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November 1, 2021 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Preparing for Life in the Colonies in the Early Years

The Higginson Fleet (named after the Reverend Francis Higginson) was bound for Massachusetts to prepare the way to expand the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Portions of a diary Higginson kept of his voyage and the first few months in the colony was published as “New England’s Plantation, or a Short and True Description of the Commodities and Discommodities of that Country”'(1630). A lot of the information here comes from his writing.

Rev. Higginson tried to prepare people before they came, saying,

“Before you come, be careful to be strongly instructed what things are fittest to bring with you for your more comfortable passage at sea, as also for your husbandry occasions when you come to the land.

“For when you are once parted with England you shall meete neither markets nor fayres to buy what you want. Therefore be sure to furnish yourselves with things fitting to be had before you come …”

“… as meale for bread, malt for drinke, woolen and linnen cloath, and leather for shoes, and all manner of carpenters tools, and a great deale of iron and steele to make nails, and locks for houses, and furniture for ploughs and carts, and glasse for windows, and many other things which were better for you to think of there than to want them here.”

Higginson listed a “A Catalog of such needefull things as every Planter doth or ought to provide to go to New-England; as namely for one man; which, being doubled, may serve for as many as you please.”

Also there are divers other things necessary to bee taken over to this Plantation, as Bookes, Nets, Hookes and Lines, Cheese, Bacon, Kine [cattle], Goats, &c. [and spices] (Higginson)

Winslow also helped prepare future colonists with “Certain Useful Directions for Such as Intend a Voyage into Those Parts,”

“Now because I expect your coming unto us, with other of our friends, whose company we much desire, I thought good to advertise you of a few things needful.”

“Be careful to have a very good bread-room to put your biscuits in. Let your cask for beer and water be iron-bound, for the first tier, if not more.”

“Let not your meat be dry-salted; none can better do it than the sailors. Let your meal be so hard trod in your cask that you shall need an adz or hatchet to work it out with.”

“Trust not too much on us for corn at this time, for by reason of this last company that came, depending wholly upon us, we shall have little enough till harvest. Be careful to come by some of your meal to spend by the way; it will much refresh you.”

“Build your cabins as open as you can, and bring good store of clothes and bedding with you.”

“Bring every man a musket or fowling-piece. Let your piece be long in the barrel, and fear not the weight of it, for most of our shooting is from stands.”

“Bring juice of lemons, and take it fasting; it is of good use.”

“For hot water, aniseed water is the best, but use it sparingly.”

“If you bring anything for comfort in the country, butter or salad oil, or both, is very good.”

“Our Indian corn, even the coarsest, maketh as pleasant meat as rice; therefore spare that, unless to spend by the way.

“Bring paper and linseed oil for your windows, with cotton yarn for your lamps.”

“Let your shot be most for big fowls, and bring store of powder and shot. I forbear further to write for the present, hoping to see you by the next return.”

“So I take my leave, commending you to the Lord for a safe conduct unto us.” (Mourt’s Relation, Edward Winslow, December 11, 1621)

The Earth, Water, Air and Fire of New England

Higginson described the colonies and uses the four elements in his description. “Letting passe our Voyage by Sea, we will now begin our discourse on the shore of New-England.”

“And because the life and wel-fare of euerie Creature here below, and the commodiousnesse of the Countrey whereas such Creatures liue, doth by the most wise ordering of Gods prouidence, depend next vnto himselfe, vpon the temperature and disposition of the foure Elements, Earth, Water, Aire and Fire.”

“(For as of the mixture of all these, all sublunarie things are composed; so by the more or lesse injoyment of the wholesome temper and conuenient vse of these, consisteth the onely well being both of Man and Beast in a more or lesse comfortable measure in all Countreys vnder the Heauens.)”

“First therefore of the Earth of New England and all the appurtenances thereof; It is a Land of diuers and sundry sorts all about Masathulets Bay, and at Charles River is as fat blacke Earth as can be seene any where: and in other places you haue a clay soyle, in other grauell, in other sandy, as it is all about our Plantation at Salem , for so our Towne is now named, Psal. 76.2.”

