Images of Old Hawaiʻi

  • Home
  • About
  • Archive
    • Ali’i / Chiefs / Governance
    • Buildings
    • Economy
    • Missionaries / Churches / Religious Buildings
    • General
    • Hawaiian Traditions
    • Military
    • Place Names
    • Prominent People
    • Schools
    • Sailing, Shipping & Shipwrecks
  • Contact
  • Subscribe

February 17, 2020 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 tender 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.

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook 

Follow Peter T Young on Google+ 

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn  

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

© 2020 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Dunnottar_Castle_(PMNM)
Dunnottar_Castle-(PMNM)
Dunnottar_Castle_John_Slezer-1693
dunnottar_anchor-(hawaiianatolls)
Dunnottar-Castle-Altmeier-(NOAA)-07-2006b
Dunnottar-Castle-Tilburg-(NOAA)-07-2006b
Large metal structures o the hull-(hawaiianatolls)
Kure_map-(WC)
NASA_KureAtoll
NWHI_Map-noting Kure
Dunnottar_Wreck-Preliminary_site_Sketch-(NOAA)
Dunnottar-Castle-Scotland
Dunnottar_Castle-Scotland
Dunnottar-Castle_Scotland
Dunnottar_Castle_Scotland
Ruins_of_Dunnottar_Castle_(18thC)
Dunnottar Castle in the 17th century - From Slezer's Theatrum Scotia (1693)

Filed Under: Place Names, Sailing, Shipping & Shipwrecks Tagged With: DLNR, Dunnottar Castle, Hawaii, James Boyd, King Kalakaua, Kure, Mokupapapa, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument

November 24, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Mokupāpapa

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.”

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 Newlands 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.)

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook 

Follow Peter T Young on Google+ 

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn  

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

© 2019 Hoʻokuleana LLC

NASA_KureAtoll
Aerial picture of Green Island, Kure Atoll, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands-(WC)
Turtle-Kure_Atoll-(NOAA)
Brown Boobies (Sula leucogaster) on Green Island, Kure Atoll-(WC)
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Brown Boobies (Sula leucogaster) sitting on marine debris. Green Island, Kure Atoll, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands-(WC)
Hawaiian Monk Seal swimming beneath Kure Atoll (James Watt-Oceanstock-com)
Kure (Forest & Kim Starr)
Monk_Seal-Kure-(Forest & Kim Starr)
Kure Atoll (Forest & Kim Starr)
Kure Atoll, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands - Satellite image from USGS' Landsat7 Satellite-(WC)
Output Fil
Output Fil
Kure-(Forest & Kim Starr)
Kure_(Forest & Kim Starr)
Kure_Atoll-(Forest & Kim Starr)
Kure_Atoll-South west corner of Green Island-(NOAA)
Kure_map-(WC)
Kure_structure-(Forest & Kim Starr)
Kure-blackfoot albatross chick-(Forest & Kim Starr)
Kure-camp-(Forest & Kim Starr)
Kure-sooty terns-(Forest & Kim Starr)
Kure-structure-(Forest & Kim Starr)
Kure-Wildlife_Refuge-sign-(Forest & Kim Starr)
Marine debris on the beach of Green Island, Kure Atoll, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands-(WC)
Marine debris on the beach of Green Island, Kure Atoll
Kure-Wildlife_Sanctuary-sign-(Forest & Kim Starr)
NWHI_Map-noting Kure
Papahaønaumokuaøkea Marine National Monument

Filed Under: Place Names Tagged With: DLNR, Hawaii, King Kalakaua, Kure, Mokupapapa, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, NWHI, Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument

October 11, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

USS Saginaw

Hawaiʻi’s islands, atolls and reefs have gotten in the way of many transiting ships. To date, seventeen ship wrecks have been discovered and documented in Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument (the northwestern islands in the Hawaiʻi archipelago.)

One such ship was the USS Saginaw, the first naval vessel built at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, California in 1859. She was a 155-foot wooden side-wheeler that was powered by sails and steam engines.

