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July 31, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Land Sampans

A shortage of laborers to work in the growing (in size and number) sugar plantations became a challenge. The only answer was imported labor.

Starting in the 1850s, when the Hawaiian Legislature passed “An Act for the Governance of Masters and Servants,” a section of which provided the legal basis for contract-labor system, labor shortages were eased by bringing in contract workers from Asia, Europe and North America.

The first 943-government-sponsored, Kanyaku Imin, Japanese immigrants to Hawaiʻi arrived in Honolulu aboard the Pacific Mail Steamship Company City of Tokio on February 8, 1885. Subsequent government approval was given for a second set of 930-immigrants who arrived in Hawaii on June 17, 1885.

With the Japanese government satisfied with treatment of the immigrants, a formal immigration treaty was concluded between Hawaiʻi and Japan on January 28, 1886. The treaty stipulated that the Hawaiʻi government would be held responsible for employers’ treatment of Japanese immigrants.

Iwaji Minato “was among 1,500 contract laborers who came to Hakalau from Japan on the Niikemaru … he was employed at Hakalau Plantation as a day laborer.”

“As soon as his three-year contract expired, Minato bought a mule and began his transportation career. For the first two years he was his own boss, but later he worked under Jack Wilson of the Volcano Stables as mail carrier on the Hilo-Hakalau route.” “Minato was a mule-driver … carrying passengers and express on his carriage between Hilo and Hakalau.”

“This he continued for 16 years until he acquired the new conspicuous bus in 1913. ‘My license number 161,’ said Minato smilingly. ‘Me first man in Hilo get license. Plenty me drive before, but no more license.’” (Hawaii Tribune Herald, July 24, 1932) “Minato’s bus became the oldest ‘Land Sampan’ or cruising bus in Hilo.” (Warshauer)

“Traveling at a rate of 70 miles per day for the last 19 years, and not missing a day, is a record of Iwaji Minato, owner of Hilo’s oldest ‘sampan,’ or cruising bus. … In 1913 Minato bought this relic for $500. It was then a shiny second hand Ford, the envy of all his comrades,”

“Today, in that same car, which has traveled more than 485,000 miles. He makes seven trips a day to and fro between Hilo and Hakalau.”

“Young and old patronize his bus, regardless of its nondescript air and old-fashioned rear entrance. When anyone teases him about his keeping the old sampan and suggests a new one he shakes his head negatively and thereby ends the conversation.” (Hawaii Tribune Herald, July 24, 1932)

“‘What’s a Sampan?’ … ‘It’s one of those taxi-cabs that looks like a bathtub gone wrong.’ … ‘You’re nuts. It’s a boat. Say, guys, this mug thinks a Sampan is a taxi-cab!’”

“Well, an argument started and the air was full of sneers and jeers, and somewhat confused nautical terms. But it just so happens that, here in the islands. They both are right, for a Sampan is either of two things: a taxi-cab or a boat.”

“The land Sampan was originated here in the islands some years ago and is seen nowhere else. Looking, indeed, like bathtubs with a cover and wheels, they’ll take you almost anywhere you want to go – on land.”

“The seagoing Sampan is something else again. In peace time, they were just plain fishing boats, but since the war began, they have been taken over by the Navy and are used for in-shore patrol duty.” (Hawaii Tribune Herald, May 16, 1942)

“The sampan was born in the blacksmith shops of Hilo to meet the city’s need for mass transportation. Turning a Ford Model T or Model A sedan or coupe [and then subsequent car makes and models] into a bus that could carry 10 or more passengers entailed removing the body aft the cowl and building a longer, open body with bench seats along the sides.” (Lee)

“One of the few oldtime blacksmiths still plying his unique trade, Teiji Kamimura of the Kamimura Blacksmith Shop, 864 Kilauea Avenue, recalls that the very first sampan built in Hilo was at the old Von Hamm Young Co. by a first class carpenter named Miwa. He recalls that incident back in 1922 since he did all of the blacksmith work for it.”

“Some of the pioneers in the sampan construction business (sampan busses are unique to Hilo) were Shigeyoshi Kamada of the Kamada Blacksmith Shop, Hisagoro and Akira Yasukawa – Yasukawa Blacksmith Shop, Otomatsu Enseki – Enseki Blacksmith Shop, Toshio Aramori, and few others.”

