The SS Bering was a ship that was parked on the beach at Point Shilshole, now the home of the Ballard Elks Lodge. The Bering was built originally as the Annette Rolph at Fairhaven, California in 1918. The ship later spent time as a tramp steamship, reindeer ship, refrigerator ship and supply ship to Alaska during WW2.
In 1964, she was burned by the local fire department to make way for new development. Soon thereafter, the Ballard Elks Lodge was built on the site.
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Now view from the Ballard Elks webcam.
In 1943, she ran aground on Cape Spencer. Her crew re-floated her. Seattle based Tregonning Boat Company bought her for $1 and proceeded to beach her at their facility on Point Shilshole where she sat for the next two decades.
A piece of the hull can still be seen at extreme low tides (-3 ish). I launch my kayaks and SUPs from that location nearly daily and still see pieces of the ship on the beach. About a decade ago, a guy was removing larger pieces from the ship to clean the beach. The pieces generally look like burnt looking wood planks covered in barnacles.
Read more about the SS Bering in this great HistoryLink article. See my article on the Ballard Elks Lodge history.
The location of the Ballard Elks is 6411 Seaview Ave NW, Seattle.
By Rob Casey / Ballard
oh my goodness...that is cool!
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