John Coffin Jones Jr

John Coffin Jones Jr was the only son of a prominent Boston businessman (in mercantile and shipping business) and politician. (John C Jones Sr served as speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and was legislative colleague of John Quincy Adams (and one of the signors for Massachusetts of the Ratification of the US Constitution for that State.))

Young Jones was born in 1796 in Massachusetts and seems to have gone to sea at an early age.  He left to work in the sandalwood trade under Captain Dixey Wildes.   (Kelley)

Jones (also known in Hawaiian documents as John Aluli) was appointed US Agent for Commerce and Seamen on September 19, 1820. When he acknowledged his commission as Agent for Commerce and Seamen, he mentioned two previous voyages he had made to Canton and an extended visit to the Sandwich Islands.  (State Department)

He began to serve in October of 1820, at the port of Honolulu.   As Agent for Commerce and Seamen, Jones became the first official US representative in the Hawaiian Islands.  His role was to help distressed American citizens ashore, both seamen and civilians, serving without salary from the US government and required to report on commerce in Hawai‘i.

(The post of commercial agent was raised to Consul effective July 5, 1844, and held by Peter A. Brinsmade, who had already been appointed commercial agent on April 13, 1838.)

Jones was already agent for the prosperous Boston firm of Marshall and Wildes (one of four American mercantile houses doing business in Honolulu,) and by accepting the additional responsibility from his country, the firm and he might hope that through his reports to Washington the voice of commerce in the Pacific would be heard more clearly by the US Government.  (Hackler)

When Jones arrived in 1821 the sandalwood trade with China was still thriving. King Kamehameha I had monopolized, the cutting and exporting of sandalwood during his reign, but after his death in 1819, Kamehameha II was unable to enforce the conservation policies of his father, and unrestricted cutting of sandalwood soon threatened to deplete the hillsides of this rare wood.

But, while the wood lasted and the market held up in Canton, the American merchants in Honolulu competed fiercely with each other for the valuable cargoes, and pressed on the Hawaiians all sorts of goods which were to be paid for in sandalwood.  (Hackler)

He was considered an advocate for commercial interests in Hawaiʻi and immediately collided with the missionary group led by Rev. Hiram Bingham.  For the next couple of decades he contended for commercial advantages for the US. He set up his own trading firm in 1830 and made many voyages to California during the next ten years.  (Kelley)

 “Since the discovery of the whale fishery on the coast of Japan, and the independence of the republics of the western coasts of North and South America, the commerce of the United States at the Sandwich islands has vastly increased.”

“Of such importance have these islands become to our ships which resort to the coast of Japan for the prosecution of the whale fishery, that, without another place could be found, possessing equal advantages of conveniences and situation, our fishery on Japan would be vastly contracted, or pursued under circumstances the most disadvantageous.”  (Jones, to Captain Wm B Finch, October 30, 1829)

As US Agent for Seamen, Jones had a burdensome responsibility.  Many seamen were put ashore because of illness, and they became the special concern of Jones. This was a responsibility and an expense.

In his first report to the Secretary of State on December 31, 1821, Jones complained of the commanders of American ships who were in the habit of discharging troublesome seamen at Honolulu and taking on Hawaiian hands.  (Hackler)

In addition, Jones reported to the Department that 30,000 piculs of sandalwood were sent to China in American ships that year, and estimated that the price for this wood in Canton should be about $300,000. The Hawaiian chiefs were becoming increasingly indebted to the American merchants in Honolulu and payment was slow in coming.

To add to his burden, in 1822-23 the crews of three wrecked American vessels were brought to the islands; in 1825 he explained his disbursements at Honolulu on behalf of seamen as being very heavy, as many men were put ashore without funds.  (Hackler)

“The number of hands generally comprising the Company of a whale ship will average Twenty Five; and owing to the want of discipline, the length and the ardourous duties of the voyage, these people generally become dissatisfied and are willing at any moment to join a rebellion or desert the first opportu(nity) that may offer;"

"- this has been fully exemplified in the whale ships that  have visited these islands, constant disertions have taken place and many serious mutinies both contributing to protract and frequently ruin the voyage.”  (Jones report to Henry Clay, Secretary of State, 1827)

He wrote that the only solution was the posting of a US naval vessel at Honolulu, at least during the periods between March and May, and October and December, when the whalers gathered at the port.  (Hackler)

The service of Jones as consular agent in Honolulu put him in the middle of a number of commercial and political causes. Both as government representative and private trader during a formative period, he was an energetic figure and is credited with leadership in opening trade between Hawaiʻi and Spanish California.