“One of the first sampan operators was Fukumatsu Kusumoto. [He] recalls that it took them three months to construct the first bus … when he started his own business”.

“Almost all of the sampan operators in the early 1920s to 1935 were Japanese. Since then others and especially Filipinos got into the business. … Yasukawa and Aramori used to construct one sampan a month.” (Hawaii Tribune Herald, Feb 29, 1976)

“‘Sampan’ was the name previously given to small, flat-bottomed boats that provide personal transportation in the harbors and along the coasts of Southeast Asia. Since Japanese and Filipino residents of Hilo were the first to use similar construction techniques to convert motor vehicles to ferry passengers around the city, they also adopted the sampan name.” (Lee)

“Some of the early bus operators who were first to pioneer Hilo’s sampans included … Minato who used to service passengers up to Hakalau from Hilo, Dosaku Chonan, Taigeki Tamane Kuba, and many others in Hilo.”

“[B]ack in the early 1920s the bus fare from the then Waiakea Town to Hilo railroad depot formerly located makai of present Koehnen’s in downtown Hilo was just 5 cents.” This led to them being referred to as the “five cents” busses.

“During the heyday of the busses – 1930 to 1941, there were approximately 200 sampans in operation giving door to door services.” (Hawaii Tribune Herald, Feb 29, 1976)

“By the 1930s, sampan buses formed the backbone of the island’s early transit system, with some two hundred in operation. “Hilo’s motor transportation facilities are generally conceded to be unsurpassed in the islands, both in cheapness and in service,” the Honolulu Star-Bulletin declared three years later.” (Hana Hou)

Several associations were formed including Hilo Bus, Union Bus, Aloha Bus and Hawaii Bus. It was viewed as a “cut-throat” business (there was a price war in 1936 when there was “dissatisfaction and strained feelings among the local sampan bus drivers over the appearance of the Red Checker Bus Service, which is operating eight busses at a lower rate that the prevalent bus charges.” (HTH July 20, 1936)

In 1938, bus tariffs were arbitrated through the Hilo Chamber of Commerce and the agreed upon price schedule was tacked on the busses and drivers signed an agreement that they would abide by the new prices. (Hawaii Tribune Herald, Mar 30, 1938)

“But soon the personal vehicle was on the rise. Demand dwindled. By 1969, only a dozen drivers were left in Hilo. Six years later, the county council wanted safer alternatives.”

“Buses with the long, familiar boxy shape were rolling out, but one reluctant councilman deplored their look, calling for an option ‘other than one with a distinctive Mainland flavor.’ In December 1975, the county bought out the last five sampan drivers in Hilo.” (Hana Hou)

July 30, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Missionaries Lay The Foundation for a System of Public Instruction

Merze Tate, Professor of History at Howard University, wrote a 1961 article titled, The Sandwich Island Missionaries Lay the Foundation for a system of Public Education in Hawaii. The following is taken from that article.

“Aside from conversions, one of the most notable achievements of the Congregational and Presbyterian missionaries sent to the Sandwich Islands under the auspices of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was the development of an educational system for the nation.”

“A broad enlightenment program for the islanders depended upon instruction in the indigenous tongue and this, of necessity, was delayed until the pioneer teachers had learned the language and reduced it to a written form. Nevertheless, before the evangelists were well settled at [Kailua-Kona], on Hawaii, and Honolulu and Waimea, on Oahu, they made a start in English.”

“The missionaries reasoned that if the masses were to be made literate within a reasonable period they would have to be taught in their own tongue.” (Merze Tate)

The cycle of missionary educational endeavor divides itself roughly into three periods: first was a decade of establishment and experimentation, lasting from 1820 to about 1831. Here the language was reduced to a written form, teaching materials were printed and adults learned the rudiments of reading and writing.

The second period, from 1831 to 1840 was characterized by a shift from adult to child education. By improvement in training teachers to teach.

Finally, the following two decades where the missionaries gradually relinquished their control of educational activities; this saw the establishment of public education under governmental control in 1840, and lasted to 1863 when the ABCFM ended the mission in Hawai‘i. (Whist)

“After the first printed sheets came from the press in the Hawaiian language, on January 7, 1822, and all were able to see their own words in print, learning to read, write, and spell was comparatively easy”.

“After the chiefs beheld their language in print they began to manifest a more lively interest in education for themselves and for their children and in the establishment and maintenance of schools for their people.”

