Images of Old Hawaiʻi

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James Hay Wodehouse

James Hay Wodehouse was born on April 23, 1824. He was the second son of Charles Nourse Wodehouse (Archdeacon of Norwich) and Lady Dulcibella Jane Hay. He married Annette Fanny Massey, daughter of William Massey, on January 19, 1861.

Wodehouse was private secretary to George Grey (Governor of New Zealand) in 1851; on November 5, 1860, it was announced, “The Queen has been graciously pleased to appoint Major James Hay Wodehouse to be her Majesty’s consul in the Society or Leeward Islands in the Pacific Ocean.”  (London Daily News, November 24, 1860)

On June 21, 1866, “The Queen has been graciously pleased to appoint James Hay Wodehouse, Esq … to be Her Majesty’s Commissioner and Consul-General in the Sandwich Islands.”  (British Bulletins, 1866)

A retired British Army Major, Wodehouse took up his duties and thereafter worked diligently to protect British interests during a long career.  (Andrade)  “Minister Wodehouse represented the British Governmental the Hawaiian court for over twenty-five years with great credit.”   (San Francisco Call, August 11, 1895)

These were tumultuous times in the Islands.  Through several monarchs, the issue of independence / annexation and takeover by others were part of the ongoing discussions.

“About the end of 1867, Queen Emma, in a conversation with British Commissioner JH Wodehouse, assured him ‘that with a few exceptions, all the natives were opposed to annexation.’”  (Daws)

“Many times, Kamehameha V stated his firm resolve to maintain the independence of his kingdom, and there is no good reason to doubt the sincerity of these declarations. British Commissioner Wodehouse reported a conversation with the king in which the latter expressed ‘his determination to resist any project for the annexation of his Islands to the United States.’”  (Daws)

On January 17, 1893, Queen Lili`uokalani yielded her authority to the US government.  In 1895, an abortive attempt by Hawaiian royalists to restore Queen Liliʻuokalani to power resulted in the Queen’s arrest.

Convicted of having knowledge of a royalist plot, “at two o’clock on the afternoon of the 27th of February I was again called into court, and sentence passed upon me … a fine of $5,000, and imprisonment at hard labor for five years.” (Queen Liliʻuokalani)  The sentence was commuted to imprisonment in an upstairs apartment in ʻIolani Palace.

“(Wodehouse) was strongly opposed to the revolution, and made himself obnoxious to the Provisional Government, who came to regard the British legation as the chief center of royalist intrigue.”    (San Francisco Call, August 11, 1895)

The British Government, having recognized the Hawaiian Republic, recalled Wodehouse and appointed Mr Hawes British commissioner and consul general.  Major Wodehouse, on his departure, neglected to pay an official farewell to the Dole Government, and proposed to take leave of the ex-Queen, imprisoned in the palace.  (Appletons’, 1895)

“Previous to Mr Wodehouse’s departure from Honolulu he requested a parting interview with ex-Queen Liliʻuokalani, but the request received a positive refusal. The reason assigned was that Mr Wodehouse still held an official character of which he could not divest himself, so as to render his visit to the former Queen one merely of friendship.”  (San Francisco Call, August 11, 1895)

“(A)n open letter of Mrs Wodehouse to the ex-Queen had been returned to the writer because it was addressed to ‘Her Majesty.’ The denial of intercourse in the case of the British Minister is an exception to a very considerable degree of the freedom usually allowed to Mrs Dominis in seeing her friends.  (San Francisco Call, August 11, 1895)

Wodehouse had other reasons for desiring to be relieved of his duties at this time. He had been in Hawaiʻi for 15-years without any leave, was not in good health and wished to return to England to spend his last years.  The British government accordingly granted him leave to return to England.  (Andrade)  Wodehouse died in England on July 13, 1911.