The new side-wheel ship sailed from San Francisco Bay on March 8, 1860, headed for the western Pacific, and reached Shanghai, China in mid-May. She then served in the East India Squadron, for the most part cruising along the Chinese coast to protect American citizens and to suppress pirates.

Over the next few years, the Saginaw worked in other parts of the Pacific, from Alaska to Mexico.

In 1870, she was assigned to Midway Atoll, where a coal depot in support of transpacific commerce was to be built. For six months, she served as a support vessel for divers as they labored to clear a channel into the lagoon.

Then, in October 1870, she sailed for San Francisco, but, as was the practice, she first sailed to Kure Atoll en route home to rescue any shipwrecked sailors who might be stranded there.

As she neared this rarely visited island, Captain Sicard navigated his ship cautiously through heavy swells under reduced sail. The moon had set, but they did not expect to be within range until daybreak. At 3:15 am, waves were observed breaking ahead of the ship.

The captain ordered the sails taken in and engines reversed but within minutes the Saginaw struck an outlying reef and grounded. Before the surf battered the ship to pieces, her crew managed to transfer much of her gear and provisions to the island.

At daylight, the ship’s boats were lowered, and the crew of 93 men made their way across the reef to Green Island as the Saginaw broke apart and sank beneath the waves. One last match was used to start a fire. Short rations were a concern, but even more critical was the limited amount of fresh water.

In such a remote location, the captain and crew could not count on a passing ship to save them. They fashioned the captain’s 22′ gig into a sailboat and five volunteers, headed by Lieutenant John G. Talbot, the executive officer, set off for Kauaʻi, nearly 1,200-miles away. The others were Coxswain William Halford, Quartermaster Peter Francis, Seaman John Andrews and Seaman James Muir.

December 19, 1870, thirty-one days later, they reached Kauaʻi. There, after 1,200-miles in a tiny boat, the 5-member crew suffered unfortunate losses.

Here’s an account by Coxswain William Halford, “Sunday morning the wind allowed us to head southeast with the island of Kauai in sight, and Sunday night we were off the Bay of Halalea on the north coast. …”

“Just as I got to the cockpit a sea broke aboard abaft. Mr. Talbot ordered to bring the boat by the wind. … Just then another breaker broke on board and capsized the boat. Andrews and Francis were washed away and were never afterwards seen.”

“Muir was still below, and did not get clear until the boat was righted, when he gave symptoms of insanity. Before the boat was righted by the sea Mr. Talbot was clinging to the bilge of the boat and I called him to go to the stern and there get up on the bottom. While he was attempting to do so he was washed off and sank. He was heavily clothed and much exhausted. He made no cry.”

“Just then the sea came and righted the boat. It was then that Muir put his head up the cockpit, when I assisted him on deck. Soon afterward another breaker came and again upset the boat …”

“… she going over twice, the last time coming upright and headed on to the breakers. We then found her to be inside of the large breakers, and we drifted toward the shore at a place called Kalihi Kai, about five miles from Hanalei.”

Coxswain William Halford managed to pull James Muir ashore, but Muir died on the beach. All but Coxswain William Halford had died. Within hours of Halford’s arrival, the schooner Kona was dispatched for Kure.

He was brought to Oʻahu and the US Consul there. King Kamehameha V subsequently sent his steamer the “Kilauea” to rescue the shipwrecked sailors, which arrived sixty-eight days after the shipwreck. All of them survived on monk seals, albatrosses and rainwater.

Halford received the Medal of Honor for his bravery; he retired in 1910. The 22-foot boat that carried the five heroic crew members now lies in the Castle Museum in Saginaw, Michigan.

In 2003, a team of maritime archaeologists discovered features of the wreck site inside the lagoon at Kure Atoll. A few days later, divers came across a portion of the wreck site that included two cannon, two anchors, a gudgeon and several small artifacts such as sheathing tacks and fasteners.