“After the public advocacy of instruction by the highest chiefs, in April 1824, similar action came from all parts of the kingdom. Learning also received a great impulse from the personal tours of the vigorous Kaahumanu, who went all through the islands commanding the people to listen to the Kumus, or missionary teachers, and the chiefs to provide facilities for schools.”

“Because of the lack of paper and slates, writing was taught only to a very limited extent, and arithmetic hardly at all until an eight-page pamphlet on the subject was published at the beginning of 1828.”

“By 1825 the people stood waiting for instruction while the missionaries were endeavoring to bring out a new supply of spelling books, which would make possible the doubling of the number of schools.”

“Between April 1 and October 15, 1825, the mission station on Oahu distributed 16,000 copies of their Elementary Lessons [Pi-a-pa], nearly all of which were used in schools. Outside these, however, there were multitudes anxious to learn but could not be furnished with competent teachers or palapala.”

“Men and women as well as children, requested enrollment in the first schools and eagerly sought the materials of instruction by bringing at different times in the course of the season sugar cane, taro, a bunch of bananas, a fowl, or a kid, a bundle of sticks for firewood, a ball of native cord, or the offer of some kind of work to exchange for a spelling book.”

“Obviously, the few missionaries in Hawaii could not, in addition to their primary evangelical duties, personally instruct the multitude of pupils seeking education or give adequate supervision to numerous schools scattered throughout the islands.”

“It was necessary to utilize the services of Hawaiian teachers. For the periodic inspection of the numerous schools two methods were used: quarterly examination (hoike) of as many as possible of the pupils of a whole district in a convenient place, and tours throughout a district or about an island by one or more missionaries or Hawaiians appointed for that purpose.”

“The first method, however, stimulated community interest, made the youth more eager in their pursuit of the new learning, and became gala occasions, ending in a feast.”

“The evangelists’ initial educational work, despite its limitations, produced important and enduring results and laid the foundation upon which they were able to intensify their educational efforts and to establish permanent educational monuments in the 1830’s.”

“There was continued increase in the number of people receiving instruction. In 1828, 37,000 were in school, while two years later the number stood at 41,283, with 20,000 scholars on Hawaii, 10,385 or Maui, 6,398 on Oahu, and about 4,500 on Kauai.”

“The following year there were 1,100 common schools in operation with a pupil enrollment of 52,000. By the close of that year the Pi-a-pa had gone through nine editions to place a total of 190,000 copies in circulation.”

“However, at times during this period of educational expansion schools in some districts were practically deserted for work on the land or in collecting sandalwood in the forests.”

“After the heaviest pressure of adult education was over, the missionaries, realizing that the hope of the nation lay in its children, gave more attention to teaching youngsters.”

“The first school built exclusively for Hawaiian children met in 1832 in a large, badly constructed, unfurnished building which used adobe bricks for seats and desks, and had no glass windows. But even this ‘step in the ladder of progress’ was demolished in an autumn storm.”

“The Sandwich Islands Mission, in June 1831, however, resolved to establish a high school to ‘instruct men of peity and promising talents’ in order that they might become assistant teachers.”

“The school, with Rev. Lorrin Andrews as principal and sole instructor, was delightfully located at Lahainaluna, or Upper Lahaina, on a high elevation about two miles back from the port of Lahaina, on Maui. Governor Hoopili made a grant of land of one thousand acres, which concession was later confirmed by King Kamehameha III.”

“Although started as an experiment to qualify Hawaiian teachers in ‘the best methods of communicating instruction to others,’ the first twenty-five students had already taught and had had some training at the mission stations. Moreover, almost all were married men who brought their wives with them.”

“In 1833, the missionaries resolved to initiate a manual labor system in connection with the studies at the high school and in the following year decided to enlarge and put the institution on a permanent basis/”

“From Lahainaluna, on February 14, 1834, was issued the first Hawaiian newspaper, in fact the first paper west of the Rocky Mountains in the North Pacific, Ka Lama Hawaii, or Hawaiian Luminary, which contained miscellaneous instruction for the school.”

“In addition to Lahainaluna, several other educational institutions were established during the decade of the 1830’s.”

