Prominent People | Page 3 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

November 27, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

‘Bingham Kick’

Football got an early start in America, “Colonists kicked and threw inflated bladders or sawdust-filled leather balls around long before they decided to fire on the whites of the redcoats’ blue eyes.”

“(B)y the latter part of the 18th Century, football had found its way onto the college campuses. Infrequent matches joined fisticuffs (and) wrestling”.

As happened at England schools, each American school developed its own form of the sport. “Early games appear to have had much in common with the traditional ‘mob football’ played in England. The games remained largely unorganized until the 19th century, when intramural games of football began to be played on college campuses.” (Smith)

At Princeton, they were playing a version called ‘ballown’ by 1820. At Harvard, the entire freshman and sophomore classes constituted sides for ‘rushes’ in which a soccer ball was used.

Yale and others each had individual variations. Yale students by 1840 were staging soccer rushes on the New Haven Green. The American style of play resembled circa medieval. The young gentlemen attacked each other in most ungentlemanly ways. (PFRA Research)

“The New York Evening Post was moved to observe that one such game would ‘make the same impression on the public mind as a bull fight. Boys and young men knocked each other down, tore off each other’s clothing. Eyes were bunged, faces blacked and bloody, and shirts and coats torn to rags.’” (PFRA Research)

A notable football-related moment at Yale was when Hiram Bingham Jr, who demonstrated skill not only in academic pursuits but in sporting achievements as well, became the first student to kick a football over the old courthouse on the New Haven green (it became known as the ‘Bingham Kick’).

This wasn’t his only athletic achievement. On one college vacation he paddled a canoe down the Connecticut River from the Canadian border, three hundred miles to Long Island Sound.

“These pursuits satisfied not only his sense of adventure but, more importantly, his need for achievement and attention from others. It was also, however, a reflection of the age in general, when a young man was expected to compete and achieve success.” (Rennie)

His parents had worried from an early age, that ‘he does not often enough think of his Savior,’ and that he was growing up without being governed by ‘the principles and feelings of a renewed nature’ – which presumably meant he did not at all times have a proper sense of guilt.” (Bingham)

Hiram Bingham Jr was the son of Rev. Hiram Bingham, who with Rev. Asa Thurston led the first company of missionaries to thes Islands in 1820. With his parents and sisters he came to America in 1840 and prepared for college at New Haven.

The younger Bingham was born in Honolulu, August 16, 1831, in the old Mission home which still stands on King street; he was probably the first Hawaii-born Yale graduate.

He entered Yale University in 1850. By this time, he had reached his full height of six feet four inches. The liberal arts course at Yale was of four years’ duration.

In the first three years, the students took Greek, Latin, Mathematics and a smattering of Geography, History, Science, Astronomy, English Expression and Rhetoric.

The Senior year concentrated more on Metaphysics, Ethics, Natural Theology and Moral Philosophy. The course was structured ‘not to teach that which is peculiar to any one of the professions, but to lay the foundation which is common to them all’.

By the 1850s Yale was becoming increasingly conservative. Its identity with the religious life of the country was also waning. Bingham won first prize for his studies in Astronomy in 1853.

At this stage, there was no conflict between science and religion. Charles Darwin did not publish his Origin of the Species until 1859. Not until the following year did public debate erupt when on June 30, 1860 Thomas Henry Huxley, defender of Darwinism, confronted Bishop Samuel Wilberforce. (Rennie)

At his commencement in 1853, Bingham delivered an honors oration, ‘Civilization and Destiny of the Hawaiian Islands.’

Hiram studied theology at Andover Seminary and in October 1856 was ordained and married to Minerva Clarissa Brewster, a teacher in Northampton. He took a missionary post in the Gilbert Islands, in the western Pacific.

