Sternwheeler gets stuck

Willamette Queen makes it through the locks, but without any passengers after the boat runs aground

By Matthew Graham

The Oregon City News, Feb 2, 2010, Updated Feb 4, 2010

The Willamette Queen passed through the Willamette River Locks on Monday, without passengers after the boat ran aground Sunday with about 80 people on board.

anthony roberts / oregon city news

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A sternwheeler boat that was traveling from Salem to Portland for a U.S. Coast Guard inspection ran aground Sunday just upriver from Willamette Falls Locks.

The Willamette Queen had about 80 passengers aboard, along with two Coast Guard auxiliary boats helping guide it, when it hit bottom around 5:30 p.m.

“We had a scout boat ahead of us giving us depths and we were crossing the river and the scout boat said to stop and when we stopped we were in the shallow area and the current carried us … The problem we had was the strong current was holding us against a ridge below the surface (of the water),” said Captain Paul Simonis, who was not captaining the ship but was on board as a second licensed boat captain. Simonis captains another Sternwheeler, the Willamette Rose. The two are not affiliated.

Oregon City Commissioner Jim Nicita was on the boat when it hit and said it was “like a gentle bump,” and that no one panicked.

“The only way I can describe the atmosphere is festive,” he said. “Everybody got their life preservers on, people were playing dominoes, people were outside watching, there was a helicopter flying around, we were just at the very north end of the Willamette Narrows. You could see the dock we were going to dock at in the distance … At one point you could see either fire engines or EMS trucks and we just thought at one point the caution was being excessive. Of course we don’t know what was going on outside.

“The captain and crew were extremely professional, did everything by the book, it was just kind of an interesting evening,” he said.

He said they were stuck on the rock for about an hour and a half.

An MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Air Station Astoria and two Coast Guard 25-foot small boat crews from Portland arrived on the scene and a tugboat from Newberg freed the vessel.

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