The steel steamship Osterland was launched from the Sunderland yard of William Doxford and Son Ltd (Yard No 345) on 14th October 1905. She measured 346.3′ x 51.1′ x 23.8′ and her tonnage was 4293 gross tons, 2547 net tons. She was powered by a triple expansion steam engine by Doxford delivering 310 nominal horse power.
Built for Anyfartygs A/B Tirfing she was originally registered in Gothenburg and operated for this company until she was sold to Rederi A/B Turret of Helsinfors, Finland who renamed her Osterhav.
On 28th March 1936 Osterhav was en route from Rauma, Finland to Ellesmere Port with a cargo of wood pulp under the command of Captain A Kantola who had a crew of twenty eight aboard including four women crew members. As they approached the Scottish coast the ship was enveloped in a thick fog. The fog combined with the fierce tidal flows through the Pentland Firth would appear to have resulted in a navigation error by the captain as she ran aground on rocks at Freswick near Duncansby Head in the late afternoon that day around 5pm. There was a strong south east breeze blowing but the ship and crew aboard were in no immediate danger. A distress signal was sent and picked up by Wick Radio at 5. 05pm who called the lifeboat station. The Wick lifeboat Frederick and Emma was launched at 9pm and, under the command of Coxswain William More, and reached the scene of the wreck soon after. An insection of the ship by the crew had revealed that she was holed near the bow and making water but the captain was hopeful that the damage was not too severe and would allow her to reach the safety of Wick harbour. He managed to refloat the ship using her own engines and, with two of the lifeboat men aboard to pilot the vessel into Wick, steamed south towards safety. However, it was soon obvious that the ingress of water was too fast and the captain was forced to run the Osterhav ashore on the sandy beach of Sinclair Bay to avoid her foundering.
He succeeded in stranding her on a flat sandy stretch of beach later that evening. The lifeboat stood by all night and then, at 9am the next morning took off twenty one of the people aboard. At this stage the captain and the officers refused to leave the ship and the lifeboat returned to Ackergill at 1pm. Three hours later she returned to the Osterhav and took off the remaining crew and her captain.
Over the next few days the stranded ship was visited by salvage experts who reported the ship badly damaged and likely to break up at any moment. She was finally abandoned as a total wreck and later sold to South Stockton Shipbreaking Company Ltd. After temporary repairs during August 1936 she was finally towed from her resting place in Sinclair Bay by the tug St Totin on the 31 August. After further repairs to her hull were made the Osterhav was towed south for final breaking.