The Star of Oregon was a schooner

Schooner

A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....

 sailing vessel of the mid-19th century used on the west coast of North America. It was the first American sailing ship built in what is now the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Oregon

Oregon

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

. Pioneer settlers built the ship from 1840 to 1842 in order to sail it to California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 and exchange it for livestock. During World War II a Liberty ship

Liberty ship

Liberty ships were cargo ships built in the United States during World War II. Though British in conception, they were adapted by the U.S. as they were cheap and quick to build, and came to symbolize U.S. wartime industrial output. Based on vessels ordered by Britain to replace ships torpedoed by...

 was named the SS Star of Oregon

SS Star of Oregon

The SS Star of Oregon was a Liberty ship. It launched on May 19, 1941, and was the first Liberty ship built in the Kaiser Shipyards in the Portland, Oregon area....

 in honor of the 19th century sailing vessel.

Vessel design

Felix Hathaway

Felix Hathaway

Felix Hathaway was an American carpenter and pioneer in what became the state of Oregon. A native of New England, he settled in the Oregon Country where he helped construct the first American-built ship in what became the state of Oregon...

, an experienced ship's carpenter and former employee of the Hudson's Bay Company

Hudson's Bay Company

The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...

, designed the Star of Oregon with input from Joseph Gale

Joseph Gale

Joseph Goff Gale was an American pioneer, trapper, entrepreneur, and politician who contributed to the early settlement of the Oregon Country...

, an American fur trapper

Fur trade

The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of world market for in the early modern period furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the most valued...

 with deep water sailing experience. The Star was a small Baltimore clipper

Baltimore Clipper

Baltimore Clipper is the colloquial name for fast sailing ships built on the south-eastern seaboard of the United States of America, especially at the port of Baltimore, Maryland...

 schooner

Schooner

A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....

, a highly maneuverable vessel with a shallow draft that Gale would have been familiar with as a boy living on the Chesapeake Bay

Chesapeake Bay

The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West...

.

Gale provided a detailed description of the Star in a letter to James W. Nesmith

James W. Nesmith

James Willis Nesmith was an American politician and lawyer from Oregon. Born in Canada to American parents, he grew up in New Hampshire and Maine...

:

Construction

Construction of the Star of Oregon began in the autumn of 1840 with Felix Hathaway supervising, and John Canan, Ralph Kilbourne, Pleasant Armstrong

Pleasant M. Armstrong

Pleasant M. Armstrong was a pioneer in Oregon Country in an area that would become the state of Oregon, United States. He helped build a ship that was sailed to California to exchange for cattle, and voted at the May 2, 1843, Champoeg Meeting....

, Henry Woods, Josiah Lamberson Parrish

Josiah Lamberson Parrish

Reverend Josiah Lamberson Parrish was an American missionary in Oregon Country and trustee of the Oregon Institute at its founding. A native of New York, he also participated in the Champoeg Meetings that led to the formation of the Provisional Government of Oregon in 1843...

, George Davis, and Jacob Green providing less skilled labor. The crew began construction of the schooner on the east side of Swan Island (part of today's Portland, Oregon

Portland, Oregon

Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...

). In the spring of 1841, the project was jeopardized when Hathaway quit because of the group's inability to pay him, the advent of other more promising business opportunities, and his frustration over the lack of needed building materials. At the time of Hathaway's resignation, the keel of the schooner had been finished to just above the water line.

At this time, John Canan and Ralph Kilbourne went back to Joseph Gale

Joseph Gale

Joseph Goff Gale was an American pioneer, trapper, entrepreneur, and politician who contributed to the early settlement of the Oregon Country...

 and reminded him of his promise to assist on the project and serve as captain once they got further along in the building. Gale then went and inspected the ship to determine if it would be seaworthy, and after determining it was, he went home and sold his farm and farming equipment. After moving his family to Champoeg, Oregon

Champoeg, Oregon

Champoeg is a former town in the U.S. state of Oregon. Now a ghost town, it was an important settlement in the Willamette Valley in the early 1840s. It is positioned halfway between Oregon City and Salem and the site of the first provisional government of the Oregon Country...

, Gale then devoted much of the next year to completing the vessel. On May 19, 1841 the partially completed vessel was launched and moved up the Willamette River to near Oregon City

Oregon City, Oregon

Oregon City was the first city in the United States west of the Rocky Mountains to be incorporated. It is the county seat of Clackamas County, Oregon...

. In the fall of 1841, George Davis and Henry Woods dropped out of the project, which reduced the number of partners to five. Kilbourne and Gale did most of the remaining work, while Thomas J. Hubbard did the blacksmithing.
Although wood was plentiful in Oregon, construction of a ship required cordage, cloth for sails, and a range of other materials that were available only from the Hudson's Bay Company

Hudson's Bay Company

The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...

 store at Fort Vancouver. John McLoughlin

John McLoughlin

Dr. John McLoughlin, baptized Jean-Baptiste McLoughlin, was the Chief Factor of the Columbia Fur District of the Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Vancouver. He was later known as the "Father of Oregon" for his role in assisting the American cause in the Oregon Country in the Pacific Northwest...

