Morse and the Missionaries

Jedidiah Morse was a country boy from Woodstock, Connecticut who attended Yale during the American Revolution. In the middle of his college career, a spiritual awakening came to Yale.

Jedidiah fell under conviction of sin, and, in the spring of 1781, gave his life to Christ – this energized him in all parts of his life.

Daniel Webster said Jedidiah was “always thinking, always writing, always talking, always acting.” Jedidiah’s motto was “better wear out than rust out.”  (Fisher)  Morse was a pastor, a graduate of Yale and a former teacher of young girls in New Haven.  (Spoehr)

Recognizing the inadequacy of the textbooks available in America at the time, Morse compiled and published the first American geography book.  Morse has been informally accredited by some as being "the father of American geography."

Jedidiah and his sons started the first Sunday school in New England. (The family continued this kind of work when they moved to Connecticut; his son, Samuel, became the first Sunday school superintendent in New Haven.)    (Fisher)

Morse had set up a separate Theological Seminary at Andover in 1805. The Andover Seminary served as the recruitment and educational base of operations for a new American project, international missions to evangelize the world as the “School of Nations”.

In 1810, a group of Americans (including Rev. Jedidiah Morse) established the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missionaries (ABCFM) at Farmington, Connecticut.  (Wesser)

Jedidiah brought all the separate strands of the Christian community in New England together to found Andover Theological Seminary.  Out of Andover’s first graduating class came America’s first foreign missionaries, and the school became known as a missionary training ground. (Fisher)

To them, Christianity was not a “personal religious question” or “feeling,” but rather as a profound philosophical passion to “do good works”.  (Wesser)

Morse was an abolitionist and friend of the black community in Boston, when abolitionists were few. Also, a significant portion of his life was spent looking for ways to benefit Native Americans and preparing the way for missions among them.  (Fisher)

ABCFM accounted for 80% of all missionary activities in America; reformed bodies (Presbyterians and Congregationalists, in particular) made up nearly 40% of the participants.

On October 23, 1819, the Pioneer Company of American Protestant missionaries from the northeast US set sail on the Thaddeus for the Sandwich Islands (now known as Hawai‘i.)  There were seven American couples sent by the ABCFM to convert the Hawaiians to Christianity in this first company.

These included two Ordained Preachers, Hiram Bingham and his wife Sybil and Asa Thurston and his wife Lucy; two Teachers, Mr. Samuel Whitney and his wife Mercy and Samuel Ruggles and his wife Mary; a Doctor, Thomas Holman and his wife Lucia; a Printer, Elisha Loomis and his wife Maria; and a Farmer, Daniel Chamberlain, his wife and five children.

With the missionaries were four Hawaiian students from the Foreign Mission School, Thomas Hopu, William Kanui, John Honoliʻi and Prince Humehume (son of Kauaʻi’s King Kaumuali‘i.)

Prior to departure, a portrait of each of the company had been painted by Samuel Morse; engravings from these paintings of the four native "helpers" were later published as fund-raisers for the Sandwich Islands Mission and thereby offer a glimpse of the "Owhyhean Youths" on the eve of their Grand Experiment.  (Bell)

Over the course of a little over 40-years (1820-1863) (the “Missionary Period”,) about 180-men and women in twelve Companies served in Hawaiʻi to carry out the mission of the ABCFM in the Hawaiian Islands.

In addition to his religious endeavors, son, Samuel, showed enough artistic promise for his father to send him abroad to study painting after he graduated from Yale University in 1810.

Painting provided Samuel with pocket money to help pay his term bills at Yale. He became one of the small handful of important American painters in his generation, and many famous depictions of notable Americans are his work.

The portrait of Noah Webster at the front of many Webster dictionaries is his, as are the most familiar portraits of Benjamin Silliman, Eli Whitney, and General Lafayette.  (Fisher)

The problem was not a lack of talent, for Morse showed great promise as a painter, but he offered Americans grand paintings with historical themes, when all his paying patrons really wanted were portraits of themselves.

Eventually Morse accepted many portrait commissions, but even they did not bring the steady income he needed to support himself and his family.

At the same time, Morse was also deeply involved in trying to make a go of his newfound vocation as a daguerreotypist. Morse enthusiastically embraced this startling new technology and became one of the first to practice photography in America.  (LOC)

Morse the artist also became known as “the Father of American photography.” He was one of the first in the US to experiment with a camera, and he trained many of the nation’s earliest photographers.  (Fisher)

Oh, one more thing about Samuel Morse, while he did not invent the telegraph, he made key improvements to its design, and his work would transform communications worldwide.

First invented in 1774, the telegraph was a bulky and impractical machine that was designed to transmit over twenty-six electrical wires. Morse reduced that unwieldy bundle of wires into a single one.

Along with the single-wire telegraph, Morse developed his “Morse” code. He would refine it to employ a short signal (the dot) and a long one (the dash) in combinations to spell out messages.

Following the routes of the quickly-spreading railroads, telegraph wires were strung across the nation and eventually, across the Atlantic Ocean, providing a nearly-instant means of communication between communities for the first time.