By 1829, Jones seemed to have fallen out of favor with the Hawaiian rulers. At that time the King and the principal chiefs addressed a protest to Captain Finch of the USS Vincennes, accusing Jones of maltreating a native and lying about royal morals.  (Hackler)

Jones’ several marriages caused additional concern. He married Hannah Jones Davis, widow of his partner, William Heath Davis Sr, in 1823.  His younger stepson, William Heath Davis, Jr, became a prominent California businessman.

Jones continued to live with Hannah but also lived with Lihilahi Marin, daughter of Don Francisco Marin, and had children by both. In 1838, he married Manuela Carrillo of Santa Barbara, California and deserted Hannah and Lahilahi.

In December, 1838, returning from one of his periodic business trips to California, he introduced Manuela as his wife. This apparently enraged Hannah Holmes Jones, who promptly petitioned the Hawaiian Government for a divorce on grounds of bigamy.

The charge was upheld by the King and led to his writing Jones on January 8, 1839, that “… I refuse any longer to know you as consul from the United States of America.”  (Kamehameha III; Hacker)

Jones left the Islands and settled in Santa Barbara in 1839 and continued as a merchant both in California and Massachusetts. He died on December 24, 1861, leaving his wife and six children.  (Kelley)

The image shows Honolulu Harbor in 1826 (with the Dolphin in the harbor. (Massey))

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Chinese in Hawaiʻi

Shortly after the arrival of Captain James Cook and his crews in 1778, the Chinese found their way to Hawaiʻi.  Some suggest Cook’s crew gave information about the “Sandwich Islands” when they stopped in Macao in December 1779, near the end of the third voyage.

In 1788, British Captain John Meares commanded two vessels, the Iphigenia and the Felice, with crews of Europeans and 50-Chinese.  Shortly thereafter, in 1790, the American schooner Eleanora, with Simon Metcalf as master, reached Maui from Macao using a crew of 10-Americans and 45-Chinese.  (Nordyke & Lee)

Crewmen from China were employed as cooks, carpenters and artisans, and Chinese businessmen sailed as passengers to America. Some of these men disembarked in Hawai'i and remained as new settlers.

The growth of the Sandalwood trade with the Chinese market (where mainland merchants brought cotton, cloth and other goods for trade with the Hawaiians for their sandalwood – who would then trade the sandalwood in China) opened the eyes and doors to Hawaiʻi.

The Chinese referred to Hawaiʻi as “Tan Heung Shan” – “The Sandalwood Mountains.” The sandalwood trade lasted for nearly half a century – 1792 to 1843.  (Nordyke & Lee)

The Chinese pioneered another Hawaiʻi industry – sugar.

Although ancient Hawaiians brought sugar with them to the Islands centuries before (it was a canoe crop,) in 1802, Wong Tze-Chun brought a sugar mill and boilers to Hawaiʻi and is credited with the first production of sugar.  Later, Ahung and Atai built a sugar mill on Maui.

Sugar gradually replaced sandalwood and whaling in the mid-19th century and became the principal industry in the islands.

However, a shortage of laborers to work in the growing (in size and number) sugar plantations became a challenge.  The only answer was imported labor.

Starting in the 1850s, when the Hawaiian Legislature passed "An Act for the Governance of Masters and Servants," a section of which provided the legal basis for contract-labor system, labor shortages were eased by bringing in contract workers from Asia, Europe and North America.

The first to arrive were the Chinese (1852.)

