Wreck of the Harvest Home, 1892
Back in the days before modern aids to navigation, before the Coast Guard and before the Life Saving Service, there was an elected Pacific County official called the Wreckmaster. The position was established during the first session of the Washington Territorial Legislature in 1854 and remained on the election ballots of water-edged counties in Washington until 1914.
It was the Wreckmaster’s duty to assume charge of any marine wreck after it had been abandoned and to save all of it that was possible for the benefit of the owners. He was charged with protecting wrecks and their cargoes from the “seagulls,” a local term that referred to people who helped themselves to treasures that littered the beach after a shipwreck.
Grass Roots Garbage Gang at Work!
Nowadays, beach litter comes not from shipwrecks but from careless, thoughtless people who, presumably, visit the seashore to enjoy its beauty and restorative nature. They leave their garbage behind – tons of it. Unsightly, unsanitary, unspeakable tons. In fact, from the kinds of trash that is collected – bedsprings and car parts, for instance – it would seem that beach visitors actually use the beach as a dedicated dumpsite.
In the 1980s and early ‘90s Ocean Park School had an ‘ annual all day, all school field trip’ each spring. Each class took charge of a section of the beach near the Ocean Park Approach and, armed with plastic bags, protective gloves, and lots of enthusiasm, we collected as much litter and garbage as we could find. As I recall, the Sanitation Department volunteered a garbage truck that came about noon and hauled away our ‘finds.’ Then it was a picnic and a sand castle contest and back to school for an awards assembly in the gym – and lots of bragging about the amazing litter discoveries.
From the Grass Roots Garbage Gang’s 2015 Poster
I like to think that those annual beach cleanup days by our K-3 school kids was the forerunner to Shelly Pollock’s current-day Grass Roots Garbage Gang. Since 2001, this volunteer community group has done yeoman’s work (more than 250 tons of litter collected so far!) cleaning up the beach and now are a non-profit with 501c3 status. I think of them as our modern-day “seagulls” doing twenty-first century scavenger work for the benefit of us all. Their next big Beach Cleanup day is Saturday, April 25th. Check out their website at OurBeach.org for where and how you can help. Or… make a tax-deductible donation.
First and foremost, people should not act like slobs. When you are on the beach you are in the community’s living room. Would you go visiting to friends and throw trash around their living room? It costs little to put a trash bag or even a grocery bag into your purse or pocket when going down for an afternoon of fun on the beach and pick up your garbage. There are receptacles into which you can toss your trash and then it won’t fall on the community to come and clean up after you. End of rant.