❖ SAILING a SIX-MASTER into the NEW YEAR

HELEN B. STERLING (ex-OREGON FIR)
In the mist of Seattle according to the building sign,
in the background. The six-master was
loading up with lumber to head down under.
Click to enlarge.
c. 1927 original photo by James A. Turner, Seattle, WA.
from the archives of the
Saltwater People Historical Society©

HELEN B. STERLING
(ex-OREGON FIR)
220032
2,526 G.t./ 2,350 N.t.
267' x 49.6' x 25.2'
Launched 1920, Portland, OR.
Original photo from the archives of 
the Saltwater People Historical Society©

We haven't been under the canvas for a while so let us go into the new year aboard a big girl sailing from the US west coast to Sydney, Australia, of course, with a cargo of lumber.
      The OREGON FIR was built at the Peninsula Shipbuilding yard in Portland, OR., for Grant-Smith-Porter & Co., for the offshore lumber trade. She ended her career in Australia in 1934.

1927: She was purchased by Capt. J.C. Brownfield of WA. Tug and Barge from the Schwabacher Hardware Co and resold the same year to Portland Pacific Export Lumber Co. of Portland, OR. 
      She arrived off the Northwest coast in Jan 1927 under Capt. F.G. Nelson, 81 days out from Shanghai with sails and gaffs lost in a series of heavy storms and drifted into Queen Charlotte Sound. She was within 300 yards of the beach before she was towed to safety. Arriving at Astoria 18 Jan, she was sold to Capt. E.R. STERLING, receiving her new name. As the HELEN B. STERLING, she made only one voyage under Capt. Sterling's ownership. She made two more voyages to Australia with lumber.
1930s: The second photo is dated 1930 with notation she is off Sydney, Australia. She was libeled for debt that year. Capt. Henry Oosterhuis stayed with his ship for almost two years, finally returning to the Pacific coast almost destitute. The vessel was eventually dismantled at Sydney in 1934.

HELEN B. STERLING,
Sydney Harbor, Australia,
where she ended her life.
Courtesy of the Australia National Maritime Museum

Source: 
Gordon Newell, editor. H.W. McCurdy Marine History of the PNW; 
The Australia National Maritime Museum.