Destruction Island (also known historically as Green Island) is a island located approximately off the

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

coast. Home to seabirds, shorebirds, and marine mammals, it is part of the

Quillayute Needles National Wildlife Refuge Washington Maritime National Wildlife Refuge Complex is an administrative grouping of six National Wildlife Refuges in Washington, managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. It includes: * Flattery Rocks National Wildlife Refuge (, ) * ...

. The Hoh Natives used to frequent Destruction Island to capture

rhinoceros auklet The rhinoceros auklet (''Cerorhinca monocerata'') is a seabird and a close relative of the puffins. It is the only extant species of the genus ''Cerorhinca''. Given its close relationship with the puffins, the common name rhinoceros puffin has b ...

s. In recent years the population of rhinoceros auklet have been in decline as a result of habitat loss and eagle predation due to the presence of non-native European rabbits. Destruction Island's name is derived from two massacres which happened nearby. In 1775,

Spanish Navy The Spanish Navy or officially, the Armada, is the maritime branch of the Spanish Armed Forces and one of the oldest active naval forces in the world. The Spanish Navy was responsible for a number of major historic achievements in navigation, ...

lieutenant Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra dispatched a crew of seven men to the mainland in order to gather wood and fresh water on the beach near Point Grenville, but they were attacked and killed by an estimated three hundred local Native Americans, leading him to name it the Isla de Dolores (the Island of Sorrows). Twelve years later, Captain Charles William Barkley, an independent English fur trader, arrived in the ship '' Imperial Eagle'', and sent a party ashore from the island to a similar fate. Barkley named the river where the second massacre took place the ''Destruction River''. Captain

George Vancouver Captain George Vancouver (22 June 1757 – 10 May 1798) was a British Royal Navy officer best known for his 1791–1795 expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern Pacific Coast regions, including the coasts of what are ...

later transferred the name to the Isla de Dolores when the river was given its indigenous name, the Hoh River. Three shipwrecks occurred at the island in 1889: ''Cassanora Adams'', ''Port Gordon'', and ''

Wide West ''Wide West'' was a steamboat that served in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. It had a reputation as a luxury boat of its days. ''Wide West'' was built in 1877 in Portland, Oregon, by the Oregon Steam Navigation Company. It was built ...

''. The

Destruction Island Lighthouse Destruction Island Lighthouse is a decommissioned lighthouse on Destruction Island, a rocky island that is part of the Quillayute Needles National Wildlife Refuge lying about off the coast of Jefferson County, Washington, in the northwest of t ...

was built on Destruction Island in 1888–91. A US Coast Guard detachment operated the lighthouse from 1939 to the early 1970s. The light was automated in 1968, before it was shut off for good in April 2008.Destruction Island Lighthouse, Washington at Lighthousefriends.com
/ref> The island itself is accessible only by boat. The popular

Ruby Beach Ruby Beach is the northernmost of the southern beaches in the coastal section of Olympic National Park in the U.S. state of Washington. It is located on Highway 101, in Jefferson County, south of the town of Forks. Like virtually all beaches o ...

is about 4 miles northeast on the coast. Both the island and the lighthouse are visible from the beach.

References

{{authority control Pacific islands of Washington (state) Landforms of Jefferson County, Washington Uninhabited islands of Washington (state) Protected areas of Jefferson County, Washington

See also

References