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March 24, 2026 by Peter T Young 6 Comments

Lurline

Lorelei (Loreley) means lauern, “to lurk,” “be on the watch for,” and lai, “a rock” – also “murmuring rock.” The Lorelei is a rock in the Rhine River – it marks the narrowest part of the river between Switzerland and the North Sea.

Stories say that Lorelei was a maiden who threw herself into the Rhine in despair over a faithless lover, and became a siren whose voice lured boats to destruction.

A variant of Lorelei is Lurline – some ships carry her name.

William Matson had first come to appreciate the name in the 1870s while serving as skipper aboard the Claus Spreckels family yacht ‘Lurline’ out of San Francisco Bay.

Born in Sweden, Captain Matson (1849–1917) arrived in San Francisco in 1867, at the age of 16. There, he began sailing in San Francisco Bay and northern California rivers.

Captain Matson became acquainted with the Spreckels family and was asked to serve as skipper on the Spreckels’ yacht, Lurline. The Spreckels family later assisted Captain Matson in obtaining his first ship, the Emma Claudina.

In 1882, Matson sailed his three-masted schooner Emma Claudina from San Francisco to Hilo, carrying 300 tons of food, plantation supplies and general merchandise.

That voyage launched a company that has been involved in such diversified interests as oil exploration, hotels and tourism, military service during two world wars and even briefly, the airline business. Matson’s primary interest throughout, however, has been carrying freight between the Pacific Coast and Hawai‘i.

In 1887, Captain Matson sold the Emma Claudina and acquired the 150-foot brigantine Lurline from Spreckels – this was the first of several famous Matson vessels to bear the Lurline name.

Matson met his future wife, Lillie Low, on a yacht voyage he captained to Hawai‘i; the couple named their daughter Lurline Berenice Matson, she was their only child.

After Lurline was born, Captain Matson did not command a ship again, but the family often traveled on the Matson ships to Hawaiʻi, staying there for a month or more at a time.

During one of these trips, Lillie and Lurline created the Matson Navigation Company flag from old signal flag pieces; the design is a circle with a large “M” surrounded by seven stars depicting the seven ships then in the fleet.

Matson built a steamship named Lurline in 1908; one which carried mainly freight yet could hold 51 passengers, along with 65-crew. That steamer served Matson for twenty years, including a stint with United States Shipping Board during World War I.

The family bought a house near Mills College where they spent summers, and they would rent a house in San Francisco for the winter months. Lurline remembers her father as “strict and straight-laced.” Lurline commuted to the city with her father to attend Miss Hamlin’s, a private girl’s school, studying music and art.

In 1913, Lurline met Bill Roth, a young stockbroker in Honolulu; she and Roth were married in 1914. Roth sold his brokerage business and went to work for Matson Navigation Company in San Francisco.

In October 1916, Captain William Matson died at age 67. After his death, Bill Roth was named general manager and vice president of Matson Navigation Company.

The Roths lived in San Francisco. Their son, William Matson Roth, was born in September 1916. Identical twins, Lurline and Berenice, named for their mother’s first and middle names, were born in 1921. (Filoli)

By 1918, Hawaiʻi had 8,000 visitors annually and by the 1920s Matson Navigation Company ships were bringing an increasing number of wealthy visitors.

With growing passenger traffic to Hawai‘i, Matson built a world-class luxury liner, the SS Malolo (later christened the Matsonia,) in 1927. At the time, the Malolo was the fastest ship in the Pacific, cruising at 22 knots. Its success led to the construction of the luxury liners Mariposa, Monterey and Lurline between 1930 and 1932.

On December 27, 1932, the Lurline sailed on her maiden voyage from San Francisco to Australia via Los Angeles, Honolulu, Auckland, Pago Pago, Suva, Sydney and Melbourne.

This was the heyday of the great Matson Liners; passenger trains were adopted as “Boat Trains,” carrying passengers from New York and Chicago to connect in San Francisco with the liner sailings. (cruiselinehistory)

Matson’s famed “white ships” were instrumental in the development of tourism in Hawai‘i. Matson’s luxury ocean liner and its 650-wealthy passengers would be arriving in Honolulu every two weeks.

