George Lucas

George Lucas (May 7, 1821 - March 2, 1892) was born in County Clare, Ireland; he first came to Hawaiʻi in 1849.  His father, the first George Lucas, moved his family to Australia by the British government to take charge of the government domain there.

He remained there for several years, and met and married Miss Sarah Williams.  Shortly after his marriage, hearing of the gold excitement in California, he set sail, accompanied by his wife, for San Francisco.

En route, they stopped in the Islands for three weeks for the ship to re-provision, finally reaching California on the last day of December, 1849. He met with little success as a miner, deciding, instead, to remain in San Francisco and establish himself as a carpenter.  He prospered for about six years; however, had a severe loss due to a fire.

He could not forget Hawaiʻi, and in July, 1856, he returned there to make the Islands his home. He began his contracting and building business, and founded the Honolulu Steam Planing Mill.

The energy and perseverance of the man brought its reward when he opened the Mill on the Esplanade – a “shapely stuccoed brick structure.” This mill was one of Honolulu's leading manufacturing establishments, and has always furnished employment to a large number of mechanics and laborers.  (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, March 03, 1892)

Although the plant began in a small way, turning out finishings and equipment needed for his contracting jobs, its volume of business grew steadily and became the largest concern of its kind in the islands. (Nellist)

“This mill is well fitted and complete in every respect, having machines of the latest patterns and make, and capabilities for turning out work in great variety. It is fitted with a planer, strikers, blind machines, morticers, running lathes, band and jig saws, tenoning machine, and rip and cross-cut saws of every size, and other machines.”

“The proprietor, Mr. George Lucas, first started business in this city March 7, 1859, but found that the rapidly-increasing demand for woodwork finish, in all its requirements, made it absolutely necessary for him to open the present establishment, which now ranks second to none in any city.”

“First-class workmen are employed in this establishment, and all work is guaranteed. The mill is of brick, 82 x 42 feet, and 14 feet high. The engine is of twenty-horse power. Twenty men are employed in this establishment.”   (Browser; Maly)

Lucas’ Honolulu Planing Mill building served a couple other critical purposes at Honolulu Harbor.  First, the clock tower served as a range marker for ships aligning to enter/leave the harbor.  (“The line of the harbor light (red) and the clock tower of the Honolulu Planing Mill on Fort … just touches the west side of this channel at the outer end.”)  (Hawaii Bureau of Customs)

In addition, the clock served as a local time piece, as well as the official time to mariners.  “Time-Signal at Planing Mill … a time-signal has been established at the Honolulu steam-planing mill, Honolulu, Sandwich islands. The signal is a whistle, which is sounded twice daily by electric signal from the survey office; … (giving time associated with) Greenwich mean time.  (Nautical Magazine, January 1890)

The Lucas clock didn’t always work, “Lucas’ clock … At 7 this morning the clock was of the opinion that 10:45 was about the correct time.”  (Hawaiian Star, October 25, 1895)

“Lucas’ clock on the Esplanade has been groggy for some time lately but repairs are being made.  It's a godsend to the waterfront people and the government should keep it in repair.”  (Evening Bulletin, July 12, 1897)

Others wanted to be different, “Maui wants to adopt the Government time on Lucas’ clock with five minutes added, but some few will not agree to it. The result is a great uncertainty in times. (Maui, June 28)” (Hawaiian Gazette, July 1, 1890)

Lucas was one of the first contractors and builders in Honolulu, and constructed many of the business buildings in the city.

He built the Campbell Block, the Pantheon Block, the Brewer Block and many other large downtown buildings, and was responsible for all woodwork construction in the Royal Hawaiian Hotel (the one downtown, it was later the Army/Navy YMCA and now the Hawaiʻi State Art Museum.)

Most notably, when King Kalākaua decided to build ʻIolani Palace, he named George Lucas as general superintendent and the contractor for all of the cabinetry, woodwork and finishing in the Palace.  (Nellist)

George Lucas supervised the carpentry, using fine imported (e.g., American walnut and white cedar) and Hawaiian (koa, kou, kamani and ʻōhiʻa) woods.

The sophisticated mansard roofs and the detailed brickwork, moldings and wrought iron were completed in time for Kalākaua’s coronation ceremony on February 12, 1883, for which the palace served as centerpiece.  (Kamehiro)

For many years Mr. Lucas was Chief Engineer of the Honolulu Volunteer Fire Department, and during the reign of King Kalākaua he was offered the position of superintendent of public works, but declined it. (Nellist)  After retiring, he was acting Chief for six months, as the Department was unwilling to nominate anyone else, and only did so because he refused to serve.

“It was through his persistent efforts that the first two steam fire engines were imported to these islands, and when he retired from the office of Chief he still retained a deep interest in the department, and was made an honorary member of No. 1 Engine.”  (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, March 3, 1892)

Lucas was the founder and first president of the old Mechanics’ Library (Honolulu Library and Reading Room,) now the Hawaiʻi State Library.

George and Sarah had nine children; the seven who lived were Thomas, Charles, John, George, Albert, William and Eliza. (Nellist)

Following his death in 1892, sons Thomas, Charles and John formed a partnership, Lucas Brothers, to carry on the trade and business of carpenters, builders and contractors; it lasted until April 19, 1910, when son John incorporated the concern.

“No citizen was better known than he. He could count his friends by the score, and when he made a friend it was a friendship that would last forever.”

“There are few individuals in Honolulu who have done more in the way of charity and benevolence in proportion to their means than Mr. Lucas.”    (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, March 3, 1892)

The image shows George Lucas. 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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Pūlaholaho

In former times, the area we now call downtown Honolulu was not called Honolulu; instead, each land section had its own name.  (A map in the album notes many of the different areas and their respective place names. )

‘Kou’ was later used to describe the district roughly encompassing the present day area from Nuʻuanu to Alakea Streets and from Hotel to Queen Streets Street (Queen Street was, then, only a pathway along the water’s edge.)

The harbor was known as Kulolia.  It was entered by the first foreigner, Captain William Brown of the English ship Butterworth, in 1794.  He named the harbor “Fair Haven.”  The name Honolulu (meaning "sheltered bay" - with numerous variations in spelling) soon came into use.

Kamehameha I, who had been living at Waikīkī since 1804, moved his court here in 1809.  His immediate court consisted of high-ranking chiefs and their retainers.

In 1815, Kamehameha I granted Russian representatives permission to build a storehouse near Honolulu Harbor.  Instead, directed by the German adventurer Georg Schaffer (1779-1836,) they began building a fort and raised the Russian flag.  When Kamehameha learned of this, he sent several chiefs to remove the Russians.

The partially built blockhouse was finished by Hawaiians; they mounted guns protected the fort.  Its original purpose was to protect Honolulu by keeping enemy or otherwise undesirable ships out.

By 1830, the fort had 40 guns mounted on the parapets; it was called Fort Kekuanohu (literally, ‘the back of the scorpion fish,’ as in ‘thorny back,’) because of the rising guns on the walls.  (Fort Street is so named, because of the fort on the waterfront.)

One of the areas nearby was called Pūlaholaho (it is down near the old waterfront, ʻEwa side of where the fort was.  (In today’s perspective, it runs from Merchant, Nuʻuanu, Queen Streets and up through the breezeway of the Harbor Court project (this used to be the location of Kaʻahumanu Street.)

April 25, 1825, Richard Charlton arrived in the Islands to serve as the first British consul. A former sea captain and trader, he was already familiar with the islands of the Pacific and had promoted them in England for their commercial potential (he worked for the East India Company in the Pacific as early as 1821.)

Charlton had been in London during Kamehameha II’s visit in 1824 and secured an introduction to the king and his entourage.  By the time he arrived in Hawai‘i in 1825, instructions had already arrived from Kamehameha II that Charlton was to be allowed to build a house, or houses, any place he wished and should be made comfortable.  This apparently was due to favors Charlton had done for the royal party.  (Hawaiʻi State Archives)

Charlton didn’t play well with others.  A report by Thrum noted, “July 13th (1827) - Last evening the English consul, in conversation with Boki told him he would cut Kaahumanu’s head off and all the residents were ready to join in it. Guards were ordered out in all parts of the village. Mr. Charlton may be ready to take up arms against the chief but few, if any, I believe would follow or join with him.” (Thrum)

In spite of that, Charlton did receive land for his home and for Consular offices.  The records suggest that the land under the present Washington Place premises were part of a grant from the chiefs to Charlton in 1825-26 to provide a permanent location for a British Consulate.  (HABS)

(Charlton later sold that property to Captain John Dominis (December 26, 1840,) who later built Washington Place. … By the way, Beretania Street was so named because of the British Consulate there.)

