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October 29, 2015 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Foreign Mission School

On October 29, 1816, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) established the Foreign Mission School as a seminary.

Classes began in 1817 “for the purpose of educating youths of Heathen nations, with a view to their being useful in their respective countries.”

Its object was to educate the youth of promising talent and of hopeful demeanor to return, in due time, to their respective lands in the character of husbandmen, school-masters, or preachers of the gospel.

The first four destinations chosen were (1) the Bombay region of India (1813,) (2) Ceylon (1816,) (3) the Cherokee Indian Nation in the State of Tennessee (1817) and (4) Hawai‘i (1820). (Brumaghim)

The Foreign Mission School connects the town of Cornwall, Connecticut to a larger, national religious fervor of the Second Great Awakening.

The Second Great Awakening spread from its origins in Connecticut to Williamstown, Massachusetts; enlightenment ideals from France were gradually being countered by an increase in religious fervor, first in the town, and then in Williams College.

In the summer of 1806, in a grove of trees, in what was then known as Sloan’s Meadow, Samuel John Mills, James Richards, Francis L Robbins, Harvey Loomis and Byram Green debated the theology of missionary service. Their meeting was interrupted by a thunderstorm and they took shelter under a haystack until the sky cleared.

That event has since been referred to as the “Haystack Prayer Meeting” and is viewed by many scholars as the pivotal event for the development of Protestant missions in the subsequent decades and century.

The first American student missionary society began in September 1808, when Mills and others called themselves “The Brethren,” whose object was “to effect, in the person of its members, a mission or missions to the heathen.” (Smith) Milla graduated Williams College in 1809 and later Andover Theological Seminary.

In June 1810, Mills and James Richards petitioned the General Association of the Congregational Church to establish the foreign missions. American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was formed with a Board of members from Massachusetts and Connecticut.

Cornwall’s Foreign Mission School exemplified evangelical efforts to recruit young men from indigenous cultures around the world, convert them to Christianity, educate them and train them to become preachers, health workers, translators and teachers back in their native lands.

Initially lacking a principal, Edwin Welles Dwight filled that role from May 1817 to May 1818; he was replaced the next year by the Reverend Herman Daggett. In its first year, the Foreign Mission School had 12 students, seven Hawaiians, one Hindu, one Bengalese, an Indian and two Anglo-Americans.

The school’s first student was Henry ʻŌpūkahaʻia (Obookiah,) a native Hawaiian from the Island of Hawaiʻi who in 1807 (after his parents had been killed) boarded a sailing ship anchored in Kealakekua Bay and sailed to the continent. In its first year, the Foreign Mission School had 12 students, more than half of whom were Hawaiian.

The school increased its number of pupils the second year to twenty-four; four Cherokee, two Choctaw, one Abenaki, two Chinese, two Malays, a Bengalese, one Hindu, six Hawaiians and two Marquesans as well as three American. By 1820, Native Americans from six different tribes made up half of the school’s students.

Once enrolled, students spent seven hours a day in study. Subjects included chemistry, geography, calculus and theology, as well as Greek, French and Latin.

They were also taught special skills like coopering (the making of barrels and other storage casks), blacksmithing, navigation and surveying. When not in class, students attended mandatory church and prayer sessions and also worked on making improvements to the school’s lands. (Cornwall)

In due time, Reverend Hiram Bingham visited the Foreign Mission School in Cornwall but that wasn’t until May 1819, one year after ʻŌpūkahaʻia died.

Then, from Andover Theological Seminary, Bingham wrote in a letter dated July 18, 1819, to Reverend Samuel Worcester that “the unexpected and afflictive death of Obookiah, roused my attention to the subject, & perhaps by writing and delivering some thoughts occasioned by his death I became more deeply interested than before in that cause for which he desired to live …”

“… & from that time it seemed by no means impossible that I should be employed in the field which Henry had intended to occupy…the possibility that this little field in the vast Pacific would be mine, was the greatest, in my own view.” (Brumaghim)

Subsequently, in the summer of 1819, Bingham and his classmate at Andover Theological Seminary, Reverend Asa Thurston, volunteered to go with the first group of missionaries to Hawai‘i.