“When they (Chinese contract laborers) reached Honolulu, they were kept in the quarantine station for about two weeks. They were made to clean themselves in a tank and have their clothes fumigated.  Planters looked them over and picked them for work in much the same way a horse was looked at before he was bought.”  (Young - Nordyke & Lee)

“These Chinese were taken to the plantations. There they lived in grass houses or unpainted wooden buildings with dirt floors. Sometimes as many as forty men were put into one room. They slept on wooden boards about two feet wide and about three feet from the floor.  … (T)hey cut the sugarcane and hauled it on their backs to ox drawn carts which took the cane to the mill to be made into sugar”  (Young - Nordyke & Lee)

The sugar industry grew, so did the Chinese population in Hawaiʻi.  Between 1852 and 1884, the population of Chinese in Hawai'i increased from 364 to 18,254, to become almost a quarter of the population of the Kingdom (almost 30% of them were living in Honolulu.)  (Young - Nordyke & Lee)

Concerned that the Chinese had secured too strong a representation in the labor market, the government passed laws reducing Chinese immigration.  Further government regulations introduced between 1886 to 1892 virtually ended Chinese contract labor immigration.

The Chinese pioneered another Hawaiʻi industry – rice; with the collapse of the taro industry in 1861-1862 (as the Hawaiian population declined, the demand for taro also declined,) rice was raised in former taro loʻi.

During the 1860s and 1870s, the production of rice increased substantially. It was consumed domestically by the burgeoning numbers of Chinese brought to the Islands as agricultural laborers.

In 1862, the first rice mill in the Hawaiian Islands was constructed in Honolulu (prior to that it was sent unhulled and uncleaned to be milled in San Francisco.)  By 1887 over 13 million pounds of rice were exported.

In 1899, Hawaiʻi’s rice production had expanded so that it placed third in production of rice behind Louisiana and South Carolina.

In 1886, calamity struck the Honolulu Chinatown when a fire raged out of control and destroyed over eight blocks and the homes of 7,000 Chinese and 350 Native Hawaiians and most of Chinatown. Later, in 1900, fires were deliberately set in an effort to wipe out the bubonic plague which was spreading through Chinatown.

Most Chinese plantation workers did not renew their five-year contracts, opting instead to return home or to work on smaller private farms or for other Chinese as clerks, as domestics in haole households, or they started their own businesses.

Chinatown reached its peak in the 1930s. In the days before air travel, visitors arrived here by cruise ship. Just a block up the street was the pier where they disembarked -- and they often headed straight for the shops and restaurants of Chinatown, which mainlanders considered an exotic treat.

Because of excellent employment opportunities in Hawai'i, as well as the high value placed by Chinese on education (even though most immigrants had little formal schooling), Chinese parents encouraged their sons to get as much education as possible.  (Glick)

This strong emphasis on education has resulted in a highly favorable position for Chinese men and women in Hawai'i. Nearly three-fourths of them are employed in higher-lever jobs - skilled. clerical and sales, proprietary and managerial, and professional. As a result, the Chinese enjoy the highest median of income of all ethnic groups in Hawai'i.  (Glick)

The image shows Chinese contract laborers on a sugar plantation in 19th-century Hawaiʻi; in addition, I have added related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Captain Alexander Adams

Captain Alexander Adams was born December 27, 1780; he left Scotland in 1792 to begin a life of working on the sea. This eventually led him to Hawaiʻi, where he arrived in 1811 on the American trading ship the ‘Albatross’ from Boston.

He became an intimate friend and confidential advisor to King Kamehameha I, who entrusted to him the command of the king’s sandalwood fleet.  He became the first regular pilot for the port of Honolulu, a position he held for 30-years.

Adams is credited with helping to design the Hawaiian flag – a new flag for Hawaiʻi was needed to avoid confusion by American vessels (prior to that time, Hawaiian vessels flew the British Union Jack.)

“The Hawaiian flag was designed for King Kamehameha I, in the year 1816.  As the King desired to  send a vessel to China to sell a cargo of sandal-wood, he in company with John Young, Isaac Davis and Alexander Adams … made this flag for the ship, which was a war vessel, called the Forrester, carrying 16 guns, and was owned by Kamehameha I.”  (Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, January 1, 1862)

On March 7, 1817, the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi sent Adams to China to sell the sandalwood.  When he sailed to China, it was the first vessel under the flag of Hawaiʻi.

