Sterling's first publicity picture was in the Boston Traveler newspaper, where he was shown as the winner of a Gloucester, NE fishing boat race in 1938, with the headline "Gloucester Sailor Like Movie Idol."
Sterling Hayden: To be truly challenging, a voyage, like a life, must rest on a firm foundation of financial unrest. Otherwise you are doomed to a routine traverse, the kind known to yachtsmen, who play with their boats at sea - "cruising," it is called. Voyaging belongs to seamen, and to the wanderers of the world who cannot, or will not, fit in. If you are contemplating a voyage and you have the means, abandon the venture until your fortunes change. Only then will you know what the sea is all about.