“The forme of the Earth here in the superficies of it is neither too flat in the plainnesse, nor too high in Hils, but partakes of both in a mediocritie, and fit for Pasture, or for Plow or Meddow ground, as Men please to employ it: though all the Countrey be as it were a thicke Wood for the generall … The fertilitie of the Soyle is to be admired at”.

“Of the Waters of New-England with the things belonging to the same. New-England hath Water enough both salt and fresh, the greatest Sea in the World, the Atlanticke Sea runs all along the Coast thereof. There are aboundance of Ilands along the Shore, some full of Wood and Mast to feed Swine; and others cleere of Wood , and fruitfull to beare Corne.”

“Also we haue store of excellent harbours for Ships, as at Cape Anne, and at Masathulets Bay, and at Salem, and at many other places: and they are the better because for Strangers there is a verie difficult and dangerous passage into them, but vnto such as are well acquainted with them, they are easie and safe enough.”

“The aboundance of Sea Fish are almost beyond beleeuing , and sure I should scarce haue beleeued it except I had seene it with mine owne Eyes.”

“Of the Aire of New-England with the Temper and Creatures in it. The Temper of the Aire of New-England is one speciall thing that commends this place. Experience doth manifest that there is hardly a more healthfull place to be found in the World that agreeth better with our English Bodyes.”

“Many that haue beene weake and sickly in old England, by comming hither haue beene thoroughly healed and growne healthful and strong. For here is an extraordinarie cleere and dry Aire that is of a most healing nature to all such as are of a Cold, Melancholy, Flegmatick , Reumaticke temper of Body.”

“Fowles of the Aire are plentifull here , and of all sorts as we haue in England as farre as I can learne, and a great many of strange Fowles which we know not. Whilst I was writing these things, one of our Men brought home an Eagle which he had killed in the Wood: they say they are good meat.”

“Here are likewise aboundance of Turkies often killed in the Woods, farre greater then our English Turkies, and exceeding fat, sweet and fleshy, for here they haue aboundance of feeding all the yeere long, as Strawberries, in Summer all places are full of them , and all manner of Berries and Fruits.”

“Thus you haue heard of the Earth , Water and Aire of New England, now it may be you expect something to be said of the Fire proportionable to the rest of the Elements.”

“Indeed I thinke New-England may boast of this Element more then of all the rest: for though it be here somthing cold in the winter, yet here we haue plentie of Fire to warme vs, and that a great deale cheaper then they sell Billets and Faggots in London: nay all Europe is not able to afford to make so great Fires as New-England.”

“A poore Seruant here that is to possesse but 50 Acres of Land, may afford to giue more wood for Timber and Fire as good as the world yeelds, then many Noble Men in England can afford to doe. Here is good living for those that loue good Fires.”

“And although New-England haue no Tallow to make Candles of, yet by the aboundance of the Fish thereof, it can afford Oyle for Lamps . Yea our Pine-Trees that are the most plentifull of all wood, doth allow vs plentie of Candles, which are verie vsefull in a House …”

“… and they are such Candles as the Indians commonly vse, hauing no other, and they are nothing else but the wood of the Pine Tree clouen in two little slices some thing thin, which are so full of the moysture of Turpentine and Pitch , that they burne as cleere as a Torch. I haue sent you some of them that you may see the experience of them.” (Higginson)

Click the following link to a general summary about Preparing for Life in the Colonies in the Early Years:

https://imagesofoldhawaii.com/wp-content/uploads/Preparing-for-Life-in-the-Colonies-in-the-Early-Years.pdf

October 31, 2021 by Peter T Young 12 Comments

Kona Inn

During the 1920s, the Waikīkī landscape was transformed when the construction of the Ala Wai Drainage Canal, begun in 1921 and completed in 1928, resulted in 625-acres of wetland being drained and filled. With the San Souci, Moana and Royal Hawaiian in place, more hotel construction followed.

Except for Waikīkī, Hawaiʻi was largely undeveloped for tourism, other than small places like the Big Island’s Volcano House, which started to welcome guests in 1866.