To enter the Chinese harbor, the ship was heavily taxed in port charges. Upon returning October 5, 1817, at Hilo and hearing of the amount Adams had to pay, King Kamehameha decided Hawaiʻi should also generate revenue from port charges.  This was the origin of harbor dues in the islands.

Captain Adams was sent to Kauaʻi by Kamehameha I to remove the Russians from Fort Elizabeth that had been set up in 1817. His words reportedly were “upon arriving they were soon dispatched”.  Adams raised the Kingdom of Hawai‘i flag over the fort in October 1817.

Kamehameha awarded Adams control of over 2,000-acres in the Niu Valley (much of which is still under the control on his descendants.)

Adams stood on the shore with John Young at Kailua-Kona when the first American Christian missionaries anchored off shore in 1820. He helped convince the King to allow the missionaries to come ashore and take up residence in Hawaiʻi.

When the HMS Blonde arrived in 1825, Adams helped the Scottish naturalist (James Macrae) distribute some plants he thought would be commercially successful in the tropical climate.

In 1828, Queen Kaʻahumanu gave Adams over 290-acres of land in Kalihi Valley (on the island of Oʻahu) in connection with and in gratitude for his services. The area was called Apili.

After 30 years of piloting, Adams retired in 1853, grew fruit on his land in Kalihi Valley, and was great host to visitors.  He also had a home on what was named Adams Lane (in 1850,) a small lane in downtown Honolulu off of Hotel Street named after him (near the Hawaiian Telephone company building.)

Adams married three times, his first was to Sarah “Sally” Davis, daughter of Isaac Davis; two of his wives were the Harbottle sisters (Sarah Harbottle and Charlotte Harbottle,) who were reared by Queen Kaʻahumanu and were favorites at court.  According to his personal account, he was the father of 15 children, eight of whom were by his third wife.

The estate in Niu Valley was held by his granddaughter Mary Lucas, who started subdividing it in the 1950s. The area created by the filling of Kupapa Fishpond is now the site of numerous oceanfront homes.

Old Niu Fishpond (Kupapa Fishpond) is part of a tract of 2,446 acres that was once a summer home of Kamehameha I and which later claimed by Alexander Adams under Claim No. 802 filed Feb. 14, 1848, with the land commission at the time of the Great Māhele.

The claim states: “From the testimony of Governor Kekūanāoʻa … it appears that the claimant was created lord of konohiki of this land, in the time of Kamehameha I, and that he has exercised the konohikiship of the same without dispute ever since the year of Our Lord 1822.”

It further appears that the claimant obtained his rights in this land, in the same way that he obtained his rights in the land comprised in the Claim No. 801 (in Downtown Honolulu,) namely in remuneration for services rendered the king as sea captain or sailing master.”

Adams died October 17, 1871. He is buried next to his friend and fellow Scotsman Andrew Auld in the Oʻahu Cemetery. Their common tombstone contains the following inscription in the Scots dialect:  "Twa croanies frae the land of heather; Are sleepin' here in death th'gether."

The image shows Alexander Adams.  In addition, I have added other related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Lua Na Moku ʻIliahi - Sandalwood Pit

Sandalwood (ʻiliahi) has been highly prized and in great demand through the ages; its use for incense is part of the ritual of Buddhism.  Chinese used the fragrant heart wood for incense, medicinal purposes, for architectural details and carved objects.

Sandalwood was first recognized as a commercial product in Hawai‘i in 1791 by Captain Kendrick of the Lady Washington, when he instructed sailors to collect cargo of sandalwood.  From that point on, it became a source of wealth in the islands, until its supply was ultimately exhausted.

Trade in Hawaiian sandalwood began as early as the 1790s; by 1805 it had become an important export item.  As the value of sandalwood increased, the Hawaiian Islands emerged as a major source of heartwood sandalwood. Hawai‘i soon became known as “Tahn Heung Sahn” (the sandalwood mountains.)

Sandalwood trade was a turning point in Hawai‘i, especially related to its economic structure.  It moved Hawai‘i from a self-sufficient economy to a commercial economy.  This started a series of other economic and export activities across the islands.