The couple worked there until they returned to Hawai‘i in 1875, where their son was born. Hiram III graduated from Yale in 1898 and later became Yale’s first professor of South American history, gaining worldwide fame for his exploration of Machu Picchu. (Yale Alumni Mag)

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November 24, 2018 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

‘Riding the Surfboard’

The first article of the first volume of the first issue of Mid-Pacific Magazine, June 1911 was an article on surfing. It was written by ‘Duke Paoa’ – we knew him as Duke Kahanamoku. In part, he wrote:

“I have never seen snow and do not know what winter means. I have never coasted down a hill of frozen rain, but every day of the year, where the water is 76, day and night, and the waves roll high, I take my sled, without runners, and coast down the face of the big waves that roll in at Waikiki.”

“How would you like to stand like a god before the crest of a monster billow. always rushing to the bottom of a hill and never reaching its base, and to come rushing in for half a mile at express speed, in graceful attitude, of course, until you reach the beach and step easily from the wave to the strand?”

“Find the locality, as we Hawaiians did, where the rollers are long in forming. slow to break, and then run for a great distance over a flat, level bottom, and the rest is possible.”

“Perhaps the ideal surfing stretch in all the world is at Waikiki beach, near Honolulu, Hawaii. Here centuries ago was born the sport of running foot races upon the crests of the billows, and here bronze skinned men and women vie today with the white man for honors in aquatic sports once exclusively Hawaiian, but in which the white man now rivals the native.”

“I mastered the art of riding the surfboard in the warm Hawaiian waters when I was a very small child, and I never gaze out upon the ocean in any part of the island that I do not figure out how far each wave, as it comes rolling in, would carry me standing on its crest.”

“There are great, long, regular, sweeping billows, after a storm at Waikiki that have carried me from more than a mile out at sea right up to the beach; there are rollers after a big kona storm that sweep across Hilo Bay, on the Big Island of Hawaii, and carry native surfboard riders five miles at a run, and on the Island of Niihau there are even more wonderful surfboard feats performed.”

“A surfboard is easy to make. Mine is about the size and shape of the ordinary kitchen ironing board. In the old days the natives were wont to use cocoanut logs in the big surf of Diamond Head, and sometimes six of them would come in standing on one log, for, of course, the bigger and bulkier the surfboard the farther it will go on the dying rollers …”

“… but it is harder to start the big board, and, of course, on the big logs one man, the rear one, always had to keep lying down to steer the log straight with his legs.”

“At Waikiki beach, Queen Emma, as a child, had a summer home, and always went out surfing with a retainer, who stood on the board with her.”

“Today it is seldom that more than one person comes in before the wave on a single board, although during the past year some seemingly wonderful feats have been attempted.”

“I have tried riding in standing on a seven-foot board with a boy seated on my shoulders, and now I find it not impossible to have one of my grown companions leap from his board, while it is going full speed, to mine, and then clamber up and twine his legs about my neck.”

“Lately I have found a small boy, part Hawaiian, who will come in with me on my board, and when I stand, he stands on my shoulders, and even turns round. But all this is as nothing when we read in Thrum’s annual for 1896, of the feats of the old Hawaiians, and as this is about the best article ever prepared on ancient surfing, I shall quote from it:”

“Among the favorite pastimes of ancient Hawaiians that of surfriding was a most prominent and popular one with all classes. In favored localities throughout the group for the practice and exhibition of the sport …”

“… ‘high carnival’ was frequently held at the spirited contests between rivals in this aquatic sport, to witness which the people would gather from near and far; especially if a famous surf-rider from another district, or island, was seeking to wrest honors from their own champion.”

“Native legends abound with the exploits of those who attained distinction among their fellows by their skill and daring in this sport; indulged in alike by both sexes.”

“Necessary work for the maintenance of the family, such as farming, fishing, mat and kapa making and such other household duties required and needing attention, by either head of the family were often neglected for the prosecution of the sport.”

“Betting was made an accompaniment thereof, both by the chiefs and the common people. Canoes, nets, fishing lines, kapas, swine, poultry and all other property were staked, and in some instances life itself was put up as wagers, the property changing hands, and personal liberty. or even life itself sacrificed, according to the outcome of the match in the waves.”

