Peacock Spit is the northern portion of a mostly submerged sand bar, generally called the Columbia Bar, at the mouth of the Columbia River, about 12 miles (19 km) northwest of Astoria, Oregon and 2.5 miles (4 km) south of Ilwaco, Washington. It was named after the USS Peacock, a US Navy sloop-of-war that took part in the United States Exploring Expedition of 1838. The Peacock ran aground and broke up on the Columbia Bar in 1841, without loss of life. The Columbia River Bar is a system of bars and shoals spanning the river’s mouth between Washington State and Oregon, roughly 3 miles (5 km) wide and 6 miles (10 km) long. It’s principal bars are extensions of Clatsop Spit on the Oregon shore and Peacock Spit on the Washington shore. The construction of jetties at the mouth of the Columbia River and the development of the extensive flow control systems on the Columbia River (dams and irrigation) have severely altered the natural sediment supply to the bar and the beaches north and south of the river mouth. 

The Columbia River Bar develops where the river’s current dissipates and suspended sediments are deposited, creating shoals that produce standing waves under certain combinations of wind, waves, and current. The Columbia River current flows westward at 4 to 7 knots (7–13 kph), typically opposing winds and ocean swells and creating hazardous conditions for vessels of all sizes. Sea conditions can change from calm to life-threatening in a few minutes with sudden changes in direction of wind and ocean swell. Since 1792, more than 330 ships have sunk in and around the Columbia Bar. A navigation channel was developed through the entrance bar and upstream to Portland and Vancouver. Dredging of the entrance was not feasible until the 1940s and was largely unnecessary because of entrance jetty construction between 1883 and 1939. Because of severe wave conditions, the navigation channel through the bar is now maintained with a width of 600 feet (180 m) and a depth of 43 feet (13 m).

The Peacock is a retired Columbia River pilot boat on display at the Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria, Oregon, donated by the Columbia River Bar Pilots Association. Built in Germany in 1964 to a North Sea rescue-boat design and delivered in 1967, she is 90 feet (27 m) long, 33 feet (10 m) tall, and self-righting. Designed as an extreme heavy-weather vessel, she crossed the Columbia Bar more than 35,000 times in her 30-plus-year career before being decommissioned in 1999, replaced by an integrated pilot boat and helicopter system. Her hinged stern allowed the launch and recovery of a 23-foot (7 m) daughter boat used in heavy weather to transfer pilots between ship and pilot boat. The Peacock had a top speed of 26 mph (41 kph) and carried a crew of three plus up to 12 bar pilots. Read more here and here. Learn more about the Pilot Boat Peacock here. Explore more of Peacock Spit and the mouth of the Columbia River here: