Young Brothers | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

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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October 20, 2018 by Peter T Young 4 Comments

Charter Fishing

The family hailed from San Diego – four boys, Herbert, William, Jack and Edgar, and older sister Edith. The family patriarch, John, had sailed through the Isthmus of Panama to San Francisco from New Brunswick in 1849 then skippered the schooner Champion for several years along the West Coast.

The boys must have inherited this nautical bent because, at an early age, they were hiring themselves out for fishing trips using a small skiff that they sailed around the bay.

In the summer of 1899, all four boys ran a glass-bottomed boat excursion at Catalina Island. This marked the beginning of the famous glass-bottom boat rides which were to prove of such great interest and profit at Catalina.

“(P)aying customers were wanted, and the make the island a popular vacationing spot the Banning Brothers (the island’s owners) erected tents which could be rented for the season – from May to September.”

“(S)o, we hoisted sail one day, Herb and I, and went to Avalon, Catalina, where we immediately became engaged in taking fishing parties out daily, and conducting excursions to sunken gardens under the sea.”

“Business at Avalon was good. Possibly because we made a practice of taking parties of hotel employees for a moonlight rail several times a month, the guests usually found the ‘Santa Barbara’ most highly recommended and we never lacked for good crowds at two dollars a head on fishing and sailing trips.”

“In 1899 all four of us were on hand at the island. In addition to the marine garden excursions we offered the special attraction of exhibition diving … Herb would dress and go down. Picking up objects as souvenirs and catching brightly colored fish with a butterfly net for various shore aquariums.”

“Not averse to picking up a few dollars here and there, we four would often conduct parties to the sandab grounds. Sandab, a tasty fish and much in demand, were to be caught only in deep water … We caught then on lines with dozens of hooks each …” (William)

Then the Hawaiian Islands attracted their attention, and, as William put it, they “went with high hopes and the spirit of a pioneer toward strange lands and all the beauty of sky and sea in the blue Pacific.” (Herb and William were headed to Hawai‘i.)

“On January 9, 1900, we sailed out of Golden Gate toward the Great adventure …”

Then, on January 19, 1900, 29-year old Herbert and 25-year old William had their first view of Honolulu after a ten-day journey from San Francisco.

Shortly after, Jack, age 18, arrived on October 16, 1900; youngest of all, Edgar, arrived in July 1901 (but being only fifteen at the time, he attended McKinley High School before returning to California to study medicine.)

“For years we had heard tales of Hawaii; now at last we were to see it for ourselves. Every passing hour, every wave curling under our bows brought us so much nearer, and the eyes of youth, straining ahead of the ship, seemed almost to glimpse a palm-fringed shore where life was gay and living carefree.”

They started a charter boat company in Honolulu, for “Pleasure cruise or fishing, between the islands or whatever they want.” (Jack Jr) It was “an early sport fishing (service)”. (Krauss) The ‘Sea Scout’ was their charter boat. (Jack Jr) Some suggest this was the beginning of charter fishing in the Islands.

Looking at pictures “of a woman holding up fish. And a row of men holding up fish. It looks to me like those were people they took out, just like today in Kona you’ve got people standing there with their fish catch. When they corne back, they take their picture.” (Krauss)

They expanded into shark fishing … “Singularly enough, for the first time since I had become fired with the ambition to hunt sharks. I found myself giving little thought to the possibilities of shark fishing among the Islands.”

“The prospect of seeing and living in these elysian isles had unceremoniously overshadowed my original purpose in going there. I was, to put it mildly, all anticipation.” (William)

Shortly after arrival, the boys were “building a boat fitted in the bottom with a cased pane of the finest plate glass procurable, one-fourth of an inch thick. This will be so placed that it can be easily removed, as one of the most important conditions for success is that the glass be perfectly clean.”

“This kind of boat is much used on Catalina island.… With a glass bottomed boat, where the light from above is excluded be a wide awning the bottom may be inspected at from twelve to eighteen fathoms.”

The boys planned “to take passengers out to the reef surrounding the (Honolulu) harbor”. (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, October 31, 1901)

They also added other adventure. “Professor PM Stewart who occupies one of the chairs of language in Cambridge University, England, has had an experience during his visit to Honolulu that probably never came to him before. He went shark fishing”

“On Friday he caught a shark. His wife who has attracted much attention in this city on account of being a very tall striking looking blonde with very ultra English appearance, accompanied him and to catch the first shark.”