“There are two kinds of boards for surfriding; one is called the olo and the other the a-la-ia, known also as omo. The olo was made of wiliwili – a very light, buoyant wood …”

“… some three fathoms long, two to three feet wide, and from six to eight inches thick along the middle of the board, lengthwise, but rounding toward the edges on both upper and lower sides.”

“It is well known that the olo was only for the use of the chiefs; none of the common people used it. They used the a-la-ia, which was made of koa, or ulu. Its length and width was similar to the olo, except in thickness, it being but of one and a half to two inches thick along its center.”

“The line of breakers is the place where the surf rises and breaks at deep sea. This is called the kulana nalu. Any place nearer or closer in where the surf rises and breaks again, as it sometimes does, is called the ahua, known also as kipapa or puao.”

“There are only two kinds of surf in which riding is indulged; these are called kakala, known also as lauloa, or long surf, and the ohu, sometimes called opuu. The former is a surf that rises, covering the whole distance from one end of a beach to the other.”

“This, at times, forms in successive waves that roll in with high, threatening crest, finally falling over bodily.”

“Surfboard riding is an art easy of accomplishment to the few and difficult to the many. It is at its best when the rollers are long in forming, slow to break, and, after they do, run for a great distance over a flat, level bottom, such as the coral beds at Waikiki,
which is perhaps the all-year-round ideal surfboarding bit of water in the whole world.”

“There are three surfs at Waikiki: the ‘big surf’ toward Diamond Head, in front of Queen Liliuokalani’s summer residence, where the most expert surf-board riders and the native boys disport themselves …”

“… the ‘canoe’ surf, nearly in front of the Moana Hotel, where the majority of those who stand on the board dispute rights with the outrigger canoes that come sliding in from a mile out at sea before the monster rollers …”

“… and the beginners, or cornu copia surf – a series of gentle rollers before the Outrigger Canoe Club’s grounds and the Seaside Hotel. Here, as a rule, beginners learn the art of balancing on the board.” (Kahanamoku, Mid Pacific Magazine, January 1911)

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Surfing illustration, LE Edgeworth

Hawaiin surfing-(culturemap-org-au)-early 1800s

Duke_Kahanamoku_at_Log_Angeles-(WC)-1920

Duke Paoa Kahanamoku with his surfboard-(WC)-c. 1910-1915

Diamond_Head-Surfers-1900

Surfing-Diamond_Head-(UH_Manoa)-1935

David_Kahanamoku,_Lord_Louis_Mountbatten,_Prince_Edward,_and_Duke_Kahanamoku,_c.1920

Hawaiian_with_surfboard_and_Diamond_Head_in_the_background-1890

November 16, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Young Brothers Save Prince Kūhiō

On July 10, 1902, Prince Kūhiō left the Home Rule Party and, a few months later, on September 1, 1902, joined the Republican Party; he was nominated as their candidate for Congress and, on November 4, 1902, won the election to serve as Hawai‘i’s delegate to Congress.

“Prince Kūhiō, accompanied by a half dozen personal friends and the quartet club which sang Republican songs during the campaign just closed, left for Lihue, Kauai (November 14) in a special steamer.”

“They will return Sunday morning (November 16) and will at once proceed to Pearl Harbor where the Prince will sail his yacht Princess in the races on that day.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, November 15, 1902)

“Prince Kūhiō arrived at 4 o’clock Sunday morning from Kauai, and after breakfast and dressing at his home started for the harbor.”

“The two young men who make the crew were on hand when Prince Kūhiō and his friend Judge Mahaulu drove to the boathouse. There was little time lost in getting the boat away and with the Prince at the helm it stood out to sea.”

“The Princess is a staunch third-rater, and nothing less than a heavy blow makes the crew which sails the little craft think for a moment of reefing down or running for the harbor.”

“When the trip was arranged for yesterday morning there was nothing to suggest that there was any danger for such a boat and the four sailed out gaily as ever before they inaugurated as cruise.”

“The canvas was full and the crew was keeping a close watch for squalls as the wind was gusty and the prospect that there might be such a blow outside that some reefing would have to be done.”

