Desdemona Sands Lighthouse

On January 1,1857 the bark Desdemona entered the Columbia River, Captain Francis Williams commanding, without a pilot, and promptly ran aground on a shoal off Astoria, OR. At the time the shoal was not named, but after Captain Williams' vessel became stranded and was eventually a total loss (including cargo) it was forever more called Desdemona Sands. Captain Williams complained, to avail, that a navigational buoy was off position and the cause of his stranding.