Here’s a little Wodehouse side note:  A malfunctioning chronometer put the British sailing ship Dunnottar Castle off course and onto the reef at Kure atoll.  Seven of the crew members, including its Chief Officer, took one of the surviving boats and sailed, for 52 days, to Kauaʻi. Upon being informed of the tragedy, the British Commissioner in Honolulu organized a rescue mission. (HawaiianAtolls)

Wodehouse decided to send a ship for the remaining crew.  Suspecting that the British might use the occasion to annex the island, the Hawaiian Government shared the expedition expenses and instructed Commissioner James Boyd to take formal possession of Kure.  On September 20, 1886 Boyd took possession of the island, then-called Mokupāpapa, for the Hawaiian government.  (PMNM)

The rescue mission came back to Honolulu with the same amount of people it had sailed out with. No survivors were found on the atoll, except for two fox terriers and a retriever. All of the survivors had been picked up earlier by a passing vessel and were on route to Chile.  (HawaiianAtolls)

Here’s another side note, relating to one of Wodehouse’s sons, ‘Hay.’  On July 30, 1889, Robert William Wilcox led a rebellion to restore the rights of the monarchy, two years after the Bayonet Constitution of 1887 left King Kalākaua a mere figurehead.

“The day was won, they say, by a base ball (catcher,) who threw dynamite bombs into the bungalow that formed the headquarters of the insurgents and brought them to terms quicker than rifle or cannon shot.”

“Bombs were made, but it was found that there were no guns to fire them. It was a long throw, and in their dilemma the King’s guards secured the services of Haywood (Wodehouse,) (catcher) of the Honolulu Base Ball Club.”

“(Wodehouse) took up his position in the Coney Island building, just across a narrow lane, and overlooking the bungalow. No attack was expected from that quarter, and there was nothing to disturb the bomb thrower. (Wodehouse) stood for a moment with a bomb in his hand as though he were in the box waiting for a batsman. He had to throw over a house to reach the bungalow, which he could not see.”

“The first bomb went sailing over the wall, made a down curve and struck the side of the bungalow about a foot from the roof … The bomb had reached them and hurt a number of the insurgents.  (Wodehouse) coolly picked out another bomb. Then he took a step back, made a half turn and sent it whizzing. It landed on the roof … He threw one more bomb and Wilcox came out and surrendered.”    (The Sporting Life, October 16, 1889)

Here’s one more … The unveiling of the Captain Cook monument in Kealakekua Bay took place on November 14, 1874.  Credit for it is given to Princess Likelike (sister of King Kalākaua and Queen Liliʻuokalani, and mother of Princess Kaʻiulani (who sold the land for $1 on January 26, 1877 to be held in trust for the monument in memory of Captain Cook)) and British Commissioner Wodehouse.

“The erection of a suitable and durable monument to the memory of Captain James Cook has been often proposed and more than once attempted, but has now been happily accomplished under the direction of Mr Wodehouse, the British Commissioner, with the cooperation of Captain Cator of HMS ship Scout, who kindly conveyed the architect and his men and materials to the spot in Kealakekua Bay, where the circumnavigator fell, and where now, nearly a century later, a fitting monument is at last dedicated to his memory.”

“It is a plain obelisk, standing on a square base, the whole being twenty-seven feet in height, and constructed throughout of a concrete composed of carefully screened pebbles and cement, similar to tie material of which the fine public buildings in this city are built. It stands on an artificially leveled platform of lava only a few feet distant from and above the highwater mark, and fifteen or twenty yards from the shore or lava slab on which the great seaman stood when struck down.”

“The site is thus the most suitable that could have been chosen, and is the gift of Princess Likelike, wife of Hon. AS Cleghorn. The expense of the erection is partly borne by subscribers in England…”  (Hawaiian Gazette, November 25, 1874)

The image shows James Hay Wodehouse.  (Kuykendall)   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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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Dunnottar Castle

This story is not about a castle, it’s about a sailing vessel named after a castle – Dunnottar Castle.    First, a little about its name.

In the 5th Century, St Ninian brought Christianity to Scotland, and chose Dunnottar as a site for one of his chain of Churches. In the 12th Century Dunnottar Castle became a Catholic settlement with the first stone chapel being consecrated in 1276.

William Wallace (“Braveheart,”) Mary Queen of Scots, the Marquis of Montrose and the future King Charles II, all called the Castle home.  Here a Scottish garrison once saved the Scottish Crown Jewels from destruction by Cromwell’s invading army.

In 1874, ‘Dunnottar Castle,’ a three-masted 258-foot British iron-hulled ship, was launched in Glasgow, Scotland.