“He hooked one shark yesterday morning and drew the shark close to the boat and then started to dispatch the sea wolf with a spade. The weapon was bent and then Professor Stewart took a hatchet to strike the monster. In his excitement the professor struck the line with the hatchet cutting the line and allowing the shark to escape.”

“Later in the day a second shark was caught near the bell buoy. This time the shark was dispatched without cutting the line and was towed in shore. The shark measured about 14 feet in length and was of the man eating variety.”

The boys “have hit on a new scheme for shark fishing. They are able now to take the sharks with a hook and line instead of harpooning them as was done formerly. Some very successful expeditious have been taken out by tile young men.” (Hawaiian Star, June 2, 1906)

They also looked at other fish activities …

It was the idea of Jack … “He has been plying the waters of the bay at all hours of the day and night for many years and had grown so accustomed to seeing the buzzing blue fish leap out of the water as his launch plowed past that he knew, almost to a foot, where every school of flying fish is between the bell buoy and Diamond Head.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, August 23, 1910)

“Yesterday a new sport was born; Waikiki bay was the birthplace, and HP Wood of the Hawaii promotion committee was the accoucheur. For the first time in the history of the field and gun were flying fish flushed with a steam launch and shot on the wing.”

“Taking pot shots at fish on the wing is sport of the first water, affording plenty of exercise in the good sea air, giving the opportunity for quick shooting, providing for the use of all the alertness contained within a man and being not too hard upon the fish.”

Oh, the boys of this story … the brothers, Herbert, William and Jack formed a company, Young Brothers; it eventually grew over the years into an active interisland freight company. (Jack, the youngest of the Young Brothers is my grandfather.)

In 1999, Saltchuk Resources, Inc of Seattle, Washington, the parent company of Foss Maritime, acquired Young Brothers and selected assets of Hawaiian Tug & Barge. In 2013, Hawaiian Tug & Barge was rebranded and incorporated into the Foss Maritime fleet, while Young Brothers remains a wholly owned subsidiary of Foss.

Currently, Young Brothers is undergoing a fleet modernization initiative to meet neighbor island cargo needs into the next generation. By the end of 2018, Young Brothers will have made capital investments of over $180 million in new vessels and shore-side equipment. (YB)

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Lucas_Tower_in_background-Young Brothers Launch ‘Sea Scout’ in Honolulu Harbor-PPWD-9-3-030-1905

Jack Edgar and Will Young 1903

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Young Brothers shark hunt

Honolulu Harbor Shark-Jack Young-PCA-June 14, 1907

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FLying Fish Shooting-PCA-Aug_23,_1910

January 9, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Arrival of the Young Brothers

In 1899, Herbert, William, Jack and Edgar Young were at Catalina Island; the year, before they started taking fishing parties out daily and conducting excursions to the coral gardens.

Some suggest this was the beginning of charter fishing; likewise, this marked the beginning of the famous glass-bottom boat rides which were to prove of such great interest and profit at Catalina.

On January 9, 1900, we sailed out of Golden Gate toward the Great adventure …”

“The Surprise, a two-masted schooner-equipped with one of the first gas engines of considerable horsepower – under the command of Captain Bray, was headed for the Hawaiian Group to engage in inter-island trade, serving the Kona Sugar Co., of Kailua – a most promising business.”

“Although there was then no actual tourist trade, which has of late years assumed such importance in Hawaii, all ships on their way to or from the Orient and Australia made Honolulu a port of call, and the harbor in 1900 was always a veritable forest of masts so that mooring was at a premium.”

“In fact, from twenty to thirty additional ships were always anchored in ‘Rotten Row,’ from where the chanteys of the windlass crews sounded out, floating across the smooth water to shore.”

“Herb was chief engineer aboard the Surprise while J served before the mast. It was a pleasant trip. Harry Wharton, later captain, was first mate; an Englishman, Harry, was the other sailor, but the real character was Tom, the cook, who fed us so much salt beef that the salt came through our pores and stuck to our shirts in the sun.”