In order for the Islands to attract even greater numbers of visitors, it was obvious that the neighbor islands would have to provide accommodations comparable to those on Oʻahu. (Allen)

With several smaller business-oriented hotels downtown Honolulu and spotted across the neighbor islands, on November 1, 1928, the Kona Inn in Kailua-Kona, the first neighbor island visitor-oriented resort hotel, opened with great fanfare. (Hibbard, Schmitt)

The Inter-Island Steam Navigation Co originally intended to build the Kona Inn on the site of Huliheʻe Palace. The idea was met with considerable opposition and the Territory bought the Palace and the company erected its new hotel on a 4-acre parcel adjoining the former Royal Residence. (Hibbard)

A reported Star-Bulletin editorial noted on February 7, 1928, “The land of the first Kamehameha; the land which cradled the old Federation of the Hawaiian Islands; the storied land where an English ship’s captain was worshipped before natives found him human and slew him there, is to be opened at last to the comfort-loving tourists of the world. Soon after the completion of the hotel, the territory will have cause to be grateful to the foresight and enterprise of Inter-Island.”

When it opened, a description noted that “every room is equipped with connecting bath and toilet or connecting shower and toilet with hot and cold water.” (Shared facilities disappeared from most hotels soon after World War II.) (Schmitt)

Like many of the other early visitor-oriented accommodations, it was owned by a transportation company, Inter-Island Steam Navigation Company, under the guidance of Stanley Kennedy. In part, hotels served to increase their passenger load revenues.

He informed the newspapers, “We have the Volcano House in the Kilauea locality, and our new hotel in the Kona district on the end of the island makes an ideal (automobile) stopping place, to say nothing of the historical interest.”

This institutionalized tourism in Kona. It was an example of a ‘pioneer hotel;’ it was built at high standards and became an attraction in its own right and became “the spot in all Hawaiʻi where you can utterly, completely relax in surroundings of modern comfort.” (Thrum, Butler)

But the decision to build a visitor resort there was not without its cynics; numerous skeptics suggested it as “Kennedy’s Folly.”

They were wrong; it was a success.

Kona, and the Kona Inn, offered the opportunity for visitors to experience the “Kona Way of Life” – ambiance at almost a spiritual level. It became known as “a place to get a quiet rest amid soothing tropic surroundings but if you feel a bit lively one can find plenty to do.” (DeVisNorton, Butler)

Within two years, designer CW Dickey prepared plans to double its size. With that, the Advertiser reportedly noted, “It is expected that Kona Inn will have a capacity to accommodate even the heaviest weeks of travel. Since its opening, Kona Inn has proved to be a valuable asset to Inter-Island and the addition is a result of continuous patronage of tourists and local people.” (Hibbard)

The early success of the Kona Inn was short lived; like other businesses across the Islands and the continent, the Great Depression and then World War II decimated the operations at the Kona Inn. It was two-decades before any major hotels were built; however, after the war, recovery accelerated at an unimaginable and spectacular pace. (Hibbard)

In the late-1940s, Inter-Island Steam Navigation Co became the target of a federal anti-trust suit. The government won its case and broke the company into four companies: Inter-Island Steam, Overseas Terminals, Hawaiian Airlines and Inter-Island Resorts. (GardenIsland)

In the early-1950s, Walter D Child Sr became a director of Inter-Island Resorts, Ltd and later acquired the controlling interest in the company.

Child first came to the Islands in the early-1920s and worked with the Hawaiʻi Sugar Planters Association. Following a decade at HSPA, he left sugar and entered the visitor industry, first acquiring and operating the Blaisdell Hotel in downtown Honolulu in 1938; then, he formed a Hui and purchased the Naniloa in Hilo.