Newspapers, including as the Associated Press joined forces to pool payments for telegraphed news from foreign locales. Railroads used the telegraph to coordinate train schedules and safety signaling. Morse died in 1872, having advanced a practical technology that truly transformed the world.  (PBS)

The image shows the Samuel Morse painting of Hiram and Sybil Bingham, leaders of the Pioneer Company of missionaries to Hawaiʻi.  (They are my great-great-great grandparents.)  In addition, I have added others similar images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Charles John Wall

Charles John Wall was born in Dublin, Ireland, on December 23, 1827.  He married Elizabeth Evans (Miller) Wall; they had 10-children: Thomas E Wall; Emily Wall; Charles Wall; William Albert Wall; Henry Wall; Walter (Walt) Eugene Wall; Arthur Frederick Wall; Alford Wall; Ormand E Wall and Alice Wall

In 1880, the family came to Honolulu by way of California.  Wall (and some of his children) left some important legacies in Hawaiʻi.  Charles was an important nineteenth century Honolulu architect, some of the buildings he designed are still here; several have been lost, but not forgotten.

Charles J Wall participated, or led the design of ʻIolani Palace, Kaumakapili Church, Lunalilo Home and the Music Hall/Opera House.

ʻIolani Palace

The design and construction of the ʻIolani Palace took place from 1879 through 1882; three architects were involved: Thomas J Baker, Charles J Wall and Isaac Moore. The Baker design generally held in the final work.

A quarrel broke out between Baker, Samuel C Wilder (Minister of the Interior) and the Superintendent of Public Works.  Shortly after the cornerstone was laid on December 31, 1879; Baker apparently ended his connection with the Palace.

He was succeeded by Wall, who had recently arrived in the Islands and was “employed to make the detail drawings from the first architect’s plans.”

According to the March 31, 1880 Hawaiian Gazette, Wall had “skillfully modified and improved” some of the objectionable features of the original design.  (Peterson)  Wall was succeeded by Isaac Moore after about nine months.

ʻIolani Palace was the official residence of both King Kalākaua and Queen Lili‘uokalani. After the overthrow of the monarchy, ʻIolani Palace became the government headquarters for the Provisional Government, Republic, Territory and State of Hawai‘i.

During WWII, it served as the temporary headquarters for the military governor in charge of martial law in the Hawaiian Islands.  Government offices vacated the Palace in 1969 and moved to the newly constructed capitol building on land adjacent to the Palace grounds.

Click HERE for a Link to additional information on ʻIolani Palace:

Kaumakapili Church

Starting in 1837, "the common Hawaiian folk of Honolulu" started petitioning Rev. Hiram Bingham, head of the Hawaiian Mission, to establish a second church or mission in Honolulu (Kawaiahaʻo being the first.)

It started as a thatched-roof adobe structure erected in 1839 on the corner of Smith and Beretania Streets.  The adobe building was torn down in 1881 to make way for a new brick edifice.

King Kalākaua took great interest in the church and wanted an imposing church structure with two steeples.  His argument was, "...that as a man has two arms, two eyes, two ears, two legs, therefore, a church ought to have two steeples."

The cornerstone for the new church was laid on September 2, 1881 by Princess Liliʻuokalani (on her birthday.)  Seven years later the new building was completed.

It was an imposing landmark, first of its kind, and visible to arriving vessels and land travelers.  It was dedicated on Sunday, June 10, 1888.  In January, 1900, disaster struck.  The Chinatown fire engulfed the entire building leaving only the brick walls standing.

On May 7, 1910, the congregation broke ground for the third church building.  It was dedicated on June 25, 1911, the same day in which the 89th Annual Conference of the Hawaiian Evangelical Association (ʻAha Paeʻaina) was hosted by the church.

Click HERE for a Link to additional information on Kaumakapili Church:

Lunalilo Home

The coronation of William Charles Lunalilo took place at Kawaiahaʻo Church in a simple ceremony on January 9, 1873. He was to reign as King for one year and twenty-five days, succumbing to pulmonary tuberculosis on February 3, 1874.

His estate included large landholdings on five major islands, consisting of 33 ahupuaʻa, nine ‘ili and more than a dozen home lots. His will established a perpetual trust under the administration of three trustees to be appointed by the justices of the Hawaiian Supreme Court.

Lunalilo was the first of the large landholding aliʻi to create a charitable trust for the benefit of his people.  The purpose of his trust was to build a home to accommodate the poor, destitute and infirm people of Hawaiian (aboriginal) blood or extraction, with preference given to older people.

In 1879 the land for the first Lunalilo Home was granted to the estate by the Hawaiian government and consisted of 21 acres in Kewalo, near the present Roosevelt High School.

The construction of the first Lunalilo Home at that site was paid for by the sale of estate lands. The Home was completed in 1883 to provide care for 53 residents. An adjoining 39 acres for pasture and dairy was conveyed by the legislative action to the Estate in 1888.

After 44 years, the Home in Kewalo (mauka) had deteriorated and became difficult and costly to maintain. The trustees located a new 20-acre site in Maunalua on the slopes of Koko Head.

Click HERE for a Link to additional information on Lunalilo:

Music Hall – Opera House

In 1881, a Music Hall was built across the street from ʻIolani Palace, where Ali‘i regularly joined the audiences at performances. Queen Lili‘uokalani is even said to have written her own opera.  (Ferrar)  It was built by the Hawaiian Music Hall Association.