She rests in the Pacific, lost at Kure Atoll on July 15th, 1886 while bound for Wilmington, California from Sydney, Australia with a cargo of coal.

A malfunctioning chronometer put the Dunnottar Castle off course and onto the reef. Though efforts were made to jettison the cargo and repair the damaged hull, the stricken vessel could not be refloated, and the crew abandoned ship for the nearby deserted island. The castaways would have to take charge of their own rescue.  (PMNM)

Seven of the crew members, including its Chief Officer, took one of the surviving boats and sailed, for 52 days, to Kauaʻi. Upon being informed of the tragedy, the British Commissioner in Honolulu organized a rescue mission. (HawaiianAtolls)

Under the reign of King David Kalākaua, the Hawaiian Kingdom, suspecting that the British might use the occasion to annex the island, shared the expedition expenses and instructed Commissioner James Boyd to take formal possession of Kure.  On September 20, 1886 he took possession of the island, then-called Moku Papapa, for the Hawaiian government.  (PMNM)

The rescue mission came back to Honolulu with the same amount of people it had sailed out with. No survivors were found on the atoll, except for two fox terriers and a retriever. All of the survivors had been picked up earlier by a passing vessel and were on route to Chile.  (HawaiianAtolls)

Before the mid-19th century, Kure Atoll was visited by several ships and given new names each time. Many crews were stranded on Kure Atoll after being shipwrecked on the surrounding reefs and had to survive on the local seals, turtles and birds.

The King ordered that a crude house be built on the island, with tanks for holding water and provisions for any other unfortunates who might be cast away there. But the provisions were stolen within a year, and the house soon fell into ruins.

Thus, the wreck of the Dunnottar Castle precipitated the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi’s official presence at Kure Atoll, Hawaiʻi’s most remote coral atoll at the northwestern extreme end of the entire archipelago.  (PMNM)

The Kure Atoll refuge staff (State of Hawaiʻi DLNR-Division of Forestry and Wildlife) came across the wreckage by accident while transiting through the lagoon. Atoll staff radioed the NOAA archaeologists who were surveying two other locations at Kure (The New Bedford whaler Parker and the USS Saginaw), and a preliminary survey was initiated.  (PMNM)

The Dunnottar Castle lies adjacent to a shoal area in the vicinity of the atoll reef, accessible only in calm weather.  Many of the wooden components, loose materials, and organic fabrics have been swept away, but the heavier elements remain.  No small or movable artifacts were encountered. (PMNM)

Large sections of iron hull plate, iron frames, rigging, masts, auxiliary steam boiler, keelson, anchors, windlasses, winches, capstans, davits, rudder and steering gear, cargo hatches, bow sprit, hawse pipes, chain locker, ballast stone, deadeyes, chains, stringers, bitts, ladders etc. are fixed in place on the sea bottom.  (PMNM)

The site is approximately 250 feet in length, corresponding to the ship’s original size. The industrial nature of the artifacts and the general lack of coral cover makes the location well-suited for standing up to the power of the winter storms and seas which pound the atoll.  (PMNM)

The wreck of the Dunnottar Castle is a nearly complete assemblage of a late-19th century commercial carrier, an incredible heritage resource from the days of the sailing ships like the Falls of Clyde (Honolulu,) Balcalutha (San Francisco Maritime Park) and Star of India (San Diego Maritime Museum) when our maritime commerce was driven by steel masts and canvas, wind power, and human hands.  (PMNM)

Kure Atoll is the most northwestern island in the Hawaiian chain and occupies a singular position at the “Darwin Point:” the northern extent of coral reef development, beyond which coral growth cannot keep pace with the rate of geological subsidence. Kure’s coral is still growing slightly faster than the island is subsiding.

North of Kure, where reef growth rates are even slower, the drowned Emperor Seamounts foretell the future of Kure and all of the Hawaiian Archipelago. As Kure Atoll continues its slow migration atop the Pacific Plate, it too will eventually slip below the surface.

Kure is the northern-most coral atoll in the world. It consists of a 6-mile wide nearly circular barrier reef surrounding a shallow lagoon and several sand islets. The only land of significant size is called Green Island and is habitat for hundreds of thousands of seabirds.