Charlton claimed this and other lands as his personal property.  He also claimed land down by the waterfront.  There was no disagreement over a small parcel, Wailele, but the larger adjoining parcel he claimed (Pūlaholaho) had been occupied since 1826 by retainers and heirs of Kaʻahumanu.

In making his claim for Pūlaholaho, Charlton showed a 299-lease dated October 5, 1826 issued to him by Kalanimōku.  That claim, made in 1840, however, was made after Kalanimōku and Kaʻahumanu had died.

Following Charlton’s presentation of his claim to rights of the entire land section of Pūlaholaho, Kamehameha III sought a means of providing security for the native residents on the land, and claimed that Pūlaholaho belonged to the crown.  (Maly)

In rejecting Charlton’s claim, Kamehameha III cited the fact that Kalanimōku did not have the authority to grant the lease.  At the time the lease was made, Kaʻahumanu was Kuhina Nui, and only she and the king could make such grants.  The land was Kaʻahumanu's in the first place, and Kalanimōku certainly could not give it away.  (Hawaiʻi State Archives)  The dispute dragged on for years.

This, and other grievances purported by Charlton and the British community in Hawai‘i, led to the landing of George Paulet on February 11, 1843 "for the purpose of affording protection to British subjects, as likewise to support the position of Her Britannic Majesty's representative here".

Following this, King Kamehameha III ceded the Islands and Paulet took control.  After five months of British rule, Queen Victoria, on learning the injustice done, immediately sent Rear Admiral Richard Darton Thomas to the islands to restore sovereignty to its rightful rulers.

On July 31, 1843 the Hawaiian flag was raised.  The ceremony was held in area known as Kulaokahuʻa; the site of the ceremony was turned into a park, Thomas Square.

Click Here for a prior summary on those events.

On November 26, 1845, legal title to Charlton’s land claim was secured and was sold to British businessman, Robert C Janion (of Starkey, Janion and Co – that company later became Theo H. Davies & Co and one of Hawaiʻi’s ‘Big 5.’)   (Liber 3:221; Maly)  Charlton stayed in Honolulu until February 19, 1846, when he left Hawai'i for the last time.

Pūlaholaho was subdivided and Janion auctioned off the properties in 1846.  Captain Heinrich (Henry) Hackfeld opened a store on one of them in October 1849.  His company, H Hackfeld & Co, later became American Factors, Amfac, another Hawaiʻi ‘Big 5’ company.

A lasting legacy is the Melchers Building, the oldest commercial building in Honolulu, erected in 1854, at 51 Merchant Street, built for the retail firm of Melchers and Reiner. Its original coral stone walls are no longer visible on most sides, under its layers of stucco and paint (check the makai side of the building to see the coral blocks.)

The image shows the 299-year lease for the Pūlaholaho property to Charlton, signed by Kalanimōku.   (HAS)  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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Kamokuʻākulikuli

Coral doesn’t grow in fresh water.  So, where a stream enters a coastal area, there is typically no coral growth at that point – and, as the freshwater runs out into the ocean, a coral-less channel is created.

In its natural state, thanks to Nuʻuanu Stream, Honolulu Harbor originally was a deep embayment formed by the outflow of Nuʻuanu Stream creating an opening in the shallow coral reef along the south shore of Oʻahu.

Honolulu Harbor (it was earlier known as Kulolia) was entered by the first foreigner, Captain William Brown of the English ship Butterworth, in 1794.

They called the harbor “Fair Haven” which may be a rough translation of the Hawaiian name Honolulu (it was also sometimes called Brown's Harbor.)  The name Honolulu (meaning "sheltered bay" - with numerous variations in spelling) soon came into use.

More sailors came.  Captain William Sumner arrived in the Islands in 1807.  Arriving first at Kaua‘i, Sumner jumped-ship and lived amongst the Hawaiians there.  Kaumuali‘i was the king of Kaua‘i at the time, and when he saw Sumner, he was entranced by this youth, and took him as a “keiki hoʻokama” (adopted him.)

In the Islands, Kamehameha I, who had been living at Waikiki, moved his Royal Residence to Pākākā at Honolulu Harbor in 1809. Sumner served as one of the captains on ships in this fleet.

Some foreigners, like Sumner who sailed ships for Kamehameha, Liholiho (Kamehameha II) and Kauikeaouli (Kamehameha III,) were awarded land grants for their services.

In 1819, Kamehameha I gave land to Sumner for services rendered.  This site was at the corner of today’s Hotel and Punchbowl Streets (near where the present Barracks are at ʻIolani Palace.)

Sumner was also awarded “… a fishery of the 647-Diamond Head acres of the reef lying between the Kalihi and Honolulu Harbor Channels.  The area carried the Hawaiian name of Kaholaloa (Koholaloa, Kahololoa, Kaholoa.)  The Ewa portion of this reef was designated Mokauea.”

Hawai‘i’s whaling era began in 1819 when two New England ships, the Balena out of New Bedford, and the Equator, out of Nantucket, became the first whaling ships to arrive in the Hawaiian Islands.  

Rich whaling waters were discovered near Japan and soon hundreds of ships headed for the area.   The central location of the Hawaiian Islands between America and Japan brought many whaling ships to the Islands.

With increased whalers to the Islands, so did disease.  A law was passed noting, “All vessels having had contagious diseases on board … on arrival at Sandwich Islands, or at any port hereof, shall be entirely at the direction of the Board of Health ... all vessels quarantined ... shall keep constantly flying, during the day, a yellow flag at the main top."  (Quarantine Laws, May 29, 1839)

The first efforts to deepen Honolulu Harbor were made in the 1840s. The idea to use the dredged material, composed of sand and crushed coral, to fill in low-lying lands was quickly adopted.   Some of the material was deposited on the fringing reef.

"In the year 1849 … the land of Kahololoa, was confirmed to William Sumner by Land Commission Award No, 153 ... The title to these lands passed to JI Dowsett and John K Sumner, and from them to the Dowsett Company, Limited, and the Oahu Railway & Land Company."

In 1872, the small island off Iwilei - “Kamokuʻākulikuli” - became the site of a quarantine station used to handle the influx of immigrant laborers drawn to the islands’ developing sugar plantations. The site is described as “little more than a raised platform of sand and pilings to house the station, with walkways leading to the harbor edge wharf, where a concrete sea wall had been constructed” and as “a low, swampy area on a reef in the harbor”.

Improvements were made.   “Looking seaward from the prison I noticed a building which had been erected upon the reef, and on enquiry found it to be a Quarantine Station. … (it was) used occasionally as a temporary accommodation for immigrants.”

Then, the arrival “of a vessel bringing twenty-five Chinese passengers, among whose crew small-pox had broken out, demonstrated the foresight of the Government in erecting this commodious building…"  (Bowser, 1880-1881; Maly)

More came.  “Over seven hundred Chinese immigrants, mostly men, who came here on the steamer Septima on the 13th of last month, were placed in quarantine on their arrival, on account of the existence of small pox among them. For nine days they were detained on board of the ship in the harbor, until the quarters were prepared for them on the quarantine island.”

“Those ill with small-pox were removed from among the others as soon as the disease appeared, and finally when about twenty days had passed since the last case had been removed the Board of Health allowed them to go as fast as they found employment; or as they found responsible persons who would become responsible to the Board of Immigration that they would not become vagrants or a charge on the community for their support.”  (Hawaiian Gazette, March 23, 1881)

By 1888, Kamokuʻākulikuli Island had been expanded and was known as “Quarantine Island.”  If vessels arrived at the harbor after 15 days at sea and contagious disease was aboard, quarantine and disinfecting procedures were required at Quarantine Island.  (Cultural Surveys)

“Upon annexation of the islands the United States took possession of Quarantine Island in the belief that the title to that land had been vested in the Hawaiian government. (Dowsett and OR&L filed suit.)”

