| Career | |
|---|---|
| Name: | SS Iowa (1928-1936) SS West Cadron (1920-1928) |
| Operator: | U.S. government (1920-1928) States Steamship Co. (1928-1936) |
| Builder: | Western Pipe & Steel Co. |
| Yard number: | 12 |
| Completed: | 1920 |
| Fate: | ran aground January 12, 1936 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage: | 5,724 (gross) |
| Length: | 410 ft (120 m) |
| Beam: | 54 ft (16 m) |
| Installed power: | 359 nhp |
| Propulsion: | triple-expansion engine |
| Speed: | 10.5 knots |
The SS Iowa was a steamship built by the Western Pipe and Steel Company of San Francisco, California in 1920 for the U.S. government and was known as the SS West Cadron. It served in the Quaker Line subsidiary of the States Steamship Co. from 1928—when it was renamed the Iowa—until January 12, 1936, when it encountered a gale and ran aground on Peacock Spit, Washington, part of the Columbia Bar at the mouth of the Columbia River. The Coast Guard cutter Onondaga was dispatched after an SOS was received at the Coast Guard station in Astoria, Oregon, but no survivors were found. All 34 people aboard the ship died, and only six bodies were recovered from the wreckage that dotted local shorelines for days.