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December 27, 2025 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Hilo Coastal Defense

Dating back to the beginning of the 20th century, Oʻahu held a position of primary importance in the military structure of the US before and during WWII. During the prewar years Oʻahu and the Panama Canal Zone were the two great outposts of continental defense. (army-mil)

A key goal in the Pacific was to hold Oʻahu Island as a main outlying naval base and to protect shipping in the waters around the Hawaiian Islands.

In January 1905, President Teddy Roosevelt instructed Secretary of War William H Taft to convene the National Coast Defense Board (Taft Board) “to consider and report upon the coast defenses of the United States and the insular possessions (including Hawai‘i.)”

In 1906 the Taft Board recommended a system of Coast Artillery batteries to protect Pearl Harbor and Honolulu. Between 1909-1921, the Hawaiian Coast Artillery Command had its headquarters at Fort Ruger and defenses included artillery regiments stationed at Fort Armstrong, Fort Barrette, Fort DeRussy, Diamond Head, Fort Kamehameha, Kuwa‘aohe Military Reservation (Fort Hase – later known as Marine Corps Base Hawaiʻi) and Fort Weaver.

The Army mission in Hawai‘i was defined as “the defense of Pearl Harbor Naval Base against damage from naval or aerial bombardment or by enemy sympathizers and attack by enemy expeditionary force or forces, supported or unsupported by an enemy fleet or fleets.”

The District was renamed Headquarters Coast Defenses of Oʻahu sometime between 1911 and 1913. Following World War I and until the end of World War II, additional coastal batteries were constructed throughout the Island.

Then, on December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.

As soon as the air attack was over, the Hawaiian Department plunged into a reconstruction and new construction effort of unprecedented scale and pace.

By December 12, the Army position was “to take all possible steps short of jeopardizing the security of the Continental United States and the Panama Canal to reinforce the defenses of Oʻahu.”

Wartime reality hit the neighbor islands a few days later. A group of about nine Japanese submarines were kept in the vicinity of Hawaiʻi until mid-January – they were stationed there to find out just how much damage had been done to the American military.

Just before dusk on December 15, a submarine lobbed about ten shells into the harbor area of Kahului on Maui, and three that hit a pineapple cannery caused limited damage.

Over a 2½-hour period during the night of December 30 – 31, submarines engaged in similar and nearly simultaneous shellings of Nawiliwili on Kauaʻi, again on Kahului, Maui and Hilo on the Big Island.

The principal immediate change in Hawaiʻi’s defense structure came about on December 17, 1941, when the top Army and Navy commanders were replaced and all Army forces in the Hawaiian area were put under command of the Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet.

Under a cooperative agreement, the army operated coast defense guns, all anti-aircraft batteries except those on naval ships, most of the pursuit aircraft on the Island, an inshore patrol which extended 20-miles out to sea and aircraft warning service. The navy operated the fleet and distance reconnaissance extending to 600-miles out to sea.

Two arguments won the approval of the War Department during December for a much larger reinforcement of Hawaiʻi. The Navy contended that the sure defense of the Hawaiian area depended primarily on Army air power and that the security and effectiveness of that air power required its dispersion among the major islands of the Hawaiian group.

Secondly, while the immediate reinforcement of December 1941 might ensure against a direct attempt by the enemy to invade Oʻahu, the Japanese had the naval strength to cover an invasion of one or more of the almost undefended neighbor islands. From bases on these islands the enemy could attack and possibly starve out Oahu.

These arguments led to plans for garrisoning the other islands of the Hawaiian group. And, Hilo was a natural choice.

After the sugar industry developed across the Islands, Hilo grew to be the second largest town in the islands, acting as a business hub for the numerous plantations along the Hilo-Hamakua coast, as well as a transport center for incoming supplies and equipment and outgoing crops.

In 1908, construction began on the Hilo Bay breakwater along the shallow reef, beginning at the shoreline east of Kūhiō Bay; by 1929 the breakwater was completed and extended roughly halfway across the bay. Piers were built and extended by 1927.