In a compromise, “in 1902 the (Oʻahu Railway & Land Company) and the Dowsett Company turned over to the federal government 550-acres of what is now Quarantine Island and adjacent ground, and for themselves kept only 82-acres.  (They also retained wharfage privileges and rights to access the channel/harbor.)”  (Honolulu Star Bulleting, June 16, 1914)

Quarantine Island became the largest United States quarantine station of the period, accommodating 2,255-individuals.  This facility included two hospitals and a crematorium.  (Cultural Surveys)

Dredged materials from improvements to Honolulu harbor had enlarged Quarantine Island again and by 1906 the island was encircled by a seawall and was 38-acres.  By 1908 the Quarantine Station consisted of Quarantine Island and the reclaimed land of the Quarantine wharf (with a causeway connecting the two.)

On February 15, 1910, Honolulu Harbor Light station was built and the beacon went into service. Soon, with added filling and subsequent connection of the two emergent islands on the reef, the resulting single island took the name Sand Island.

In 1916, Sand Island Military Reservation was established on the reclaimed land of the quarantine station. Subsequent episodes of harbor improvements resulted in enlarging the island and, by 1925 the reef around Sand Island had been removed and the island was completely surrounded by water.  (Dye)

Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor and declaration of martial law on December 7, 1941, military authorities immediately rounded up Japanese and placed them in internment camps.  Those arrested on Oʻahu were initially crowded into the Honolulu Immigration Station pending a hearing or a short boat ride to Sand Island.

In May 1942, military authorities turned the quarantine station into the Sand Island Detention Center, complete with 10-foot-tall fences.  Other internment facilities were constructed in the Islands and on the continent.  By the end of the war, an estimated 1,440-people were detained or interned in Hawai'i at one of five locations on O'ahu, the Big Island, Maui and Kaua'i.

During the early-1940s, Sand Island became the headquarters of the Army Port and Service Command and in the early 1940s the island was further enlarged with fill materials from the dredging of the seaplane runway.  (Dye)

In 1959, the Department of the Army transferred Sand Island to the Territory of Hawaiʻi, and in 1963 ownership was transferred to the State of Hawaiʻi.  (Star Bulletin, March 12, 1991)  The island was once home to the Jaycee’s 50th State Fair.

Initial vehicular access was via a causeway; in April 1962, the Army Corps of Engineers completed the Lt John R Slattery Bridge (Slattery was the first Army Corps of Engineers Honolulu District Engineer in 1905.) The two-lane bascule bridge (draw bridge) originally could be raised and lowered to allow boat traffic to pass underneath.

In the late-1980s, though, the state permanently sealed the metal bridge and built a new concrete bridge alongside, creating four lanes to accommodate the growing commercial traffic on and off the island.

Several other names have been associated with Sand Island. Lot Kamehameha (Kamehameha V) gave the name Mauliola to the island in reference to the island’s use as a quarantine station. (Star Bulletin, April 28, 1969)  Older names for the island were Kamokuʻākulikuli or Kahaka‘aulana. Rainbow Island and ʻĀnuenue were names used in the 1970s. (Dye)

The image shows the John R Slattery bridge (the only vehicular access to the island.)  In addition, I have included other related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Richards Street

Some suggest it was named after missionary William Richards (later, advisor to King Kamehameha III - instructor in law, political economy and the administration of affairs generally;) others note it was named for a man selling luggage to tourists in his shop on that street.

One thing is certain, in looking at early maps of Honolulu, Richards Street was different.  Let’s look back.

Honolulu Harbor, also known as Kulolia, was entered by the first foreigner, Captain William Brown of the English ship Butterworth, in 1794.  He named the harbor “Fair Haven.”  The name Honolulu (meaning "sheltered bay" - with numerous variations in spelling) soon came into use.

Hawaiʻi's streets, for the most part, started out as trails that were widened and straightened, as horses, buggies and then transit became available.  In Honolulu, over time, trails headed mauka following and crossing the Nuʻuanu River, or headed southerly (to Kālia - Waikīkī) or easterly (toward Mānoa.)

Some of the present downtown Honolulu street alignments have origins dating back to 1809. It was about this time that Kamehameha the Great moved his capital from Waikīkī to what is now downtown Honolulu.

A large yam field (what is now much of the core of downtown Honolulu - what is now bounded by King, Nuʻuanu, Beretania and Alakea Streets) was planted to provide visiting ships with an easily-stored food supply for their voyages (supplying ships with food and water was a growing part of the Islands’ economy.)

On the continent or in the Islands, in the early-1800s there was limited private and public transportation and it was expensive. Thus, workers’ homes were always within two miles of downtown - less than an hour’s walk.   For these reasons cities of the mid-1800s were virtually all small, dense and on the water.

In 1825, Andrew Bloxam (naturalist aboard the HMS Blonde) noted in Honolulu that, "The streets are formed without order or regularity.  Some of the huts are surrounded by low fences or wooden stakes ... As fires often happen the houses are all built apart from each other.  The streets or lanes are far from being clean ..." (Clark, HJH)

In 1838, a major street improvement project was started. Honolulu was to be a planned town. Kinaʻu (Kuhina Nui Kaʻahumanu II) published the following proclamation: "I shall widen the streets in our city and break up some new places to make five streets on the length of the land, and six streets on the breadth of the land... ." She designated her husband, Governor Mataio Kekūanāoʻa, to head the project.

In 1845, Commander Charles Wilkes criticized the city by saying: "The streets, if so they may be called, have no regularity as to width, and are ankle-deep in light dust and sand ... and in some places, offensive sink-holes strike the senses, in which are seen wallowing some old and corpulent hogs."

It wasn't until 1850 that streets received official names.  On August 30, 1850, the Privy Council first named Hawaiʻi's streets; there were 35-streets that received official names that day (29 were in Downtown Honolulu, the others nearby.)

So, what was different about Richards Street?

Tradewinds blow from the Northeast; the channel into Honolulu Harbor has a northeasterly alignment.  Early ships calling to Honolulu were powered only by sails.

The entrance to the harbor was narrow and lined on either side with reefs.  Ships don't sail into the wind.  Given all of this, Honolulu Harbor was difficult to enter.

Although Bloxam said Honolulu “streets are formed without order and regularity” and Wilkes confirmed they “had no regularity in width”, early mapping notes Richards was the exception.

Richards Street is, alone of Honolulu streets, in the combination of being straight, of even width and reaching to the water-front; also  it is in line with the edge of the reef bordering the harbor channel.  (Clark)

In the early years, boats either anchored off-shore, or they were pulled into the harbor (this was done with canoes (it might take eight double canoes with 16-20 men each)) or it meant men (different accounts give the number from 200 to 400.)

In 1816 (as stories suggest,) Richards Street alignment was the straight path used to pull ships through the narrow channel into the harbor, working in the pre-dawn calm when winds and currents were slow.

Effectively, the street was the inland tow path.

Later, Governor Kekūanāoʻa organized an ox-team to pull the larger vessels up the narrow channel into the harbor basin.

“The ox-team waited on the eastern point of the harbor entrance until connected by a hawser (rope) with the vessel anchored in the deep water outside. The hawser necessarily was very long because the shoal water extended outward for quite a distance.”

“When all was ready, the team walked along the channel reef but, as such towing must be in straight line, on reaching the beach the cattle could only proceed straight inland until the long hawser had drawn the vessel right into the basin.”  (In one account the team numbered twenty oxen.)  (Clark)

“… a rope of great length was used, and it was a never-to-be-forgotten sight to see yokes of oxen, teams of horses and natives tugging at the rope. A time was consumed in making a start, but when once in motion, it was a steady walk-away.”  (Brown)

In 1854 the first steam tug was used to pull sail-powered ships into dock against the prevailing tradewinds.  Captain Jacob Brown was captain of the towing tug “Pele.” The “Pele” was the first steam tug used in Hawaiʻi (screw tug with thirty-horse power.)

Its primary use was for towing vessels in and out of the harbor and replaced the use of men or animals to bring ships into the harbor against the prevailing northeast tradewinds.

In 1856, the Pele was also used to tow barges about the harbor in connection with the Honolulu Harbor dredging operations. Pele served, with short interruptions, as the sole tug for shipping at Honolulu until after 1882.

Piers were constructed at the base of Richards Street in 1896, at the site of Piers 17 and 18 in 1901 to accommodate sugar loading and at Piers 7 and 12 in 1907.