The building was first called the Music Hall, but shortly after its transfer to new owners, the name was changed to the Royal Hawaiian Opera House.  (Daily Bulletin, February 12, 1895)

Despite its name, the Opera House was not primarily a venue for classical entertainment. Many of its bookings were melodramas and minstrel shows, two very popular forms of theater at the time.  Then, it was the first house to show moving pictures in Hawaiʻi.

The building was of brick 120 by 60 feet on the ground floor and walls forty feet high and twenty inches thick. The front door was ten feet wide, opening into a vestibule 16 by 27 feet. The seating capacity of the house was 671 persons. The stage was forty feet deep and provided with a complete set of scenery, traps and all necessary paraphernalia. (Hawaiian Star, February 12, 1895)

"Originally there were two (private) boxes. One on the right of the stage looking out was regarded as the property of the late King Kalākaua, who had subscribed liberally to the stock of the Association.  The box on the opposite side was owned by the present proprietors, Messrs. Irwin & Spreckels. About two years ago two boxes wore opened above those mentioned for letting to whomever first applied for thorn on any occasion.”  (Daily Bulletin, February 12, 1895)

Click HERE for a Link to additional information on the Opera House:

Wall died at Honolulu on December 26, 1884.

The image shows some of Wall’s designs - ʻIolani Palace, Kaumakapili Church, Lunalilo Home and the Opera House.  In addition, I have added others similar images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Susanna Wesley Home

Born on January 20, 1669 in England, the 25th of 25-children, Susanna Wesley never preached a sermon, built a church or published a book, but she is identified as the "Mother of Methodism." She managed her household, raised and educated more than a dozen children.  (Adams)

Following the example set at home by their mother, behaving methodically and purposefully, her sons, John Wesley and Charles Wesley, helped people reshape their lives for the better; a movement started from this that would reform not only individuals, but the church and the society of England - they became known as the "Method-ists."  (Pellowe)

Fast forward a couple centuries to the Islands.

"Members of the Methodist Episcopal church in (San Francisco) interested in Oriental mission work have decided to establish a Japanese Christian home in Honolulu."  (That was in 1902; Methodist mission work started in the Islands in 1887.)

"The Japanese women working in the island rice fields are particularly anxious to have the home established and are willing to contribute to the cause. ... the name of the new institution (was suggested to) be the Susanna Wesley Home and the suggestion met the approval or all present."  (Hawaiian Star, November 20, 1902)

"(T)he Home was open in May, 1903. About 85 women have been cared for and instructed in the Christian life. .... the Home receives both orphans and half-orphans (typically Japanese and Korean.)  There is a comfortable home for 40 children.  San Francisco and Honolulu people have aided the home ...."  (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, December 29, 1905)  (It also took in disillusioned picture brides.)

"The work of the Susanna Wesley Home has been conducted for some time in the old Dickey Homestead on Nuʻuanu Street under the direction of Miss Jayne assisted by Miss Morrison.  The object of the home is to care for unprotected women and children, and much work of this kind has been done among the Japanese and Koreans."  (Hawaiian Star, January 30, 1906)

"To teach them the right, protect them in their helplessness, and try by precept and example to lead them to the Christ, has been our aim. Seeds have been sown. Our faith is not strong enough to believe that all have taken deep root, yet we believe some will spring up and bear fruit."

"The most encouraging part of our work, as has often been repeated, is among the children. Here we can see results and take courage. We now have six children less than three years of age. ... Some years ago it was decided to admit only children old enough to attend school, but we have always had children under school age."  (Report of Susanna Wesley House)

"It has been my aim since the beginning of my work here to make a real home, and be a real mother to these helpless little children, many of whom know no other mother’s love and care."

"We do not want Susannah Wesley Home to be merely a boarding school, or institution, but a home in the truest, and best sense of the word, using our best efforts to train the children for lives of usefulness, and tenderly leading them to Him who said 'Suffer the little children to come unto me.'” (Report of Susanna Wesley House)

They later moved into and converted the 'Melrose Hotel' on King Street "near the Waikiki turn" into an expanded Susanna Wesley Home.

"There are three main buildings, two of which face on King Street.  These are connected by a spacious lanai.  The grounds are greatly improved and there are 50-rooms."  (Hawaiian Gazette, January 30, 1906) (It was about where the parking lot of the Department of Agriculture is located.)

Though they were residents at the Home, the girls received their education from schools within the area. At the end of the school day, they would return to the Home where they were required to complete homework assignments.

In addition to their education, the house mothers at the Home taught the girls to sew their own clothing, cook meals, keep house and learn social etiquette. Older girls worked during the summer school vacation. Religious worship was encouraged, and the girls were free to attend the church of their own choosing.  (legacy-com)

One notable girl who temporarily resided at the Home was 14-year-old Kame Imanaga, orphaned at an early age.  Initially raised on Maui by Japanese neighbors, then a Hawaiian couple, it was arranged for her to move to Honolulu and enter the Home.

Shortly after arriving, Daniel Kleinfelter, a Caucasian minister, visited the home on an official inspection. Walking through the property, Kleinfelter handed a piece of candy to each child he met.

