Snapshot: Sterling Hayden at Sea
Long before he was the brooding star of The Asphalt Jungle and Dr. Strangelove, Sterling Hayden was a 20-year-old sailor chasing the horizon. This photo, featured in the Spokesman Review on November 15, 1936, captures the crew of the brigantine Yankee during one of her early around-the-world voyages. Among them: Hayden, serving as first mate.
A native New Englander, Hayden had dropped out of high school at sixteen to answer the ocean’s call. By 1936, he had already worked his way up to first mate and set off on his first global voyage aboard the Yankee. The sea would remain his first love, even as Hollywood came calling.
“I hate the whole damn business,” he would famously say of his acting career. But the ships? He never walked away from those.
Lovely post as always, Sydney