In 1927, Matson built the Royal Hawaiian Hotel and, in 1932, Matson bought the Moana. Matson’s Waikiki hotels provided tourists with luxury accommodations both ashore and afloat.

Immediately after the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, the passenger liners Lurline, Matsonia, Mariposa and Monterey, and 33 Matson freighters, were called to military service.

The post-war period for Matson was somewhat difficult. The expense of restoration work proved to be very costly and necessitated the sale of the Mariposa and Monterey, still in wartime gray. In 1948, the Lurline returned to service after a $20-million reconversion.

Later, Laurance Rockefeller encouraged his San Francisco friend, owner of shipping company, Lurline Matson Roth, to build a house next to the Mauna Kea property. (The Roth family also lived in Filoli, the property in Woodside, CA, now open to the public.)

The Lurline continued to provide first class-only service between Hawaiʻi and the American mainland from June 1957 to September 1962, mixed with the occasional Pacific cruise. In 1963, the Lurline was sold and resold (renamed Ellinis,) and later laid up in 1981 and scrapped in Taiwan in 1987. Matson was sold to Alexander & Baldwin in 1969.

March 23, 2026 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

About 250 Years Ago … ‘Give Me Liberty, Or Give Me Death’

The Second Virginia Convention met March 20, 1775 inland at Richmond — in what is now called St. John’s Church. Delegate Patrick Henry presented resolutions to raise and establish a militia, and to put Virginia in a posture of defense. Henry’s opponents urged caution and patience until the crown replied to Congress’ latest petition for reconciliation.

Relations between the colonists and the government back in Great Britain had steadily deteriorated over the decade since the Stamp Act was passed in 1765. Violence related to the Tea Act and the Boston Tea Party in 1773 led to the imposition of the Coercive or Intolerable Acts a year later.

On September 5, 1774, the first Congress in the United States met in Philadelphia to consider its reaction to the British government’s restraints on trade and representative government after the Boston Tea Party raid. In all, 56 delegates from 12 colonies came to Philadelphia including John Adams, his cousin Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, Roger Sherman, John Jay, John Dickinson, Richard Henry Lee, and George Washington.

During their session in Philadelphia, which ended after about seven weeks of debates, the group agreed to a boycott of British goods within the colonies as a sign of protest, spelled out in the Continental Association. The Association also called for an end of exports to Great Britain in the following year if the Intolerable Acts weren’t repealed.

Henry spoke to the second Virginia convention in March 1775, to discuss the events in Philadelphia and the need to form armed militias in Virginia in case British troops attempted to control the area.

Patrick Henry, (born May 29 [May 18, Old Style], 1736, Studley [Virginia]—died June 6, 1799, Red Hill, near Brookneal, Virginia, U.S.), brilliant orator and a major figure of the American Revolution.

Patrick Henry was the son of John Henry, a well-educated Scotsman who served in the colony as a surveyor, colonel, and justice of the Hanover County Court.

Before he was 10, Patrick received some rudimentary education in a local school, later reinforced by tutoring from his father, who was trained in the classics.

As a youth, he failed twice in seven years as a storekeeper and once as a farmer; and during this period he increased his responsibilities by marriage, in 1754, to Sarah Shelton.

The demands of a growing family spurred him to study for the practice of law, and in this profession he soon displayed remarkable ability.

Within a few years after his admission to the bar in 1760 he had a large and profitable clientele. He was especially successful in criminal cases, where he made good use of his quick wit, his knowledge of human nature, and his forensic gifts.

In 1765, at the capitol in Williamsburg, where he had just been seated as a member of the House of Burgesses (the lower house of the colonial legislature), he delivered a speech opposing the British Stamp Act.