The image shows an 1843 map of 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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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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Honolulu Described in the First Decade of the Unified Hawaiian Islands

1810 marked the unification of the Hawaiian Islands under single rule when negotiations between King Kaumuali‘i of Kaua‘i and Kamehameha I at Pākākā took place.  Kaumuali‘i ceded Kauaʻi and Ni‘ihau to Kamehameha and the Hawaiian Islands were unified under a single leader.  There was peace in the Islands.

On the American and European continents, war was waging.  Twenty-nine years after the end of the American Revolution, conflict between the new US and Britain flared up, again – it lasted until 1815.

A lasting legacy of the War of 1812 was the lyrics of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” the US national anthem.  They were penned by the amateur poet Francis Scott Key after he watched American forces withstand the British siege of Fort McHenry, Baltimore (named for James McHenry, Secretary of War, 1796 - 1800.)

In Europe, in 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte was crowned Emperor of France.  In 1815, as part of ongoing series of conflicts and wars in Europe, African and the Middle East, Napoleon was defeated by the Duke of Wellington at Waterloo (in what is now present-day Belgium.)

Back on the American continent, later in the decade (1818,) the US and Canada came to an agreement on their common boundary and used the 49th parallel to mark their border.  The next year, Spain ceded Florida to the US.

In the Islands, Kamehameha I, who had been living at Waikiki, moved his Royal Residence to Pākākā at Honolulu Harbor in 1809.

That year, Archibald Campbell described the Honolulu surroundings:  “Upon landing I was much struck with the beauty and fertility of the country … The village of Hanaroora (Honolulu,) which consisted of several hundred houses, is well shaded with large cocoa-nut trees. The king's residence, built close upon the shore, and surrounded by a palisade upon the land side, was distinguished by the British colours and a battery of sixteen carriage guns … This palace consisted merely of a range of huts, viz. the king's eating-house, a store, powder magazine, and guard-house, with a few huts for the attendants, all constructed after the fashion of the country.”

Kamehameha's immediate court consisted of high-ranking chiefs and their retainers.  Those who contributed to the welfare and enjoyment of court members also lived here, from fishermen and warriors to foreigners and chiefs of lesser rank.

Today, the site is generally at the open space now called Walker Park at the corner of Queen and Fort streets (there is a canon from the old fort there) - (ʻEwa side of the former Amfac Center, now the Topa Financial Plaza, near the fountain.)

ʻEwa side of Pākākā (where Nuʻuanu Stream empties into the harbor) was the area known as Kapuʻukolo.  This is “where white men and such dwelt.”  Of the approximate sixty white residents on O‘ahu at the time, nearly all lived in the village, and many were in the service of the king.

Among those who lived here were Don Francisco de Paula Marin, the Spaniard who greatly expanded horticulture in Hawaiʻi, and Isaac Davis (Welch,) friend and co-advisor with John Young (British) to Kamehameha.

Campbell noted, “(Isaac Davis’) house was distinguished from those of the natives only by the addition of a shed in front to keep off the sun; within, it was spread with mats, but had no furniture, except two benches to sit upon. He lived very much like the natives, and had acquired such a taste for poe (poi,) that he preferred it to any other food.”

In those days, this area was not called Honolulu.  The old name for what is now the heart of downtown Honolulu was said to be Kou, a district roughly encompassing the present day area from Nuʻuanu to Alakea Streets and from Hotel to Queen Streets.

Honolulu Harbor, also known as Kulolia, was entered by the first foreigner, Captain William Brown of the English ship Butterworth, in 1794.  He named the harbor “Fair Haven.”  The name Honolulu (meaning "sheltered bay" - with numerous variations in spelling) soon came into use.

A large yam field (what is now much of the core of downtown Honolulu - what is now bounded by King, Nuʻuanu, Beretania and Alakea Streets) was planted to provide visiting ships with an easily-stored food supply for their voyages (supplying ships with food and water was a growing part of the Islands’ economy.)

A couple years later, John Whitman noted in his journal (1813-1815,) “… Honoruru is the most fertile district on the Island. It extends about two miles from the Harbour where it is divided into two valleys by a ridge of high land. The district is highly cultivated and abounds in all the productions of these Islands. The village consists of a number of huts of different sizes scattered along the front of the Harbour without regularity and the natives have lost much of the generous hospitality and simplicity that characterize those situated more remotely from this busy scene.”

Whitman goes on to note, "... everything necessary for the subsistence and comfort of man is found in the (Nuʻuanu) valley, watered by a rivulet it produces the best taro in great abundance, the ridge dividing the taro patches are covered with sugar cane. The high ground yields sweet potatoes and yams and all the other productions of the Island are found in the various situations and soils adapted to their nature."

In 1816-1817, Otto Von Kotzebue in command of a Russian exploratory expedition spent three weeks in the “Sandwich Islands.”  He gave a description of the loʻi kalo in the Nuʻuanu area:
“The valley of Nuanu (Nuʻuanu,) behind Hanarura (Honolulu,) is the most extensive and pleasant of all. … The cultivation of the valleys behind Hanarura is remarkable.  Artificial ponds support, even on the mountains, the taro plantations, which are at the same time fish-ponds; and all kinds of useful plants are cultivated on the intervening dams.”

In 1818, Peter Corney, who resided on O‘ahu as a representative of the Northwest Company and engaged in the sandalwood and other trade, noted:
“The Island of Woahoo (Oʻahu) is by far the most important of the group of the Sandwich Island, chiefly on account of its excellent harbours and good water. It is in a high state of cultivation; and abounds with cattle, hogs, sheep, goats, horses, etc., as well as vegetables and fruit of every description.”

“The ships in those seas generally touch at Ohwhyhee, and get permission from Tameameah (Kamehameha,) before they can go into the harbor of Woahoo. He sends a confidential man on board to look after the vessel, and keep the natives from stealing; and, previous to entering the harbor of Honorora (Honolulu), they must pay eighty dollars harbor duty, and twelve dollars to John Harbottle, the pilot…”

“The village consists of about 300 houses regularly built, those of the chiefs being larger and fenced in. Each family must have three houses, one to sleep in, one for the men to eat in, and one for the women, - the sexes not being allowed to eat together. Cocoanut, bread-fruit, and castor-oil-nut (kukui) trees, form delicious shades, between the village and a range of mountains which runs along the island in a NW and SE direction.” (Corney)

Jacques Arago, who visited Hawai‘i in 1819 with Captain Louis Claude de Saulses de Freycinet on the French ships L’Uranie and L’Physicienne, described some of the daily activities:
“At sunrise, men, women, and children quit their dwellings; some betake themselves to fishing (chiefly the women) on the rocks, or near the shore; others to the making of mats; the rest offer their little productions to, or solicit employment from, strangers, in exchange for European articles; while the masters of families repair to the public square, to witness or participate in amusements, of which they are astonishingly fond…”

The first decade of the Islands under single rule ended with the death of Kamehameha.  Prior to his death (May 8, 1819,) Kamehameha decreed that that his son, Liholiho, would succeed him in power; he also decreed that his nephew, Kekuaokalani, have control of the war god Kūkaʻilimoku.

The image shows Honolulu in 1816 (Choris.)   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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The Beaver Block

Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) was a fur trading company that started in Canada in 1670; its first century of operation found HBC firmly focused in a few forts and posts around the shores of James and Hudson Bays, Central Canada.

Fast forward 150-years and in 1821, it merged with North West Company, its competitor; the resulting enterprise then spanned the continent - all the way to the Pacific Northwest (modern-day Oregon, Washington and British Columbia) and the North (Alaska, the Yukon and the Northwest Territories.)

On January 21, 1829 the Hudson's Bay Company schooner ‘Cadboro’ arrived at Honolulu from Fort Vancouver.  While the HBC fur trade focused furs of beavers, sea otters, seals and other animals from the Pacific Northwest Coast and Alaska to be sold in China in exchange for tea, silks, porcelain and other Chinese goods, their interest in Hawaiʻi was to sell lumber and other goods, not furs.

When the Hudson's Bay Company entered the Hawaiian scene in 1829, Honolulu had already become a significant Pacific port of call and major provisioning station for trans-Pacific travelers.

The earliest location of the Agency in Honolulu was on the north side of Nuʻuanu Street (between King and Merchant Streets,) where it occupied a two-story, shingle-sided building.

