❖ Schooner C.S. HOLMES towing in with Furs, Ivory and Fossils, Eighty Years Ago ❖

Schooner C. S. HOLMES,
Captain John Backland,
Towing into Port of Seattle from the Arctic.
Photograph dated, September 1935.
Photographer unknown.
Original from the archives of S.P.H.S.©

"Laden with a cargo of furs, ivory and whalebone, as well as museum pieces, including bird eggs, and fossil remains, the veteran trading schooner, C. S. HOLMES arrives home. The vessel was the sole source of supplies and contact with the outside world for natives and trappers along the bleak Alaskan coast." 

Text from the Seattle Times, 9/1935 

Trading Vessel of the Arctic,
C.S. HOLMES.
Icebound off the Northern tip of Alaska until the
US Dept of Indian Affairs Motorship
NORTH STAR towed the HOLMES
100 miles through the ice to Pt. Barrow, where
both vessels discharged cargoes of winter
supplies for the inhabitants of that town.
Photo back stamped 28 September 1933.
Original photo from the archives of the S.P.H.S.©

❖ NORTH'S NORTH STAR ❖

NORTH STAR, Deer Harbor, Orcas Island.
Built 1930, by boatbuilder Chet North,
who sailed her into this port and never left.
Only known photo, saved by his Deer Harbor neighbors. 

"In 1911 Thomas Fleming Day, editor of Rudder magazine, sailed the 25-ft yawl SEA BIRD from the US to Italy,  single-handed. 

L-R: Frederick B. Thurber, T. R. Goodwin, Thomas F. Day
in 1911
Aboard SEA BIRD before their trip to Italy.
Library of Congress Photo (LC-B2-2207-9)

      A near copy of the boat plans appearing in the magazine, caught the eye of a multitude of people, one of them being Chet North, then living in Portland, OR. 
     In 1930 he completed a 22-ft copy of the vessel, with the addition of a 1928 Chevrolet engine, for more dependable arrivals.
     The boat was trucked to Olympia, WA for an October launching, along with one large police dog, the two senior Norths, and a new wife. Chet had just married Averil; on Halloween night they all set off for Canada, heading into a freshening northeaster. The first night was spent on McNeil Island.
      In December while returning from BC, they stopped for an overnight in Deer Harbor and never left.
      Only one picture was ever taken of the boat and that was also the only time that all sails were up; the engine having proved too handy. This photograph was found among the Pearmain family's collection of 'unknowns'.
The remains of the boat were, and perhaps are still, in the blackberry bushes on the Coffelt property on Lopez Island." 
Text by mariner/historian L. W. 'Corkey' North, son of boatbuilder Chet North, 2006.

This image from The Rudder, October 1901.
The magazine founder, editor, and boat designer was
Thomas Fleming Day, as mentioned by the author of this log post.
There is a detailed article about TFD and his work in
Wood Boat magazine No.43, Nov./Dec. 1981.