During the next decade Henry was an influential leader in the radical opposition to the British government. He was a member of the first Virginia Committee of Correspondence, which aided intercolonial cooperation, and a delegate to the Continental Congresses of 1774 and 1775. (Britannica)

On the 23rd, Henry presented a proposal to organize a volunteer company of cavalry or infantry in every Virginia county. By custom, Henry addressed himself to the Convention’s president, Peyton Randolph of Williamsburg. (Colonial Williamsburg)

Henry’s speech on that day served to finalize support in Virginia to oppose any British military intervention in that colony; but what remains unknown is what Henry actually said in his speech.

Years later, biographer William Wirt in 1817 reconstructed the speech based on the recollections of Thomas Jefferson and others. Wirt’s account ends with the famous lines, “Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!” (Constitution Center)

The convention passed the resolution offered by Henry to form militias to defend Virginia, and in the following month, fighting broke out at Lexington and Concord between British troops and the colonists, marking the official start of the Revolutionary War. (Constitution Center)

Henry was appointed commander of the Virginia forces, but his actions were curbed by the Committee of Safety; in reaction, he resigned on February 28, 1776. Henry served on the committee in the Virginia Convention of 1776 that drafted the first constitution for the state.

He was elected governor the same year and was reelected in 1777 and 1778 for one-year terms, thereby serving continuously as long as the new constitution permitted. As wartime governor, he gave Gen. George Washington able support, and during his second term he authorized the expedition to invade the Illinois country under the leadership of George Rogers Clark.

After the death of his first wife, Henry married Dorothea Dandridge and retired to life on his estate in Henry county. He was recalled to public service as a leading member of the state legislature from 1780 to 1784 and again from 1787 to 1790. From 1784 to 1786 he served as governor.

He declined to attend the Philadelphia Constitutional Convention of 1787 and in 1788 was the leading opponent of ratification of the US Constitution at the Virginia Convention. Henry was reconciled, however, to the new federal government, especially after the passage of the Bill of Rights, for which he was in great measure responsible.

Because of family responsibilities and ill health, he declined a series of offers of high posts in the new federal government. In 1799, however, he consented to run again for the state legislature, where he wished to oppose the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions, which claimed that the states could determine the constitutionality of federal laws; he won. He died on June 6, 1799 at his home, Red Hill, before he was to have taken the seat. (Britannica)

Click the following links to a general summaries about Give Me Liberty, Or Give Me Death:

Click to access Give-Me-Liberty-Or-Give-Me-Death-SAR-RT.pdf

Click to access Give-Me-Liberty-Or-Give-Me-Death.pdf

March 22, 2026 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

About 250 Years Ago … Stamp Act

The French and Indian War had been enormously expensive and left Great Britain with a heavy debt. And, the expense of protecting the English possessions in America seemed likely to increase rather than diminish.

The war and the British government’s attempts to impose taxes on colonists to help cover these expenses resulted in increasing colonial resentment of British attempts to expand imperial authority in the colonies.

One of the early taxes to be imposed was the Stamp Act; on March 22, 1765, the British Parliament passed the “Stamp Act” to help pay for British troops stationed in the colonies during the Seven Years’ War.

Its title and text noted it was, An Act for granting and applying certain stamp duties, and other duties, in the British colonies and plantations in America, towards further defraying the expenses of defending, protecting, and securing the same …

Then, a long list of items related to “every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be ingrossed, written or printed within such British Colonies .. [shall pay] a stamp duty …”

Effectively, the Act required the colonists to pay a tax, represented by a stamp. Included under the act were bonds, licenses, certificates, and other official documents as well as more mundane items such as plain parchment and playing cards. It imposed a tax on all papers and official documents in the American colonies, though not in England.

It was a direct tax imposed by the British government without the approval of the colonial legislatures and was payable in hard-to-obtain British sterling, rather than colonial currency.

Further, those accused of violating the Stamp Act could be prosecuted in Vice-Admiralty Courts, which had no juries and could be held anywhere in the British Empire. (Gilder-Lehrman Institute of American History)

With the passing of the Stamp Act, the colonists’ grumbling finally became an articulated response to what they saw as the mother country’s attempt to undermine their economic strength and independence.

