Voyage Of The Thaddeus
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On October 23, 1819, the Pioneer Company of ABCFM missionaries from the northeast US, set sail on the Thaddeus for the Hawaiian Islands.
These included two Ordained Preachers, Hiram Bingham and his wife Sybil and Asa Thurston and his wife Lucy; two Teachers, Mr. Samuel Whitney and his wife Mercy and Samuel Ruggles and his wife Mary; a Doctor, Thomas Holman and his wife Lucia; a Printer, Elisha Loomis and his wife Maria; a Farmer, Daniel Chamberlain, his wife Jerusha and their five children; and four young Hawaiians: Hopu; Kanui; Honoli‘i and Humehume (the son of Kauai’s King Kaumuali‘i).
This page notes their daily progress from Boston to Hawai‘i and shares some of their letters and journal entries on their voyage.
They first sighted the Islands and arrived at Kawaihae on March 30, 1820, and finally anchored at Kailua-Kona, April 4, 1820. On April 11, King Kamehameha II (Liholiho) gave the missionaries permission to stay. They set up a mission station in Kailua-Kona, the Honolulu contingent arrived on Oʻahu on April 19, 1820. Finally, Ruggles and Whitney took Humehume home to Kauai on May 2, 1820.