The fortunes of the company rose along with the growth in the visitor industry, and Inter-Island Resorts began to grow into a chain, starting with the Naniloa, the Kona Inn and the Kaua‘i Inn (at Kalapaki Beach.) In those early days of Hawai‘i tourism, Inter-Island Resorts became a pioneer in selling accommodations on the neighbor islands. (hawaii-edu)

When Walter Sr. suffered a debilitating stroke in 1955, Dudley Child succeeded his father as president, at age 26. Dudley was no stranger to the visitor industry; at age seven, he was running switch boards and elevators and later studied hotel management at Cornell University.

Dudley’s first big move came on July 1, 1960 with the opening of the Kauai Surf on beachfront property on Kalapakī Beach. Child at the time called the Surf a “whole new philosophy in Neighbor Island hotels.” This led to the Islands-wide “Surf Resorts” joining the Kona Inn under the Inter-Island banner. (The company later opened the Kona Surf (Keauhou) in 1960 and the Maui Surf (Kāʻanapali Beach in 1971.) In 1971, the company formed the “Islander Inns,” in a 3-way partnership of Inter-Island Resorts, Continental Airlines and Finance Factors.)

In the mid-1970s, growing competition from the big hotel chains affected their business; direct flights to Hilo from the continent stopped, killed the occupancy rates at the Naniloa; later, a United Airlines strike sent Islands-wide occupancy levels plummeting; an economic downturn added to the woes. The high-leveraged Inter-Island Resorts had to sell.

In 1976, the Kona Inn, forerunner to the Inter-Island chain, was sold and overnight guest accommodations were stopped; it was converted into a shopping center in 1980. Chris Hemmeter bought the Maui and Kauai Surf resorts; ultimately, piece by piece, all properties were sold. (All photos in this album are from Hawaiʻi State Archives and are all from the 1930s.)

October 30, 2021 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Honolulu Clay Company

In the beginning, things looked good – very good.

“In view of the enormous demands New Honolulu will soon be making upon both building and paving material, the establishment of the brick making industry here at this juncture seems highly opportune.”

“It is the Honolulu Clay Company that is starting this new local enterprise, the partners in it being HL Kerr, ML Smith, CG Ellison and FL Litherland. The deposits of clay to be worked are up Nuuanu valley, where the brickyard is to be established. In actual substance the raw material is decomposed volcanic rock.” (Evening Bulletin, Feb 15, 1900)

Kerr and Smith were the promoters and Ellison and Litherland were the clay and brick experts. After prospecting and experimenting, they obtained the necessary land, machinery, etc., and incorporated on May 24, 1900, under the name of the Honolulu Clay Company, Limited.

By 1906, they were bankrupt. Let’s look back …

“By the steamer Australia from San Francisco yesterday [February 14, 1900] there arrived the machinery complete for manufacturing brick of Hawaiian clay. The making of the article will begin whenever the plant can be set up, which will be done without any avoidable delay.” (Evening Bulletin, Feb 15, 1900)

“The machinery employed by the incorporation was originally intended for the Paris Exposition, but the Honolulu Clay Company, having sent in their order just as the manufacturers were about to crate it and send it across the Atlantic, were persuaded to send the machinery west instead of east.” (PCA, August 6, 1900)

“[A] native Hawaiian, stated that in earlier times, and more particularly at the battle of Nu‘uanu, when Kamehameha I and his invading army drove the forces of O‘ahu over the Pali , the district was called Laimi.” (Jardin, HHR)

The district was generally referred to as the ‘Brick Yard.’ (Jardin, HHR) The brick factory stood on the site now occupied by St. Stephen Catholic Church at 2747 pall Highway and Laimi Road – just below Hānaiakamalama (Queen Emma Summer Palace).

“There is enough clay in sight for the manufacture of at least 150,000.000 brick. All of the ingredients necessary for the marking of an extra good class of brick are found either on the premises upon which the plant is located, or upon some one of the various properties of the company, of which there are several in the neighborhood.”

“The situation of the establishment is most ideal for such an enterprise. It is within fifteen minutes’ drive of the business center of the city and is close to the main business center of the Territory. Water is found on the place in abundance, the Nuuanu stream flowing across it on the lower side.” (PCA, August 6, 1900)

“The manufacture of brick in Honolulu has caused no little amount of interest among business men and contractors in this city. From the first the present company met with many discouragements, for they were told that there was no clay on the Island of Oahu suitable for the purposed desired.”

