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Hi Don,

Well I have another terrific story of west coast built tall ships to share with you and readers of The Era of the Clipper Ships. A few months back I was contacted by the grandson of a 19th Century ship captain, asking if I could build his family a model of the last ship their grandfather was Commander of - the ship was named the Puako and she was a Sugar Ship.

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Although retired from a long career at sea, following a post W.W. I call for experienced sea Captains, Captain Helms came out of retirement and Commanded the Puako from 1919 - 1926.

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Once I started a bit of research into what is a 'Sugar Ship,' I quickly discovered that few folks alive today (myself included) had ever heard of a Sugar Ship. Turns out in 1895 a fleet of 'snow white' tall ships was put to the task of bringing raw sugar from the Kingdom of Hawaii to the newly established sugar refinery at Crockett, on east San Francisco Bay. Eventually this refinery would be called C&H Sugar which stands for California and Hawaii Sugar Company. The sailing ships first employed to bring this raw sugar to the U.S. mainland were termed Sugar Ships, were all painted show white and seem to have been built from the same set of plans as they were all nearly identical.  In fact several of these sleek ‘clipper’ hulled tall ships were built by a descendant of the brother in law to Donald McKay!

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The Puako was built at the William A. Boole shipyard, at Oakland in 1902 on the account of Hind, Rolph & Co. of San Francisco. She was a four masted, skysail rigged Barkentine of, 1,084 gross tons. The Puako would have several near identical sister ships. Note the clipper ship like rakish bow and Yacht like elliptical stern of this fine ship.

Puako Loading at Sydney for San Francisco 1918.

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With the conclusion of the Spanish American War in 1898, trading routes in the Pacific were now safe to re-engage in worry free commerce. Stepping to the forefront of this opportunity were James Rolph Jr. and his partner George Hind both of San Francisco. 
In fact Hind & Rolph started their fleet of Sugar Ships with a sea race between two of their first ships, the Muriel (c.1895) and the Honoipu (c.1898), both four masted schooners.
Not only would this sea race go down in history as the longest such race to take place on the Pacific ocean but the Honoipu would be Commanded by Captain William Olson, who at 19 would unexpectedly become the youngest sea Captain in American history.

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The race between the Muriel and Honoipu (Hind & Rolph would name most of their ships with ‘kanaka’ or local Hawaiian names) started in San Francisco, then up to Washington to load lumber. From there the heavily laden four masted schooners raced to Australia, where the lumber was exchanged for coal. The holds brimming with coal they next raced to Pearl River Harbor on the island of Oahu, where a permanent U.S. Navy coaling station had recently been established. Next these tireless crews would load raw sugar from the outer islands and then raced back to San Francisco (to the C&H Sugar refinery at Crockett). The loser of the race had to pay for a Champagne dinner for the winning ships crew and the company employees at Hind & Rolph. Unfortunately due to some skulduggery on the part of the more experienced Commander of the Muriel, young Captain Olson would lose the race!

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San Francisco Call, Sunday, September 4, 1898

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With the basic triangular Pacific trading route now established, in 1901 Hind & Rolph set out to build a huge fleet of ships specifically designed to accommodate the cargoes of lumber, coal and raw sugar. With this in mind over a two year period they would commission and see launched no less than eight ships* of sail, most four masted skysail Barkentine’s. What I find so interesting is that all the ships Hind, Rolph had built, whether four masted Schooners of four masted Barkentines, they were all nearly identical. In fact the last ship I’ve found built for the fleet, the Georgette, c. 1920, was in every way an identical sister ship to the ships built in 1901-02.  Also of note are the many National Archives newspaper clippings about these ships which repeatedly refer to the Hind & Rolph fleet of Sugar Ships as ‘snow white’ and ‘well maintained’.
(* 1901 - Kailua, Kona, Mahukona, four masted schooners of 180’ ; 1901 - Kohala, Lahina & 1902 Makaweli, KoKo Head, Puako four masted skysail Barkentines of 220’ length).

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Launching of the KoKo Head, sister ship to the Puako, Oakland, CA. c.1902

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The sweetheart of the Sugar Ship fleet would be the skysail Barkentine Puako (Heart of the Sugar Cane) a 221’ long ship that was ‘triple’ planked at her waist. The Puako was built at the Boole and Sons shipyard located at Oakland, on San Francisco Bay. Fans of The Era of the Clipper Ships might find in interesting that the elder Boole was descended from the brother of Albenia McKay, the wife of Donald McKay of East Boston. I can only imagine some of the McKay clipper ships influenced the design of the Puako (and sister ship KoKo Head) as she sported a very sleek (extreme) clipper ship bow.

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In building the 51 inch long ship model replica of the Puako I was provided the actual shipyard blueprints of her sister ship the KoKo Head, as well as many vintage photographs showing all aspects of the ship. The model was to be built with full sails set and mounted to an exotic wood display base. Amazingly while I was building the model of the Puako, I was contacted by a ‘tavern’ owner in Canada, telling me he had the actual ships bell from the PUAKO! Today the ships bell is in the family collection of Walt Bulski, the grandson of Captain Helms, last Commander of the Puako c.1919 - 1926.

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The Puako would sail for about 25 years until tragically (like so many clippers, packets and windjammers) being converted into a barge. In 1952 the Puako was scuttled at Oyster Bay, Vancouver Island, Canada becoming part of a breakwater made from 14 or so, old tall ships.

Today I’m proud to say there are two museum quality models of the Puako owned by the descendants of Puako’s last Commander, Captain Helms.

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Also of note: In January of 2007 the Honolulu Star Bulletin published a story about the Puako so today even more folks now know about the SUGAR SHIPS. Honolulu Star Bulletin Article.

To see a comprehensive photo essay of how the Sugar Ship Puako was built see this web link:

And to learn more about the history of the Sugar Ships see this Tall Ships of San Francisco Link.

Also check out u-Tube Posting.

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From 1919 to 1926 the Master of the Puako was Captain Charles E. Helms. His wife, Mary Catherine Williams Helms, would accompany him during those years, which included ports of call at: Sydney, Honolulu, South Africa and Canada. Also seen in this daguerreotype photograph are the Puako’s First and Second Mate.

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