On July 18, 1841, the 559-ton, 118-foot, 18-gun U.S. Navy sloop ship USS Peacock met her fate after running hard aground off Cape Disappointment on a sandbar, according to History Link.

She was in the area after several exploration missions, including Antarctica (pictured), and had been expected at the mouth of the Columbia River on May 1 to rejoin a squadron.

The captain sighted Point Adams in Hammond on July 17, and then Cape Disappointment. The morning of July 18, they tried entering the river. Instructions had been given for crossing the bar, but the sand had shifted in the meantime. They ran aground shortly after entering the channel in an area with swirling currents and heavy breakers.

At midnight, they set off distress flares. In the morning, they abandoned ship in boats, taking along the scientific instruments and supplies, and headed for Bakers Bay. Only one crew member was injured, but the ship was beyond help.

Missionaries from Point Adams arrived to rescue them, bringing food and tents, and an official from Fort George (which was British at the time) in Astoria offered aid. By July 21, everyone on the ship was safely ensconced at a camp at Fort George they named Peacockville, and happily flying an American flag.

On Aug. 7, another exploration vessel arrived, and a replacement ship was purchased for the Peacock crew. The new ship, named Oregon, took them upriver to explore the Columbia. The sandbar that destroyed the Peacock was named, appropriately enough, Peacock Spit.