“In 1839, at the request of the chiefs, a family or boarding school was opened in Honolulu for the education of their children [Chiefs’ Children’s School, Royal School]. That these young chiefs should be in school under systematic instruction was considered of immense importance, both for their and the Hawaiian kingdom’s welfare and future.”

“The old chiefs were rapidly disappearing and if their heirs were to fill their places, they must be well prepared. They must either acquire a good education or become extinct as chiefs.”

“Up to 1840, when the mission surrendered the administration of the common schools to the government, the major share of the responsibility for the education of Hawaiian youth was in the hands of the American Protestant missionaries.”

“After that date, as we have seen, they established and continued to operate more select and boarding schools for an increasing number of Hawaiians who were able to pay something toward the education of their children.”

“The station and boarding schools for native Hawaiians which the missionaries founded were their pride, their joy, their hope, and their stronghold of the nation.”

“Through their instrumentality the evangelists expected to raise and influence an intelligent and somewhat educated people, and in this aspiration they were not disappointed.”

“Initially, the Sandwich Islands Mission – for both humanitarian and selfish reasons – resisted the proposal to make English the language of the nation and to teach the subject in all the mission schools.” (Merze Tate)

In a letter to the Sandwich Island Mission, Rufus Anderson, corresponding secretary for the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mission (ABCFM) in Boston, wrote on April 10, 1846: “I trust you will not fall in with the notion, which I am told is favored by some one at least in the government, of introducing the English language, to take the place of the Hawaiian.”

“I cannot suppose there is a design to bring the Saxon race in to supplant the native, but nothing would be more sure to accomplish this result, and that speedily.” (Hawaiian Language Policy and the Courts, Lucas)

The arrival of the first company of American missionaries in Hawaiʻi in 1820 marked the beginning of Hawaiʻi’s phenomenal rise to literacy. The chiefs became proponents for education and edicts were enacted by the King and the council of chiefs to stimulate the people to reading and writing.

John Laimana tells us that by 1831, in just eleven years from the first arrival of the missionaries, Hawaiians had built 1,103 schoolhouses. This covered every district throughout the eight major Islands and serviced an estimated 52,882 students.

The proliferation of schoolhouses was augmented by the printing of 140,000 copies of the pī-ʻāpā (elementary Hawaiian spelling book) by 1829 and the staffing of the schools with 1,000-plus Hawaiian teachers.

By 1832, the literacy rate of Hawaiians (at the time was 78 percent) had surpassed that of Americans on the continent. The literacy rate of the adult Hawaiian population skyrocketed from near zero in 1820 to a conservative estimate of 91-percent – and perhaps as high as 95-percent – by 1834. (Laimana)

Missionary Hiram Bingham stated that the rise in literacy and education, “was like laying a corner stone of an important edifice for the nation.”

“This legendary rise in literacy climbed from a near-zero literacy rate in 1820, to between 91 to 95 percent by 1834. That’s only twelve years from the time the first book was printed!” (KSBE)

“The Missionaries have been the fathers, the builders and the supporters of education in these Islands”. (Lee, December 2, 1847, Privy Council Minutes)

“Thus we may conclude that the educational work of the Sandwich Islands Mission was of incalculable value in disseminating knowledge to all classes of people, in the kingdom, in planting and nurturing religious concepts and some of the better features of western civilization, and in laying the foundation for a system of public instruction”. (Merze Tate)

July 29, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Puʻu ʻOhau

Fishers generally refer to it as ‘Red Hill;’ its volcanic cinder, partially collapsed and exposed on the seaward side, gives it an easy name. It’s not just a marker; fishers troll offshore with great success.

Nearshore is a marine fisheries management area; you can catch fish for personal consumption, but there is no aquarium fish collection permitted.

The hill is actually named Puʻu ʻOhau (hill of dew) and is the most conspicuous coastal landmark on the low coastal cliffs between Keauhou Bay (to the north) and Kealakekua (on the south;) it marks the boundary between North and South Kona.

Although the entire landform may be the “puʻu,” according to McCoy … the archaeological evidence tends to indicate that the area was used for general habitation purposes and was not reserved for only burial or other ritual uses that might be considered exclusionary.

This archaeological evidence suggests that there may have been a land use distinction between the flat bench and the steeper slopes of the puʻu although they are part of the same landform.

The matter of a burial on the puʻu helps us remember some others.

With the construction and extension of the Ane Keohokālole Highway from Palani road to Hina Lani, many in West Hawaii (although they generally reference the road as “Ane K”) are becoming more familiar with the name Keohokālole.