“Considerable, opposition was met among many of the builders in city, many of them even declaring that under no circumstances would the new brick be used by them. Still the Honolulu Clay Company kept on, and now after fifteen months are enabled to put bricks on the market at $16 per thousand against $22.50, the price demand elsewhere.”

“Many of the new buildings at the Navy Yard at Pearl City are to be constructed of them. Engineer USG White of the Naval Station speaks in the highest terms of the character of output.”

“When asked what his opinion of the brick might be, Captain White said: ‘I am free to say that the brick made by the Honolulu Clay Company is not only as good but much better than the bricks shipped into the Islands.’”

“‘I made several experiments, testing their ability to stand strains and pressure, and was highly pleased with the result. The bricks, as you have no doubt noticed, are excellent in color, while their weight is more than half that of the ordinary bricks found in the States.’”

“The company is fortunate in having for its manager Mr FL Litherland of Portland, Oregon, who for many years has been recognized as one of the leading brick and tile-makers on the Pacific Coast.”

“Mr. Litherland is giving the work his personal attention and is to be found on the grounds from early in the morning until late in the evening, looking after the thousand and one little details that only a practiced eye can see, but which are so necessary to be properly attended to in order to insure success.” (PCA, August 6, 1900)

“Clay for the brick-making came from a pit behind the drying shed, close to the Nuuanu Stream. The material came up from the pit on chain conveyors. Before long it was discovered that the pit contained only a small deposit of clay, and it soon gave out. This necessitated the bringing in of clay from Palolo Valley and from Puunui.” (Jardin, HHR)

“The made specimens contradict a statement that has often been repeated, that there is no clay suitable for brick making in the group.” (Evening Bulletin, Feb 15, 1900)

“The clay, however, proved not to be as good as it was believed to be and some contractors specified for California bricks, thus excluding Honolulu bricks. Conditions changed also in other respects.”

“Building operations fell off in Honolulu and the demand for brick decreased in consequence. The cost of making bricks was found to be higher than was anticipated. A long spell of rainy weather, prevented the bricks from drying properly.” (Supreme Court of the Territory of Hawaii)

“From the beginning of the operation the quality of the clay was unsuited for brick-making. The finished bricks would often crumble when exposed to heavy rain. They lacked ‘body.’”

“Many attempts were made to introduce other materials to prevent the crumbling, but they all failed. This disappointment, added to the fact that Honolulu was not then erecting many permanent buildings, hastened the doom of the venture.” (Jardin, HHR)

Finally it was a question whether to continue or give up the business.

“As time went on, the storage yard became filled with bricks that were not being sold, and the plant shut down. Eventually the entire factory was dismantled and moved away. This last operation took place about 1905 and closed the chapter on brick manufacture in Honolulu.” (Jardin, HHR)

October 29, 2021 by Peter T Young 3 Comments

Heʻeia Sugar

Heʻeia is one of nine ahupuaʻa of Kāneʻohe Bay (this makes up most of the Koʻolaupoko moku (district.)) In early times, the land was intensely cultivated and fish ponds lined the Bay (30 walled fishponds were noted in the Bay in 1882 – including the two largest (Heʻeia and Moliʻi) fishponds remaining in Hawaiʻi.)

“Southeastward along the windward coast, beginning with Waikāne and continuing through Waiāhole, Kaʻalaea, Kahaluʻu, Heʻeia and Kāne’ohe, were broad valley bottoms and flatlands between the mountains and the sea which, taken all together, represent the most extensive wet-taro area on Oʻahu.” (Handy, Devaney)

As early as 1789, Portlock described this area: “Indeed, I had some reason to think, that the inhabitants on that part of the island were more numerous than in King George’s Bay (Maunalua Bay)”.

“… the bay all around has a very beautiful appearance, the low land and valleys being in high state of cultivation, and crowded with plantations of taro, sweet potatoes, sugar-cane, etc. interspersed with a great number of coconut trees”.