(Contrary to urban legend, the Hilo breakwater was built to dissipate general wave energy and reduce wave action in the protected bay, providing calm water within the bay and protection for mooring and operating in the bay; it was not built as a tsunami protection barrier for Hilo.)

In 1926, a 400 by 2,000-foot field had been cleared for Hilo Airport and on February 11, 1928, the new airport was dedicated. A second and third runways were added and the airport was renovated (the renovation dedication ceremony was held May 2, 1941.)

At the outbreak of World War II, Hilo Airport was taken over by the Army Engineers, and an Air Corps fighter squadron was stationed there. US Army Engineers constructed military installations and continued the expansion of runways, taxiways and parking aprons. The name of Hilo Airport was changed to General Lyman Field on April 19, 1943.

At Hilo, a mobile field battery of 155-mm guns was set up in December 1941. Four 4-inch naval guns were later emplaced in 1942.

To help man them, the 96th Coast Artillery Regiment (AA) (Semi-mobile – activated April 15, 1941 at Camp Davis, North Carolina, and trained there until December 27) arrived in Hilo on March 10, 1942. (They stayed at Hilo until December 1943; then they transferred to Oʻahu.)

The Hilo battery was abandoned in 1945. (Lots of information here is from army-mil.)

December 26, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Carrollton

The coal industry was a major foundation for American industrialization in the nineteenth century. As a fuel source, coal provided a cheap and efficient source of power for steam engines, furnaces and forges across the US.

The influence of coal was so pervasive that by the advent of the twentieth century, it became a necessity of everyday life. In an era where smokestacks equaled progress, the smoky air and sooty landscape of industrial America owed a great deal to the growth of the availability of coal. (Adams)

A peculiar feature of 1907 was that in spite of the coasting laws, foreign vessels were chartered to bring domestic coal from the Atlantic ports of the US for the use of the American battleships ordered to the Pacific.

The coal trade of San Francisco was practically in the hands of one firm. Coal was always dear in California, as no supply is produced locally, but since the formation of this combination it has doubled in price. … 80,000-tons were on the way from Australia. (Great Britain, Trade & Commerce Report, 1908)

Coal was first discovered in Australia in 1791 by an escaped convict near the site of Newcastle. Mining began in 1799 with the collection of coal from outcrops near Newcastle for sale in Sydney; the cargo resulted in Newcastle becoming Australia’s first commercial export port. (Australia Bureau of Statistics)

Fast forward about a century … the three-masted bark Carrollton was en route from “New South Wales” Australia to San Francisco, via Honolulu, with a load of coal.

The Carrollton was built in 1872 by the Arthur Sewall Shipyard in Bath, Maine. Bath-built down-easters were some of the most celebrated commercial sailing vessels of their day.

Sewall ships, though not the fastest, were proven economic winners in the long-haul maritime trades of the mid- and late-19th century.

In the midst of her career in the Pacific lumber, grain, and coal business, the Carrollton under the command of Captain Hinrichs was accidentally lost on December 26th, 1906, when she ran bow-on onto the reef on the southern side of Sand Island at Midway. (PMNM)

Here’s a link to a Google Earth ‘Street View’ on the southern part of Sand Island at Midway:
https://goo.gl/WVhYhb

All of her crew were saved (rescued by the cable ship Restorer,) but the vessel was a total loss.

Typical of wooden ship wreck sites, all exposed hull and superstructure have vanished. But the heavier elements (anchor, chain, stanchions, fasteners, deck machinery, donkey boiler, lead scuppers, pintles and gudgeons etc.) remain scattered in an area near the reef.

The confused path of the anchor chain on the bottom adds to the story of the wreck. The chain locker, its wooden sides long gone, is now a fused mass of iron almost indistinguishable from reef. The windlass has grown corals. The ship remains will ultimately be ‘recycled’ as reef substrate in this fashion. (Van Tilburg)

A large variety of artifacts from the shipwreck lie scattered over an area almost 1,000 feet long. A portion of the ship’s cargo of coal testify to the sea’s power to break apart what the best wooden shipwrights once created. (PMNM)

December 23, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

First Christmas Tree

Mary Dominis, mother-in-law to Queen Liliʻuokalani, is credited with starting the Christmas tree and Santa Claus traditions in Hawai‘i.

