbia River bar with the author's life and present day plans to cross the bar with a buddy in a catamaran kayak. I picked up the book for the graveyard of the Pacific aspect. The recounting of the author's lousy childhood was somewhat interesting, but I thought his kayaking plans were foolish. The history and danger the bar was what I enjoyed reading most.

This book assumes you have a degree of background knowledge. I live far from the Columbia River, and well inland, and I had no concept of what the term "bar" meant. I realized early in my reading of this book that I lacked some important background knowledge and had to go find some videos explaining some basic information. There is a series of shows about Coast Guard rescues. One about Alaska, one about Florida and one about Cape Disappointment Pacific Northwest. There's about 10 episodes of the Pacific Northwest show, about the Columbia River bar. Watching that really helped me understand just how dangerous that river bar is. Once I had some understanding I went back to the book and finished reading it.

[Carla · Rating 3 out of 5]

💭Thoughts:
This was a really fascinating book. I especially enjoyed the story because I live in Oregon and am very familiar with the Columbia River. The book is full of stories about many different shipwrecks and life as a sailor and bar pilot.

The book also includes stories about the author and his friend Roy’s difficult relationships with their fathers. Randall also touches on toxic masculinity as well. It was interesting, but it felt a bit out of place in the context of this book. It almost felt like the author could have written two separate books. Both interesting topics that just didn’t mesh well for me.

The narrator did a great job overall, but one issue I had was that he mispronounced how to say Oregon and Willamette. I’m sure it won’t matter to most listeners, but being from Oregon it made me cringe every time he said it wrong.

Overall, an interesting book with lots of promise. It just felt a bit disjointed for me.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

The actual historical stories about shipwrecks on the Columbia Bar were very interesting. I also understand that the author's intent was to tell the story of his and his friend's lives as the victims of abuse and that would not necessarily resonate with someone like me who doesn't have that shared experience. The thing that really rubbed me the wrong way was the author's attitude toward his friend Ray's risk assessment regarding boat safety tolerances. As a maritime professional myself the points where Ray wanted to turn back early, or not go, and the author was incredulous and in writing after the fact continued to display a feeling that it wasn't a big deal was very off-putting. This was especially in light of the fact that at least one part of his quest to cross the bar was to pay homage to all those who had lost their lives there. What good does it do if you get yourself killed too due to simple recklessness and dismissal of your friends' more experienced advice.

[Poppy Marlowe · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first glance, one would think that this is about the Pacific in general and as I am on a Pearl Harbour-related reading kick, I had hoped that that would be part of the book. But it is not, it is specifically about Oregon's Columbia River which flows into the Pacific Ocean and forms the Columbia River Bar and has wrecked over 2000 ships.

My assumption was wrong but I still enjoyed the book as I am a lover of history and its interesting stories. Well crafted and presented, this is a great book for the lover of ships, wrecks, history and nonfiction books. It is a short book (less than 300 pages) so it would not be too daunting for people who do not read a lot or all the time: I find that big books kind of freak out some readers who don't want a book that can double as a door stop.

HIghly recommended.

[Mike Ely · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the few books that I've read that I was surprised with the topic after I started reading. Sullivan does a great job recounting several famous shipwrecks at the mouth of the Columbia over the past few centuries. The book is well written and thoroughly researched and the shipwrecks are gripping and heartbreaking. What I didn't expect was the lengthy memoir portion of Sullivan's childhood or Ray's childhood, his catamaran partner. The recounting of Randall and Ray's attempt to power a catamaran through the Columbia River Bar took up way more of the book than I thought. And both of their childhood dramas was harder to take then I thought it would be. Both grew up in horrible family situations and made me feel fortunate for my relatively drama free upbringing. This is a hard book to recommend, so read at your own risk.