In 1811, an agreement between Boston ship captains and Kamehameha I established a monopoly on sandalwood exports, with Kamehameha receiving 25% of the profits.  As trade and shipping brought Hawaiʻi into contact with a wider world, it also enabled the acquisition of Western goods, including arms and ammunition.

Between about 1810 and 1820, the major item of Hawaiian trade was sandalwood.  Kamehameha I rigidly maintained control of the trade until his death in 1819, at which time his son, Liholiho, took over control.

In order to measure how much sandalwood to harvest and move down the mountain, they dug “Lua Na Moku ‘Iliahi” (sandalwood measuring pits) in the forest.

The pits were used to measure an amount of sandalwood that would fit in a ship’s hold.  The wood was cut and placed in the pit.  When the pit was filled, the logs were carried down the mountain to a waiting ship.

Because of the lack of roads and vehicles the wood was carried down in the form of logs, 3 to 6 feet long, and from 2 to 18 inches in diameter, after the bark and sapwood had been chipped off with adzes.

Large numbers of people were involved in the harvesting and handling of the sandalwood.  As noted by Eillis in 1823, “Before daylight on the 22d we were roused by vast multitudes of people passing through the district from Waimea with sandal wood, which had been cut in the adjacent mountains for Karaimoku (Kalanimoku,) by the people of Waimea, and which the people of Kohala, as far as the north point, had been ordered to bring down to his storehouse on the beach, for the purpose of its being shipped to Oahu.”

“There were between two and three thousand men, carrying each from one to six pieces of sandal wood, according to their size and weight.  It was generally tied on their backs by bands made of ti leaves, passed over the shoulders and under the arms, and fastened across their breast.  When they had deposited the wood at the storehouse, they departed to their respective homes.” (William Ellis 1823)

The standard unit of measure was a picul, approximately 133 pounds (a shoulder-load,) the maximum weight a man could easily carry on his back.  The price fluctuated from $3.00 to $18.00 a picul.

While, reportedly, Lua Na Moku ʻIliahi were dug in forests throughout the islands, only a couple are reported to remain.

One such site was dug in the early 1800s and is located at Kamiloloa, adjacent to the Maunahui Forest Reserve on Moloka‘i, Hawai‘i.  The Maunahui Road (Molokaʻi Forest Reserve Road) leads into and through the Molokaʻi Forest Reserve.

Reportedly, another is at about the 800-foot elevation on the Kapālama-Nu‘uanu ridge near the Kapālama campus of Kamehameha Schools on Oʻahu.

During Kamehameha I’s reign, all lands, and with this all ʻiliahi, in Hawaiʻi were under his control. This meant he held a monopoly, or complete control, on the ‘iliahi supply. He placed a kapu on the trees and forbid the cutting of young trees. This assured a steady supply of ‘iliahi for years to come.

Between 1810 and 1820, sandalwood sold for about $125/ton, generating more than $3 million.  By 1821, sandalwood exports totaled about 1,400 tons annually. The peak years of the sandalwood trade were from 1810 to 1840, a time that also saw a steadily increasing desire for Western goods in the Islands.

The death of Kamehameha I, in May 1819, ended the peace, prosperity and monopoly of the sandalwood trade … and the kapu.  Under Liholiho, the controls on harvesting were ended.  In their rush to collect wood, the chiefs ordered even young trees to be cut down.

To obtain sandalwood for the China trade, American merchants were willing to extend enormous amounts of credit to Liholiho and the chiefs.

While King Kamehameha I had always paid cash for purchases, the succeeding chiefs and Ali‘i purchased western goods on credit payable in sandalwood, a resource that was dwindling while the national debt was escalating.  In 1821, JC Jones, the American Trade Consul, reported that the native debt had risen to $300,000.

Soon there was little ‘iliahi worth gathering in Hawaii.  As the supply dwindled the trading of ‘iliahi came to an end.

The image is from Kamehameha Schools Press and shows the stacking of the cut sandalwood in the Lua Na Moku ‘Iliahi; in addition to these images, I have included others on Lua Na Moku ‘Iliahi in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook page.

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Liholiho – Kamehameha II

Liholiho was born circa 1797 in Hilo, on the island of Hawaiʻi, the eldest son of Kamehameha I and his highest-ranking consort Queen Keōpūolani.