Kame declined the gift, explaining the only thing she wanted was a family of her own.  Kleinfelter was so impressed by the outspoken teenager that he promptly invited Kame to live with him, his wife and their two daughters in their Honolulu home.

Kame converted to Christianity and began to attend River Street Methodist Church.  Six years after her adoption, a young man - Hyotaro - caught her eye at a church social. A year later, they were married.

On September 7, 1924, almost 1-year after their wedding, Kame and Hyotaro became the proud parents of a baby boy.  His name combined Japanese and American culture, beliefs and values.

Kame gave him his first name, Daniel, in honor of her adoptive father, Daniel Kleinfelter - and recognition of the West.  Hyotaro gave the boy the middle name, Ken (a Japanese word for 'to build,') following customs of the East.

Hyotaro was the eldest son of the eldest sons for four generations - he hoped his firstborn would continue to build the family by someday fathering a son of his own.  (Slavicek)

That young child of Kame and Hyotaro eventually continued the tradition and had a son, Ken.

Oh, the child of Kame and Hyotaro ... he was better known to us in the Islands and those in the US Senate as Daniel K Inouye.

The Susanna Wesley Home moved to Kaili Street in Kalihi in 1919 (the King Street land was subdivided into 'cottage lots.')  Others benefitted at the home.

"We were raised in Susanna Wesley Home on Kalihi Street until we finished high school after my parents divorced when I was eight.... It was a good plan because otherwise I would be still ignorant of a lot of things.... We went to public school, and we were raised in Kalihi Union Church, so we had a very good life."

"I liked it in the Susanna Wesley Home, they educated me.... We had a beach house in Mokulēʻia. And so every summer we went to Mokuleʻia and spent the time there. And even sometimes when we were older, if we wanted to go Mokuleʻia spend the time, Susanna Wesley Home had it." (Lum)

When the need for orphanages declined, the residence was closed and the center in the 1950s began its transformation to its present structure: a multipurpose community center that today offers services such as counseling to high-risk youths, mental health services to children, clothes for the poor and hot meals for the elderly.  (Tighe) (It's now known as Susannah Wesley Community Center.)

The image shows Susanna Wesley, mother of the boys, John and Charles, who are credited with founding the Methodist Church - and namesake of the Home in Honolulu.  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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Scurvy

"(A) sailor's diet consisted of salted fish and meat, dried vegetables, weeviled biscuits and rancid oils, cheese, and butter. ... The caloric content - estimated at 2,500-3,000 calories - was adequate, but the diet was sorely deficient in vitamins."

"In the absence of vitamin C, rampant scurvy became responsible for thousands of sailors' deaths and disabilities. On long voyages, nearly three-quarters of a ship's crew was likely to be unable to sail because of this deficiency." (Cuppage)

Scurvy (derived from the Latin name scorbutus) is a disease that occurs when you have a severe lack of vitamin C (ascorbic acid) in your diet. Scurvy causes general weakness, anemia, gum disease and skin hemorrhages.  (nih-gov)

It is a gradually debilitating disease that destroys the body's connecting tissues, causing lethargy, blotchy skin, rotting gums and teeth, and reopening of old wounds or healed fractured bones. If not treated, scurvy leads to death.

Scurvy was at one time common among sailors, pirates and others aboard ships at sea longer than perishable fruits and vegetables could be stored (subsisting instead only on cured and salted meats and dried grains) and by soldiers similarly deprived of these foods for extended periods.

“The plague of the sea,” killed over an estimated 2-million sailors during the Age of Sail. Far more naval personnel died from scurvy than all other diseases combined, including deaths from combat, storms, disasters and shipwrecks. (Captain Cook Society)

In the early years, its causes were imperfectly diagnosed according to prevailing medical theories and assumptions. Mandated treatments prescribed included bleeding and a host of concoctions, some of which would now be considered potentially harmful (e.g. mercury and sulphuric acid.)

One of Captain James Cook’s most important discoveries during his voyages was actually about food. Cook realized that there were certain foods that, if eaten, prevented scurvy.  (Mariners Museum)

Cook experimented with a variety of alternatives to combat scurvy. Bown writes, Cook used "a regiment of cleanliness, fresh air, and an antiscorbitic diet."  (Captain Cook Society)

Cook took two major steps to change the diet of his crew. First, every time the ships stopped anywhere that grew fresh fruit and vegetables, he bought some to feed to the crew. However, because there were sometimes weeks between stops, and fruit and vegetables would rot in that time, he had to have another plan.  (Mariners Museum)

Cook "eagerly embraced" the Admiralty's tactics by stocking on board a range of antiscorbitics such as sauerkraut, wort of malt, carrot marmalade, and concentrated (robs) of orange and lemon juice, among other treatments.

He encouraged naturalists who sailed on voyages to identify edible plants to fight scurvy. Fresh vegetables and fruits were added to the ships' food supply (e.g., scurvy grass, wild celery, the Kerguelen Cabbage.)