“On the trip to Honolulu Herb would sit by me in the evening as I stood my trick at the wheel. The deepening glory of the Pacific sunset, as the ship rose and fell on a lazy ocean, tinted every spar and line and sail with colors that surpassed any we had ever seen back home in coastal waters.”

“Night after night we talked, in the dusk as the stars came out and the Southern Cross hung in the sky, of Hawaii, the Paradise of the Pacific. Captain Bray, a bluff, good-hearted skipper if I ever met one, told us yams of the Islands and described them as the most marvelous place a man could imagine.”

“Singularly enough, for the first time since I had become fired with the ambition to hunt sharks. I found myself giving little thought to the possibilities of shark fishing among the Islands.”

“The prospect of seeing and living in these elysian isles had unceremoniously overshadowed my original purpose in going there. I was, to put it mildly, all anticipation.”

“Yet no sooner had we set foot on Hawaiian soil than the old urge flared up again. Wherever I went I found the subject one of absorbing interest to all hands …”

“… but I soon discovered that, as usual, no one knew anything about sharks except rumors, legends and the apocryphal yarns of sailors who needed no encouragement to tell how they had outswum, tricked, caught or killed one or more sharks in desperate hand-to-fin encounters.”

“In fact, so avid was my quest for authentic information that I soon became known as ‘Sharky Bill,’ which name identifies me still in many ports and among many seafaring people.”

“At last, on January 19, after a fine voyage, we Sighted Honolulu. The green shores. the white beach and coral formations, the boats of the Kanakas, the town rising at the harbor edge to be lost in the verdure of the tropical plants …”

“… the great forest of masts and spars in the harbor, the clear water and brilliant coloring of everything within eyeshot made a picture that the years could not dim. Here at last was the land of my dreams, the real El Dorado, the place which one may leave, but to which he will always return, the enchanting isles where there is no good-bye, but only Aloha.”

“We dropped anchor at quarantine and stood on deck, silently, in wonder at the natural beauty of the island. Would our dreams come true here?”

“At the very outset it seemed that our plans were to lead only to disappointment. We could not even go ashore. Honolulu was under quarantine for bubonic plague. People had been dying off like flies and supervision was strict.”

“The night before our arrival one of the dilapidated thatched hovels in Chinatown had been burned by order of the authorities to rid the neighborhood of contagion, and the fire had been permitted to spread unchecked.”

“Chinatown was a smoldering mass of ruins where only a short time before dirty streets had been peopled with touts, women of easy virtue, hop-heads, smoke eaters, thieves, and beggars.”

“Honolulu had rid herself of a festering sore, and the populace was living in detention camps already built on the outskirts of the town. It was the end of an era.”

“We conferred on the situation. Obviously, if we landed we would be quarantined along with everybody else, and there was no telling when we might be free to make our start in trade among the islands.”

“Herb and I had just seventy-five dollars between us, which wasn’t very much. It had to last until we were able to find some new occupation. The decision was easy as we were in no danger of starvation aboard the Surprise, and we could still have our jobs there.”

“So, for the next three months we plied between Honolulu, on the island of Oahu, and Kailua, on Hawai‘i, a total distance of perhaps 150 miles.”

“If there happened to be a lumber shipment in Honolulu harbor for another port quarantine restrictions forced us to pick up floating lumber. Any cargo such as machinery was transferred from a lighter alongside our ship, but not before it was thoroughly sprayed with strong disinfectant.”

“But away from the danger zone we could land on any island, enjoying to the full the thrill of exploring a new land which was beautiful far beyond anything we had ever imagined.”

“Once we came very near losing not only our liberty but our ship and cargo. Harry, the mate, complained one evening of a swelling in the groin, high fever and all the symptoms of the dreaded plague.”

“It was sailing night, and any minute we expected the quarantine doctor to come aboard in order to give us our ‘pratique,’ or medical clearance. Visions of the authorities burning ship, cargo and all our effects rose before us. Yet there was nothing we could do except wait and see what happened.”

“Finally he climbed over the side. The crew, cook, captain, all lined up for critical inspection. Harry was last in line, feeling pretty low. But the swift tropical twilight came on in time to hide the feverish flush of his cheeks.”