Later, a team of maritime archaeologists returned to the site and discovered dozens of new artifacts including bow and stern Parrott rifled pivot guns, 24-pdr broadside howitzers, steam oscillating engine, port and starboard paddlewheel shafts, rim of paddlewheel, anchors, brass steam machinery, boiler tubes, rigging components, fasteners, rudder hardware, davits and a ship’s bell.

In 2008, a team returned to the site to continue survey. And, with plans to develop a maritime heritage themed exhibit at the Monument’s Mokupāpapa Discovery Center in Hilo, NOAA maritime archaeologists obtained the appropriate permits to recover the USS Saginaw’s ship’s bell for conservation and display.

The 2008 team documented additional artifacts, and collected additional still photographs and the first high definition video footage of the site. The ship’s bell and deep sea sounding lead now reside at the Mokupāpapa Discovery Center in Hilo.

Lots of information and images here are from a summary on the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument website.

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook 

Follow Peter T Young on Google+ 

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn 

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

© 2019 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Filed Under: Economy, Sailing, Shipping & Shipwrecks Tagged With: Hawaii, Kamehameha V, Kure, Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, Saginaw

September 24, 2019 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

The “Parker”

Mokupāpapa literally means flat island, and the name was given to Kure Atoll by officials of the Hawaiian Kingdom in the 19th century.

At the time, Kure was known in the kingdom as Ocean Island, but Hawaiian Kingdom officials indicated that Kure was “known to ancient Hawaiians, named by them Moku Pāpapa and recognized as part of the Hawaiian Domain.”

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.

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, Boyd took possession of the island, then-called Moku Pāpapa, 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.

On September 24th 1842, the New Bedford whaler “Parker” was one of those earlier shipwrecks lost at Kure Atoll, during a fierce storm.

The seas crashed through the cabin windows at 2:00 am, and immediately the vessel went onto the reef. The ship had struck on the north side of the atoll and became a complete wreck in under an hour, very few provisions (1 peck of beans, 15 pounds of salted meat) being hastily salvaged by the unlucky survivors.

Cutaway masts and some of the floating spars were fashioned into a crude raft. It took the exhausted crew eight days to drift and guide the raft to the island on the southeastern side of the atoll.

There, some of the ship remains of the wrecked British whaler Gledstanes (lost in 1837) provided firewood and building materials. The Gledstanes’ dog, having gone wild during his years of isolation, provided some variety in the crew’s diet of seabirds and seals.

The castaways spent a hard eight months fighting for survival on the low island at the atoll. 120 Laysan albatross took flight with inscribed wooden tallies fixed to their legs in an attempt to alert rescuers.

More than 7,000 seabirds were killed for food and some 60 seals. Finally, the Captain and a few others were finally picked up from Ocean (Green) Island on April 16, 1843 by the ship James Stewart.

The rest of the crew remained on the island until May 2, when they were rescued by the New Bedford whaler Nassau and taken to Honolulu.

The physical remains of the ship fill in more details of the story. A team of maritime archaeologists first visited the site in 2002.

In 2006, a team of maritime archaeologists completed a mapping survey of the shipwreck site. Anchors, anchor chain, hull sheathing, copper fasteners, hawse pipes, windlass, rigging hardware, wire rope, bricks and other material are distributed in a line over 100 meters in length.

The team also discovered a trail of bricks and broken try pot shards (cauldrons used to render the whale oil from the blubber) in a small pass through the reef crest.

The survey outside the reef crest found almost no artifacts at all. It’s possible that the extremely violent storm and seas brought the vessel entirely into the shallow back reef area, hundreds of yards from the reef pass, where she grounded at a heading of 135 degrees magnetic. Deck features were washed over the side as the ship first entered the lagoon.

The lagoon site is relatively shallow, 8-18 feet of water. The bottom type is patch coral reef, coralline substrate and rubble and sand areas.

But is this wreck site really the whaler Parker?

The types of artifacts correspond to a mid-19th century whaler, and the site location is consistent with the historical report, but there is no conclusive piece of evidence as yet, so the identification as the Parker remains preliminary.

