On December 30, 1875, the three-masted, 161-foot long bark Windward was pushed aground at Useless Bay by a strong southwesterly gale.
The ship was carrying 525,000 feet of lumber from Colman’s Mill in Seattle, heading for San Francisco.
According to the January 6, 1876 Puget Sound Dispatch, she was a total loss, and was dismantled, lying on her beam ends. Though the ship was partially insured, the cargo was not.
James Colman (the Seattle entrepreneur, mill operator, and railroad founder who built the Colman building and dock – now pier 52), recovered what lumber he could and in February had the ship towed to the Seattle waterfront where he anchored it as a breakwater to reduce wave action. (See photo of the remains.)
It was stripped of anything usable, and served as an ad hoc swimming platform for local kids.
