###

Local documentarian Ray Olson is back to teach us more about some of Humboldt County’s lesser-known landmarks.

In today’s episode of Humboldt Outdoors, Olson tells us about the USS Milwaukee – a 426-foot U.S. Navy warship that was stranded on Samoa Beach on January 13, 1917, three months before the U.S. entered the First World War.

“In December of 1916 … a U.S. military submarine was patrolling off our coasts, and in some real heavy fog, it ran aground right near here,” Olson says. “About a month later in January, a couple of U.S. warships arrived to pull the submarine back into the ocean. … Well, through a series of errors, blunders, and, honestly, really poor judgment, the Milwaukee got stuck in the sand too. And it’s been stuck in the sand out there to this day.”

Olson links up with local author Barry Evans, who has previously written about the USS Milwaukee, to get some footage of the shipwreck, which can only be seen at low tide.

Check out the video above to learn more about visiting the historic site.

###