Site survey work in 2005 involved the removal of a few diagnostic artifacts (with oversight by the appropriate management agencies). These were conserved at the Heritage Resources Conservation Lab, California State University, Chico.

In 2008, a team returned to the site to document the site with high definition video, and also to recover a ship’s bell for conservation, education and outreach. The ship’s bell became part of an exhibit at the Monument’s Mokupāpapa Discovery Center, “Lost on a Reef”.

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook 

Follow Peter T Young on Google+ 

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn  

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

© 2019 Hoʻokuleana LLC

American whaling ship Parker site plan completed in 2006 (NOAA)
American whaling ship Parker site plan completed in 2006 (NOAA)
American whaling ship Parker site plan completed in 2006 (NOAA)
American whaling ship Parker site plan completed in 2006 (NOAA)
American whaling ship Parker site plan completed in 2006 (NOAA)
American whaling ship Parker site plan completed in 2006 (NOAA)
American whaling ship Parker site plan completed in 2006 (NOAA)
American whaling ship Parker site plan completed in 2006 (NOAA)
American whaling ship Parker site plan completed in 2006 (NOAA)
American whaling ship Parker site plan completed in 2006 (NOAA)
American whaling ship Parker site plan completed in 2006 (NOAA)
American whaling ship Parker site plan completed in 2006 (NOAA)
American whaling ship Parker site plan completed in 2006 (NOAA)
American whaling ship Parker site plan completed in 2006 (NOAA)
Kure Chart
Kure Chart

Filed Under: Economy, Sailing, Shipping & Shipwrecks Tagged With: Hawaii, Kure, Mokupapapa, Parker, Whaling

November 26, 2014 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

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.

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook  

Follow Peter T Young on Google+  

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn   

© 2014 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Filed Under: Prominent People Tagged With: Captain Cook, Dunnottar Castle, Hawaii, Iolani Palace, James Hay Wodehouse, Kealakekua, King Kalakaua, Kure, Mokupapapa, Queen Liliuokalani, Robert Wilcox

  • 1
  • 2
  • Next Page »

Images of Old Hawaiʻi

People, places, and events in Hawaiʻi’s past come alive through text and media in “Images of Old Hawaiʻi.” These posts are informal historic summaries presented for personal, non-commercial, and educational purposes.

Info@Hookuleana.com

Connect with Us

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent Posts

  • Pau …
  • Missionary Period
  • Transformation of Waimea, South Kohala, Hawaiʻi
  • St. Andrew’s Priory
  • Kewalo Basin
  • Kamehameha’s Haoles
  • Kolo Wharf

Categories

  • Ali'i / Chiefs / Governance
  • Buildings
  • Economy
  • General
  • Hawaiian Traditions
  • Military
  • Missionaries / Churches / Religious Buildings
  • Place Names
  • Prominent People
  • Sailing, Shipping & Shipwrecks
  • Schools
  • Voyage of the Thaddeus

Tags

American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions American Protestant Missionaries Bernice Pauahi Bishop Captain Cook Downtown Honolulu Hawaii Hawaii Island Henry Opukahaia Hilo Hiram Bingham Hiram Bingham Honolulu Honolulu Harbor Iolani Palace Kaahumanu Kailua Kailua-Kona Kalakaua Kalanimoku Kamehameha Kamehameha Kamehameha III Kamehameha IV Kauai Kauikeaouli Keopuolani King Kalakaua Kona Lahaina Lahainaluna Lanai Liholiho Liliuokalani Maui Missionaries Oahu Pearl Harbor Punahou Queen Emma Queen Liliuokalani Sugar thevoyageofthethaddeus Volcano Waikiki

Hoʻokuleana LLC

Hoʻokuleana LLC is a Planning and Consulting firm assisting property owners with Land Use Planning efforts, including Environmental Review, Entitlement Process, Permitting, Community Outreach, etc. We are uniquely positioned to assist you in a variety of needs.

Info@Hookuleana.com

Never miss a post

Get future posts straight to your inbox by subscribing below.

Copyright © 2012-2016 Peter T Young, Hoʻokuleana LLC