After Cook ordered sauerkraut served daily at the "Cabbin Table", the once-reluctant sailors ate it as well and "murmurings" against it ceased.  Cook's experiments with "rigid enforcement of diet and cleanliness" led to "unheard of accomplishment." (Captain Cook Society)

Cook’s crew was out to sea for a longer period of time than any sailors before them. And yet, not one of Cook’s sailors died of scurvy. This means that Cook proved that certain foods could prevent scurvy, and smart sea captains after him followed his example and took sauerkraut, fruit and vegetables on their voyages.  (Mariners Museum)

Cook's crew first sighted the Hawaiian Islands in the dawn hours of January 18, 1778.  His two ships, the HMS Resolution and the HMS Discovery, were kept at bay by the weather until the next day when they approached Kaua‘i’s southeast coast.

On the afternoon of January 19, native Hawaiians in canoes paddled out to meet Cook’s ships, and so began Hawai‘i’s contact with Westerners.  The Hawaiians traded fish and sweet potatoes for pieces of iron and brass that were lowered down from Cook’s ships to the Hawaiians’ canoes.

The first written record of sugarcane in Hawaiʻi came from Captain James Cook, at the time he made initial contact with the Islands.  On January 19, 1778, of Kauaʻi, he notes, "We saw no wood, but what was up in the interior part of the island, except a few trees about the villages; near which, also, we could observe several plantations of plantains and sugar-canes."  (Cook)

Cook notes that sugar was cultivated, "The potatoe fields, and spots of sugar-canes, or plantains, in the higher grounds, are planted with the same regularity; and always in some determinate figure; generally as a square or oblong".  (Cook)

It appears Cook was the first outsider to put sugarcane to use.  One of his tools in his fight against scurvy was beer.

On December 7, 1778 he notes, "Having procured a quantity of sugar cane; and having, upon a trial, made but a few days before, found that a strong decoction of it produced a very palatable beer, I ordered some more to be brewed, for our general use."

"A few hops, of which we had some on board, improved it much. It has the taste of new malt beer; and I believe no one will doubt of its being very wholesome. And yet my inconsiderate crew alleged that it was injurious to their health."  (Cook)

"I gave myself no trouble, either by exerting authority, or by having recourse to persuasion, to prevail upon them to drink it; knowing that there was no danger of the scurvy, so long as we could get a plentiful supply of other vegetables".

"But, that I might not be disappointed in my views, I gave orders that no grog should be served in either ship. I myself, and the officers, continued to make use of this sugarcane beer, whenever we could get materials for brewing it."  (Cook, 1778)  The image shows Captain Cook.

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Waiwelawela

Paʻu o keahi o Waiwelawela o ka lua e
Aloha na poʻe la o

The pit of Waiwelawela is encircled by fire
Greetings to the people of the upland pit

(From the chant “A popoʻi haki kaikoʻo” – it describes how Pele got established in Puna; it compares the movement of the lava to the movement of water.)

There are indications that the ancient Hawaiians made use of natural hot springs for recreation and therapy. Oral history relates that the ancient chieftain, Kumukahi, frequented hot springs in Puna to relieve his aches and pains.  (Woodruff/Takahashi)

“The fame of the waters of the warm springs of the Puna districts has been great during many years. In fact, it is a legend … that when the ailments of the body overcame the aliʻi of old they betook themselves to the spring known as Waiwelawela … and there they were healed of rheumatic affections through bathing, and their systemic ills cured by drinking of the waters.”

“This legend has come down to the Hawaiians of today and even now there is a fame attached to the waters of the springs, which draws to the side of the stream scores of the native residents of nearby districts.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, January 28, 1902)

Waiwelawela “is a warm spring, crescent shaped, and of a vivid ultramarine in color …. The spring, named the Blue Lake, is 90-deg in temperature and 900-feet above the level of the sea.  The water is wonderfully clear and, strange to relate, at this elevation, it has a regular rise and fall which is said to correspond to the tide of the ocean.”  (Daily Bulletin, August 28, 1882)

The Kapoho Warm Springs was formed when the downthrown block of the Kapoho fault slipped below the water table and exposed the warm waters, probably heated by a magmatic body intruded in 1840.  (USGS)

“At present no practical use is made of them, but were there a proper access a small hotel would be built and many invalids would be able to make use of these springs.”  (Hawaiian Gazette, September 17, 1889)

“The famous warm spring is to be found near the residence of Mr RA Lyman (Kapoho’s largest landowner) and is one of the finest bathing places on the islands.  Natives formerly flocked to the place from all over the islands believing that it was possessed of great healing powers.”

“The water is a pleasant temperature for bathing and is clear as crystal, small objects can be readily distinguished twenty feet below the surface. There is a mineral taste to the water.”  (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, March 22, 1892)

“The railway now goes so close to them that it is believed if a few cottages were built, and attendance provided, many afflicted people would be glad to go there and be healed.  Even those who need no physician would find at these springs a place for rest and contemplation, far from the maddening crowd.”  (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, October 12, 1908)

“It is the most marvelously beautiful place in all these beautiful islands. There is not a doubt of it. The pool, at the base of a small peak that is like what Diamond Head would be if that had sugar cane growing to its very summit, lies shaded by a dense growth of ʻōhiʻa and koa and lehua trees and guava bushes, the sun glistening upon it through the leaves of these.”

“The waters, not steaming, but of perceptibly higher temperature than the air, by some strange law of refraction are shot through with dazzling gleams of a blue that is like the blue depths of the sky. Yet the rocks in the pool are not blue. They are of rather reddish cast.”  (Mid-Pacific Magazine, 1912)

“The exposed basin where the spring comes to the surface is something like five by six yards, and the water rises from no one knows where and departs no one sees how.  The water is warm and is very full of mineral salts.”  (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, January 28, 1902)

“This spot is unquestionably one of the loveliest in all Hawaiʻi, and its charm is typical of Hawaiʻi.  It is close against the face of a volcanic cliff.  Here there is a shady grotto, and in this grotto a pool almost as it hewed out of the rocks for the bathing place of some giant of the forest.”

“The water is in spots 20-feet deep, but so translucent that it seems much less than 10.  It holds many lights and shadows, many hues and colors, varying from the deep indigo blue to a transparent jade-green and in spots a golden brown.  There are seats here and the shade is grateful.”  (Honolulu Star-bulletin, September 6, 1916)

At Warm Springs, where portions of ‘Bird of Paradise’ (1951) and other motion pictures had been filmed, stone steps led to a spring-fed, naturally heated pool fringed by ferns, cattleya orchids and lau hala trees.

The grounds and a half-mile drive were landscaped with plumeria, thousands of ti plants, crotons and ginger. Picnic tables and barbecue pits dotted a smooth lawn shaded by mango trees.  Slim Holt, who leased the property from Lyman, had labored for years to create this beauty, assisted by interested individuals and organizations.  (Flanders)

Then, “Something was amiss.”  An eruption at Kilauea had ended on December 21, 1959.

“(B)ut the shallow reservoir beneath the summit of Kilauea volcano was gorged with magma, far more than before the eruption started. Rather than removing pressure, the eruption had, for all intents and purposes, created more.”

“The uncertainty ended at 1935 January 13, (1960,) when red glow in the night sky above Kapoho announced the 1960 eruption.”  (USGS)

Bulldozers erected a quarter-mile line of dikes designed to prevent the lava from reaching Warm Springs.  Despite this effort, toward midnight the flow surmounted the embankments.

Barbecue pits exploded; trees, shrubbery, tables and benches burst into flame. Lava poured down stone steps in a cherry-red stream.  Still water, reflecting the infernal scene, disappeared under the flow. The new cinder cone was dubbed Puʻu Laimanu.  … Today, buried beneath this primeval landscape, under 50-feet of lava, lays Warm Springs.  (Flanders)

“Estimates of damage from the six-day eruption of Kilauea volcano rose into the millions today.  State Senator Richard F Lyman estimated damage to his land, blanketed by the lava as $2,000,000.”

“He owns 80-acres of sugar land and the Warm Springs resort area, now buried by the flow on Hawaiʻi Island.  Other landowners reported 3,500-acres of farmland destroyed.”  (The Spokesman, January 20, 1960)

“Waiwelawela (meaning ‘warm water’) was a warm spring pool near Kapoho which was covered in the 1960 eruption. … It is said by people of the area that Pele covered the springs because people were charging others, namely Hawaiians, for use of the warm springs. In former days these warm springs were available to everyone.”  (Pukui; DOE)

The photo shows Waiwelawela.  In addition, I have included other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Kolo Wharf

In 1907, McNeill & Libby started its first fruit cannery in Sunnyvale, California. It quickly became the largest employer with a predominantly female workforce.

In the early 1900s, it established a pineapple canning subsidiary in Hawaiʻi and began to advertise its canned produce using the ‘Libby’s’ brand name.  Unlike the other bigger pineapple producers, Libby did not start in Central Oʻahu, it started in Windward O‘ahu.

Libby’s pineapple covered the southern portion of Kāne’ohe, what is now the Pali Golf Course, Hawaiian Memorial Park and the surrounding area.   By 1923, it was evident that pineapple cultivation on the Windward area could not keep up with that in other O‘ahu areas.

Then, Libby began to grow pineapple on land leased from Molokaʻi Ranch; their activities were focused primarily in the Kaluakoʻi section of the island.  Lacking facilities and housing, the plantation began building clusters of dwellings (“camps”) around Maunaloa.

By 1927, it started to grow into a small town – as pineapple production grew, so did the town.  By the 1930s, more that 12 million cases of pineapple were being produced in Hawaiʻi every year; Libby accounted for 23 percent.

There were two main pineapple growers on Molokai, Libby, situated on the west side at Maunaloa and California Packing Corporation (later known as Del Monte) in Kualapuʻu in the central part of Molokaʻi.

Then steps in a fledgling Hawaiʻi company, also seeing expansion opportunities, and it was through shipment of Libby’s pineapple from Molokaʻi to Libby’s processing plant in Honolulu that Young Brothers expanded into the freight business.

In 1900, three brothers, William, Herbert and Jack, got into business along Honolulu’s waterfront.  What started out working small, odd jobs running lines, delivering supplies and providing harbor tours ended up to be a company that has played an important role in the maritime community of the State.

In those days, there might be from five to twenty sailing ships off Sand Island.  When a ship came in, the anchor line had to be run out to secure the ship; if the ship was coming to the dock, a line had to be carried to the pier.

In the early years of the company, the brothers carried supplies and sailors to ships at anchor outside the harbor, as well as run lines for anchoring or docking vessels.  They also gave harbor tours and took paying passengers to participate in shark hunts.