On October 23, 1819, a group of northeast missionaries, led by Hiram Bingham, set sail on the Thaddeus for the Sandwich Islands (now known as Hawai‘i.) With the missionaries were four Hawaiian students from the Foreign Mission School, Thomas Hopu, William Kanui, John Honoliʻi and Prince Humehume (son of Kauaʻi’s King Kaumuali‘i.)

The Prudential Committee of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) in giving instructions to the pioneers of 1819 said:

“Your mission is a mission of mercy, and your work is to be wholly a labor of love. … Your views are not to be limited to a low, narrow scale, but you are to open your hearts wide, and set your marks high.”

“You are to aim at nothing short of covering these islands with fruitful fields, and pleasant dwellings and schools and churches, and of Christian civilization.” (The Friend)

The points of special and essential importance to all missionaries, and all persons engaged in the missionary work are four:
• Devotedness to Christ;
• Subordination to rightful direction;
• Unity one with another; and
• Benevolence towards the objects of their mission

Between 1820 and 1848, the ABCFM sent “eighty-four men and one hundred women to Hawai‘i to preach and teach, to translate and publish, to advise and counsel – and win the hearts of the Hawaiian people.” (Dwight; Brumaghim)

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Cornwall’s Foreign Mission School

Cornwall-home_of_the_Foreign_Mission_School-by_Barber-(WC)-1835

Cornwall’s Foreign Mission School-lantern

First Foreign Mission School-Marker (St. Peter’s Lutheran Church)

First Foreign Mission School Marker

Departure_of_the_2nd_Company_from_the_ABCFM_to_Hawaii

Williams_College-Sloan’s_Meadow-1906

Williams_College_-_Haystack_Monument

American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions group-(LOC)-1901

Henry_Opukahaia,_ca. 1810s

Four_Owyhean_Youths-Thomas Hoopoo, George Tamoree, William Tenooe and John Honoree

Memoirs_of_Henry_Obookiah

ABCFM-Missionary_Companies_to_Hawaii

October 28, 2015 by Peter T Young 3 Comments

Ginaca

‘Pineapple’ was given its English name because of its resemblance to a pine cone. It was first recorded in the Islands in 1813 by Don Francisco de Paula Marin, a Spanish adviser to King Kamehameha I.

Although sugar dominated the Hawaiian economy, there was also great demand at the time for fresh Hawaiian pineapples in San Francisco; then, canned pineapple.

The pineapple canning industry began in Baltimore in the mid-1860s and used fruit imported from the Caribbean. (Bartholomew)

Commercial pineapple production (which started about 1890 with hand peeling and cutting operations) soon developed a procedure based on classifying the fruit into a number of grades by diameter centering the pineapple on the core axis and cutting fruit cylinders to provide slices to fit the No. 1, 2 and 2-1/2 can sizes. (ASME)

Up to about 1913, various types of hand operated sizing and coring machines were used to perform this operation. The ends of the pineapple were first cut off by hand. The pineapple was then centered on the core and sized.

Production rates were about 10 to 15 pineapples per minute. A large amount of labor was required, and it was not practical to recover the available juice material from the skins. (ASME)

The first profitable lot of canned pineapples was produced by Dole’s Hawaiian Pineapple Company in 1903 and the industry grew rapidly from there. (Bartholomew) In 1907 Hawaiian Pineapple Company opened it cannery in Iwilei.

About 1911, Henry Gabriel Ginaca of the Honolulu Iron Works Company, Honolulu, was engaged by Mr James Dole, founder of Hawaiian Pineapple Company, to develop the machine which made the Hawaiian pineapple industry possible and which bears his name today. (ASME)

The early Ginaca had a production capacity of about 50 pineapples per minute and required from three to five operators depending on how much inspection of the machine product was performed at the machine.

The increase in production from 15 to 50 pineapples per minute was enough to reduce the cannery size to economical proportions and made possible the design of efficient preparation lines. Once the new preparation and handling systems were proven the industry grew rapidly.

The term “Ginaca” is now generally applied to a variety of machines which are designed to automatically center the pineapple on the core, cut out a fruit cylinder, eradicate the crushed and juice material from the outer skin, cut off the ends and remove the central fibrous core.

The cored cylinder leaving the Ginaca machine is then passed to a preparation line where each fruit is treated individually to remove cylinder defects or adhering bits of skin. (ASME)

After a number of years of constantly increasing production, a new high-speed machine was designed at the Hawaiian Pineapple Company capable of preparing from 90 to 100 pineapples per minute depending on fruit size.

The Ginaca machine made canning pineapple economically possible. As a result, until the “jet age” Hawaii had an agricultural economy and pineapple was the second largest crop (behind sugar.)

Henry Ginaca was born May 19, 1876. The records are not clear whether he was born in California or in Winnemucca, Nevada, where his father had worked as a civil engineer. His father was Italian, his mother French.

While a teenager, he became an apprentice at the old Union Iron Works in San Francisco. He also took a course in mathematics to enable him to become a mechanical draftsman.

He was hired by the Honolulu Iron Works and came to Honolulu, apparently to work on engine designs. Dole later hired Ginaca to work specifically on a mechanical fruit peeling and coring machine.

He joined Hawaiian Pineapple Co in March, 1911, at a salary of $300 per month, a substantial wage in those days. Ginaca was 35 years old.

In the first year of Ginaca’s employment he came up with the initial design for his machine. From then until 1914 he added improvements and refinements to it.

Though many “bugs” had to be worked out, Ginaca’s machine was a success from the beginning. The machine was awarded a gold medal at the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco in 1915.

In 1914 Ginaca and his two brothers decided to return to the mainland and try their hand at mining. The mining ventures of the three brothers were failures.

For Henry Ginaca, a productive career came to an untimely end on October 19, 1918, when he died of influenza and pneumonia at the old Mother Lode mining camp of Hornitos. He was only 42. (ASME)

Dole bought the island of Lānaʻi and established a vast 200,000-acre pineapple plantation to meet the growing demands. Lānaʻi throughout the entire 20th century produced more than 75% of world’s total pineapple.

By 1930 Hawai‘i led the world in the production of canned pineapple and had the world’s largest canneries. Production and sale of canned pineapple fell sharply during the world depression that began in 1929, but rapid growth in the volume of canned juice after 1933 restored industry profitability.

But establishment of plantations and canneries in the Philippines in 1964 and in Thailand in 1972, led to a decline in Hawai‘i (mainly because foreign-based canneries had labor costs approximately one-tenth those in Hawai‘i.) As the Hawaii canneries closed, the industry gradually shifted to the production of fresh pineapples. (Bartholomew)

In 1991, the Dole Cannery closed. Today, Dole Food Company, headquartered on the continent, is a well-established name in the field of growing and packaging food products such as pineapples, bananas, strawberries, grapes and many others.

The Dole Plantation tourist attraction, established in 1950 as a small fruit stand but greatly expanded in 1989 serves as a living museum and historical archive of Dole and pineapple in Hawai‘i.

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Ginaca machines cut cylinders out of pineapples, core them and remove that fruit

Ginaca machine Dole Cannery-Dole-ASME

Ginaca machines Dole Cannery-DOLE-ASME

19640816 – Fresh pineapple is sorted and packed at Dole’s packing shed. SB BW photo by Photo Hawaii.

Women at Dole Pineapple Cannery

Pineapple-Cannery

Dole Pineapple Cannery

Hawaiian Pineapple Company Canning Lines, Honolulu, O‘ahu, 1958

Girls at Dole Pineapple Cannery

Dole_Pineapple_Cannery-(vic-&-becky)-1955

Dole Pineapple Cannery-girls

Dole Pineapple Cannery-canning

Dole Pineapple Cannery-HnlMag

Dole Pineapple Cannery-cans

Dole_Pineapple_Cannery-Aerial-1940

Dole_Cannery-Life-1937

October 27, 2015 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Aiʻenui

“The foreigners came to these resorts to find women”. (Kamakau)

“It had been the custom, from time immemorial, on the death of any great chief, especially of the king, for the people to give themselves up to universal licentiousness; – to the indiscriminate prostitution of females; – to theft and robbery; – to revenge and murder.”