“Christmas Eve was worthily observed in Honolulu by a party at Mrs. Dominis residence which drew together such a crowd of company that no second house could have opened its doors successfully.”

“The ‘Christmas Tree’ was beautiful in its decoration and beautifully covered with fruit such as no other tree can bear, that bent its branches to the ground.” (Polynesian, January 1, 1859)

“The Christmas tree can be traced to the land of Luther. How long it there flourished in the forests of Germany, before Luther’s day, we cannot stop now to enquire.”

“A sprig was brought to the Sandwich Islands few years ago, and it appears to have found genial climate and fruitful soil. It is really wonderful how it flourishes.”

“Like Jonah’s gourd, which came up in night and perished in night, the Christmas-tree makes great display of fruit on the first night of its growth.”

“Mrs Dominis, with her wonted skill for flower-growing and tree-planting, produced Christmas-tree that was much admired, especially by the juveniles, who gathered under its shadow and plucked its ripe fruit ready to drop into their hands, marked and labelled.”

“How much Santa Claus had to do in the wonderful production we cannot say, but he appeared very much at home on the occasion, and seemed to know by name all the little folks that were dancing and kiting about like so many fairies.”

“We congratulate the children of Honolulu that they enjoy so many pleasant gatherings, and we would thank Mrs. Dominis for her expense, trouble and labor to make the young people happy. (The Friend, January 1, 1859)

As further described in the newspaper, “Christmas – passed off in the good old fashioned, style. The eve was ushered in by the assemblage, about 7 o’clock, of a large number of children and their parents at Washington Place, the Mansion of Mrs Dominis …”

“… where Santa Claus had given out that he would hold his court, and distribute the gifts which he had ordered for the occasion. A magnificent “Christmas Tree” had been provided in one of the upper chambers, and the little folks …”

“… as they gathered about it with sparkling eyes and clattering tongues, found it all lighted up with candles and the branches bending under the weight of gifts. …”

“In a moment old Santa Claus was heard at the door, and in a twinkling more he stood before the youthful group, who greeted him with a volley of merry shouts. He came dressed in the garb in which children love to imagine the saintly old elf. …”

“For an hour, or while he was bestowing his gifts with princely lavishness among the hundred children present, there was some of the happiest groups ever witnessed in Honolulu.”

“He bid a gift for every one, and bestowed it with a facetiousness that added much to the enjoyment of the occasion and him a host of friends among the juveniles, who will long continue to talk of Santa Claus of Washington place.”

“After the tree was lightened of its burden of presents, some of which we noticed were quite costly, the old saint bid the little folks a hearty good-bye and vanished.”

“He sprang to his sleigh, to his team he rare a whistle.
And away they ail flew like the dawn of a thistle;
But I heard him exclaim, ere be drove out of sight,
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.”

“The whole affair was got up and executed with good taste. After the gifts were distributed the children were invited to a liberal repast prepared by the generous hostess.”

“As the little folks retired to their homes their places were filled with an assemblage of ladies and gentlemen, and the evening was spent in dancing.”

“At 10 o’clock on Christmas forenoon the Episcopal service was performed by Rev Mr Arthy on board the Calypso, which had been gaily decked for the holiday.”

“At half past eleven Episcopal service was also performed by the same gentleman at the Bethel, which was well filled.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, December 30, 1858)

“The evening was a happy one to every body present, and the hospitality unbounded.” (Polynesian, January 1, 1859)

December 22, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Manuiki

After a brief stay in the Islands, in 1839, John Augustus Sutter, a Swiss seeking his fortune in America, had a “crew consisted of the two German carpenters I had brought with me from the Islands, and a number of sailors and mechanics I had picked up at Yerba Buena.”

“I also had eight Kanakas, all experienced seamen, whom King Kamehameha had given me when I left the Sandwich Islands. I had undertaken to pay them ten dollars a month and to send them back to the Islands after three years at my own expense if they wished to leave me.”