"The premises were named "Aienui," meaning "great debt," perhaps in reference to the Company's liberal policy of granting credit on reasonable security, such as was and still is granted to the Indians on their prospective winter catch."  (The Beaver, June 1930)

In 1846 the Agency moved to a new site closer and more convenient to the waterfront at the corner of Fort and Queen Streets.  They had a two-story coral building with slate roof, fronting on Queen Street, and one-story storage building along Fort Street.

Thereafter, the location of their establishment became known as the “Beaver Block,” named after the HBC ‘mascot’ (and primary economic resource,) the beaver.

As the year 1859 started, Pacific whaling entered its decline, HBC’s competition in the importation of goods increased. Janion Green and Co (forerunner of Theo H Davies), Hackfeld and Co (forerunner of Amfac,) C Brewer, and Castle and Cooke (the beginnings of the Big Five) were established firms.

Instructed to wind up affairs in 1860, the last Company representative left Honolulu in March 1861.  The Company’s old Fort and Queen business site, however, continued to be known as the Beaver Block.  Other businesses moved into the premises.

Twenty years passed, during them, Lunalilo ascended to the throne and died within a year; his estate took control of the property and their trustees sold it to James Campbell.  In 1882, Campbell built a new building and put the old iron beaver weathervane of the Hudson’s Bay Company on its roof – affirming the Beaver Block tradition.

"Thousands of Honolulans who pass up and down Fort Street and visit the wharves have probably never lifted their eyes high enough on such trips to notice on the Makai-Waikiki cornice of the Campbell block at Fort and Queen Streets a weather-beaten weather vane, with the letter "N" missing from that particular arm and to notice that the vane itself resembles a well-known forest and stream animal.... It took a visitor from Winnipeg, Canada, to notice that the animal was a beaver ..."  (Advertiser, March 31, 1930; The Beaver)

Beaver Block was a large building that included uses such as storage, shops and offices that stretched along Fort Street and Queen.  That year, Campbell, who owned the adjacent land (fronting Fort and Merchant Streets) built the “Campbell Block,” a similarly-large building that included uses such as storage, shops and offices.

"The activity of building, throughout Honolulu and its suburbs, continues. That in the business portion of the city gives it the most substantial aspect of any years undertaking, the most prominent of which is the Campbell Block, extending from the Bank premises on Merchant street around onto Fort street to join the Beaver Block .... In the buildings that have been constructed a more lavish style is observed, and ornamentation externally and internally is now the rule rather than the exception, both in business houses and private dwellings."  (Hawaiian Almanac and Annual, 1884)

The first elevators in Hawai‘i were installed in the early 1880s. One was in the Beaver Block, a two-story structure at Fort and Queen Streets, completed in 1882. (The elevator was replaced by an electric elevator.)  Another pioneering elevator was located near the front of a two-story brick building occupied by Wing Wo Chan & Co., on Nu‘uanu Avenue between King and Merchant Streets. This structure was lost in the 1886 Chinatown fire.) (Hawaiian Historical Society)

A notable Beaver Block tenant was GW MacFarlane & Co, shipping and general wholesale merchants.  George W. MacFarlane was born in Honolulu in 1849. He got a job with Theo Davies in 1868 and stayed with the firm until 1876.

McFarlane became a prominent attendant to King Kalākaua and merchant in Honolulu during the 1870s-1880s.  He was also associated with Spreckels and other financiers in sugar interests.  He died in 1921.

Another tenant in the building was the Beaver Saloon, opened on April 5, 1882 by HJ Nolte (who also had “The Casino” on his property at Kapiʻolani Park.)

The Beaver Saloon was “a favorite lunch resort for a large majority of the business element, the civil service, the factory and waterfront toilers, judges, lawyers and doctors … (and) has indeed been the most frequented noonday club in Honolulu, a recognized exchange for public opinion and clearing house for community gossip.” (Hawaiian Gazette, March 29, 1907)

Then, on October 11, 1964, the Sunday Star-Bulletin and Advertiser noted, “Office-Parking Building Planned by Campbell Estate on Fort Street.”

Plans called for a combined office and parking structure to replace the 2-story on Fort and Merchants Streets; this new building was considered an important part of the redevelopment of downtown Honolulu.  (Adamson)   The Beaver Block and Campbell Block buildings were torn down and a new building was completed in May 1967.

The image shows the Beaver Block weathervane (The Beaver.)   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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Puakenikeni

In Mangaian, the pua tree was the tree that guarded the entrance to the land of the spirits in the underworld (Mangaia, traditionally known as Aʻuaʻu Enua (which means terraced) is the most southerly of the Cook Islands.)    (Neal, Agroforestry)

In Tahitian legend, the first pua tree was brought from the tenth heaven by Tane, god of the forests.  Hence the tree is sacred to him, and the images of him were always made of pua wood.  (Neal, Agroforestry)

Indigenous from New Guinea and Northern Australia, to the Marianas and eastward to the Caroline Islands (east of the Marquesas,) it is a shrub or small tree (Fagraea berteriana) grown ornamentally for foliage, flowers and fruit.

Its original Polynesian name was simply "pua" which is still used over most of its native range in Polynesia and is a cognate of the Fijian name. The tree was considered sacred in the Cooks and Tahiti in ancient times. Concoction of the inner bark was used in treating asthma and diabetes.  (Whistler)

It is grown in most Polynesian countries like Tonga, Niue, Uvea, Societies, Cooks, Australs, Mangareva, Marquesas, Samoa (pua lulu.)

In Hawaiʻi, it is called puakenikeni.

Approximately 9,000 new species of flowering plants were introduced to Hawaiʻi from all over the world during the over two centuries since ‘Contact’ (1778.)

Some, including puakenikeni (as well as plumeria, carnation, ginger, pīkake, pakalana and pua male (Stephanotis,)) quickly became favorites of island residents and staples of the lei industry.  (CTAHR)

Lei makers down on the Honolulu docks selling lei during the “Steamer Days” or “Boat Days” (late-1800s to mid-1900s) would string the puakenikeni into fragrant lei.

It earned its name Pua Kenikeni (Puakenikeni) here in Hawaiʻi because at one time the flowers were sold for making lei, each flower (“pua”) cost a dime (kenikeni means dime, ten cents,) hence the name “ten-cent flower.”  (Pukui, Neal, Agroforestry)

“500 persons in Honolulu make a living wholly or partly by selling leis – those fragrant garlands of pikake, ginger blossoms, gardenias, tube roses, carnations and a score of other flowers – which are dangled about the neck upon any excuse from a sailing to a dinner table.”  (The Sunday Morning, June 6, 1937)

Flowers are best harvested 2-3 times per week in early morning.  Open white flowers can be stored at room temperature for up to 3-days.

While most lei do well in dry plastic bags kept in the refrigerator, the exception is puakenikeni which turns brown if refrigerated.  Instead, keep it between damp paper towels in a flat container set in a cool, dark place.

It is one of the few flowers that has three different colors as it ages (with the same scent throughout.)  The first day it’s creamy white, by the second it’s at buttery yellow and on the third it’s a creamy orange.

Lei Pua Kenikeni – Written by John Kameaaloha Almeida (1897-1985)
(Translated by Mary Pukui)

(Click HERE for rendition of Puakenikeni performed by Mark Yamanaka)

No ka lei aloha, lei pua kenikeni
Koʻu hiaʻai a me koʻu hoʻohihi

Ke ʻala hoʻoheno kaʻu aloha
I ka ne mai e welilna kaua

Kaua i ka nani a o ia pua
I ka hana hoʻoipo a ke onaona

Onaona lei nani lei hoʻohie
Hoʻoipo, hoʻoulu mahiehie

Mapu ʻala hoʻoheno i ka poli
Lanikeha i ka ike a ka maka

Eia no ka puana o ke mele
No ka lei pua kenikeni he inoa


For the beloved lei of pua kenikeni
My admiration and delight

Its pleasing perfume I enjoy
Which tells our love for each other

May you and I admire the flowerʻs beauty
With its subtle fragrance so appealing

Fragrant, beautiful and excellent is the lei
Appealing and most attractive

Its soft perfume wins the heart
Its beauty is most entrancing

This is the ending of this song
In praise of the pua kenikeni

The image shows Puakenikeni  (zane.)    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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The Last Survivor

The message: “Air Raid, Pearl Harbor. This is no drill” came at 0755 on December 7, as Japanese planes swept overhead in an attempt to cripple the Pacific Fleet.  Taney, moored alongside Pier 6, Honolulu Harbor, stood to her antiaircraft guns when word of the surprise attack reached her.