The image shows Dunnottar Castle (PMNM;)) 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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Gledstanes

Mokupāpapa (literally, flat island) is the name given to Kure Atoll by officials of the Hawaiian Kingdom in the 19th century.  (Papahānaumokuākea) It is approximately 1,200-miles northwestward of Honolulu and 56-miles west of Midway Islands. The International Date Line lies approximately 100-miles to the west.

Kure Atoll is the most northwestern island in the Hawaiian chain and occupies a singular position at the “Darwin Point:” the northern extent of coral reef development, beyond which coral growth cannot keep pace with the rate of geological subsidence. Kure’s coral is still growing slightly faster than the island is subsiding.

“The Island in Lat. 28 degrees 23’ N and Long. 178 degrees 30’ W … is about three miles in circumference.  It is composed of broken coral and shells and is covered near the shore with low bushes.  In the season it abounds with sea birds and at times there is a considerable number of hair seals (monk seals.)”

“There is always an abundance of fish and in a great variety. The highest part of the island is not more than ten feet above the level of the sea.  The only fresh water is what drains through the sand after the heavy rains.  From the specimens of dead shells lying about the beach, there appears to be a great variety of shells.”  (Captain Brown, Hawaiian Gazette, September 21, 1886)

Kure Atoll was found in 1823 by Captain Benjamin Morrell, Jr. of the schooner Tartar, who claimed Kure to have an abundance of sea turtles and sea elephants. In 1827, the Russian ship Moller, under Captain Stanikowitch re-discovered the atoll; he named it “Cure Island” to honor a Russian navigator.  (cordell-org)  It is more generally known as ‘Kure’ today.

Hawai‘i’s whaling era began in 1819 when two New England ships became the first whaling ships to arrive in the Hawaiian Islands.   At that time, whale products were in high demand; whale oil was used for heating, lamps and in industrial machinery; whale bone was used in corsets, skirt hoops, umbrellas and buggy whips.

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.  Whalers needed food and the islands supplied this need from its fertile lands.

One such ship, the British whaler Gledstanes, under the command of Captain JR Brown, was crossing these waters and just before midnight on June 9, 1837, the Gledstanes struck the reef on Kure Atoll (only one of the crew was lost, he having jumped overboard in a state of intoxication.)

The Captain and rest of the crew launched three ships’ boats and made landfall on ‘Ocean Island’ (now known as Green Island.)  The following day, crew returned to the vessel and, after cutting away the masts, were able to salvage some provisions. The next day the wreck broke apart in the heavy surf.  (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, January 29, 1838)

The crew established a makeshift camp on the island and passed their time picking up pieces of the wreckage that had been washed over the reef and into the lagoon with the intention of constructing a vessel from the salvage.

After assembling axes and adzes, necessary for building the craft, from whale spades and augers and chisels from lances, using the salvaged material, the keel of a 38-foot boat was laid two weeks after the loss of Gledstanes.

Within several months, the vessel was completed and determined to be seaworthy; it was named ‘Deliverance.’ Captain Brown and eight others set sail for the Main Hawaiian Islands, while the rest of the crew remained on the island.

While en route, Deliverance encountered the American ship Timoleon, who supplied them with much needed provisions. Deliverance arrived at Honolulu sometime in November, 1837, while the remaining crew on the island was rescued several months later.

Researchers discovered evidence of the Gledstanes wreckage in 2008.  The site consists of mainly large heavy artifacts scattered over a 200-foot section of the reef at depths ranging from 6 to 20-feet.

Artifacts include four large anchors, what appear to be two cannons, a try pot (a cauldron for rendering whale oil,) a pile of anchor chain, approximately 50-pig iron ballast bars and copper fasteners of various sizes.

Some of the artifacts are extremely eroded, suggesting that they are affected by scouring due to wave and current activities. The distribution of the site suggests that the vessel hit the fringing reef and broke up, leaving artifacts resting on the reef top and cuts in the reef.

Unlike all other islands and atolls in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, Kure Atoll is the only land area owned by the state of Hawaiʻi – all of the other Northwestern Islands are owned by the US government.