Libby’s need to ship fruit from the growing area on Molokaʻi, to pineapple processing on Oʻahu created an opportunity for the brothers.  The brothers, using their first wooden barges, YB1 and YB2, hauled pineapples from Libby’s wharf to Honolulu.  “That's how (Young Brothers) started the freight.”  (Jack Young Jr)

Libby constructed paved roads, a warehouse and worker housing in Maunaloa.  In addition, they dredged a harbor and built a wharf at Kolo on the south-west side of the Island (between what is now Hale O Lono and Kaunakakai.)

“A natural channel thru the coral reef was blown and dredged to give a minimal depth of nine feet with two hundred feet width.  Spar buoys mark the outer and inner ends of this channel.”

“The wharf is a heavily built wooden structure, having a road constructed for heavy truck traffic between it and the plantation on the summit of Mauna Loa. The only buildings at Kolo are those of the construction camp.”  (Dept of Commerce, 1925)

Back then, there was competition in hauling freight.  “The Inter-Island Steam Navigation Co, established in 1883, own(ed) and operate(d) a fleet of first-class vessels engaged exclusively in the transportation of passengers and freight between ports on the islands of the Hawaiian group.” (Annual Report of the Governor, 1939)

Regular sailings of passenger vessels are maintained from Honolulu four times weekly to ports on the island of Hawaiʻi, four times weekly to Molokaʻi, twice weekly to Kauaʻi, three times weekly to Lānaʻi and daily, except Monday and Saturday, to ports on the island of Maui. Included in the fleet are 12 passenger and freight vessels."  (Report of the Governor, 1930)

During the 1920s, 30s, and 40s, Inter-Island Steam Navigation had the SS Haleakalā, Hualālai, Kilauea and Waiʻaleʻale. There were others that carried 12-passengers such as the SS Humuʻula, which was primarily a cattle boat.  “(Inter-Island) would run their passenger ships and heave to off Kaunakakai. And it would be passengers and mail which just went (ashore) by boat.”  (Jack Young Jr)

But those vessels had deeper drafts than the shallow barges and couldn’t service Kolo; “Kolo was a very shallow draft channel, and it was a privately owned port, owned entirely by Libby McNeil & Libby.  They had bigger acreage on the west end. That was a shorter haul for them. But the bulk of Libby's pineapples came from Maunaloa which was shipped out of Kolo.”  (Jack Young Jr)

To handle the conditions there, Young Brothers had a special tender built, the ‘Kolo.’  “My father had the Kolo built for that. He had the propellers swung into the hull of the launch because of the shallow depth. … The tug had to remain off port.”  (Jack Young Jr)

With expanded freight service to Molokaʻi (Kolo and Kaunakakai,) around 1929, Young Brothers initiated a practice of towing two barges with one tug and became known as tandem towing.

The system was pioneered because two barges were needed to serve Molokaʻi – they would drop one barge off at Kolo and then carry on to Kaunakakai; they’d pick up the Kolo barge on the way back to Honolulu.

Then, the 1946 tidal wave struck.  “Libby would have to spend $1-million to restore it, and redredge it. And so instead of that they bought a fleet of trucks and hauled their fruit from Maunaloa to Kaunakakai. Everything went out of Kaunakakai, Libbys and (California Packing Corporation (later known as Del Monte.))  So Kolo was abandoned.”  (Jack Young Jr)

The end of the pineapple era began in 1972 when Libby sold to Dole Corp and was finalized three years later when Dole closed its Maunaloa facility. The very last pineapple harvest took place in 1986.  (West Molokai Association)

Young Brothers continues today.  In 1999, Saltchuk Resources, Inc of Seattle, Washington, the parent company of Foss Maritime, acquired Young Brothers and selected assets of Hawaiian Tug & Barge. In 2013, Hawaiian Tug & Barge was rebranded and incorporated into the Foss Maritime fleet, while Young Brothers remains a wholly own subsidiary of Foss.

The youngest of the Young Brothers, “Captain Jack,” is my grandfather; several quotes in this piece include statements from my uncle, also known as Captain Jack.

The image shows remnants of the Kolo Wharf (Google Earth.)  In addition, I have added other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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ABCD

"The New Navy of the United States was launched in the waters of uncertainty."  (New American Navy, Long, 1903)

Following the Civil War, the US Navy rapidly demobilized, and for the next 15 years the fleet was shrinking and becoming technologically obsolete.

A law of 1883 had signaled the end of the old Navy. Repairs were prohibited on wooden warships whenever the cost would exceed 20% of the cost of a new ship of the same size and type.  New construction favored steam while still carrying sails.  In addition, American ships were to be built of American-made steel. Then, naval shipbuilders were introducing a new policy, new ships.

Bids for the new vessels were opened on July 2, 1883. Eight firms participated in the competition. The proposal of John Roach, whose shipyard was at Chester, Penn., was the lowest, and it was accepted.

The unfortunate financial failure of John Roach in 1885 forced the government to take over and complete the first of the new fleet.  (Long, 1903)

"The United States started a squadron of cruisers ... the sole purpose of which, sailing under the euphonious title of 'the Squadron of Evolution,' will be to demonstrate in a peaceable sort of a way to the rest of the world that the United States Government has a navy, or rather the nucleus of a navy." (New York Times, November 19, 1889)

The first four vessels of the "New Navy" came to be known as the ABCD Ships because their names began with the first four letters of the alphabet - Atlanta, Boston, Chicago and Dolphin.