They raised the issue of taxation without representation, and formed societies throughout the colonies to rally against the British government and nobles who sought to exploit the colonies as a source of revenue and raw materials.

In October 1765, delegates from the colonies convened in New York City at the Stamp Act Congress, where they drew up formal petitions to the British Parliament and to King George III to repeal the act. It was the first unified colonial response to British policy and it provided the British a taste of what would come soon thereafter.

The British had been receiving reports of mob violence in the colonies, and Prime Minister Grenville had been replaced by Lord Rockingham, who proved more sympathetic than his predecessor to the colonists’ demands. (Khan Academy)

The colonists also took exception with the provision denying offenders trials by jury. A vocal minority hinted at dark designs behind the Stamp Act. These radical voices warned that the tax was part of a gradual plot to deprive the colonists of their freedoms and to enslave them beneath a tyrannical regime.

By October of that year, nine of the 13 colonies sent representatives to the Stamp Act Congress, at which the colonists drafted the “Declaration of Rights and Grievances,” a document that railed against the autocratic policies of the mercantilist British empire.

Realizing that it actually cost more to enforce the Stamp Act in the protesting colonies than it did to abolish it, the British government repealed the tax the following year. (History-com)

Click to access Stamp-Act.pdf

March 21, 2026 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Telling Time

Does anybody really know what time it is? Does anybody really care?

The answer to both is Yes … and Kekaha on Kauai has the distinction of being one of only two official Time broadcast points in the United States (the other is in Fort Collins, Colorado.)

At first, I thought “Time” was a pretty simple thing. Oh yeah, every now and then we need to mentally add or subtract an extra hour between points on the continent for time zone changes – and most folks there need to adjust for “Daylight” or not – but in looking into the Kauai operation, I quickly learned that there are many variables of “Time.”

OK, let’s fast forward past the daylight-darkness, sundial, wind-up and quartz watch timing eras … nowadays, transportation, communication, financial transactions, manufacturing, electric power and many other technologies have become dependent on accurate clocks; folks need to be more accurate than being “about” a certain time.

In addition, some folks need time referenced to the Earth’s rotation for applications such as celestial navigation, satellite observations of the Earth and some types of surveying. For those folks, Time relative to the motion of the Earth is more important than the accuracy of the atomic clock (even though Earth time fluctuates by a few thousandths of a second a day.)

For the rest of us, highly accurate atomic clocks and the agreement in 1967 on what a “second” is (the duration of 9,192,631,770 cycles of the radiation associated with a specified transition of the cesium atom) led to a compromise time scale of the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC.)

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST – an agency of the US Department of Commerce) laboratories in Boulder, Colorado does the computing for us and even broadcasts the UTC(NIST) via various means. (UTC(NIST) is the US national standard for measurements of time-of-day, time interval and frequency.

Here’s the official statement on what they do: “UTC(NIST) is the coordinated universal time scale maintained at NIST. The UTC(NIST) time scale comprises an ensemble of cesium beam and hydrogen maser atomic clocks, which are regularly calibrated by the NIST primary frequency standard. The number of clocks in the time scale varies, but is typically around ten.”

“The outputs of the clocks are combined into a single signal by using a weighted average. The most stable clocks are assigned the most weight. The clocks in the UTC(NIST) time scale also contribute to the International Atomic Time (TAI) and Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).”

“UTC(NIST) serves as a national standard for frequency time interval, and time-of-day. It is distributed through the NIST time and frequency services and continuously compared to the time and frequency standards located around the world.”

Whoa, that’s waaay more information than I needed; … and, I think you are confusing me with someone who cares. (Short answer, those guys “keep” the time.) OK, let’s move on.

If you really want to know what Time it is, go to http://nist.time.gov, select your desired time zone in the US and the time will be displayed for you.

Or, call to hear the “Time” broadcasts by dialing (303) 499-7111 for WWV (Colorado) and (808) 335-4363 for WWVH (Hawaiʻi).

These are not toll-free numbers; callers outside the local calling area are charged for the call at regular long-distance rates. The telephone time-of-day service is used to synchronize clocks and watches and for the calibration of stopwatches and timers. It receives about 1,000 calls per day.

OK, back to Kauai.

At Kokole Point at Mānā, Kauai, the NIST radio station WWVH broadcasts time and frequency information 24 hours per day, 7 days per week to listeners worldwide. (These are the guys who “tell” the time.)

The information broadcast by WWVH includes time announcements, standard time intervals, standard frequencies, UT1 time corrections (time derived by astronomers who monitor the speed of the Earth’s rotation,) a BCD time code (time data is coded binary coded decimal (BCD) digits in the form HH:MM:SS:FF,) geophysical alerts, marine storm warnings and Global Positioning System (GPS) status reports.

Voice announcements are made from WWVH once every minute. The announced time is “Coordinated Universal Time” (UTC). Coordination with the international UTC time scale keeps NIST time signals in close agreement with signals from other time and frequency stations throughout the world.

UTC differs from local time by the number of time zones between your location and the zero meridian (which passes through Greenwich, England.) (In Hawaiʻi, it’s UTC – 10 (the online and telephone time broadcasts are calibrated for Hawaiʻi.))

UTC is a 24-hour clock system. When local time changes from Daylight Saving to Standard Time, or vice versa, UTC does not change. However, the difference between UTC and local time may change by 1-hour. UTC runs at an almost perfectly constant rate, since its rate is based on cesium atomic frequency standards.

In addition to the time-related data, NOAA uses WWVH to broadcast geophysical alert messages that provide information about solar terrestrial conditions. Marine storm warnings are broadcast for the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and the Gulf of Mexico. The National Weather Service provides the storm warning information. (This information is broadcast at specific time intervals in each hour.)

Another critical function of the WWV system (especially for Hawaiʻi) is keeping the clocks on the GPS satellites in sync. GPS technology requires very accurate timekeeping as the difference in radio signal arrival is a big part of fixing your location. Without WWVH, the GPS system would drift off and lots of transportation and related functions would be affected (airplanes, ships, self-driving cars, etc.)

WWVH began operation on November 22, 1948 at Kihei on the island of Maui (the site now houses the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary offices.) In July 1971, the station moved to its current location, near Kekaha, Kauai.

For those wondering why these two facilities, that are west of the Mississippi River, have call signs that start with “W” (typically, station call signs west of the Mississippi start with “K” and those east start with “W,”) the time station’s early location was in Washington, DC (May 1920) – when it moved to Fort Collins (1966,) it kept the call sign. For consistency, Kauai followed the call sign pattern.

March 20, 2026 by Peter T Young 3 Comments

Arterials

Land transportation was one of the areas most affected by the post WWII and Statehood building booms. While O‘ahu’s population dramatically increased, automobile ownership rose at an even greater pace.

In 1938 automobile registration stood at 43,785. In 1945 the number of automobiles on island had grown to 52,527; a dozen years later, in 1957, automobile registration stood at 159,227, a 329.8 percent increase since 1945.

This tremendous influx of automobiles resulted in myriad needs having to be addressed, ranging from the reduction of traffic congestion to improved parking, and enhanced traffic safety measures.

The Territory undertook two other major highway projects, the mauka and makai arterials, to divert traffic off downtown streets. (HHS)

“‘A super highway through Honolulu, 120 feet wide and running mauka of the business district from Kalihi to Kaimuki … would be invaluable in solving Honolulu’s pressing traffic problem,’ engineer John Rush told the City Council in 1939.”

“It wasn’t until after World War II and a sudden increase in complaints about congestion that city officials got serious about the plan, proposing to spend $30 million over 15 years to build a six-lane expressway in 11-stages that would extend from Old Wai‘alae Road to Middle Street, about seven miles.” (Leidemann)

“Bids were opened on the first contract on the Mauka Arterial, Honolulu’s first expressway, which will eventually extend from King and Middle Streets to Kapahulu. By a series of grade separation structures, this seven-mile, six-lane, divided highway will carry crosstown commuters over all intersecting streams of north-south traffic.” (Public Works Annual Report, 1952)

From 1952 to 1962, Honolulu officials kept adding to the Mauka Arterial, described as the first road in the state “tailored to the flight patterns of people.”