The open waters of the bay were also probably heavily fished within the limitations of the kapu system, and fishing rights were allocated as part of the respective ahupua’a. (Coles)

Chief Abner Paki (father of Bernice Pauahi Bishop and hānai father of Queen Liliʻuokalani) was granted the land of Heʻeia in 1848, apparently in recognition of allegiance to the Kamehameha Dynasty and also for a longer ancestral family interest in this land. Kelly reports that some of Paki’s ancestors can be traced to a Maui line of chiefs that had conquered Kahahana, the ruling chief of O‘ahu about 1785.

Apparently, one of Paki’s uncles was charged with managing Heʻeia under the Maui rulership. Kelly suggests: “At least part of Paki’s connection with the land of Heʻeia may stem from his uncle’s earlier residence in that land, and may have been the reason why Paki was made konohiki of Heʻeia.” (Carson)

Sugarcane was introduced to Koʻolaupoko in 1865, when the Kingdom’s minister of finance and foreign affairs, Charles Coffin Harris, partnered with Queen Kalama to begin an operation known as the Kāneʻohe Sugar Company. (History of Koʻolaupoko)

By 1865, four plantations were in production, at Kualoa, Kaʻalaea, Waiheʻe and Kāneʻohe, and in the early 1880s, four more at Heʻeia, Kāneʻohe, Kahaluʻu and Ahuimanu, with a total of over 1,000-acres in cultivation in 1880. (Coles)

McKeague’s Sugar Plantation was in Heʻeia; starting in 1869, John McKeague (from Coleraine near Belfast, Ireland – February 12, 1832 – January 25, 1899) leased the Heʻeia ahupuaʻa from Charles and Bernice Pauahi Bishop – he had a partner, his uncle, Dr Alexander Kennedy.

About a decade later, McKeague added a mill and other improvements. (The Plantation was also known as Heʻeia Sugar Company, as well as Heʻeia Agricultural Company.)

“Mr John McKeague, the proprietor of the Heʻeia Sugar Plantation at Koʻolaupoko, Oʻahu, has completed the erection of an entire new mill and buildings, and on Wednesday last, he very hospitably entertained a large party of his friends and acquaintances, on the occasion of firing up and setting to motion the machinery of his new plant.”

“Mr Young, the manager of the Honolulu Iron Works (by whom the machinery was built,) and several other practical engineers were present, and everybody, including Mr McKeague himself, pronounced the running of the works as perfectly satisfactory.”

“The mill can turn out ten tons of sugar per diem. The machinery has all the modern improvements…. The works are located on rising ground, whereby each story has a ground floor.”

“The proprietor has built a dock on the water front below the mill, alongside which a vessel can load and unload freight – a vast improvement on the old boat and scow system. Altogether, it may be said that the mill and works of Heʻeia are among the finest and best appointed of any on the Islands.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, December 14, 1878)

Unfortunately, on February 12, 1879, McKeague received a severe injury by a fall from his horse in an accident crossing the Pali, “by reason of which his mind became impaired to such an extent as to render his intellect incoherent and his judgment defective so as to unfit him for the transaction of business.” (Supreme Court Records) A guardian (TA Lloyd) was appointed to represent his interests.

For the 1880 season, the plantation was renting 2,500-acres, 650 of which were for sugarcane, with 250 actually under cultivation, and having a mill capacity of 10 tons/day, expecting 600 tons that season. (Devaney)

June 30, 1882, John McKeague sold to the Heʻeia Sugar Plantation Company, a corporation “organized and existing under the laws of the State of California, USA, and carrying on business at Heʻeia, Koʻolaupoko, Island of Oʻahu, as cultivator and manufacturer of sugar and other products of sugarcane”. (Supreme Court Records)

Heʻeia had a good landing place, in which the sugar was shipped in barges, to be put on board schooners which lie out about the sixth part of a mile from the shore. In the late-1800s, all supplies were brought to the windward side from Honolulu by the schooner JA Cummins, which made twice a week trips, picking up sugar grown in Heʻeia and Waimanalo, and rice from the area. (Devaney)

