The Relic

When I first hear the word “Relic” I think of something very old.  Someone or something that maybe an antique or part of history, from  a very long time ago.  Funny thing is lately I have been referred to as someone’s Grandma.  Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind being called a Grandma,  I am a Gramma of a wonderful little baby boy.  Also, I would be very proud as this person’s relative.  She is a wonderfully, talented young woman and I am very proud she is my BFF’s daughter.  Maybe it’s the gray hair.. maybe I am starting to look old… maybe I am a Relic.

I might have a history, in fact I know I do, but I surly wouldn’t say that I am famous or a part of history.  Now some of my ancestors are a part of history, does that mean they are Relics.

What is a Relic? This is what the dictionary gives as a definition:

1. Something that has survived the passage of time, especially an object or custom whose original culture has disappeared
2. An object of religious veneration, especially a piece of the body or a personal item of a saint.

Hmmmm.. well I am a survivor, not sure if I am in the “survived the passage of time”…. well on second thought maybe…. I did grow up in the 70’s and was sort of Oregon Hippie.  I definitely am not a Saint and the good Lord can attest to that.  So I guess I am just looking old, or older, but I usually don’t feel old or a relic.  I still love a great Rock Concert, have my hearing and my own teeth.  I think it must be a state of mind, but I don’t think I am there yet.

There are lots of not so famous relics, like SS Dicky, that Tracie Louse Photography photographed on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland, Australia.

SS Dicky

It  has withstood the passage of time, laying there with an untold history in her bones.  Not only when it was functioning ship, but the stories it could tell of the visitors that have come and gone over the decades to take photos.  The stories of the storms and weather that surround it’s life on the beach.  Oh if the walls could talk.

Steamer SS Dicky was shipwrecked on a Caloundra beach which and named after her. The ship sailed from Rockhampton and as it arrived to clear Caloundra Head it met lashing rain and cyclonic winds that sent the ship on her beam ends. Captain James Beattie was forced to beach the ship to avoid hitting the rocks off Moffat Beach. On 4th February 1893 at 10.35 am the ship grounded stern first on the beach. The Marine Board of Queensland tribunal concluding the Captain showed lack of judgement in not successfully weathering Caloundra Head, for which his licence was suspended for three months.

Growing up on the Oregon Coast, we came to know the Peter Iredale.  It has weathered such storms.  As a kid we be up at the crack of dawn digging for Razor clams around the hull and a favorite destination for the local kids heading to the beach for a bonfire.  The wreck of the Peter Iredale is shown in this photograph, taken by Portland photographer Leo Simon on November 13, 1906, nineteen days after the ship ran aground near Ft. Stevens.

The Peter Iredale was a four-masted steel bark built in Maryport, England, in 1890 and owned by British shipping firm Iredale & Porter. On September 26, 1906, the Iredale left Salina Cruz, Mexico, bound for Portland, where it was to pick up a cargo of wheat for the United Kingdom.

Peter Iredale Circa 2005

Despite encountering heavy fog, they managed to safely reach the mouth of the Columbia River early in the morning of October 25.

Some have aged gracefully, The patina a glow with the age.  Oh the stories they could tell us.  Of their voyages around the world and those adventures of visitors while at their rest.  I do hope that when I am 100+ years old I can say,  that this Relic is still standing proud, watching over all that come and go.

Peter Iredale - Present Day

~Oregon Smiles… with Franny, On The Road Less Traveled.

         SS Dicky photo’s provided by Tracie Louise Photography