 Eighty-one people drowned between 1853 and 1880 during bar crossings, including the captain of the brig "Crimea," who was washed overboard while crossing the bar on 18 February 1870.The Humboldt Bay Life-Saving Station is on the bay side of the North Spit, south of the World War II era blimp base.By the 1880s, long wharves were built into the bay for easier loading the lumber shipments.