, Chief Factor at Fort Vancouver

Fort Vancouver

Fort Vancouver was a 19th century fur trading outpost along the Columbia River that served as the headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company in the company's Columbia District...

, was ill disposed to provide these.

In serious trouble, the project was rescued by Lieutenant Charles Wilkes

Charles Wilkes

Charles Wilkes was an American naval officer and explorer. He led the United States Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842 and commanded the ship in the Trent Affair during the American Civil War...

, Commander of the United States Exploring Expedition, who arrived in Oregon at about the time that Gale joined the project. Wilkes asked McLoughlin to sell the needed materials to the Americans as a personal favor, and the Chief Factor obliged. As a result, the project "purchased an ample supply of all the necessities that we needed, such as cordage, canvas, paints, oils, etc., etc., for which we paid the company in wheat and furs of different kinds." Work on the vessel continued until late October 1841, when the project was suspended for the winter and spring. In June 1842, work on the schooner resumed and the vessel was ready to sail in mid-August, nearly two years after the beginning of construction.

Sale

On reaching Yerba Buena, today's San Francisco, Gale and company found a man in need of a ship, Joseph Yves Limantour

Joseph Yves Limantour

Joseph Yves Limantour was a French merchant who engaged in the California sea trade during the years preceding American occupation of that Mexican province in 1846...

. In October 1841, the French merchant's schooner Ayucucho had gone aground near Point Reyes

Point Reyes

Point Reyes is a prominent cape on the Pacific coast of northern California. It is located in Marin County approximately WNW of San Francisco. The term is often applied to the Point Reyes Peninsula, the region bounded by Tomales Bay on the northeast and Bolinas Lagoon on the southeast...

. Although much of the cargo was saved, Limantour was stranded in California with no means of transport.

During his time in northern California, Limantour sold his cargo for cash and credit to the local elite, but the value of the Ayucuchos cargo far exceeded the local capacity for purchase. General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo

Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo

Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo was a Californian military commander, politician, and rancher. He was born a subject of Spain, performed his military duties as an officer of Mexico, and shaped the transition of California from a Mexican district to an American state...

, Commander General of California, was a major exception and he owned a substantial rancho

Ranchos of California

The Spanish, and later the Méxican government encouraged settlement of territory now known as California by the establishment of large land grants called ranchos, from which the English ranch is derived. Devoted to raising cattle and sheep, the owners of the ranchos attempted to pattern themselves...

 in Sonoma

Sonoma, California

Sonoma is a historically significant city in Sonoma Valley, Sonoma County, California, USA, surrounding its historic town plaza, a remnant of the town's Mexican colonial past. It was the capital of the short-lived California Republic...

 with plenty of cattle. Gale and company wanted cattle, and Limantour wanted the schooner. In a three way deal, Vallejo purchased the Star of Oregon for 350 cows, and then transferred ownership to Limantour. The Star of Oregon was renamed the Jóven Fanita in honor of General Vallejo's seven year old daughter, Epifania."

Jóven Fanita

In late 1842, Limantour loaded the Jóven Fanita with "the remainder of his goods and effects and sailed down the coast, stopping at the ports of Monterrey

Monterey, California

The City of Monterey in Monterey County is located on Monterey Bay along the Pacific coast in Central California. Monterey lies at an elevation of 26 feet above sea level. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 27,810. Monterey is of historical importance because it was the capital of...

, Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara, California

Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...

 and San Pedro

San Pedro, Los Angeles, California

San Pedro is a port district of the city of Los Angeles, California, United States. It was annexed in 1909 and is a major seaport of the area...

." On anchoring at San Pedro in January 1843, Limantour encountered demand for his cargo in the form of the newly appointed Governor of California, Manuel Micheltorena

Manuel Micheltorena

Manuel Micheltorena was a Brigadier General of the Mexican Army, Adjutant-General of the same, Governor, Commandant-General and Inspector of the Department of the California...

. Micheltorena had arrived in southern California in the summer of 1842 with several hundred ill-trained Mexican troops and little provision for their support. The Governor was desperate for cash and goods to support his army and to spare the locals their depredations. Micheltorena requested cash and merchandise in exchange for a draft of Mexican funds to be honored at Mazatlán

Mazatlán

Mazatlán is a city in the Mexican state of Sinaloa; the surrounding municipio for which the city serves as the municipal seat is Mazatlán Municipality. It is located at on the Pacific coast, across from the southernmost tip of the Baja California peninsula.Mazatlán is a Nahuatl word meaning...

. Limantour provided these (either voluntarily or under duress) and then sailed to Mazatlán at the Governor's request. He then returned with a second cargo of goods for Micheltorena, which was purchased with $10,221 in Mexican funds. Later, the Mexican government reimbursed Limantour $56,184 for the goods "confiscated" from the Jóven Fanita. Although the number of trips to and from Mexico in the small schooner is unclear, Limantour continued to use the schooner until it "became a total wreck."