“These men were very glad to go with me, and at the expiration of their time, they showed no inclination to return to their people.” (Sutter) He also brought two Hawaiian women – one was Manuiki. (“It’s Kanaka. It means ‘little bird.” (Sutter; Houston))

Manuiki was Sutter’s favorite companion for several years, although she was not the only one. They had several children together. (Herrmann) He jealously guarded his exclusive relationship with her. (Hurtado)

“Manuiki keeps the garden here. The vegetables we eat have come from her garden, thogh I of course taught her to make the soup. Potatoes are not common fare among the kanakas in their native land.” (Sutter; Houston)

The Hawaiians worked for him and eventually intermarried with local native American families. They settled in the area of Vernon, which is now called Verona, where the Feather River flows into the Sacramento River in South Sutter County. (co-sutter-ca-us)

“They’re tattooed, they’re pierced, they’re half naked, they’re dark-complected, and they don’t look a whole lot different from the Indians in the Central Valley.”

That resemblance helped the Hawaiians on Sutter’s payroll convince 35-local Indian villagers to join Sutter, as paid workers, not slaves.

In his memoirs, Sutter recalled the Hawaiians, “I could not have settled the country without the aid of these Kanakas. They were always faithful and loyal to me.” (Sutter)

At the time of Sutter’s arrival in California, the territory had a population of only 1,000-Europeans, in contrast with 30,000-Native Americans. At the time, it was part of Mexico.

When they landed and set up New Helvetia (August 13, 1839,) “I selected the highest ground I could find. The Kanakas first erected two grass houses after the manner of the houses on the Sandwich Islands; the frames were made by white men and covered with grass by the Kanakas.” (Sutter)

In order to qualify for a land grant, Sutter became a Mexican citizen on August 29, 1840 after a year in the provincial settlement; the following year, on June 18, he received title to 48,827-acres and named his settlement New Helvetia, or “New Switzerland.”

“My hospitality attracted men to me whom I put in charge of various endeavors. The next year we built the fort with walls 18-feet high and three feet thick bought more cannons.”

“Built a large private residence for me within the fort and a room for Manuiki with a good strong lock on her door; I worried about her when I was away.” (Sutter; Fenimore)

Sutter employed Native Americans of the Miwok and Maidu tribes, Kanakas and Europeans at his compound, which he called Sutter’s Fort.

In the following years many Sandwich Islanders followed these few to California. John Sutter brought them there to work at Sutter’s Fort and at Hock Farm.”

“A colony of more than 100-native Hawaiians formed a colony in Sutter County called Verona, the first non-native American settlement in the Central California Valley.”

“These Hawaiians fished for bass, trout, and catfish and sold them at the Fort and in Sacramento. They learned to raise alfalfa and raised hogs and cattle. The Hawaiians rowed their boats, assembled their tents and played their Ukulele and Guitar. When a visiting Hawaiian brought poi, ti leaves, kukui and other items from home the Hawaiians held barbecues and luau and danced hula.” (Willcox)

Eventually Sutter allowed Manuiki to marry Kanaka Harry, another Hawaiian who came with him in 1839; Sutter set aside property for them on the American River, near the place where they first landed. (Hurtado)

On January 24, 1848, a young Virginian named Henry William Bigler recorded in his diary: “This day some kind of mettle was found in the tail race that looks like gold first discovered by James Martial, the boss of the Mill.” (csun)

Marshall and Sutter tried their best to keep the discovery of gold quiet until the construction of Sutter’s mill was completed; the news leaked out, and the stampede began. Some 300,000-people came to California from the rest of the United States and abroad.

“Forty-Niner” has become the collective label for those who participated in the famous California Gold Rush. Quite a few people arrived in 1848, and many came after 1849; however, it was the year 1849 which witnessed the large wave of gold-seekers. (Hinckley)

“What a great misfortune was this sudden gold discovery for me! It has just broken up and ruined my hard, restless, and industrious labors. … From my mill buildings I reaped no benefit whatever, the mill stones even have been stolen and sold.” (Sutter; SFMuseum)

Sutter fled California in 1870, after losing portions of his land title in a court decision. To avoid losing everything, Sutter deeded his remaining land to his son, John Augustus Sutter, Jr.