“The first stand against these heathenish practices, was made by Keōpūolani, the first native convert, herself a chief woman of the highest distinction, who, in expectation of her own death, strictly charged her children and attendants to have her funeral conducted upon Christian principles.” (ABCFM Annual Report)

In the early nineteenth century, makaʻāinana women flocked to the European ships and port towns in large numbers to partake in the lucrative trade in sexual services. This was one of the few ways that makaʻāinana could acquire foreign goods since the aliʻi controlled other forms of trade. (Merry)

Many Hawaiian women boarded the ships coming to port here. They did not think that such associations were wrong … The husbands and parents, not knowing that it would bring trouble, permitted such association for foreign men because of the desire for clothing, mirrors, scissors, knives, iron hoops from which to form fishhooks and nails. (ʻIʻi; Merry)

The first attempt to change the sexual behavior of Hawaiian women was an attack on prostitution with European seamen. This endeavor earned the missionaries the undying hostility of the small but growing mercantile community and the visiting shipping community while failing to eliminate the sex trade. (Merry)

“One of the few chiefs who opposed the missionaries and their preaching, Boki fought against Kaʻahumanu’s new laws that prohibited the practice of the old religion”. (Kanahele)

In December, 1827, drafted by Kaʻahumanu and scrutinized for Christian propriety by Hiram Bingham, the crimes proscribed were murder, theft, adultery, prostitution, gambling, and the sale of alcoholic spirits. Boki opposed actively the passage of any such laws.

“Boki’s obstructionism may be traced to the fact that he had something of a vested interest in all but the first two of the offensive activities.” (Daws)

“The latter prohibition especially aggrieved (Boki) because drinking was one of his pleasures and he himself owned and operated several grog shops in Honolulu.” (Kanahele)

“(H)e speculated in local and foreign trade, sugar-making, tavern-keeping, and commercialised prostitution. None of these businesses except the last was profitable.” (Daws)

“By 1828, he had become openly allied to the two chief elements of antagonism to the regent and the missionaries.”

“The leading one of these elements was the combination of lewd and intemperate whites, headed by the British and American consuls, in order to break down the new laws against prostitution and drunkenness.” (Missionary Herald, 1905)

“Boki … became the friend of … foreigners and they would ply him with liquor and when he was intoxicated give him goods on credit.”

“Thus he would buy whole bolts of cloth and boxes of dry goods and present them to the chiefs and favorites among his followers, and these flattered him and called him a generous chief.”

“In this way he became even more heavily indebted to the foreigners for goods than the King (himself, through his) purchases.” (Kamakau)

For a time, Kamehameha I lived at Pulaholaho (later called Charlton Square,) later high chief Boki, built a store through which to sell/trade sandalwood near Pakaka, where Liholiho also built a larger wooden building. (Maly)

“Boki also established several stores in Honolulu where cloth was sold, ‘Deep-in-debt’ (Aiʻenui) they were called because of his heavy debts.”

“At Pakaka was a large wooden building belonging to Liholiho. Boki’s was a smaller building which had been moved and was called ‘Little-scrotum’ (Pulaholaho.)”

“The foreigners, finding Boki friendly and obliging, proposed a more profitable way of making money, and both Boki and Manuia erected buildings for the sale of liquor, Boki’s called Polelewa and Manuia’s Hau‘eka.” Boki’s place was also called the Blonde Hotel.

“Since Liholiho’s sailing to England, lawlessness had been prohibited, but with these saloons and others opened by the foreigners doing business, the old vices appeared and in a form worse than ever.”

“Polelewa became a place where noisy swine gathered. Drunkenness and licentious indulgence became common at night …. The foreigners came to these resorts to find women”.

“In 1826 the cultivation of sugar was begun in Manoa valley by an Englishman. Boki and Kekuanao‘a were interested in this project and it was perhaps the first cane cultivated to any extent in Hawaii. “

“When the foreigner gave it up Boki bought the field and placed Kinopu in charge. A mill was set up in Honolulu in a lot near where Sumner (Keolaloa) was living.” (Kamakau)

Boki incurred large debts and, in 1829, attempted to cover them by assembling a group of followers and set out for a newly discovered island with sandalwood in the New Hebrides. Boki fitted out two ships, the Kamehameha and the Becket, put on board some five hundred of his followers, and sailed south.