Analeʻa, Ane or Annie Keohokālole was a Hawaiian chiefess; she was born at Kailua-Kona, Hawaiʻi in 1816. Through her father, she was descended from Kameʻeiamoku and Keaweaheulu, two of the four Kona Uncles that supported Kamehameha I.

Her first marriage was to John Adams Kuakini; they had no children. Kuakini (brother of Ka’ahumanu) was an important adviser to Kamehameha I in the early stages of the Kingdom of Hawai‘i.

When the Kingdom’s central government moved to Lāhainā in 1820, Kuakini’s influence expanded on Hawaiʻi Island, with his appointment as the Royal Governor of Hawaiʻi Island, serving from 1820 until his death in 1844.

During his tenure, Kuakini built some of the historical sites that dominate Kailua today. The Great Wall of Kuakini, probably a major enhancement of an earlier wall, was one of these.

The Great Wall of Kuakini extends in a north-south direction for approximately 6 miles from Kailua to near Keauhou, and is generally 4 to 6-feet high and 4-feet wide;’ the Great Wall of Kuakini separated the coastal lands from the inland pasture lands.

Speculation has ranged from military/defense to the confinement of grazing animals; however, most seem to agree it served as a cattle wall, keeping the troublesome cattle from wandering through the fields and houses of Kailua.

Kuakini also built Huliheʻe Palace; it was completed in 1838, a year after the completion of Mokuʻaikaua Church (Lit., section won (during) war,) the first stone church on the Island of Hawaiʻi.

In 1833, Analeʻa married Caesar Kapaʻakea, a chief of lesser rank and her first cousin. Caesar’s father, Kamanawa II was no ‘ordinary’ ranking chief; he was the grandson of Kameʻeiamoku, one of the ‘royal twins.’

He was named after his famous grand uncle, the other royal twin. (The twins are on Hawaiʻi’s Royal Coat of Arms; Kameʻeiamoku is on the right holding a kahili and Kamanawa on the left holding a spear.)

Caesar’s father has one other notable distinction; he was found guilty of poisoning his wife (Caesar’s mother) and was the first to be hanged for murder under the newly formed constitution and penal laws (1840.)

OK, back to Caesar and Analeʻa – they had several children. Most notable were a son, who on February 13, 1874 became King Kalākaua, and a daughter, who on January 29, 1891 became Queen Liliʻuokalani – the Kalākaua Dynasty that ruled Hawaiʻi from 1874 to 1893.

Oh, the burial at Puʻu ʻOhau? Ane Keohokālole’s mother, Kamaeokalani (Kamae) is buried at its top.

When I was at DLNR, the matter of dealing with the burial came up within the first few days of my term (in 2003.) Back in 1999, members of the ʻOhana Keohokālole requested that protective measures be put in place on the puʻu.

The matter was on the Hawaiʻi Island Burial Council’s agenda; the family’s suggested means of protection is the construction of a six (6) foot rock wall around Puʻu ʻOhau. I had several conversations with family members, it was decided to order the wall to be placed where they recommended, on the 120-foot contour.

July 28, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Sereno Edwards Bishop

Sereno Edwards Bishop was born at Kaʻawaloa on February 7, 1827; he was son of Rev. Artemas and Elizabeth (Edwards) Bishop (part of the Second Company of missionaries to Hawaiʻi (arriving April 27, 1823) and first stationed at Kailua, on the Big Island.)

Mrs Bishop had been a girlhood friend of Mrs Lucy G Thurston, who had preceded her to Hawaii as a missionary, some four years earlier. Mrs Bishop died February 28, 1828 at Kailua, the first death in the mission.

Mr. Bishop, Sr subsequently married Delia Stone, who was a member of the Third Company of missionaries (December 1, 1828.)

The missionaries’ house was usually in a thickly inhabited village, so the missionary and his wife could be close to their work among the people; the missionary children were typically cooped up in their home.

With hundreds of children all about them, missionary children had no playmates except the children of other missionaries, most of whom were scattered over the Islands, meeting only a few times a year. (Thurston)

“In the early-(1830s,) Kailua was a large native village, of about 4,000 inhabitants rather closely packed along one hundred rods of shore (about 1,650-feet,) and averaging twenty rods inland (about 330-feet.)”