In 1880, the region reported 7,000-acres available for cultivation; in 1883 a railroad was installed at Heʻeia, and by the summer of that year it was noted that the railroad had allowed a much greater amount of land to be harvested, even allowing cane from Kāneʻohe to be ground at Heʻeia; however, the commercial cultivation of sugar cane was short-lived. (Devaney)

After almost four decades of a thriving sugar industry in Koʻolaupoko, the tide eventually turned bad and saw the closures of all five sugar plantations by 1903. The closures were due to poor soil, uneven lands and the start-up of sugar plantations in ʻEwa, which were seeing much higher yields.

As sugar was on its way out in Koʻolaupoko, rice crops began to emerge as the next thriving industry. (History of Koʻolaupoko) In 1880 the first Chinese rice company started in the nearby Waineʻe area. Abandoned systems of loʻi kalo were modified into rice paddies. The Kāneʻohe Rice Mill was built around 1892-1893 in nearby Waikalua.

Another commercial crop, pineapple, was also grown here, starting around 1910. By 1911, Libby, McNeill & Libby gained control of land there and built the first large-scale cannery at nearby Kahaluʻu with an annual capacity of 250,000-cans; growing and canning pineapples became a major industry in the area for a period of 15 years (to 1925.)

October 28, 2021 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Holoikauaua

Holoikauaua (literally, Hawaiian monk seal that swims in the rough) is a large oval coral reef with several internal reefs and seven sandbar/islets above sea level along the southern half of the atoll. The land area is just under 100-acres (surrounded by more that 300,000-acres of coral reef) and is 20-miles across and 12-miles wide.

The highest point above sea level is about 10-feet; the islets are periodically washed over when winter storms pass through the area.

Holoikauaua (estimated age is 26.8-million years) is a true atoll, fringed with shoals, permanent emergent islands and sandy islets. These features provide vital dry land for monk seals, green turtles and a multitude of seabirds, with 16-species breeding here.

Seal Island lies just inside the reef, in the southwestern section of the lagoon. It is 1,400-feet from east to west, and 300-feet wide at its broadest point, with an area of 10.6-acres. An area of the western half has almost all of the island’s vegetation.

Kittery Island is a low sand and coral rubble triangle and has no vegetation. Troughs eroded in the sand of the island’s interior suggest that it is periodically inundated during severe weather. The island covers 11.9-acres; the northwestern side is highest, about 5-feet above sea level – the rest is just barely above normal high-water level.

Grass Island is just inside the reef – it is 1,800-feet east to west, and only 400-feet wide at its broadest (near the western end;) it has an area of 11-acres. In 1923, Wetmore, who named this island, noted that the crest of the island was covered with grass and a few of the shrubs.

Bird Island and Planetree Island are continually changing sandspits along the inner margin of the southern reef between Southeast and Grass Islands. They have been described as “merely part of a three-mile chain of shifting sandspits just inside the south reef.” A small-boat channel runs between Bird and Planetree Islands.

Southeast Island, the largest of the group, lies in the eastern corner of the atoll; it is nearly cut into two unequal portions by a seaward extension of the lagoon. The entire island is 2,600-feet long east to west with a maximum width of 1,100-feet. It has a land area of 34 acres.

Little North Island was officially named on February 11, 1969 – it was sometimes referred to as Humphrey Island. At low tide, it is less than 200 feet wide and is about 1,100 feet long in a north-south direction. The central portion of the main island, 400 feet long and 1.4 acres in area, is 6 to 10 feet above sea level, and has a meager flora of 4 species of grass and herbs.

North Island lies in the northeastern corner of the lagoon; it has an area of 15.9-acres. The body is about 1,000-feet long north to south, and 800 feet wide; it is 10-feet above sea level.

An early visitor to the atoll, Captain Benjamin Morrell (from July 8 to 10, 1825) wrote of seeing “earl-oysters and biuche de
mer (sea cucumber,)” as well as green turtles, seal elephants and sea leopards.