“The doctor, impatient, scarcely gave him a glance, and signed clearance. What a relief! At nightfall we set sail and luck was with us again, for the mate’s ailment was not bubonic, but a localized infection which passed off after a few days.” (Younger brother Jack (my grandfather) arrived in October 1900.)

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Jack Edgar and Will Young 1903

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March 14, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Timeline Tuesday … 1900s

Today’s ‘Timeline Tuesday’ takes us through the 1900s – Young Brothers formed, Moana Hotel opens, Dole organizes Hawaiian Pineapple Company and UH starts. We look at what was happening in Hawai‘i during this time period and what else was happening around the rest of the world.

A Comparative Timeline illustrates the events with images and short phrases. This helps us to get a better context on what was happening in Hawai‘i versus the rest of the world. I prepared these a few years ago for a planning project. (Ultimately, they never got used for the project, but I thought they might be on interest to others.)

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January 19, 2016 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Herbert, William & Jack

Good seafaring men of Maine stock, whose parents went to California in Forty-nine, they followed a natural inclination, and the application of Yankee methods soon built up a business which has grown to be one of the most important in the Islands. (Rogers)

The boys must have inherited this nautical bent because, at an early age, they were hiring themselves out for fishing trips using a small skiff that they sailed around the bay. In the summer of 1899, all four boys ran a glass-bottomed boat excursion at Catalina Island.

Then, on January 19, 1900, 29-year old Herbert and 25-year old William had their first view of Honolulu after a ten-day journey from San Francisco.

The boys planned “to take passengers out to the reef surrounding the (Honolulu) harbor”. (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, October 31, 1901) They did other things to entertain people, as well.

Fifty members of the Methodist Church were their guests; “the entertainment taking the form of a moonlight ride about the harbor, and refreshments at the island home of the hosts.”

They “spent the evening upon the waters or the bay. There was a compete round of the harbor made, the launches going out to where the lights of the battleship Wisconsin outlined the mass of the great ship, and then the return(ed) (for) an hour spent in games and partaking of refreshments, after which there was another ride about the placid bay before the good nights.”

“The evening was enlivened with music, several of the young people taking musical instruments with them. The arrangements were made by Mrs. Katherine Clarke, the chairman of the social committee.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, October 25, 1901)

They also looked at other fish activities …

It was the idea of Jack. “He has been plying the waters of the bay at all hours of the day and night for many years and had grown so accustomed to seeing the buzzing blue fish leap out of the water as his launch plowed past that he knew, almost to a foot, where every school of flying fish is between the bell buoy and Diamond Head.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, August 23, 1910)

“Yesterday a new sport was born; Waikiki bay was the birthplace, and HP. Wood of the Hawaii promotion committee was the accoucheur. For the first time in the history of the field and gun were flying fish flushed with a steam launch and shot on the wing.”

“It was a brand new experience in the hunting line that a party of local nimrods and visitors indulged in yesterday morning, an experience that will undoubtedly be shared in by many others before long. Taking pot shots at fish on the wing is sport of the first water, affording plenty of exercise in the good sea air, giving the opportunity for quick shooting, providing for the use of all the alertness contained within a man and being not too hard upon the fish.”

It all was not fun and games. In those days, there might be from five to twenty sailing ships off Sand Island. When a ship came in, the anchor line had to be run out to secure the ship; if the ship was coming to the dock, a line had to be carried to the pier.

In the early years of the company, they used its first boat, Billy, to service the ships by carrying supplies and sailors to ships at anchor outside the harbor, as well as run lines for anchoring or docking vessels. They also pulled boats off the reefs, conducted salvage operations and various other harbor-related activities.

Regularly, the brothers were called upon to help in rescue and salvage operations, including, “For more than an hour yesterday morning Prince Kuhio Kalanianaole and the three companions with whom he started to make the sail from the harbor to Pearl River, in is yacht the Princess, battled for their lives in the waves which swept over their heads …”

“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 (Herbert and William) and to send their fastest launch to the rescue.”

“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.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, November 17, 1902)

Oh, the boys of this story, the brothers, Herbert, William and Jack (and a bit of their early history) … they were the Young brothers. Their company, Young Brothers, eventually grew over the years into an active interisland freight company. Young Brothers continues today.

The youngest of the Young Brothers, Jack, is my grandfather. (Lots of information here is from YB-100.)

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