Just prior to Boki’s sailing in search of sandalwood, the lands of Kapunahou and Kukuluaeʻo were transferred to Hiram Bingham for the purpose of establishing a school, later to be known as Oʻahu College (now, Punahou School.)

These lands had first been given to Kameʻeiamoku, a faithful chief serving under Kamehameha, following Kamehameha’s conquest of Oʻahu in 1795. At Kameʻeiamoku’s death in 1802, the land transferred to his son Hoapili, who resided there from 1804 to 1811. Hoapili passed the property to his daughter Kuini Liliha (Boki’s wife.)

Sworn testimony before the Land Commission in 1849, and that body’s ultimate decision, noted that the “land was given by Governor Boki about the year 1829 to Hiram Bingham for the use of the Sandwich Islands Mission.”

The decision was made over the objection from Liliha; however Hoapili confirmed the gift. It was considered to be a gift from Kaʻahumanu, Kuhina Nui or Queen Regent at that time.

Boki and two hundred and fifty of his men apparently died at sea.

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October 26, 2015 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Prince and Princess de Bourbon

King Kalākaua was the first ruling Monarch to tour of the world; in doing so, he made good on his motto, and motivation, proclaimed at his accession, ‘Hoʻoulu Lahui!’- (Increase the Nation!)

“Since the concert of the morning stars, or the appearance of man on the globe, sovereigns have done many great and many small things; but not one of them, even in these later days, has had the audacity or pluck to circumnavigate this little planet.” (Armstrong)

“A deep feeling of anxiety and interest pervaded the community on the eve of the departure of the King, and all classes and races strove to outvie each other in their expressions of good-will and affection, in bidding adieu to His Majesty.” (PCA)

“(T)he King goes but for the good of his people, to make the country richer by getting more capital and people to come this way. … So the King this time takes with him a Commissioner to enquire into and bring other people of brown skins here to re-people these isles.” (Kapena)

The King and others were concerned about the declining Hawaiian population in the Islands. “The King himself would be only so in name if he had no people to rule. The King will not rest until his hope of re-peopling these isles has been fulfilled.” (Kapena)

Leaving January 20, 1881 on the Oceanic and arriving back in the Islands October 29, 1881 (nine months and nine days later,) Kalākaua travelled to the US, Japan, China, Siam, Burma, India, Egypt, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Austria-Hungary, France, Spain, Portugal and the United Kingdom.

Kalākaua wanted to gain recognition for his kingdom and learn how other monarchs ruled. He believed the best way to conclude diplomatic relations with foreign countries was to understand their customs. He met with the officials of the Austrian Empire, in the absence of the Emperor.

For the most part, the King travelled incognito (his trip was claimed to have “no official significance.”) At times his unannounced arrivals caused some confusion (and missed opportunities to meet with leaders (who were out of town.))

However, he was greeted and handled with stately attendance. He was royally entertained and decorated with the highest orders; armies were paraded before him and banquets held in his honor.

A few years later, another royal party toured the world, with a short visit in the Islands, “Among the passengers on the steamer Australia, which arrived yesterday from Honolulu, were Count de Bardi, an Austrian prince of royal blood, and his wife, the Countess de Bardi. They are accompanied by the Baroness Hertling, Count Luchesi, Count Zileri and Baron Heydebrand, all of the Austrian nobility.”

“Prince Henry of Bourbon, or Count de Bardi, is thirty-six years of age and is a son of the Duke of Parma, and is closely related to the royal family of Austria. The Countess is a daughter of HRH Prince Miguel of Braganza.”

“The royal pair, accompanied, by their retinue, started about two years ago on a tour around the world and are now on their way home. Since leaving home they have traveled in Africa, India, Borneo, Java, China, Japan and other places.”

“The Count did considerable hunting, shooting ten or twelve wild bison in Borneo and five tigers in Java. The party spent some time in Japan, visiting the principal points of interest. Baron Heydebrand is the Count’s chamberlain, and has charge of the distinguished party during their travels.”

“They will remain in San Francisco at the Palace Hotel four or five days, and will then go to New York over the Burlington route via Niagara Falls.”