The US Coast Guard Cutter Taney (originally launched as the Roger B Taney) was named for Roger Brooke Taney, who was born on March 17, 1777 in Calvert County, Maryland.  Roger Taney was a lawyer and later served in President Andrew Jackson’s administration as Attorney General and Secretary of the Treasury – he was later appointed as Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court.

Roger B Taney, Coast Guard Builders No. 68, was laid down on May 1, 1935 at the Philadelphia Navy Yard.  She was launched on June 3, 1936.   The Roger B Taney departed Philadelphia on December 19, transited the Panama Canal from the 27th to the 29th, and arrived at her home port, Honolulu, Territory of Hawaiʻi, on January 18, 1937.

The Taney had arrived in the Pacific at a time when the US, and Pan-American Airways in particular, was expanding its commercial air travel capabilities.  The "Clipper" flights across the Pacific to the Far East made islands like Hawaiʻi, Midway, Guam and Wake important way-stations.

In the 1930s, the US Bureau of Air Commerce (later known as Department of Commerce) was looking for islands along the air route between Australia and California to support trans-Pacific flight operations (non-stop, trans-Pacific flying was not yet possible, so islands were looked to as potential sites for the construction of intermediate landing areas.)

To affirm a claim on remote Pacific islands, international law required non-military occupation of all neutral islands for at least one year.  An American colony was established at Canton (Kanton) and aney transported and supplied colonists on the island (1938-1940.) (Canton was picked by Pan-Am for its trans-Pacific flight flying boat operations.)

The 327-foot Secretary class cutter Taney was designed and initially missioned to interdict opium smugglers and carry out search and rescue duties from the Hawaiian Islands through the central Pacific Ocean.  In 1940 and 1941, Taney received successive armament upgrades in anticipation of war, with 3- and 5-inch guns capable of shooting at both surface and airborne targets, additional .50 caliber machine guns, depth charge racks and throwers, and sonar for locating submarines.

On the eve of Pearl Harbor, Taney was officially assigned to the US Navy's Destroyer Division 80, though she retained her Coast Guard crew. When Japanese aircraft attacked Pearl Harbor and other American military installations in Hawaiʻi on December 7, 1941, she was tied up at Pier 6, Honolulu Harbor, where she was able to repeatedly engage Japanese planes which flew over the city.

When the attack subsided, Taney immediately commenced anti-submarine patrol duties off Pearl Harbor and was at sea for 80 of the first 90 days of the war.

After service in the Pacific and a major retrofit, Taney was sent into the Atlantic serving as the Flagship of Task Force 66, US Atlantic Fleet and command vessel for six convoys of troop and supply ships between the US and North Africa. Returning to the Pacific after a dramatic reconfiguration as an Amphibious Command Ship in 1945, Taney participated in the Okinawa Campaign and the occupation of Japan.

Immediately after the end of the Pacific war in September 1945, Taney steamed into Japanese home waters where she assisted with the evacuation of Allied prisoners of war.

Following World War II, Taney was reconfigured for peacetime duties and from 1946 until 1972 she was home ported in Alameda, California. Known as “The Queen of the Pacific,” Taney carried out virtually every peacetime Coast Guard duty including decades of Ocean Weather Patrol throughout the Pacific, fisheries patrols in the Bearing Sea and countless search and rescue missions.

During the Korean War, Taney received additional anti-submarine weapons and frequently carried out plane-guard duties off Midway Island and Adak, Alaska.

The mid-1970s were a period of transition for the Coast Guard with the passage of the Fisheries Conservation and Management Act and the nation's shift towards increased interdiction of narcotics smugglers.  These operations called for off-shore patrols of up to three weeks.

Stationed in Virginia, Taney completed the last Coast Guard ocean weather patrol in 1977, and from 1977 to 1986 carried out search and rescue duties, training cruises for the Coast Guard Academy and drug interdiction in the Caribbean.

She was formally decommissioned on December 7, 1986 (after more than 50-years of continuous service) and turned over to the city of Baltimore, Maryland for use as a museum ship in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.  Over her distinguished career, Taney received three battle stars for World War II service and numerous theatre ribbons for service in World War II, Korea and Vietnam.

Since the 1960s, Taney is the last ship still afloat that fought in the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Consequently, from that time on she was often referred to as “The Last Survivor of Pearl Harbor.”  A plaque memorializing her participation in the attacks is at Pier 6, Honolulu Harbor.  (Lots of information here from USCG.)

The image is a painting of the Taney at Honolulu Harbor during Pearl Harbor Attack on December 7, 1941.    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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George Charles Beckley

George Charles Beckley was known as “the English friend and military adviser of Kamehameha the Great.”  (Taylor)  Born in 1787, Beckley arrived in the Islands around 1804.  About 1813, he married Ahia Kalanikumaikiʻekiʻe.

Ahia was daughter of Kaha, a trusted friend of Kamehameha I, a warrior and Kahuna Kalaiwaʻa (a priest who superintended the building of canoes) and of Makaloa, daughter of Malulani (k) and of Kelehuna (w) of Puna, Hawaiʻi.  (Hawaiian Historical Society)

In preparation of Kamehameha’s conquest of the Islands, he ordered Kaha, “to build a war fleet to carry his invasion forces across the straits to the other islands. As each canoe was finished, to show the confidence he had in his skills, Kaha had his beautiful daughter Ahia ride each canoe on its sea trial."  (Dye)

Family traditions credit Beckley as being the designer of the Hawaiian Flag (other stories suggest the flag was designed by Alexander Adams, another trusted sea captain of Kamehameha - they may have designed it together (Adams later served as executor of Beckley’s estate and guardian of his children.))

The early Hawaiian flag looks much like the Hawaiʻi State flag of today, the apparent inspiration of the design being a melding of British and US flags, the most common foreign flags seen in Hawaiian waters at the time.

The original design had stripes (like the US flag) representing the eight major islands under one sovereign and the British Union Jack, representing the friendly relationship between England and Hawai‘i.

At the birth of the princess Nahiʻenaʻena (Kamehameha’s daughter) at Keauhou, Kona, in 1815, Beckley was made a high chief by Kamehameha, so that he might with impunity enter the sacred precinct, and present the royal infant with a roll of China silk, after which he went outside, and fired a salute of thirteen guns in her honor.  (Hawaiian Historical Society)

“In consequence of his having become a tabu chief, his wife, Ahia, was thenceforth obliged by the ancient code of etiquette to "kolokolo" or crawl prone on hands and knees, when she entered the house of her lord.”  (Hawaiian Historical Society)

In 1815, Kamehameha I granted some Russians permission to build a storehouse at Honolulu Harbor.  Instead, they began building a fort against the ancient heiau of Pākākā and close to the King’s complex and raised the Russian flag.  (Pākākā was the site of Kaua‘i’s King Kaumuali‘i’s negotiations relinquishing power to Kamehameha I.)

When Kamehameha discovered they were building a fort (rather than storehouses,) he sent several chiefs, along with John Young (his advisor) and Kalanimōku, to remove the Russians from Oʻahu by force, if necessary.   The partially built blockhouse at Honolulu was finished by Hawaiians and mounted guns protected the fort.

Beckley was the first commander of the fort (known as Fort Kekuanohu or Fort Honolulu.)  Its original purpose was to protect Honolulu by keeping enemy or otherwise undesirable ships out.  But, it was also used to keep things in (it also served as a prison.)

“Kareimoku (Kalanimōku) is always in the fort, where they are still at work, and the natives not being familiar with the use of cannon, they have appointed an Englishman, named George Berkley, who had formerly served in a merchantman as commandant. The fort is nothing more than a square, supplied with loop-holes, the walls of which are two fathoms high, and built of coral stone.”  (Kotzebue)

The Beckleys had seven children, William (1815,) Maria (1817,) Localia (1818,) Mary (1820,) George (1823,) Hannah and Emmeline (1825.)

