The two lumber ports cut into the stern of the Star of India tell the story of her penultimate career as a working vessel. In the last years of the nineteenth century, it became increasingly difficult for sailing ships to compete with the speed and efficiency of steam powered vessels. Retired from the emigrant trade and sold off to new owners, Euterpe (today’s Star of India) would become part of the Pacific lumber trade, transporting heavy cargoes of lumber from the Pacific Northwest across the Pacific to Australia, and returning with holds laden with coal. To facilitate the loading of long lengths of lumber, Euterpe’s owners cut two large rectangular ports into her stern during her time in Hawaii in 1898.