“While at Honolulu King Kalākaua save a grand ball at the royal palace in their honor. The palace was beautifully decorated with festoons of Chinese lanterns, so thickly that it appeared to be almost covered with them.” (Daily Alta California, November 2, 1889)

“There was a great crush of people in the throne room and main hall at the height of the reception, yet the procession past the royal dais flowed on in remarkably good order, the return stream of observed ones mingling with the throng of observers round the apartment. The band played throughout the ceremony.”

“Every approach to the palace presented a scene of gorgeous resplendence. The illumination of the building and grounds has never been surpassed in style or degree. From basement to battlements on every side the noble pile was profusely hung with rows of colored lanterns, festooned and straight but never departing from artistic symmetry.”

“These myriad lights were interspersed with the glittering rays from the permanent rose-shaped incandescent lamps on the outer walls, every door and window poured forth a welcoming glow from the electric crystal chandeliers richly bestowed within.”

“The paths in the grounds were lined, the trees and shrubbery decked, with hundreds of colored lanterns closely ranged in right lines and curves, all with such consummate art as to yield an effect of exquisite harmony to every point of vision.”

“Inside the palace the decorations were simple but in good taste. In the throne room on either side of the dais were potted palms, pyramids of roses were at the bases of the large mirrors, and a grand feather kahili stood at each side of the throne canopy.”

“An immense pyramid of plants with floral insets made a strikingly beautiful object opposite the grand staircase in the middle of the main hall. At the head of the stairs under a permanent mirror appeared the device of a shield rimmed with white flowers and bearing across the face in red flowers the greeting, ‘Aloha.’”

“This piece was universally admired. Bunches of ferns and flowers were disposed on the hallway walls between the statuary niches. The dining-room and the blue room, besides their usual adornments of curios and plate, were further beautified with bloom and foliage artistically composed and arranged.”

“The Prince and Princess de Bourbon and party were seemingly intensely gratified with the entertainment. Mingling freely with their fellow guests, many of whom were is privately presented to them, they chatted with animation to individuals and groups.”

“They wore respectively the decorations conferred on them by the King during the day. The amiable princess remarked to the Chamberlain her delight with the event, comparing the whole scene to ‘fairyland.’ His Majesty the King expressed his great pleasure, to a Bulletin reporter at the palace with the enthusiastic response made by resident society to the invitation to do honor to the distinguished visitors.” (Daily Bulletin, October 24, 1889)

“An unusually large number of people assembled at the Oceanic wharf on Friday to see the SS Australia leave for San Francisco. The whole Circus outfit and troupe, as well as the Katie Putnam theatrical troupe, left by this vessel.”

“The Prince and Princess de Bourbon and suite, and Princes Kawānanakoa and Kalanianaʻole were also passengers. The Hawaiian band played appropriate selections, and the steamship left the wharf a few minutes after 12 noon with a very full complement of passengers.” (Hawaiian Gazette, October 29, 1889) (The image shows ʻIolani Palace at about the time the Austrians visited in 1889.)

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Iolani Palace, circa 1889

October 25, 2015 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Churchill

“Among the many tales of shipwreck on the Pacific few are more thrilling than that of the rescue of the captain and crew of the schooner Churchill on French Frigate shoals”. (Star-bulletin, October 31, 1917)

Whoa … let’s look back.

In 1850, Captain Asa Meade Simpson, a Maine shipbuilder, came west, drawn by the California Gold Rush. In 1855, he arrived at the “north bend” of the Coos Bay estuary, Oregon. Recognizing the value of the region’s coal and timber, he set up a sawmill; the businesses expanded and turned out a variety of wood products, from fruit boxes to fancy doors.

He also established a shipyard (the first in Oregon) and hired master craftsmen to build ships that would carry lumber products worldwide. Simpson’s son, Louis Jerome (LJ) Simpson, arrived in North Bend in 1899. He purchased the adjacent undeveloped town site of Yarrow, which he merged with his father’s land in 1903 to create the City of North Bend.

From 1859 to 1903, at this location he would have 56 ‘world class’ tall ships built for the growing lumber empire. (Tall Ships SFO) Large wooden schooners were the economic mainstay of American shipping between the Civil War period and World War I. They were the sailing workhorses of the Pacific. (NOAA)

One of them was the Churchill.