His oldest child, William Beckley, who was born at Keauhou, was brought up together with Kauikeaouli (later King Kamehameha III.) His two oldest daughters were brought up by Queen Kaʻahumanu.  (Hawaiian Historical Society)

The diary of missionary Hiram Bingham notes, "Whatever of hostility may have been manifested against the spiritual claims of the Gospel by foreigners and others, we were encouraged in our efforts to commence a school by several residents, some wishing their wives, and others their children to be instructed. Among there, were … Beckley (English)… These cherished a desire that their long neglected children, whose morals, habits, language, and manners differed little from their contemporaries - the children of aboriginal fathers - might now, at length, if they wished it, have the advantage of a school for their improvement.”

Apparently, marriage did not keep Beckley constantly in the Islands. Instead, after a couple of years, he followed the custom of the day and took his wife with him on his numerous long voyages between the Mexico and Canton, China. (Hawaiian Historical Society)  He apparently also kept a home in Vera Cruz, Mexico.  His youngest daughter Emmeline was born off the coast of Mexico.

Beckley had several Hawaiʻi properties, including: a farm with the fishing grounds called Kealahewa, situated in the district of Kohala, Island of Hawaiʻi, by King Kamehameha I (1811;) a farm with the fishing grounds called Kaliheawa, Kalihi, by Keōpūolani (1815;) a farm called Kawailole, situated at the mouth of the valley of Manoa, sold by Kalanimōku (then Governor of Oahu) (1815;) and house lot in Honolulu by King Kamehameha (1819.)

George Charles Beckley died April 16, 1826 in Honolulu.  “He was buried agreeably to his wish within his own enclosure. A vault was dug within the walls of an unfinished house; and inclosed with bricks & lined with mats. A part of the church buryal service was read by Mr. Bingham, who afterwards made a short address to the bystanders both in English & Hawaii & closed with prayer.”  (Chamberlain)

The image shows George Charles Beckley.

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Falls Of Clyde

She was launched December 12, 1878 by shipbuilders Russell & Co at Port Glasgow, Scotland; the four-masted, full-rigged ship Falls of Clyde became part of the Falls Line fleet - all of which were named after Scottish waterfalls.

Falls of Clyde has a wrought-iron hull with a net tonnage of 1,748 tons and has a registered length of 266-feet, with a 40-foot beam and a 23.5-foot depth of hold.

She was rated the highest rating the maritime insurance firm could provide (Lloyd's of London.)

Used for trade between Britain and India, the ship was under the British flag and journeyed into the Pacific, stopping at Australia, New Zealand, Bangkok, Hong Kong and Shanghai.

Falls of Clyde made 10 voyages to American ports while under the British flag.  Sailing to San Francisco and Portland for wheat, she also made one voyage to New York. The voyages to San Francisco were particularly important, for they involved the ship in one of the United States and Britain's most significant maritime trades, the California grain trade.

She was later sold to Captain William Matson in 1898 with plans to be used for the lucrative sugar trade between Hawaiʻi and the continent.  However, according to US law, Falls of Clyde needed American registry to trade between American ports, a right denied to foreign-built and registered vessels.

“The four masted iron ship Falls of Clyde (under the command of Captain Matson,) floating the Hawaiian flag, the Oceanic Steamship Company's pennant and her own signal letters, came into the harbor at 10 o'clock this morning.  … The Falls of Clyde brings about 1,000 tons or general merchandise, a large part of which is machinery for the Honolulu plantation.  She also brings 40 mules and 8 horses for the plantation and a stallion for W. G. Irwin & Co.”  (Hawaiian Star, January 20, 1899)

“She is the first four masted Iron ship with yards on each mast that ever came into this harbor flying the Hawaiian flag. Her authority for flying this flag is a temporary register Issued to her by Hawaiian Consul General Wilder at San Francisco.”  (Hawaiian Star, January 20, 1899)

A special provision was added to the 1900 'Organic Act;' Section 98 of the Act states: "That all vessels carrying Hawaiian registers on the twelfth day of August, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, and which were owned bona fide by citizens of the United States, or the citizens of Hawaii, together with the following-named vessels claiming Hawaiian register, Star of France, Euterpe, Star of Russia, Falls of Clyde, and Wilscott, shall be entitled to be registered as American vessels, with the benefits and privileges appertaining thereto, and the coasting trade between the islands aforesaid and any other portion of the United States, shall be regulated in accordance with the provisions of law applicable to such trade between any two great coasting districts."

Converted to US registry, Falls of Clyde then was involved in the Hawaiian transpacific sugar trade for Matson Navigation Co.  She carried people, too.

Her cargo hold was not limited to the sugar plantation business; just as modern Matson ships bring in assorted cargo that fill a variety of shelves across the islands, the Falls of Clyde supplied the Islands with various goods that filled the needs of the past.

Here’s a brief summary of an early manifest: “The ship Falls of Clyde sailed yesterday for Hilo with an assorted cargo valued at $23,599 and including the following: 95 bbls flour, 41 ctls wheat, 914 ctls barley, 231 bales hay, 18,521 lbs bran, 12 ctls corn, 75,000 lbs rice, 12 tons salt, 6492 gals wine, 900 lbs lard, 25 cs canned goods, 189,947 lbs fertilizer, 114,174 ft lumber, 38,000 lbs cement, 4200 lbs tobacco, 550 gals distillate, 65 cs gasoline, 150 cs coal oil, 101 cs assorted oils, 100 bxs soap, 1 cs arms and ammunition, 15 pkgs agricultural implements, 3 pkgs machinery, 3 rolls leather, 50 sks coal, 75 pkgs wagon material, 10 pkgs millwork, 6 cs matches, 25 bales paper, 85 kegs white lead, 20 cs paints, 6 pkgs dry goods, 4 pkgs bicycles and parts, 3 bales twine, 1 cs shoes, 30 mules." (San Francisco Call, February 19, 1905)

The four-masted vessel, originally rigged as a ship, was down-rigged to a bark; in addition, Matson modified and built a large wooden deckhouse forward and a charthouse on the poop deck.

She carried sugar from Hilo to San Francisco until 1906 when the Associated Oil Company (a group of 45 independent oil producers in which Matson had an interest) bought the ship and in 1907 Falls of Clyde was once again modified when she was converted into a sailing oil tanker.

Associated Oil added 10-tanks within the hull, a boiler room and a pump room with a carrying capacity close to 750,000-gallons.  She also carried molasses from Hilo to San Francisco over the next 13 years.

In 1921, she was sold to the General Petroleum Corporation who, after dismasting, then used her as a floating petroleum barge in Ketchikan, Alaska.

General Petroleum reorganized as Socony-Vacuum (now Mobil Oil) in 1959 and developed new shore facilities at Ketchikan. No longer needed, Falls of Clyde was again sold and towed to Seattle, and laid up.

After several attempts to save the ship of the fate of being scuttled as a breakwater, a group of civic and historic-minded folks in Hawaiʻi, aided by funds from the Matson Navigation Co. and other donations (spearheaded by the Friends of Falls of Clyde,) purchased and returned the ship to Honolulu in 1963.

With lots of voluntary help she was restored, remasted and rerigged and, under management of Bishop Museum, in 1970 she was opened to the public at Pier 5.

Damaged by Hurricane Iwa in 1982, she was moved to Pier 7, and over the course of a few years she was restored and became the centerpiece of the Hawaiʻi Maritime Center, moored at Pier 7 in Honolulu Harbor.

Maintaining any boat is expensive, particularly one that dates to the late-1800s.  By early 2008, after receiving an estimate of at least $30-million to restore the ship, Bishop Museum issued a contract to remove all valuable items from the ship including a priceless figurehead, to dismantle the rigging, and to prepare the Falls of Clyde to be towed out to sea for scuttling.

The Friends of Falls of Clyde mobilized and rallied, again, and on September 25, the Museum's Board of Directors approved the sale to the Friends, a non-profit 501(c)3 organization dedicated to the preservation and restoration of the Falls of Clyde.  (The Friends took ownership of the Falls of Clyde from Bishop Museum on September 30, 2008.)

The Friends needs your help.  Join their group on Facebook.  More importantly, visit their site and offer to volunteer or donate.  It looks like the Friends are planning to haul her out for a much needed drydock.

Falls of Clyde is the world's only surviving four-masted, full-rigged ship and is the oldest surviving American tanker and the only surviving sailing oil tanker left afloat.  (Lots of information and images from NPS, Historic Hawaiʻi and Friends of Falls of Clyde.)