A companion Makai Arterial that would have run past Waikiki, down Ala Moana and along an elevated roadway near the Honolulu waterfront never materialized as planned. (DOT)

The three ‘Ewa-bound lanes, extending one mile between Old Wai‘alae Road and Alexander Street, were opened to traffic November 9, 1953. (HHS)

When the first leg opened in 1953, it was hailed “as the highest standards of highway construction yet seen in the islands. Over-and underpasses keep cross-traffic to a minimum. A six-foot fence on both sides bars pedestrians and pets,” according to news reports. (DOT)

The Kaimuki-bound lanes along the same stretch were opened and the highway was formally dedicated on January 5, 1954. (HHS)

Construction forced the condemnation of more than 500 homes and the moving of several thousand people, tearing old neighborhoods apart. In Kaimuki, for instance, that meant razing the entire block of homes between Harding and Pahoa Avenues for the below street-level freeway.

“More blemishes are disappearing from the face of Honolulu as workmen tear down ancient, termite-ridden buildings and prepare to heal the wounds with construction of another segment of the ultra-modern Lunalilo Freeway,” said one 1959 editorial. (Honolulu Advertiser; DOT)

The second segment of the Lunalilo Freeway between Alexander and Alapaʻi was started in 1954, with progress reaching Keʻeaumoku Street by December 1955. By 1959 work had commenced on the interchange between the Lunalilo and Pali highways, which was the first three level grade separation structures to be constructed in Hawaii. (DOT)

The Lunalilo Highway project was expanded to become the H-1, a 28 mile roadway running from Palailai at Campbell Industrial Park to Ainakoa Avenue, with the Lunalilo Highway being the section running through Honolulu. (DOT)

The eight lane makai arterial, named Nimitz Highway, opened to traffic in November 1952, ten years after construction had commenced at the Pearl Harbor gate. (HHS)

“The last projects were nearing completion on the Makai Arterial. This limited access highway will ease travel between Pearl Harbor and Honolulu and between the airport and harbor and the Waikiki hotel district.” (Public Works Annual Report, 1952)

In 1952 transportation officials estimated it would take ten years to build, with costs running $2 million a year, with about one third of the budget dedicated for land acquisition.

It was the most expensive construction project up to that time in Hawai‘i, with much of the moneys devoted to land acquisition, as an estimated 1,600 families required relocation. To recoup some of the costs and to not increase Honolulu’s problematic housing shortage, the dwellings on the condemned lands were auctioned off.

In addition, the 1945 Territorial Legislature enacted a liquid fuel tax in order to generate the funds necessary to match the federal funds available for the highway’s construction. This tax was increased to five cents a gallon in 1955 to help offset Hawaii’s match for the increasing federal dollars coming to the islands for highway construction.

The advent of statehood led to an expansion of the Lunalilo Freeway into the H-1 Interstate Highway. The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 established the Interstate Highway System; however, Hawaii was excluded from this source of funding as it bordered no other state.

To remedy this, a section of the Federal-Aid to Highways Act of 1959 required that a study be undertaken to consider the eligibility of Hawaii and Alaska for interstate highway funding.

As a result of the study, the Hawaii Omnibus Act, which President Eisenhower signed into law on July 12, 1960, removed the language in the Federal-Aid Highway Act which limited the interstate system to the continental US.

It also authorized three interstate highways for Hawaii, H-1, H-2 and H-3 to address national defense concerns, an allowed interstate highway justification which resulted from a 1957 amendment to the original act. (DOT)

An interesting remnant of apparently changed alignment (and probable interconnection of the Mauka and Makai Arterials) is a stub out to nowhere at the on/off ramps at Kapiʻolani Boulevard to H-1. (Lots of information here is from DOT, HHS and Leidemann.)