September 18, 1912 – The barkentine J. M. Griffith left Noyo Harbor for Mendocino, which was her last stop on the way to Hawaii. Ties and shingles had been loaded in Fort Bragg, and at Mendocino she took on a cargo of lumber.

Sailing ship moored in a bay
Barkentine J. M. Griffith, 1912. The J. M. Griffith moored at Big River in Mendocino. The Mendocino Mill can be seen in the background. Kelp is floating in Mendocino Bay. (Perley Maxwell (photographer), Gift of Emery Escola)

The J. M. Griffith was a barkentine boat weighing in at 606 tons. It was built in Seabeck, Washington in 1882 and was based at first in Port Townsend, Washington. She plied the sea between Puget Sound and San Diego. During the years just prior to the First World War, she loaded freight frequently at Noyo Harbor for Hawaii or Australia.

This trip was the only time the J. M. Griffith took on cargo at Mendocino. The Beacon reported that she was “the first sailing vessel to load lumber here in eight or nine years.”

“Thomas H. Petersen Master Shipbuilder” by Louis A. Hough. Thomas Petersen built about three dozen wooden vessels: sailing schooners, a barkentine, steam schooners, steam tugs and lighters. Based on Petersen’s memoirs. $15.