Kamehameha the Great died in 1819, and Liholiho officially inherited the role of King; however, Ka‘ahumanu would serve as kuhina nui (the rough equivalent of the 19th-century European office of Prime Minister.)

His birth name was Liholiho and full name was Kalaninui kua Liholiho i ke kapu ʻIolani.  It was lengthened to Kalani Kaleiʻaimoku o Kaiwikapu o Laʻamea i Kauikawekiu Ahilapalapa Kealiʻi Kauinamoku o Kahekili Kalaninui i Mamao ʻIolani i Ka Liholiho when he took the throne.

Liholiho had five wives, Kamāmalu, Kekāuluohi, Kalanipauahi, Kekauʻōnohi and Kīna‘u; he had no children with any of his wives.

The new king was generally well-liked and admired.  As one American missionary observed, “There is nothing particularly striking about his countenance, but his figure is noble, perhaps more so than that of any other chief; his manners polite and easy, and his whole deportment that of a gentleman.”

Kamehameha II is best remembered for the ‘Ai Noa, the breaking of the ancient kapu (taboo) system of religious laws six months into his reign when he sat down with Kaʻahumanu and his mother Keōpūolani and ate a meal together.

The religious and political code of old Hawai‘i, collectively called the kapu system, was abolished.

While the islands were united by his father, after the abolition of the kapu, Keaoua Kekuaokalani (Liholiho’s cousin) led the forces supporting the ancient Hawaiian religion; Kekuaokalani, his wife Manono and his warriors were overwhelmed.  Lekeleke Burial Grounds, 7 miles south of Kailua, commemorates the battle.

Sandalwood was an important export at the time.  In 1819, Liholiho ended the controls on harvesting ‘iliahi initiated by his father.  In their rush to collect wood, the chiefs ordered even young trees to be cut down.

New trees were not planted to replace those cut down.  Soon there was little ʻiliahi worth gathering in Hawaiʻi.  As the supply dwindled the trading of ʻiliahi came to an end.

On April 4, 1820, the initial group of missionaries came to Hawai‘i and Liholiho granted them permission to stay in the Hawaiian Islands.

Later, in 1820, Liholiho bought a Royal Yacht known as Cleopatra's Barge in exchange for reportedly 1-million pounds of sandalwood; he renamed the yacht Ha‘aheo o Hawaii (Pride of Hawaiʻi).

Kamehameha II was quite proud of his ship; in the words of Charles Bullard, the agent for the ship-owner: "If you want to know how Religion stands at the Islands I can tell you; all sects are tolerated but the King worships the Barge."

Whaling soon replaced the sandalwood trade of ʻiliahi wood in economic importance.  It lasted about fifty years, from 1820 to 1870.  During this time Hawaiʻi provided support services to the whaling ships; people grew crops and sold fresh fruits, vegetables and salted-meat to the ships.

Liholiho’s reign was also noted for his efforts to ensure the lasting independence of the Hawaiian kingdom.  In 1823, Liholiho and his favorite wife, Kamāmalu, sailed to England to meet with King George IV, the first Ali‘i to travel to England.

King George IV scheduled a meeting for June 21, but it had to be delayed; Liholiho and Kamāmalu became ill.  The Hawaiian court had caught measles, to which they had no immunity.

It is believed they probably contracted the disease on their visit to the Royal Military Asylum (now the Duke of York's Royal Military School).

Virtually the entire royal party developed measles within weeks of arrival, 7 to 10 days after visiting the Royal Military Asylum housing hundreds of soldiers' children.

On the 8th of July the Queen died at half-past six in the evening from inflammation of the lungs.  A few days later, King Liholiho died.  His reign was approximately 5-years.

The moments just before he died, he said faintly: “Farewell to you all - I am dead, I am happy.”

The Sacred Mound (previously a stone mausoleum) – Pohukaina – was constructed in 1825 to house the remains of Kamehameha II (Liholiho) and his consort, Queen Kamāmalu.

Then upon their arrival back to Hawai‘i, in consultation between the Kuhina Nui, Ka‘ahumanu, and other high chiefs, and telling them about Westminster Abbey and the underground burial crypts they had seen there, it was decided to build a mausoleum building on the grounds of the royal palace.