“The little boat went off to the south east when approaching the outside reef, and was way between the spar buoy and the ball buoy when Prince Cupid saw a squall coming down upon them.”

“He ordered the main sheet slackened and was himself getting ready to bring the boat into the wind, when with lightning rapidity, before anything could be done to prevent it …”

“… the winds hit the little boat and over it went carrying every one of the men in the craft with it. Luckily the crew was in windward and all escaped being fouled in the lines as the boat went broadside into the sea.”

“They made themselves as secure as possible on the topside of the sailer’s hull and clung there while each wave broke over them and threatened to wash them away.”

“The minutes lengthened, and though their halloos might easily have been heard on the (nearby) battleship, the wind setting in that direction, there was no sign given that any one on board had seen the accident or noted the men struggling in the water.”

“For more than an hour … Prince Kūhiō Kalaniana‘ole and the three companions with whom he started to make the sail from the harbor to Pearl River …”

“… battled for their lives in the waves which swept over their heads and threatened each moment to wash them from the hull of the overturned boat, to which they clung. They were without the bell buoy and within three quarters of a mile of the battleship Oregon.”

“It was left for some young men on the galleries of the Myrtle Boat house to see, without a glass, the accident and the position of the sailors, and to rush an order to Young Brothers to send their fastest launch to the rescue.”

“This order was given in such time that the schooner and attending launch were just passing Young’s island when the little boat went out to assist the castaways.”

“When the men were reached they were all in fair shape though they felt the effects of the battering of the waves and were considerably exhausted by the strain upon them.”

“They were taken into the launch and a line passed to the yacht and she was towed to her anchorage off the club house. Last evening all the members of the party were in the best of shape.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, November 17, 1902)

“The Delegate elect, Prince Kūhiō, came pretty close to a fatal accident yesterday. Apart from the of a brilliant young Hawaiian, a fatal accident to the Prince have necessitated a fresh election …”

“… and the Territory having passed through one election struggle is not prepared to start out for another. The Prince belongs to the people now and his life and breath are matters of public importance.” (Hawaiian Star, November 17, 1902)

This wasn’t the only rescue of the time by Young Brothers, less than 2-weeks before, “The small island schooner Kauikeaouli … was just putting to sea with a cargo of general merchandise which had been taken from the disabled schooner Concord, which had to return from sea a few days ago after springing a leak.”

“It seems that the schooner had a fair wind and sailed away from the wharf, but would not steer. Her skipper thought this was because of her foul bottom, but a moment later the vessel swung over against the bow of the Alameda and had a small hole punched in her by one of the steamer’s anchors which was hanging half out of the water.”

“One of Young Brothers’ launches got hold of the schooner and took her bark to the wharf, where carpenters found the damage, to be light and easily repaired It during the day.”

“The captain of the schooner says that he had a shipsmith repair his steering gear, and that the wheel was put on in such a way that It steered the vessel in just the opposite direction from what was intended.” (Hawaiian Gazette, November 7, 1902)

The image shows the Young Brothers’ boathouse (center – structure with open house for boats on its left (1910), on what is now about where Piers 1 and 2 are, in the background is what is now Kaka‘ako Makai).

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November 15, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Haleakala School

Asa G Thurston, son of missionary Asa Thurston, married Sarah Andrews, daughter of missionary Lorrin Andrews and Mary Wilson Andrews, in October 1853.

“Mr Thurston soon met with severe financial reverses. In his strenuous efforts to recover himself he contracted aneurism, of which he died in the early sixties, leaving his widow and three orphan children in poverty.” (Hawaiian Star, January 16, 1899)

Sarah Andrews Thurston, became a teacher for nine years in the Royal School in Nu‘uanu Valley to support her young family after her husband’s death.

