He traveled extensively and encountered several notable personalities including Mads Lange, the kings of Cambodia and Siam, the White Rajahs of Sarawak, Alfred Russel Wallace, and Brigham Young.

[4] Helms sailed from Hamburg, Germany, on the Brig Johanna Caesar on September 15, 1846,[5] with the intention of finding and introducing himself to his fellow countryman Mads Lange, who was reputed to have established a successful merchant business on the island of Bali.

His ship stopped in Cape Town, South Africa, in November 1846, where he spent several weeks with friends, and then continued to Singapore on December 16, 1846, where he arrived on February 25, 1847.

[8] Helms spent the next two years working for Lange in his growing trade business near Kuta, which included rice, spices, and animal stock, as well as the importing of the Chinese kepeng, the currency used in Bali.

Later in life Helms and his family donated several pieces of artwork, including some carved statues, a case of cockspurs, and a painting, to the National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen.

[12] Lange's Kuta business gradually declined due to Dutch blockades during the interventions, epidemics, warring between the Balinese rajahs, as well as the growing use of steamships which shifted trade to competing ports in northern Bali.

While in Hongkong he noted the high level of anxiety of the European community due to the recent assassination of the Governor of Macao, and the growing excitement regarding the California gold rush.

[21] Helms saw a great future in California, but his business associates lost heavily and he was unable to convince them of the investment potential, so he made plans to return with the Indianeren after a few months.

However, he could not take the position for several months, and he accepted an offer from the Singapore firm Messrs. Almeida & Sons to go on a mission to Cambodia in an attempt to open commercial relations with that country by sending a ship loaded with merchandise.

Helms took with him a cargo of rice, pepper, raw silk, ivory, tortoiseshell, cardamom, gamboge, and stick-lac among other things, and also a petition from the king for British protection, which he later delivered.

The mission was successful from a commercial standpoint, starting a trade that gradually increased in the following years; however, he was disappointed that the British Government never acted on the king's requests.

His petitions to the Siamese government resulted in a significant reduction in tonnage duties on foreign trade; and in 1855 England signed a treaty with Siam appointing a British Consul.

[58][61] Helms spent much time exploring the Sarawak interior in search of minerals, and vividly describes the Borneo rivers, jungles, and natives he encountered in his book Pioneering in the Far East, including many illustrations.

[58] As the Sarawak manager for the BCL, Helms prospected or traded for antimony, sago, quicksilver, gold, diamonds, gutta percha, coal, timber, and other resources.

[63] Helms was in Kuching during the February 1857 Chinese Insurrection against Rajah James Brooke, and recounted his experiences in Pioneering through the anonymous diary of a friend, who is now known to be fellow BCL employee Paul Tidman.

[64][65] During the initial attack Helms retreated to a nearby Malay village, where he unsuccessfully attempted to organize a defense, and the next day he returned to Kuching and was forced to attend a meeting with the leaders of the insurrection, along with Bishop Francis McDougall, Tidman, and George Ruppell (Rajah Brooke's treasurer).

He then sailed at the rajah's request to Sambas to inform the Dutch of the Insurrection, and then to Singapore, where he met with Admiral Henry Keppel, who sent a warship as a demonstration of force.

The references to the dispute between two men, both of whom I knew and admired—Rajah Brooke and his nephew, Captain Brooke—will be uninteresting to many and displeasing to some, but there are also those who will remember and who were interested in their careers, and who will see that I have attempted, though somewhat late, to do an act of justice.

As one who shared the intimacy of Rajah Brooke, I hold that his whole life will stand out as great and heroic, and such a man can bear the imputation of errors in judgment, and will not need to have his faults shielded.

It has been my object, while doing full justice to Sir James Brooke, to deal fairly also with the memory of his gallant nephew, who no less devoted his life and sacrificed his fortunes to the cause of civilising Borneo.

[76][75] On his return to England from Sarawak, Helms traveled from Kuching to Singapore, Saigon, Hong-Kong, and Shanghai, where he marveled at the changes over the last two decades; and then on to Nagasaki, Japan, arriving on June 28, 1872.

[104] Helms spent a month touring Japan, including Nagasaki, Kobe, Hyōgo, Osaka, Kyoto, Arima, Jeddo (now Tokyo), Yokohama, and Enoshima Island.

[108][a] In his book Pioneering in the Far East, Helms extensively described the Japanese culture, gardens, religion, architecture and art from his European viewpoint, and noted the extensive change occurring as they adapted to foreign influence, often commenting prophetically: Like, probably, all travelers in Japan, I had been delighted with the country, but astonished at the rapidity with which the ruling classes of this old and exclusive empire had divested themselves of their old ways and habits, and the docility with which the people submitted to it....

[112] He took the Central Pacific Railroad to Reno, Nevada, where he stopped to tour the Comstock mines via an unpleasant stagecoach journey: ...perched on some boxes on the roof of the coach, without my rug, and barely able to hold on as we rattled along the rough mountain tracks, I was numbed and shaken to pieces long before we reached Virginia city.

When returning by the same coach it was daylight, and we then saw that it was full of bullet-holes, the work of robbers, while the inside was well supplied with irons, intended, as the driver told us, for unruly passengers.

[132] The mines on Rusinga Creek proved difficult to access due to the steep cliffs and lack of anchorage; however, Helms dispatched a team of miners to establish a base and begin prospecting, while he went for supplies at Arkhangelsk on the Vestfold on June 29.

[133] After resupplying at Arkhangelsk, Helms attempted to return to Rusinga on July 6, but inclement weather forced the ship west and they decided to head instead for Bear Island.

During this journey the Vestfold ran aground and narrowly escaped disaster, but by unloading their entire cargo of mining timbers, and most of their coal, the crew was able to float the ship free, and reached Bear Island on July 8.

The Rusinga party had made progress investigating the copper mines, which showed promise, but Helms felt it did not justify the risk of continued activity on the rugged coast.

[138] He later recounted this journey in Pioneering in the Far East, extensively describing the Northern towns, the scenery, the plight of the native Laplanders, and Russian officials he encountered and including numerous sketches of them.