View source for George E. Starr

{{Short description|Steamboat of the Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin |display title=ital}}
{{Infobox Ship Image
|Ship image=[[Image:George E. Starr (steamboat).jpg|300px|''George E. Starr'']]
|Ship caption=''George E. Starr''
}}
{{Infobox ship career
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|Ship country=[[United States]]
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United States|cival}}
|Ship name=''George E. Starr''
|Ship owner=Puget Sound Steam Navigation Company’s (the "Starr Line") ; [[La Conner Trading and Transportation Company|La Conner Trading & Trans. Co.]]
|Ship operator=
|Ship registry=
|Ship route=[[Puget Sound]], [[Strait of Georgia]],  [[Admiralty Inlet]], [[Strait of Juan de Fuca]], [[Alaska]], [[Columbia River]], [[California]]
|Ship ordered=
|Ship builder=J.F.T. Mitchell shipyard at [[Seattle]]
|Ship original cost=
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|Ship laid down= 
|Ship launched=
|Ship completed=1878
|Ship christened=
|Ship acquired=
|Ship maiden voyage=
|Ship in service=1879
|Ship out of service=1921
|Ship identification=
|Ship fate=Abandoned, [[Lake Union]]
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox Ship Characteristics
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|Header caption=
|Ship type=Inland steamship
|Ship tonnage=473
|Ship displacement=
|Ship length={{convert|148|ft|m|0|abbr=on}}
|Ship beam={{convert|28|ft|m|0|abbr=on}}
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|Ship depth={{convert|9|ft|m|0|abbr=on}} depth of hold
|Ship decks=three (freight, passenger, boat)
|Ship deck clearance=
|Ship ramps=
|Ship ice class=
|Ship sail plan=
|Ship power=single-cylinder walking beam steam engine
|Ship propulsion=sidewheels
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The steamboat '''''George E. Starr''''' operated in late 19th century as part of the [[Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet]] and also operated out of Victoria, B.C.  ''Geo. E. Starr'' also served for a time in California and on the [[Columbia River]].

==Construction==
[[File:Steamer "George E. Starr" under construction at William Hammon's shipyard, 1879 - DPLA - da6726b2ddcf045fe07b2a40131690f0.jpg|thumb|left|''Geo. E. Starr'' under construction. This shows the heavy wooden ribs used to construct the hull of the ''Geo. E. Starr''. This is also a good image of an early shipyard on Puget Sound. A hand-turned [[windlass]], used to haul vessels out of the water and up onto the ways, can be seen in the foreground of the image. (Seattle Public Library dates this 1879, which contradicts Newell, cited in this article for the date of launch.)]]
''Geo. E. Starr'' was built at Seattle in 1878 at the shipyard of J.F.T Mitchell for the Puget Sound Steam Navigation Company’s (the "Starr Line") international route to [[Victoria, B.C.]]<ref name = McCurdy>Newell, Gordon R., ed., ''H.W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest'', at 14, 67, n.2, 87, 99, 184 n.4, Superior Publishing, Seattle, WA 1966 {{ISBN|0-87564-220-9}}</ref><ref name = PacificSteamboats>Newell, Gordon R., and Williamson, Joe, ''Pacific Steamboats'', at 27, Bonanza Books, New York, NY 1958 (showing photo of ''Geo. E. Starr'' under construction)</ref><ref name = ShipsInland>Newell, Gordon R., ''Ships of the Inland Sea'', at 34, 80-83, 102, Binford and Mort, Portland OR (2nd Ed. 1960)</ref> ''Starr'' was a sidewheel steamer with a single-cylinder walking-beam engine, 148' long, 28' in beam over the hull, and 9 foot depth of hold, and rated at 473 tons.<ref name = McCurdy/><ref name = ShipsInland/><ref name = Mills>Mills, Randall V., ''Sternwheelers up Columbia'', at 194, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, NE 1947 {{ISBN|0-8032-5874-7}}</ref>

==Early operations==
In 1881, the [[Oregon Railway and Navigation Company]], under [[Henry Villard]] bought out the Starr Line and all their steamers, including ''Geo. E. Starr'', ''Isabel'', ''Alida'', [[Otter (sternwheeler)|''Otter'']], and ''Annie Stewart''.<ref name = ShipsInland/> The new management ran ''Geo. E. Starr'' hard in a rate war with an older sidewheeler on the Sound, [[Eliza Anderson (sidewheeler)|''Eliza Anderson'']].  In 1889, the ''Eliza Anderson'' nearly sank ''Geo. E. Starr'' in a fog-bound collision off [[Coupeville, WA|Coupeville]]. In 1892, the ''Starr'' was transferred south to California for a year.  When she returned, she was under the control of the Northwest Steamship Company, and ran between Seattle, Port Townsend and the mill ports.<ref name = ShipsInland/>

==Purchase by Joshua Green==
''George E. Starr'' was one of the first vessels, along with the sternwheeler ''Fannie Lake'', ''[[Annie M. Pence]]'', ''Utopia'', and ''Rapid Transit'', purchased by [[Joshua Green (seaman and banker)|Joshua Green]] and his partners of the [[La Conner Trading and Transportation Company]].<ref name = McCurdy/>  ''Geo. E. Starr'' was considered sufficiently elegant at that time to allow President [[Rutherford B. Hayes]], visiting Seattle, to spend a night in one of her cabins.<ref name = ShipsInland/>