The mausoleum was a small eighteen-by-twenty-four foot Western style structure made of white-washed coral blocks with a thatched roof; it had no windows.

Kamehameha II (Liholiho) and Queen Kamāmalu were buried on August 23, 1825.  The name ‘Pohukaina’ begins to be used to reference the site at the time of their burial.  (Pohukaina - is translated as "Pohu-ka-ʻāina" (the land is quiet and calm.))

For the next forty years, this royal tomb and the land immediately surrounding it became the final resting place for the kings of Hawai‘i, their consorts and important chiefs of the kingdom.

The image shows Liholiho, King Kamehameha II, in 1824 while in London, just before his death.  In addition, I have included other related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section.

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A Million Pounds Of Sandalwood

Built at Salem, Massachusetts in 1816, the brig ‘Cleopatra’s Barge’ was America’s first oceangoing private yacht.

At the time, the concept of a ship built for pleasure was unknown on the western side of the Atlantic, where ships were built only for trade or war.

The yacht was built of solid oak as a schooner and had all the qualities of a good sea-going vessel.  She was armed simply and well, and beautifully fitted out on the exterior, with fine carving on bow and stern.  She had fourteen gun ports.

Her lavish furnishings included custom silver, glass and china services, and her interior decor rivaled that of the wealthiest homes.

Her exterior was distinguished by a herringbone paint scheme on the port side and multicolored horizontal stripes to starboard, a life-sized painted wooden Indian on deck, velvet-served quarter-deck lines, considerable gilding, and the latest patent windlass, pump and rudder technology.

At her stern were a salon finished with pink and deep blue mountings and gilt, a bedroom, a buffet, and a stairway leading up to her deck.

Mid-ship was a captain’s cabin and, forward, quarters for a crew, a storage area for tackle and so forth, a galley above and, finally, a spacious lounge containing tables of the finest workmanship, inlaid with palm and lacquered redwood.

She had five staterooms off the cabin, while the forecastle had accommodations for ten men and three boys.

Her registered tonnage was 191½-tons; she was 83-feet long on the water line, 23-feet beam and 11½- feet deep.

The Logbook for the Barge’s outbound voyage from Boston to the Sandwich Islands tell the tale of an uneventful voyage whose monotony was broken only by frequent sail changes and an occasional squall.

After 138-days at sea, Cleopatra’s Barge arrived at Lāhainā, Maui, on November 6, 1820; the very next day Liholiho (Kamehameha II) was welcomed aboard along with some family members and attendants.

Liholiho’s father Kamehameha I had loved foreign ships; over time he had collected a sizable fleet of Western vessels, which, with guns and training by the foreigners, were a major asset in unifying and maintaining his kingdom across the islands.

Liholiho inherited his father’s love of ships; one of his childhood companions remembered seeing Liholiho frequently sailing a boat model “like a real man-of-war” on a pond and also recalled that their favorite boyhood pastime was drawing ships in the sand at the beach.

Just ten days after his first visit to the ship, Liholiho purchased Cleopatra’s Barge and her cargo for 1.07-million pounds of sandalwood, worth $80,000 at the time.

On January 4, 1821, King Liholiho took formal possession of Cleopatra’s Barge, appointing his personal secretary, Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Rives, as temporary captain.

Liholiho then renamed the yacht ‘Ha‘aheo O Hawai‘i’ (Pride of Hawaiʻi.)

During the next three years she made frequent voyages between the islands.

On one of those trips in July 1821, Liholiho sailed to Kaua‘i, intent on confirming allegiance from Kaumuali‘i (whom his father had negotiated peace and, ultimately, united the islands under Kamehameha’s rule.)

When Kaumuali‘i unwittingly boarded and was seated in the cabin, orders were secretly given to make sail for Honolulu – Kaumuali‘i was taken prisoner.

In November 1823, Liholiho traveled to England, he died of measles in London on July 14, 1824.

According to a passage from Hiram Bingham, in April 1824, “Cleopatra's Barge was wrecked in the bay of Hanalei, Kaua‘i, and lay not far from the beach dismantled and ruined ... and was given up as unrecoverable.”