While I was at DLNR, we created Refuge rules that established “a marine refuge in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands for the long-term conservation and protection of the unique coral reef ecosystems and the related marine resources and species, to ensure their conservation and natural character for present and future generations.“

This started a process where several others followed with similar protective measures.  The BLNR unanimously adopted the State’s Refuge rules, President George W Bush declared it a Marine National Monument and UNESCO designated it a World Heritage Site.

Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument is administered jointly by three co-trustees – the Department of Commerce, Department of the Interior and the State of Hawaiʻi – and is one of the largest marine conservation areas in the world, encompassing nearly 140,000-square miles of the Pacific Ocean.  (Lots of information and images here are from a summary on the Monument website.)

The image shows an anchor from the Gledstanes wreckage (NOAA.)   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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Mokupāpapa (Kure Atoll)

Hōlanikū is a verb phrase that is defined as “bringing forth heaven.”  It is a variant of the word helani (heaven) and also the name of a zenith star observed by priests. (Kikiloi)

The chant of Kamahuʻalele states that Hōlani is an area attached to the Hawaiian Archipelago, perhaps alluding to the fact that it is the open horizon that meets the sky and stretches west past Hawai‘i. (Kikiloi)

It is a single name that stands alone and is located at the very end of the island sequence. It is suggested that Hölanikü corresponds with the location of Kure Atoll. (Kikiloi)

There is an account in Captain Cook’s log book that he was at Kure Island, possibly his second trip, 1779. When he encountered a Hawaiian canoe at Kure, and asking the natives… There were ten natives on the double-hulled canoe. What they were doing there? And they said they had come to “collect turtles and bird eggs.” (Agard, Oral History Interview.)

Mokupāpapa (literally, flat island) is the name given to Kure Atoll by officials of the Hawaiian Kingdom in the 19th century.

Under the reign of King David Kalākaua, the Hawaiian Kingdom disbursed an official envoy to Kure Atoll to take ‘formal possession’ of the atoll.

Before the mid-19th century, Kure Atoll was visited by several ships and given new names each time. Many crews were stranded on Kure Atoll after being shipwrecked on the surrounding reefs and had to survive on the local seals, turtles and birds.

Because of these incidents, King Kalākaua sent Colonel JH Boyd as his Special Commissioner to Kure. On September 20, 1886 he took possession of the island, then-called Moku Papapa, for the Hawaiian government.

The King ordered that a crude house be built on the island, with tanks for holding water and provisions for any other unfortunates who might be cast away there. But the provisions were stolen within a year, and the house soon fell into ruins.

In 1898, the archipelago, inclusive of the certain lands in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI,) was collectively ceded to the United States through a domestic resolution, called the “New Lands Resolution”.

Mokupāpapa is approximately 1,200 miles northwestward of Honolulu and 56 miles west of Midway Islands. The International Date Line lies approximately 100-miles to the west.

Kure Atoll is the most northwestern island in the Hawaiian chain and occupies a singular position at the “Darwin Point:” the northern extent of coral reef development, beyond which coral growth cannot keep pace with the rate of geological subsidence. Kure’s coral is still growing slightly faster than the island is subsiding.

North of Kure, where reef growth rates are even slower, the drowned Emperor Seamounts foretell the future of Kure and all of the Hawaiian Archipelago. As Kure Atoll continues its slow migration atop the Pacific Plate, it too will eventually slip below the surface.

Kure is the northern-most coral atoll in the world. It consists of a 6-mile wide nearly circular barrier reef surrounding a shallow lagoon and several sand islets. The only land of significant size is called Green Island and is habitat for hundreds of thousands of seabirds.

Largely neglected for most of its history, during World War II Kure was routinely visited by US Navy patrols from nearby Midway to insure that the Japanese were not using it to refuel submarines or flying boats from submarine-tankers, for attacks elsewhere in the Hawaiian chain.

US Navy built a tall radar reflector in 1955. Coast Guard navigation LORAN radio station operated from 1960 to 1992, after that, the Green Island runway was allowed to be overgrown and is now unusable

The Hawai‘i State Seabird Sanctuary at Kure Atoll is under the jurisdiction of the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR,) through its Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW.)

Unlike all other islands and atolls in the NWHI chain (Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument,) Kure Atoll is the only land area owned by the state of Hawaiʻi – all of the other Northwestern Islands are owned by the US government.

The image shows a NASA photo of Kure Atoll.  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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