Launched on March 4, 1900, the 178-foot, 600-ton four-masted schooner Churchill was built by the Simpson Lumber Co for their own account. Later, the Churchill was owned by Charles Nelson & Co of San Francisco.

Then, the fateful voyage.

“The Churchill left Port Angeles on May 27 with a cargo of lumber for Sydney. After discharging at Sydney the vessel proceeded to Tongata, where a cargo of about 800 tons of copra was placed aboard. Her destination from there was Seattle.”

(Copra is the dried meat of the coconut. Coconut oil is extracted from it and has made copra an important agricultural commodity. Also coconut cake is extracted mainly used as feed for livestock.)

On board the Churchill were Captain Charles Granzow, his two sons Carl (age 7) and Loftus (age 14,) and nine other crew members (Chief Officer: Henry Anderson, Second Officer: Fred Wilson, Carpenter John Wessick, Seamen: A. Anderson, William Miller, Daniel Pinzoin, Pedro Romos, Sterling Jones and Hugo Munch.)

“Capt. Granzow has been master of the schooner Churchill for the past three or four years. She has called at Honolulu on infrequent voyages, but been chiefly in the lumber trade between the Northwest and Australia.”

“The Churchill was 27 days out from Nukualofa, Tongata, when she drifted upon a reef of the French Frigate shoals. This was after winds had carried her westward from her course and following a calm of several days. ‘Currents after that was the only reason for the wreck,’ declared Mate Anderson”.

Fortunately for them, some folks from the Islands were nearby fishing from the Makaiwa.

“The power sampan Makaiwa left Honolulu on Monday, October 22. In the party were Harold W Rice; Lieutenant KE Ferris, USN, formerly captain of the Kestrel; Arthur Rice, HL Tucker and the captain and crew of the sampan, as follows: William Feuerpeil, crew captain; Johnny Vasconcellos, chief engineer; Manuel Deponte, second engineer; Levi Faunfata, a Samoan seaman.”

“Arthur Rice, who had intended only to fish as far as Kauai and leave the party there, carried out his plan, so he was not with the sampan when it turned westward from the Hawaiian group. The party had fished on the way to Kauai and also after starting for Bird Island.”

Rice and the rest of the party “were bound for the Western Islands on a fishing trip when they sighted the Churchill … slowly pounding to pieces.”

“Captain Granzow told the Honolulans that the night before, that is the night of October 25, the schooner had struck the big reef about 9 o’clock. The vessel seemed to come off after striking, but then went on again and pounded heavily all night.”

“The Churchill was sighted in acute distress on the morning of Friday, October 26, by the fishermen and the sampan immediately went to her rescue. … Had it not been for the timely arrival of the sampan at French Frigate shoals, Captain Granzow and his men believe they would surely have perished by fire, water or sharks.” (Star Bulletin, October 30, 1917)

“That he was true to all the traditions of the sea is the tale told of Capt Charles Granzow, master of the wrecked schooner Churchill, by the members of his crew.”

“Unable or unwilling to relate their own experiences these sailors of the destroyed schooner tell how Capt. Granzow elected to remain aboard the doomed vessel while the only remaining hope of surviving the wreck was made by five others in a small lifeboat.”

“But while Capt. Granzow with other volunteers remained aboard the vessel as the water rose about her hulk he ordered his two sons into the lifeboat which he placed in command of his first mate, Henry Anderson, while they attempted a landing on the only promontory not washed by the ocean’s waves.” (All were saved)

In October of 2005, the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center’s Coral Reef Ecosystem Division reported a potential shipwreck site to NOAA’s Maritime Heritage Program after spotting anchors and scattered rigging at French Frigate Shoals.

In 2007, a team of NOAA maritime archaeologists were able to begin to investigate the site. The 2007 survey uncovered clues that may help solve the mystery of the unidentified shipwreck. Diagnostic artifacts at the site, anchors, rigging, pumps and deck equipment, all correspond to the Churchill’s size and construction.

In August of 2008, a team of NOAA maritime archaeologists returned to the site to complete documentation and interpretation of the shipwreck site. (Lots of information here is from NOAA, Oregon Historical Society and Star Bulletin, October 30 and 31, 1917)

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