Entering Honolulu Harbor – The Early Years

There are certain things you should not or cannot do into the wind.

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.

The first European entry of Honolulu Harbor is credited to Captain Brown of the British schooner Jackal, accompanied by Captain Gordon in the sloop tender Prince Lee Boo.

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.)

Following this, boats either anchored off-shore, or they were pulled, warped or tracked into the harbor (this was done with canoes; or, it meant men and/or oxen pulled them in.)

This might take eight double canoes with 16-20 men each, working in the pre-dawn calm when winds and currents were slow. Otherwise you had to contend with tradewinds blowing out of the harbor.

It was a narrow with reefs, but it was the only deep water harbor in the central Pacific.

In 1816 (as stories suggest,) Richards Street alignment was the straight path used by groups of men, and later oxen, to pull ships through the narrow channel into the harbor.

(Later, downtown’s Richards Street was named for a man who had a store on the street selling luggage to tourists.)

A few years after, in 1825, the first pier in the harbor was improvised by sinking a ship’s hull near the present Pier 12 site.

In 1854 the first steam tug was used to pull sail-powered ships into dock against the prevailing tradewinds.

Between 1857 and 1870, about 22-acres of reef and tideland was filled through a combination of fill and dredging, forming the “Esplanade” between Fort and Merchant Streets.

This created the area where Aloha Tower and Aloha Tower Marketplace are now located (prior to this, the waterfront was near Queen Street.)

In 1889, the Honolulu Harbor was described as “nothing but a channel kept open by the flow of the Nuʻuanu River.”  In 1890-92 the channel was widened and deepened by dredging.

A channel 200 feet wide by 30 feet deep was dredged for about 1,000-feet through the sand bar which had limited depth to as shallow as 18 feet, restricting entry of the largest ocean vessels.

A series of new 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 then at Piers 7 and 12 in 1907.

Today, Honolulu Harbor continues to serve as Hawai‘i’s commercial lifeline to the rest of the world.

The image shows Honolulu Harbor in 1816 during the Otto von Kotzebre expedition  (one of the earliest charts of Honolulu.)  In addition, I have included images and charts of Honolulu Harbor around this early timeframe in a folder of like name in the Photos section.

(Several of the maps are from UH-Mānoa, Hamilton Library and shared with permission for personal, non-commercial and educational purposes.)

http://www.facebook.com/people/Peter-T-Young/1332665638

Honolulu, 1810 - Map

This reconstructed map (from Bishop Museum Press,) reportedly a reasonably accurate depiction of Honolulu in 1810, is based on three documents:  John Papa ʻĪʻī recorded the location of trails and various sites in Honolulu between 1810 and 1812 in his “Fragments of Hawaiian History;” a sketch map made by lieutenant Charles Malden of HBMS Blonde in 1825; and a government road map of 1870.

The map notes locations of uses in 1810 (in black) with subsequent road alignments as of 1870 (in red) - the present day street alignments are generally similar to the 1870 road alignments.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.  For me, maps and pictures capture moments in time and, in doing so, tell us stories.  I love maps, especially old ones, because of the stories they tell.

This map tells lots of stories.

Here are highlights on some.

The first thing that jumps out at you is the timeframe and location of the map – 1810 in Honolulu.

As you will recall, 1810 marks the ultimate unification of the Hawaiian Islands.

It was here, in 1810, at Pākākā (the point jutting into the harbor,) where negotiations between King Kaumuali‘i of Kaua‘i and Kamehameha I took place - Kaumuali‘i ceded Kauaʻi and Ni‘ihau to Kamehameha and the Hawaiian Islands were unified under a single leader.

This time and place marks the beginning of the unified islands.  This location continues to be the center of commerce, government, finance, etc in the State.

A bit more history: Kamehameha I, who had been living at Waikiki since 1804, moved his court here in 1809.  His 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 whites and chiefs of lesser rank.  (Kamehameha’s home and surrounding support uses are noted with his name (adjoining Pākākā.))

In those days, this area was not called Honolulu.  Instead, each land section had its own name (as noted on the map.) 

However, there are reports that the old name for 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, which is the heart of the present downtown district.

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.

As you can tell by the overlaying 1870 road map, it is obvious that following this timeframe, the fringe reefs noted on the map were filled in and land added to the water front.  (In 1810, the waterfront was along the present Queen Street.)

Between 1857 and 1870 a combination of fill and dredging formed the “Esplanade” (not labeled on this map (because it’s over the reef) between Fort and Merchant Streets, creating the area where Aloha Tower is now located.)

In 1907, the reefs fronting the Kakaʻako area (on the right of the map) were filled in to make Fort Armstrong.

Fort Street, one of the oldest streets in Honolulu, was not named for Fort Armstrong; it was named after Fort Kekuanohu (aka Fort Honolulu,) constructed in 1816 by Kamehameha.

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

The left section of the map (where Nuʻuanu Stream empties into the harbor) identifies the area known as Kapuukolo; 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.  (The Marin and Davis homesites are noted on the map.)

The large yam field (what is now much of the core of downtown Honolulu) 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.)

This map, and the stories it tells, gives us a glimpse into Hawai‘i’s past.  I will be focusing and expanding on some of these individual stories in future posts.

Historic USGS Quadrangle Maps - State of Hawaiʻi

Old USGS Quadrangle Maps for the State of Hawaiʻi have been uploaded to my LinkedIn Account.

Respective maps are in folders for each island.  Most of the maps are "old" - typically, 1910 to 1930; however, some islands only have more recent maps.

Here's a breakdown:

• Niʻihau - 1989
• Kauaʻi - 1910
• Oʻahu - (two sets) late-1920s and mid-1930s
• Molokaʻi - 1922
• Maui - 1924
• Lānaʻi - 1991-1992
• Kahoʻolawe - 1991
• Hawaiʻi Island - 1911-1930

You may review and download these maps by going to:
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/peter-t-young/25/868/649

(You may have to join LinkedIn (it's free) in order to view and download the folders and files.)

The bottom of my Profile (you need to view Full Profile) has a heading "Peter T Young's Files"; scroll through the list of folders and files.

One of the files in the folder is an Index Map (a map showing the island and noting the respective quadrangle map names - like the image here.)

You can zoom in to get pretty good detail in each of the maps.  (Most of the small dots indicate where homes are located.)