Sierra (motor ship)

Historic ship

United States historic place

Sierra (motor ship)

U.S. National Register of Historic Places

Sierra

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Location| 1401 Sargent Blvd., Aberdeen, Washington
Coordinates| 46°58′31″N 123°48′02″W﻿ / ﻿46.97528°N 123.80056°W﻿ / 46.97528; -123.80056﻿ (SIERRA (motor ship))
Built| 1916 (1916)
Built by| G. F. Matthews
Architect| George H. Hitchings
NRHP reference No.| 78002745[1]
General characteristics
Type| Motor ship
Length| 218 ft (66 m)[2]
Beam| 42 ft (13 m)[2]
Depth| 15 ft (4.6 m)[2]
Propulsion| Motor
Added to NRHP| March 29, 1978

Sierra is a historic motor ship used to transport lumber. Built in 1916, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.[3]

## History

[edit]

Sierra was built at Matthews shipyard in Hoquiam[4] for E. K. Wood Lumber Company[2] and was the first motor ship built on Grays Harbor.[5] The ship's engines were made in Sweden[6] by Bolinder, which sent a representative to oversee their installation.[3] Senator Miles Poindexter attended the ship's launch on August 30, 1916.[7]

Its first long voyage was to Valparaíso, Chile.[2] Sierra was able to complete the round-trip without refueling.[3]

Sierra was used to ferry lumber between Bellingham, Washington and Hoquiam, Washington.[3] In one month in 1920, Sierra carried a shipment of 1,200,000 feet of lumber out of Bellingham.[8]

On Feb 7, 1923, Sierra was badly damaged after colliding with the steamship Wilhemina in dense fog near San Francisco; damages were estimated at $135,000.[9]

In 1926, Sierra caught fire at Berth 77 in the Port of Los Angeles, the first fire fought by the fireboat Los Angeles City No. 2.[10]

Sierra was sold in 1927 and equipped with refrigeration equipment to carry reindeer meat from Alaska for the Arctic Transport Company.[11] During World War II, the U.S. Army operated Sierra as a training ship.[3] After the war, Sierra was assigned to the Maritime Commission reserve fleet at Olympia, Washington, then later sold and transferred to Lake Union.[11]

In 1964, the new owner began restoring Sierra to its original, lumber-carrying configuration.[3]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. November 2, 2013.
2. ^ a b c d e Motorship. Miller Freeman. 1921. p. 642.
3. ^ a b c d e f "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: SIERRA (motor ship)". National Park Service. 4 Nov 1976. Retrieved October 23, 2019. With 2 accompanying pictures
4. ^ "On the Shores of Grays Harbor". Pacific Marine Review. 16. J.S. Hines: 141. 1919.
5. ^ "Hoquiam". Anacortes American. 14 Sep 1916. p. 6.
6. ^ "Machinery Arrives for the Steamer Sierra". Aberdeen Herald. 8 Sep 1916. p. 8. Retrieved 16 Nov 2019.
7. ^ "Lumber Town for Poindexter". The Seattle Star. 31 Aug 1916. p. 8.
8. ^ "Bellingham". The Timberman. 21. M. Freeman Publications: 85. March 1920.
9. ^ "Pacific Ports". Vol. IX, no. 4\. Pacific Ports, Incorporated. April 1923. pp. 53, 55. `{{cite magazine}}`: Cite magazine requires `|magazine=` (help)
10. ^ "South Bay History: Fireboat No. 2, the Ralph J. Scott, served the Port of Los Angeles with distinction for 78 years". Daily Breeze. 2019-05-20. Retrieved 2019-11-16.
11. ^ a b The H.W. McCurdy marine history of the Pacific Northwest, 1966-1976. McCurdy, H. W. (Horace Winslow), 1899-1989., Newell, Gordon R., Seattle Historical Society. Seattle: Superior Pub. Co. 1977. pp. 387–388, 546, 554. ISBN 0875642209. OCLC 2646126.387-388,+546,+554&rft.pub=Superior+Pub.+Co&rft.date=1977&rft_id=info:oclcnum/2646126&rft.isbn=0875642209&rft_id=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/2646126&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Sierra+(motor+ship)" class="Z3988">`{{cite book}}`: CS1 maint: others (link)

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