“Near by stood a better stone house occupied by the doughty Governor Kuakiui. All other buildings in Kailua were thatched, until Rev. Artemas Bishop built his two-story stone dwelling in 1831 and Rev. Asa Thurston in 1833 built his wooden two-story house at Laniākea, a quarter of a mile inland.”

“The people had ample cultivable land in the moist upland from two to four miles inland at altitudes of one thousand to twenty-five hundred feet. It is a peculiarity of that Kona coast that while the shore may be absolutely rainless for months gentle showers fall daily upon the mountain slope.” (Bishop)

Sereno Bishop was sent to the continent at age 12 for education (he graduated from Amherst College in 1846 and Auburn Theological Seminary in 1851,) he married Cornelia A Session on May 31, 1852 and returned to Hawaiʻi on January 16, 1853.

His observation of Honolulu at the time noted, “The settled portion of the city was then substantially limited by the present
Alapaʻi and River streets and mauka at School street. There was hardly anything outside of those limits and the remainder was practically an open plain.”

“Above Beretania street, on the slopes and beyond Alapaʻi street, there was hardly a building of any nature whatever.”

“At that time there was a small boarding school for the children of the missions at Punahou, under direction of Father Dole. This little structure alone intervened between the city and Mōʻiliʻili, where about the church there were a few houses.” (Bishop)

Bishop assumed the position of Seaman’s Chaplain in Lāhainā. The Bishops remained nine years at Lahaina, where five children were born to them (two of the boys died at a young age.)

After 10-years in Lāhainā, he moved to Hāna and later returned to Lāhainā and served from 1865 to 1877 as principal of Lahainaluna. Mr. Bishop considered the work which he did among the native students at Lahainaluna was among the most fruitful of his life.

He left his mark at Lahainaluna, physically, in the shape of the grand avenue of monkey pods on the road to Lahaina, which he personally planted. (Thurston)

Bishop had a reputation as an amateur scientist with interests particularly in geology. Bishop’s contributions as an atmospheric scientist were sufficiently prominent to be mentioned in the Monthly Weather Review. (SOEST)

Rev. Sereno Bishop, a missionary in Hawaiʻi, was the first to provide detailed observations of a phenomenon not previously reported – he noted his observation on September 5, 1883. It was later named for him – Bishop’s Ring (a halo around the sun, typically observed after large volcanic eruptions.)

Bishop’s observations followed the eruption at Krakatoa (August 23, 1883.) His findings suggested the existence of the ‘Jet Stream’ (this used to be referred to as the ‘Krakatoa Easterlies.’)

“It now seems probable that the enormous projections of gaseous and other matter from Krakatoa (Krakatau) have been borne by the upper currents and diffused throughout a belt of half the earth’s circumference, and not improbably, as careful observation may yet establish, even entirely around the globe.” (Sereno Bishop)

Bishop made other volcanic observations; a hundred years ago, he noted Diamond Head was made in less than a hour’s time and is “composed not of lava, like the main mountain mass inland, but of this soft brown rock called tuff.” (Bishop, Commercial Advertiser, July 15, 1901)

In 1887, he moved to Honolulu and became editor of “The Friend,” a monthly journal, founded in Honolulu in 1843, “the oldest publication west of the Rocky Mountains.”

Bishop was identified as “the well-known mouthpiece of the annexation party” and criticized by royalists for his comments. He remained in Honolulu and died there March 23, 1909.

July 27, 2024 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

“Admiral of the Sandwich Islands”

On November 27, 1823, Kamehameha II (Liholiho) was the first Ali‘i to travel to England. He was accompanied by Kamāmalu, the queen, Boki and his wife, Liliha, Kekūanāoʻa, Manuia, James Young and Kapihe. (Alexander)

Kapihe (Naihekukui) “was very intelligent, had an excellent memory, and spoke English tolerably. He was remarkably skillful in the game of draughts (Kōnane,) which he played with uniform success.” (Byron)

He was son of the chief Hanakāhi and also known as Jack the Pilot or Captain Jack. He had been the pilot for the Russian explorer Golovnin in 1818 and piloted Freycinet from Kailua Bay to Kawaihae in August 1819. (Birkett) Lord Byron referred to him as ‘Admiral.’