They were also known as the "White Squadron" (named for the group's white-painted hulls.)  Later, other ships were added to the growing, modernizing Navy.

Three years later the Squadron was strengthened by the addition of the cruiser Baltimore and the gunboat Vixen and was ordered to prepare for action by Undersecretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt.

There are some Hawaiʻi ties to a couple of the ABCDs - the Atlanta and the Boston.

Named for a city in northwestern Georgia (originally called Terminus and later Marthasville,) the community was renamed Atlanta when it was incorporated as a city in 1847.

The ship was the second to carry the City's name (the first was a gunboat acquired by the Navy in the autumn of 1858 and later renamed Sumpter.)  The new Atlanta was part of the new Navy.

When Queen Kapiʻolani traveled to celebrate the Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee in England in 1887, while on a stop in New York, Commodore Bancroft Gherardi invited the Queen to visit the Brooklyn Navy Yard - he wanted to show off some of the new Navy ships.

Queen Kapiʻolani was able to adjust her schedule and visited the facility on her last day in New York.  "Seldom has the yard looked so well.  The commodore’s residence and the Lyceum building had been profusely decorated by Sailor Douglass with the colors of the two nations."

"Just before the royal party reached the yard a battalion of marines arrived from the Minnesota.  At the same time out came the naval band and discoursed some popular music."

"The masts, spars and rigging of the Atlanta and Boston were then manned, and Commodore Gherardi and staff in full uniform advanced to the wharf to meet their guests, who were taken on board the Atlanta."  (The Day, May 25, 1887)

"The Atlanta had been just put into commission and her majesty was shown how quickly the great guns could be handled. Close alongside was the Boston, her powerful propeller churning the water incident to the breaking in of her."  (Iron Trade Review May 5, 1898)

In a follow-up thank you note (May 30, 1887) from Henry Alpheus Peirce Carter (who coordinated the Queen's state visits) to US Secretary of State Thomas Francis Bayard notes, "Her Majesty Queen Kapiʻolani (requests) you to convey to the honorable Secretaries for War and of the Navy, her grateful thanks for the attentions and honor paid her ... by Commodore Gherardi and officers of the United States Navy at the navy-yard at Brooklyn, on the occasion of her visit".

"... Her Majesty was the recipient of the kindest attentions, both public and private, and she desires that her very sincere acknowledgments may be properly conveyed to those officers of the Army and Navy of the United States stationed (there.)"  (HAP Carter, May 30, 1887)

A later sight of the Boston was not as pleasant.

It happened in the Islands; Captain Wiltse gave the order … “Sir: You will take possession of the Government building, and the American flag will be hoisted over it at 9 am. Very respectfully, GC Wiltse, Captain US Navy, Commanding USS Boston.”

In accordance with that order, the battalion of the Boston landed at Brewers Wharf, in the city of Honolulu, at 5 pm, January 16, 1893.

After the battalion was formed, they marched first to the United States consulate, where Lieut. Draper, with his company, was detached with orders to proceed to the legation and leave half his command in charge of the orderly sergeant, returning with the remainder to the United States consulate, himself, and remain there as a guard until further orders.

The remainder of the battalion then marched down King Street. In passing the palace the battalion, in column of companies, gave a marching salute, trumpeters sounding four ruffles in honor of the royal standard, which was flying there.

At 2:30 pm the next day, a civilian, armed, reported that a policeman had been shot while attempting to stop a wagonload of ammunition which was being conveyed to the old armory where the civilian forces enrolled by the committee of safety were then assembling, and that a large crowd was collecting on Merchant Street.

The battalion was immediately assembled under arms in the yard in rear of the building to await developments. Until nearly 6 o'clock, the men leading the citizens' movement had assumed charge of the Government building without opposition of any kind; the civilian companies under arms had marched in and established a line of sentries about the Government building.

The Boston's battalion was kept in rear of the camp, at their company parades, with arms stacked. About 1 pm, they were notified that a Provisional Government, of which Mr. SB Dole was presiding officer, was in complete possession.  A letter from the United States minister recognized it as the de facto government of the Hawaiian Islands, and the battalion was to consider it as such.

On January 19 new quarters were provided for the battalion at the unoccupied house on King street, the property of Mr. CR Bishop.  That home was formerly the home of Abner Pākī and his wife Laura Kōnia (Kamehameha III's niece.)  Their child, Bernice Pauahi Pākī and hānai daughter, Liliʻu (later Queen Liliʻuokalani) were raised as sisters.  The battalion of the Boston named this former home of the Queen Camp Boston.

A proclamation from Minister Stevens establishing a protectorate over the Hawaiian Islands in the name of the United States, pending negotiations with the Hawaiian Commissioners at Washington, was read.

At 9 am, the United States ensign was hoisted over the building, the battalion and civilian forces presenting arms.  The Hawaiian flag, hoisted on the pole in the grounds, received the same salute.  (Lots of information from the Report of the Committee on Foreign Relations.)

The image shows the ABCD ships, the Squadron of Evolution.  In addition, I have added others similar images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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