The younger Sutter, who had come from Switzerland and joined his father in September 1848, saw the commercial possibilities of the land and promptly started plans for building a new town he named Sacramento, after the Sacramento River. (harvard-edu)

December 21, 2025 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Liberty Ship SS Quartette

Liberty ships were cargo ships built in the US during World War II. They were inexpensive and quick to build, and used for deliveries of war materiel to Britain and to the Soviet Union.

Liberty ships were products of early prefabricated mass production, in large part an industrial response to wartime needs and a definite response to the threat of submarine attacks against merchant vessels.

Eighteen American shipyards built 2,751 Libertys between 1941 and 1945, easily the largest number of ships produced to a single design. (Ships had an original design life of five years.)

They were relatively simple in design and operation, reducing both construction time and time needed to train engineers. The Liberty ships and their crews of merchant seamen faced, and some falling victim to, surprise attacks from unseen enemy submarines.

The first Liberty ships required about 230 days to build, but the average eventually dropped to 42 days. The record was set by SS Robert E. Peary, which was launched 4 days and 15½ hours after the keel was laid.

The ships were made assembly-line style, from prefabricated sections. In 1943, three Liberty ships were completed daily. They were usually named after famous Americans, starting with the signatories of the Declaration of Independence.

The keel of the USS James Swan was laid June 23, 1944 and launched in Savannah, Georgia, August 12, 1944; she was built for the US Maritime Commission by the Southeastern Ship Building Corporation.

James Swan was a member of the Sons of Liberty and participated in the Boston Tea Party. Swan was twice wounded at the Battle of Bunker Hill, he later became secretary of the Massachusetts Board of War and the legislature.

During the time he held that office, he helped fund the Continental Army. After the American Revolution, Swan privately assumed the entire United States French debts at a slightly higher interest rate (which he later sold.) The US no longer owed money to foreign governments, although it continued to owe money to private investors both at home and in Europe.

Following the war, the USS James Swan was sold to Standard Steamship Company of Wilmington Delaware and used to deliver freight. She was renamed the Quartette.

The Quartette was a three-masted single-screw triple-expansion steam engine vessel, 422-feet long, 57-feet in beam, and with a draft 35 feet deep. Her two water-tube boilers and triple expansion engine were capable of 2,500 horse power. She had three cargo holds forward and two aft.

In 1952, the Quartette was chartered by the Military Sea Transportation Service and en route from Galveston Texas to Pusan, South Korea (via an interim stop at Honolulu) with a load of 9,000-tons of milo yellow grain, consigned to the US Army.

Then, at 7:10 am on the morning of December 21, 1952, navigation fixes had placed the ship some nine to ten miles further away from any danger – it was wrong.

The lookout had reported a line of white breakers to the chief mate shortly after 7:00 AM, but allegedly no action to avoid the approaching obstacle was taken.

Then, heavy seas and 35-mph winds drove the 7,200-ton SS Quartette into the eastern reef crest of Pearl and Hermes Atoll, damaging two forward holds.

The ship was firmly aground, but in no immediate danger of sinking. Attempts to back the vessel off from the reef with the engines failed.

The Navy dispatched a Catalina flying boat and 170-foot patrol craft from Midway. Thirty-six crewmen were rescued on the following day, thirty-three of them being taken to Midway Island. The ship’s captain and two others (the chief engineer and radio operator) remained standing by on the patrol boat, waiting for the salvage tug.

The Ono arrived on December 25th; seas were expected to increase as a storm passed to the northwest, raising concerns that salvage efforts would be postponed.

In an effort to stabilize the vessel, anchors were dropped and a tow line attached. On January 3rd, the tug’s anchors parted at the shank, and the Quartette was blown broadside onto the reef.

She was deemed unsalvageable, a total loss.

Weeks later the ship broke her back (keel) and snapped in two, the bow portion forward of the superstructure was pushed into the shallow lagoon, and the stern and midsection (where engine was) remained in deeper water.

After three successive investigations (2007, 2008 & 2010,) teams of maritime archaeologists documented the shipwreck. Debris of the ship are scattered across the reef, including an impressive propeller, steering gear, triple-expansion steam engine and 4 massive anchors.