The image is Cleopatra’s Barge – Ha‘aheo O Hawai‘i in Hawai‘i.  Lots of information here is from Paul F. Johnson’s paper, “A Million Pounds of Sandalwood.”  In addition, I have included some other images of the ship in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook page.

http://www.facebook.com/peter.t.young.hawaii

Sandalwood (ʻIliahi)

There are discussions and proposed legislation on ‘Iliahi in the legislature this year.  Here is a summary of some of the reasons on how we got to where we are with Sandalwood.

Sandalwood (ʻiliahi) has been highly prized and in great demand through the ages; its use for incense is part of the ritual of Buddhism.  Chinese used the fragrant heart wood for incense, medicinal purposes, for architectural details and carved objects.

Sandalwood was first recognized as a commercial product in Hawai‘i in 1791 by Captain Kendrick of the Lady Washington, when he instructed sailors to collect cargo of sandalwood.  From that point on, it became a source of wealth in the islands, until it’s supply was ultimately exhausted.

Trade in Hawaiian sandalwood began as early as the 1790s; by 1805 it had become an important export item.

Sandalwood trade was a turning point in Hawai‘i, especially related to its economic structure.  It moved Hawai‘i from a self-sufficient economy to a commercial economy.  This started a series of other economic and export activities across the islands.

In 1811, an agreement between Boston ship captains and Kamehameha I established a monopoly on sandalwood exports, with Kamehameha receiving 25% of the profits.  As trade and shipping brought Hawaiʻi into contact with a wider world, it also enabled the acquisition of Western goods, including arms and ammunition. 

Kamehameha used Western cannons and guns to great advantage in his unification of the Islands and also acquired Western-style ships, buying the brig Columbia for a price of two ship loads of sandalwood in 1817.

Between about 1810 and 1820, the major item of Hawaiian trade was sandalwood.  Kamehameha I rigidly maintained control of the trade until his death in 1819, at which time his son, Liholiho, took over control.

When Kamehameha I died, although Liholiho (his son and successor) should have inherited all of Kamehameha's lands, the chiefs also wanted the revenue from the sandalwood.

Chiefs persuaded the king to give them an in on the royal sandalwood monopoly; trade continued at an accelerated rate, following Kamehameha’s death. 

In America, the Panic of 1819 (the first financial crisis in the United States) made it difficult for traders to obtain sandalwood for the China trade.

However, because the Hawaiian chiefs had become enamored of items of foreign manufacture, the islands provided an open market for goods like rum, clothing, cloth, furnishings and a host of other things.  Foreign traders shipped these goods to the islands, exchanging them for sandalwood, which continued to be in demand in China.

It was Hawaii’s first source of revenue and major debt.  Credit secured by payment in sandalwood saddled the Hawaiian Chiefs and the Islands’ struggling economy.

In 1826, the kingdom of Hawaiʻi enacted its first written law - a sandalwood tax.  Every man was ordered to deliver to the government 66 pounds of sandalwood, or pay four Spanish dollars, by September 1, 1827.  Every woman older than 13 was obligated to make a 12-by-6-foot kapa cloth.  The taxes were collected to reduce the staggering debt.

The common people were displaced from their agricultural and fishing duties and all labor was diverted to harvesting sandalwood.  This period saw two major famines as ʻiliahi was over-harvested to the point of commercial extinction in Hawaiʻi forests. 

Unfortunately, the harvesting of the trees was not sustainably managed (they cut whatever they could, they didn’t replant) and over-harvesting of ‘iliahi took place.

By 1830, the trade in sandalwood had completely collapsed.  Hawaiian forests were exhausted and sandalwood from India and other areas in the Pacific drove down the price in China and made the Hawaiian trade unprofitable.

Once reported as growing on landscape scales, today, there are only remnant patches of ‘iliahi.  Two places where it can still be relatively easily seen are on ‘Aiea Loop Trail in O‘ahu and an exclosure adjacent to the Kula State Forest access road on the way to Polipoli State Park.

It would be great if areas in Hawai‘i could be restored in sandalwood forests, to return this important legacy.