After coming to San Francisco, she participated in the trades up the coast with the California and Oregon Packet Line, and to the South Sea islands, under owners unknown. Under Capt. William J. Hogan, a former "down-easter" from Maine, she was fitted out in San Francisco to take gold-seekers to the Alaska gold rush in 1897. The owner, K. C. Eldridge of San Francisco, insisted that she leave port against the better judgment of the captain, who feared a coming storm. More than 200 passengers and crew lost their lives the night they sailed. The vessel was found floating capsized and abandoned the following day. The exact circumstances of the disaster will forever remain unknown. More than 20 years later, in a curious aftermath, fishing trawler Ituna snagged its nets on a wreck in 47 fathoms of water "at a point nearly midway between Point Reyes and the North Farallon Island." The wreck was believed to be the Helen W. Almy, although the article does not state how the identification was made. Delgado & Haller [2]