The image shows Falls of Clyde (NPS;) in addition, I have added some other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Kaimiloa

The Royal Hawaiian Navy was created solely as a result of King Kalākaua’s plan for a confederation of Polynesian nations.
This was an era of kingdom-building, and alliances were in vogue.

King Kalākaua had been in office since 1874, overseeing his small independent country. Influenced by his recent trip around the world, he looked forward to developing alliances with other Polynesian countries, seeing Hawaii in the center position. By 1883, commissioners had visited the Gilbert Islands and the New Hebrides, without success.  (Kauai Historical Society)

The High Commissioner was a special Hawaiian envoy tasked with traveling to the various island nations of the Pacific to enlist them into the confederation.

In anticipation of the High Commissioner’s transportation needs, the Hawaiian government purchased a three-masted steamship named the “Explorer.” The ship was refitted as a gunboat and armed with Gatling guns and cannons. The name “Explorer” was translated into Hawaiian and the ship was renamed the “Kaimiloa”.  The ship's captain was George E Gresley Jackson.

His Hawaiian Majesty’s Ship Kaimiloa was commissioned on March 28, 1887, for the naval service of the Kingdom and comprised the whole of the Hawaiian Navy. (ksbe)

HHMS Kaimiloa was the first and only ship of the Hawaiian Royal Navy. The ship was a 170-ton Explorer gunboat, made in Britain in 1871. King Kalākaua bought the ship for $20,000 and added the rigging.

It sailed from Hawaiʻi to Samoa and other Pacific islands in an effort by Kalākaua to form a confederation of Polynesian states to counteract European imperialism.

The mission was facing an uphill climb in its endeavors. Imperial Germany was already in discussion with Samoa, and both Britain and the United States were interested in the structure of power within the region. (This important region was of interest to most of the European powers – two years after this voyage, the warships of the United States, England, and Germany were all at anchor in Apia Bay, as Germany had asserted a right to possession.  (Kauai Historical Society)  Talks did not progress well.

Capt. Jackson was a former British naval officer, and more recently, the former head of a reform school.  Members of the crew were former students. On board was John E Bush, as the King’s embassy; the crew was Hawaiian.  (Kauai Historical Society)

With only one month of training, the youths were put to the test when the Kaimiloa was ordered to transport the Secretary of Foreign Affairs to Samoa. The ship departed Honolulu on May 18, 1887, and arrived in Samoa 29 days later.  (ksbe)

Historical accounts indicate that from the beginning there were problems with the officers and the crew. Upon arrival in Samoa on June 15th, the festivities were problematic as well.  (Kauai Historical Society)

Robert Louis Stevenson, then a resident of Samoa, is quoted regarding a reception at the Hawaii embassy: “Malietoa, always decent, withdrew at an early hour. By those that remained, all decency appears to have been forgotten.”

In the morning, he added, the revelers were aroused from a drunken stupor and sent home. King Malietoa is reported to have said: “If you came here to teach my people to drink, I wish you had stayed away”.    (Kauai Historical Society)

Due to the music program which was in effect at the reform school, some of these crew members were also members of a military band. They were led by Charles Palikapu Kaleikoa.

While the Kaimiloa was in Samoa, the Cadet Band performed concerts in Apia, the capital city, and around Samoa. The Hawaiian Consul reported (August 23, 1887:) Her (Kaimiloa’s) cadet band also became popular and their concerts were an appreciated treat to the Samoans.  (ksbe)

The Hawaiian Consul in Samoa, also impressed with their exemplary conduct, reported in a letter: “I must say a word in praise of the Reform School boys. It was a matter of surprise to me to observe how well they behaved on shore and aboard, and how well they performed their duties.”  (ksbe)

Under the direction of Lorrin A Thurston, the Kaimiloa was recalled. She returned to Honolulu Harbor on September 23, 1887; this appears to be her only voyage for the state.  (Kauai Historical Society)

The crew was disbanded and the ship was decommissioned.  After this, Kaleikoa joined the Royal Hawaiian Band and continued to play in it until his retirement 40 years later and retired as assistant band leader.  (ksbe)

After it was decommissioned, the Kaimiloa was still used as a quarantine ship, but in 1888 she was sold and used as a transportation vessel between the Hawaiian Islands.

For a while, she was used for interisland shipping, transporting coal and oil. After a period in dry dock, her engines were removed (and used to turn wheels in a sugar mill operation) and in 1910, the hull was burned.    (Kauai Historical Society)

The image shows Kaimiloa in Honolulu Harbor.  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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World War II - Italian POWs

On July 7, 1937, Japan invaded China to initiate the war in the Pacific; while the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, unleashed the European war.

World War II (WWII or WW2), also known as the Second World War, was a global war that was underway by 1939 and ended in 1945.

 Italy entered World War II on the Axis side on June 10, 1940, as the defeat of France became apparent.  On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor and the US entered the conflict.

World War II was fought between two sets of partners: the Allies and the Axis. The three principal partners in the Allies alliance were the British Commonwealth, the Soviet Union and the United States; the three principal partners in the Axis alliance were Germany, Italy and Japan.

During World War II, American forces captured 50,000 Italian soldiers and sailors.  5,000 Italian prisoners of war were sent to Hawaiʻi and held at Schofield, Kāneʻohe, Kalihi Valley and Sand Island.

Japanese Americans were also incarcerated in at least eight locations on Hawaiʻi.  On December 8, 1941, the first detention camp was set up on Sand Island.

The Sand Island Detention Center held war captives as well as civilians of Japanese, German or Italian ancestry who were under investigation.

This Italian prisoner contingent was highly skilled in construction and engineering, and as a voluntary effort they were used extensively on many construction projects around the island where skilled labor was, at that time, in short supply, particularly around Honolulu Harbor, Sand Island, etc. (Ponza - Army-mil)

"For the most part, the US Army welcomed their labor and skills in construction of needed military facilities."  (Moreo)

"At the end of each day, the Italians would salvage whatever waste materials were about as well as scouring and scooping up cement from spillage."  (Moreo)

With this salvaged material the Italian POWs built buildings and works of art (fountains and statues) at various locations on Oʻahu (these pieces are at Schofield Barracks, Fort Shafter, Sand Island and the Immigration Building.)

The Mother Cabrini Chapel, designed by POW Astori Rebate, “was huge, with an alter, and two large paintings of Mother Cabrini all done by the POWs.  The chapel had a full basement for vestments and religious articles.  Out in front of the chapel, the area was paved and filled by ‘well constructed benches acting as pews for a thousand or more worshippers.’”  (Moreo)

The Italian POWs "decided to dedicate to the memory of Mother Cabrini, who was at that time being considered for sainthood for her earlier good works in the United States, and who was subsequently canonized as the first American saint by the Vatican around the year 1946."  (Ponza -army-mil)

Upon the chapel's completion, Sunday mass was celebrated every week with the prisoners exiting the prison compound in order to attend the services, seating themselves in the open air pews. As word spread to the adjoining areas, Pearl City, Honolulu, Nanakuli, and even as far as Waikiki, a small group of Catholic worshipers started to drive up to the chapel on Sunday mornings to attend the services."  (Ponza - army-mil)    In the way of Kamehameha Highway construction, it was torn down in 1948.

At Sand Island, "(a)t sunset, hundreds of Italians formed a male chorale and sang for an hour. It became widely known and so popular that visitors came in the evening to listen and applaud."  (Moreo)

At Fort Shafter, a fountain crowned with pineapples was designed and crafted by POW Alfredo Giusti, with winged lions and topped with pineapples.  (Reportedly, Giusti inscribed his name and address on the north side of the fountain.)

Dedicated to give hope to those without hope, Giusti also crafted two statues, “The Hula Dancer” and “The Bathing Beauty,”) which now sit outside the Coast Guard administration building on Sand Island.

A hard-to-see fountain crafted by the Italians is within the secured Immigration Center on Ala Moana Boulevard (you can see it through a chain link fence on the makai/Fort Armstrong side of the facility.)

The war ended in December 1945 and the Italian POWs were repatriated in 1946, having left some lasting legacies of the war and their time in Hawaiʻi.  (Unfortunately, due to increased security concerns, access is restricted at the facilities where their work is located.)

The image shows the Giusti fountain at Fort Shafter.  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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