THE BARQUE HELEN.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 15911, 3 November 1913, Page 4

THE BARQUE HELEN.

He Taamanian barque Helen, which put into Port Philip in a leitlring condition, after ,a severe battle with heavy' gales in Base Strait in September, and wus recently sold for conversion into a lighter, has had a rather evcjrfful career. Built at Greenock just 50 years ago, she has served many purposes. She was purchased bv Tasmanian owners in 1567, and for years ran in the tea trade between China and Sydney, after which employment was found between various coastal ports. In 1887, while on a voyage froip London to Hobart, with a number of passengers, much anxiety was caused through the circulation of reports that the barque had foundered in the Bay of Biscay, and, owing to the paucity of information, it was not until, the little "vessel sailed into Hobart some months afterwards that the mystery was cleared hp. Later on further change made the Helen a whaling vessel, when she engaged in several adventurous voyages to islands in the Southern Occan. Since then she has been timber-carrying between Tasmania andthe mainland. 'Her teak timbers are still sound, and the vessel will doubtless last for years in the inglorious guiso of a lighter.