“He was decently clad in European clothes and spoke passable English; he showed me papers authorizing him to pilot us through these waters.” (Camille de Roquefeuil; Birkett)

Back to Liholiho’s trip … it was taken partly by curiosity to see foreign lands, and partly by a desire to secure protection for his country, especially against Russia.

A council of the high chiefs was held at Lahaina to consider the subject, at which Kaahumanu was acknowledged as regent with Kalanimōku as her prime-minister, and Kauikeaouli confirmed as heir-apparent.

The king embarked in an English whale-ship, “L’Aigle,” commanded by Captain Starbuck, an American. (Alexander)

L’Aigle arrived on May 17, 1824 in Portsmouth, and the next day the entourage moved into the Caledonian Hotel in London. On the 12th of June, Manuia, was attacked by the measles; the next day, the king sickened, and by the 19th, all of the party were afflicted with the same disease … in a few days, the queen became dangerously ill. (Jarves)

Kapihe was the only one of the followers who had suffered from the disorder in a degree at all equal to the king and queen. Boki and Kekūanāoʻa rapidly recovered; and Kapihe soon grew better.

On the 4th of July, Liholiho was sufficiently well to give an audience to Richard Charlton, Esq., the newly appointed consul to his dominions. By the 8th, no hopes of the queen were entertained; the mutual grief of the royal couple was affecting.

They held each other in a warm and protracted embrace, while the thought of dying so early in their career, so far from their loved islands and friends, caused the tears to gush freely. In the evening she died. (Jarves)

The king was supported by pillows, and said little, but repeated the words, “I am dying, I am dying:” within the curtains of the bed one of the chiefs sat continually, with his face towards the king, and his eyes fixed on him, in conformity, as they said, with their native customs.

The day of the 8th of July was a very painful one, and the dying agony of the sufferer was long; for it was not until four o’clock of the morning of the 14th that Tamehameha II breathed his last. (Byron)

The grief-stricken Kamehameha II (age 27) died six days later on July 14, 1824. Prior to his death he asked to return and be buried in Hawai‘i.

Shortly thereafter, the British Government dispatched HMS Blonde to convey the bodies of Liholiho and Kamāmalu back to Hawaii, along with the entourage. The Captain of the Blonde, a newly commissioned 46-gun frigate, was Lord Byron (a cousin of the poet.)

The remains of the sovereigns had been placed in lead coffins, enclosed in wood, covered with crimson velvet, and richly ornamented. Suitable inscriptions in English and Hawaiian told the rank and age of the deceased.

The group headed back to the Islands on the 28th of September. On their voyage they had an opportunity of observing several other countries. The frigate touched at Rio, St. Catherines, at Valparaiso. (Jarves)

Early in the morning of February 8, 1825, “Kapihe was affected with an apparent determination of blood to the head, and, notwithstanding every effort to save him, he died in the course of the day.”

“The attack seemed to have been coming on for some days; and, as it afterwards appeared, an abscess had formed on the brain.”

“The death of Kapihe may be considered as a serious loss to his native country: his natural intelligence had been cultivated and improved by his various voyages, and he had the most anxious desire to be useful at home.”

“We buried him out at sea off the Couronilla point, because the bigotry of the Chilians scarcely permits permanent repose to the remains of such as are not within the pale of the Roman church; and as Kapihe was not even christened, we substituted a prayer, written on the occasion, for the church service, when we committed his body to the deep.” (Byron)

The Blonde arrived back in Honolulu on May 6, 1825. Liholiho and Kamāmalu were buried on the grounds of the ʻIolani Palace in a coral house meant to be the Hawaiian version of the tombs Liholiho had seen in London. They were eventually moved to Mauna ‘Ala, the Royal Mausoleum.

Kamehameha II was succeeded by his younger brother Kauikeaouli, who became King Kamehameha III.

Kapihe had one daughter, Kalama.

When it came to selecting a wife, Kamehameha III chose Kalama, although Kamanele, daughter of Gov. Adams, had been proposed as the most suitable, as to age, rank and education.

“Princes, doubtless, have a right to choose their own companions, though if they expect their offspring to enjoy a peaceful possession of the throne, the constitution, established usage, or will of the nation, should be respected. No small agitation existed for a time. His wishes in this matter, however, eventually prevailed.” (Bingham)

The image shows Kapihe (Naihekukui, Captain Jack, Jack the Pilot.) It was drawn by Arago.