Captain John Paty of the Hawaiian schooner Manokawai stopped at the atoll in May 1857 to determine its position and map the islands. In 1859, Captain NC Brooks sailed the Hawaiian bark Gambia there and on July 5 of that year took possession in the name of Hawaiʻi.

When Westerners first arrived, the atoll abounded with birds. Presently, thousands of birds from 22 species are seen. They include Black-footed albatrosses, Tristram’s storm petrels, and one of two recorded Hawaiian nest sites of Little terns.

Since 1891, the North Pacific Phosphate and Fertilizer Company was harvesting guano from Laysan. On February 15, 1894, the agreement was expanded to cover other nearby islands and atolls, including Holoikauaua. The 25-year lease, at $1 per year, also royalties of 50 cents for each ton taken.

Interest in birds expanded; beginning in 1902, Japanese feather poachers visited the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and killed thousands of albatrosses but the extent of their poaching here is not clear.

On February 3, 1909, President Roosevelt signed an executive order creating the largest and most important Bird Reservation, known as the Hawaiian Islands Reservation and consists “of a dozen or more islands, reefs, and shoals that stretch westward from the Hawaiian Islands proper for a distance of upwards of 1,500 miles toward Japan (including Holoikauaua.”)

“The Hawaiian Islands Reservation was established by Executive order in 1909 to serve as a refuge and breeding-place for the millions of sea birds and waders that from time immemorial have resorted there yearly to raise their young or to rest while migrating.” It’s also part of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.

From 1926 to 1930, fishing operations became important in the history of the atoll. Pearl oysters, which yield mother-of-pearl shell, had been discovered in May 1928 by Captain William B Anderson who commanded the schooner Lanikai for the Lanikai Fishing Company; Hawaiian Tuna Packers, Ltd, partnered with them.

A third, Hawaiian Sea Products Company, quickly organized and established a fishing station (with buildings) on the atoll. They sought a license to develop the pearl beds. (Smithsonian)

Because of the increased interest in the fishing station and cold storage plant and in the development of the pearl oyster beds, “the Territorial Government requested the US Bureau of Fisheries to outline methods for conservation and development” of the pearl oyster bottoms of the atoll.

Over the next few years they conducted surveys and studies; some fishing activity continued there from the schooner Lanikai, but by October 1931 the fishing base operated by Hawaiian Sea Products was abandoned and the Lanikai was to be laid off.

The modern name of the atoll is “Pearl and Hermes.” But it’s not named because of the oyster discovery. Rather, it reflects and memorializes the twin wrecks of British whalers, the ‘Pearl’ and the ‘Hermes,’ lost 100-years before.

During the night of April 26, 1822, these British whaling ships ran aground almost simultaneously. The 327-ton Pearl (with Captain E Clark) grounded into a sandy coral groove, pressing its wooden keel into the sediment, while the smaller 258-ton Hermes (with Captain J Taylor) hit the hard sea bed.

The two ships had been making a passage from Honolulu to the newly discovered Japan Grounds, a track which took them through the uncharted Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

The Pearl and the Hermes (wrecked to the west of the Pearl) are the only known British South Sea whaling wreck sites in the world.

The combined crews (totaling 57) made it safely to one of the small islands and were castaway for months with what meager provisions they could salvage. Using salvaged timbers and other parts of the lost ships, one of the carpenters on board the Hermes, James Robinson, supervised the building of a small 30-ton schooner named ‘Deliverance’ on the beach.

Before launching the beach-built rescue vessel, the castaways were rescued by a passing ship. Though most of the crew elected to board the rescue ship, Robinson and 11 others were able to recoup some of the financial losses from the wrecks by sailing the nearly finished Deliverance back to Honolulu, and eventually sold her there.

From there, Robinson went on to found the highly successful James Robinson and Company shipyard in 1827 (the first shipyard at Honolulu) and became an influential member of the island community (his descendants became a well-known island family and his fortune founded the Robinson Estate.) (This family is different than the Robinson’s associated with Niʻihau.) (Lots of information here from Smithsonian.)

Click HERE for a link to several Google ‘Street Views’ on Holoikauaua.