In 1868 she was offered the job of matron of a new industrial school for boys in Makawao, Maui, known as the Haleakala School, nine miles from the summit of that mountain. Her brother, Robert Andrews, had been appointed principal, and Sarah moved her family – Lorrin, his older brother, Robert, and sister, Helen – to Maui. (Twigg-Smith)

“The location is a remarkably healthy one, in Makawao, on the slope of Haleakala, the great mountain of Maui, at an elevation of some 6,000 feet above the level of the sea, in the range of the trade winds, and consequently enjoys a temperature of perpetual spring, never either uncomfortably hot or cold.”

“It is also admirably secluded, ‘far from the busy haunts of men,’ and there are no temptations for the boys to roam. The property is a valuable one for grazing and tree-culture, comprising something over 1,000 acres leased from the government by the Board of Education.”

“Belonging to the establishment is a fine herd of cattle, which under the care of Mr. Harvey Rogers, supplies a large quantity of milk, part of which is used by the scholars, and much fine butter made of the rest.”

“The school numbers at present thirty-three boarders and five day scholars, and applications are now pending from others wishing to place their boys where they can be educated.”

“The studies embrace a good common school course, with religious exercises, singing, and military drill. The discipline of the school is strictly military.”

“Flogging is abolished, and the effort is being made to bring the boys to be useful men, as well in the practical work of life as in scholarship.”

“The boys are organized as a company of Infantry, and have their officers appointed from their racks on of good behavior, study and discipline.”

“The buildings are convenient, but need enlarging if many more scholars are to be admitted. There ought to be room for seventy or eighty.”

“The scholars are expected and required to assist in the work of the dairy, in agriculture, tree-planting, and in fact, in everything that is required to be done on the place.”

“They are about being uniformed, i.e., the dress suit for Sundays and holidays made of blue flannel, and as a particular pattern must be followed, arrangements have been made so that the suits can all be made at the school. Economy and uniformity is particularly required.”

“A large vegetable garden is being enclosed, and the boys are given plots of ground to cultivate. The articles thus of raised are fairly valued, and each boy is credited on his school account with what he has thus furnished.”

“The food is abundant and good in quality; kalo, as pai-ai, poi, beef, fresh and salt potatoes, rice, milk in abundance, syrup, and hard-bread are the staples.”

“The school is flourishing, and is a credit to the Principal, Mr. F. L. Clarke, to the Matron, Mrs. Thurston, and to all concerned. (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, June 3, 1873)

“The annual examination of this school for boys, was held on Thursday, June 8, and was largely attended by an interested audience of natives and foreigners, who, by their frequent expressions of applause, shewed that they were much pleased with the exercises.”

“The school-room was crowded at an early hour, and from the beginning to the end of the examination there was exhibited on the part of the teachers an earnest endeavor to draw out the capabilities of to the scholars; and this was satisfactorily responded to by the latter in their answers to the various questions propounded.”

“We were struck with the range of topics. ‘Arithmetic’ embraced questions of practical importance not found in the books, but of first value to the resident of these Islands; ‘Geography,’ (in which super-excellence was shown) embraced a wider range than is usually seen in its study …”

“… and the questions in Orthography evinced careful study, and a sensible idea of what is demanded of the young Hawaiian. Ease of delivery, correctness of gesture, and distinctness in elocution, made the duty of listening to the selections a pleasure.”

“One thing struck us as peculiarly happy – the majority of the pieces spoken gave prominence to our duties and obligations to God; and as all the pieces spoken were the selections of the scholars themselves, we are lead to the inference that ‘out of the
abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.’” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, June 17, 1876)

As noted, son of the school Matron, Lorrin Thurston, was a student at the school, as were other notables, including his classmates Robert Wilcox and Eben Low.

The school facilities were later used by Maunaolu Seminary (following a fire at their facilities in 1898).

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Haleakala School-Reg0603-1872-sites noted

Haleakala School-Reg0603-1872-school site noted

November 14, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Endicott – Taft

William Endicott was born in Salem, Massachusetts, in November 1826, to a prominent family with deep colonial roots. He studied at Harvard College, graduating from Harvard Law School in 1850. He then established his own law practice.

