The story begins with, Alden P. Ricks who was an individualist, but his friends in the wholesale timber and shipping trade described him as a character. He had been a cabin boy on one journey around Cape Horn, but other than running the Blue Star Navigation Company and occasionally travelling in first class, his experience at sea was little. In his later years, he was given a courtesy title because of his close familiarity with ships and the sailors who sail into the deep. Cappy Ricks had to manage a sizable amount of money in the wholesale lumber and shipping businesses. He was the owner of the Blue Star Navigation Company, which transported it by freight, and the Ricks Lumber and Logging Company, which sold a million feet of lumber every day. Every one of the thirty-plus boats in the Blue Star fleet has Cappy listed as the managing owner. Read Cappy Ricks to know the complete story.