==Transfer to Alaska==
When the Alaska Gold Rush started in 1897, many older vessels were pressed into service in an effort to make money off gold seekers headed for the north country.  ''Geo. E. Starr'' was no exception.  Under Capt. E.E. Caine, the ''Starr'' was made ready to, and did in fact depart for [[Skagway]] and [[Dyea]] on August 3, 1897, with 90 passengers and a cargo of 100 horses.<ref name = McCurdy/>

==Return to Puget Sound==
''Geo. E. Starr'' survived her service in Alaska, and by 1904 was running in Puget Sound again, under the ownership of the La Conner Trading and Transportation Company.  On alternating days, ''Starr'' and ''Utopia'' left Pier 2, at the foot of Yesler Street in Seattle bound for Whatcom, Fairhaven, and Anacortes, with the ''Starr'' on her trips going on to [[Blaine, WA|Blaine]] where travelers could make connection with a steamer bound for [[Point Roberts]].<ref name = McCurdy/> On this run, ''Starr'' and ''Utopia'' were competing against the [[Bellingham (steamship)|''Bellingham'']] (ex ''Willapa'', ex ''General Miles'') of the [[Bellingham Bay Transportation Company]].

==Reputation as slow boat==
''Geo. E. Starr'' served a long time, and towards the end she acquired the reputation as a very slow boat, as shown by the following waterfront doggerel:
{{cquote|Paddle, paddle, ''George E. Starr'', How we wonder where you are.  Leaves Seattle at half past ten.  Gets to Bellingham, God knows when!
As you creep across the bight, We can see your masthead light,
Out upon the bay so far, Paddle, paddle ''George E. Starr''.<ref name = McCurdy/>}}

Maneuvering the old boat was difficult, as when making turns, she would list over and not right herself, which, as she was a sidewheeler, caused her to spin round and round in circles.  To prevent this from happening, her skipper, Capt. Gunder Hansen set up a counterbalance on the deck consisting of an old cart loaded with two or three tons of old anchor chain, rigged to cross the deck with a traveler arrangement of block and tackle.  Captain Hansen, a native of Norway, instructed all deck hands: "When I yingle the bell, you move the car," which resulted in Captain Hansen’s becoming known on the Sound as Yingle Bell Yohnny.<ref name = McCurdy/><ref name = PacificSteamboats/>

Despite all this, Joshua Green remained fond of ''Geo. E. Starr'', remarking sometimes when she was particularly tardy: "The Starr must have an exceptionally fine load of freight this trip to be this late."<ref name = McCurdy/> Later, Green wrote of the Starr:

{{cquote|This was a faithful little boat.  If you put a load on her the side paddlewheels went so far down into the water she would hardly go ahead!  She ran from Bellingham to Seattle.  We had a full load of canned salmon on her and she was so slow it cost us more to feed the passengers than the passage money amounted to.  We had a peck of troubles in those days, too.  It wasn’t all easy sailing.<ref>Kline, M.S., and Bayless, G.A., ''Ferryboats – A Legend on Puget Sound'', at 39, Bayless Books, Seattle, WA 1983 {{ISBN|0-914515-00-4}}</ref>}}

==Transfer to Columbia River==
Near the end of her career, ''Geo. E. Starr'' was transferred to the Columbia River, where she worked as a tow boat.<ref name = ShipsInland/>

==Final disposition==
[[Image:Hulk of George E Starr on Lake Union.jpg|thumb|Hulk of ''George E. Starr''.]]
''Geo. E. Starr'' was abandoned about 1921 in (or was eventually towed to) [[Lake Union]], where she rotted and slowly sank.<ref name = PacificSteamboats/><ref name = Mills/>

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==External links==
===University of Washington on-line images===
*[http://content.lib.washington.edu/cgi-bin/viewer.exe?CISOROOT=/transportation&CISOPTR=473&CISOMODE=thumb ''Geo. E. Starr'']  This is a good image showing ''Geo. E. Starr'' under way on a foggy day in calm water.
*[http://content.lib.washington.edu/cgi-bin/viewer.exe?CISOROOT=/transportation&CISOPTR=474&CISOMODE=thumb profile view of ''Geo. E. Starr'' at a pier, possibly in Seattle]  This undated image appears to have been taken at an earlier date in the vessel's career, as the camera required a long enough exposure so the flags on the masts are blurred by their waving in the breeze as the film (or glass plate) was exposed.
*[http://content.lib.washington.edu/cgi-bin/viewer.exe?CISOROOT=/transportation&CISOPTR=363 good clear image of ''Geo. E. Starr'' docked at Seattle, 1894]  In this photo, the city of Seattle is starting to assume its modern appearance, with steep streets built on wooden cribbing stretching back from the waterfront.
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110611162220/http://content.lib.washington.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=%2Ftransportation&CISOPTR=665&CISOBOX=1&REC=6 ''Geo. E. Starr'' and ''Rosalie'' at piers in Seattle] This photographs shows the ''Geo. E. Starr'' at the same pier as in the other 1894 photograph linked above.  In the foreground is another well-known Puget Sound steamer, the ''Rosalie'' a propeller-driven craft, providing an interesting contrast with the older sidewheeler.
{{Mosquito Fleet|state = collapsed}}
{{Puget Sound sidewheelers}}
{{Columbia River steamboats}}
{{Steamboats British Columbia}}
{{California Steamboats}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:George E. Starr (Steamboat)}}
[[Category:Steamboats of Washington (state)]]
[[Category:Sidewheel steamboats of Washington (state)]]
[[Category:Steamboats of California]]
[[Category:Steamboats of the Columbia River]]
[[Category:Paddle steamers of British Columbia]]
[[Category:Steamboats of Oregon]]
[[Category:Puget Sound Navigation Company]]
[[Category:1878 ships]]