When Massachusetts expanded its supreme court, Endicott was named to one of the new seats in 1873; he served on the high court for nine years. Endicott resigned in 1882, citing ill health. (UVA)

During the 1870s, several advances took place in the design and construction of heavy ordnance, including the development of breech-loading, longer-ranged cannon, increasingly made of steel rather than iron. Coupled with these developments was a growing alarm over the obsolescence of existing seacoast defenses.

In 1883, the navy began a new construction program for the first time since the Civil War. The navy’s new ships were to be used offensively rather than defensively. This naval policy, along with the advances in weapon technology, required a new system of seacoast defenses which would safeguard America’s harbors and free the navy for its new role. (Coastal Defense Study Group)

In 1885 President Cleveland made Endicott his secretary of war. A joint army, navy, and civilian board was formed, headed by Endicott, to evaluate proposals for new defenses.

The Endicott Board of Fortifications, created by Congress in March 1885, recommended a major improvement program for the modernization of port defenses along the Eastern seaboard and Great Lakes. (UVA)

From 1890 to 1905, the United States undertook a massive program to modernize its coastal defenses. Known as the Endicott era; the huge construction program resulted in all the major harbors being fortified with newly designed steel guns ranging in size from 3 to 12 inches in diameter of bore and 12-inch, breech-loading mortars.

The gun emplacements were constructed with reinforced concrete and had huge earthen or sand parapets in front. Bombproof magazines were placed far underground.

Electrically controlled submarine mine defense projects were developed for the harbors, and fire control systems for locating targets and directing artillery fire were developed.

Improvements in design and construction techniques were made as the program moved forward and those batteries constructed toward the end of the period were more efficient than the early works. Hawaii’s coastal defenses, coming after those on the mainland, would be the beneficiary of these improvements.

As construction wound down on the mainland in 1905, concerns about the state of the nation’s defenses were still heard. A few
important harbors, such as Los Angeles, still lacked fortifications, as did the new American overseas interests, including Hawaii, the Philippines, and the Panama Canal, then under construction.

President Theodore Roosevelt appointed Secretary of War William H. Taft to head a new National Coast Defense Board to review the state of the defenses and to further their effectiveness technically. (Thompson)

In January 1905 Roosevelt instructed Secretary of War William H. Taft to convene the National Coast Defense Board (Taft Board) ‘to consider and report upon the coast defenses of the United States and the insular possessions.’ (Dorrance)

The improvements resulting from the Taft Board’s work included organization of coastal searchlights in batteries for the illumination of harbor entrances, electrification of the fortifications (lighting, communications, ammunition handling), and development of a modern system of aiming.

Since these advances coincided with the construction of Oahu’s fortifications, the new gun and mortar batteries and the mine defense may be said to be from the Taft period. (Thompson)

The Taft Board report recommended in 1906 that O’ahu’s defenses consist of fortifications that defended Honolulu Harbor and Pearl Harbor. The recommendations were refined by a joint Army and Navy board in 1908, and the harbor defense buildup on O’ahu followed the refinements until the onset of World War I.

In 1908 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was in the midst of constructing O‘ahu armored fortifications in accordance with the recommendations of the joint board.

These weapons were to be emplaced within new military reservations that were eventually named Forts Armstrong, Kamehameha, DeRussy and Ruger.

Fort Armstrong (Battery Tiernon) got two 3-inch cannons in 1909; Fort Kamehameha got two 12-inch cannons at Battery Salfridge in 1907 and eight 12-inch mortars at Battery Hasbrouck in 1909); Fort DeRussy got two 14-inch cannons at Battery Randolph and two six-inch cannons at Battery Dudley; and Fort Ruger got eight 12-inch mortars at Battery Harlow in 1907. (Dorrance)

The forts and battery emplacements were constructed according to the concepts of the times. The batteries were dispersed for concealment and to insure that a projectile striking one would not thereby endanger a neighbor. They were open to the rear to facilitate ammunition service at a rapid rate.

The mortars were emplaced four to a pit and were secure when exposed to the flat naval fire of the time. The guns were mounted on disappearing carriages that remained concealed behind a frontal parapet until elevated to fire. (Dorrance)

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