Peter T Young

February 17, 2020 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Dunnottar Castle

This story is not about a castle, it’s about a sailing vessel named after a castle – Dunnottar Castle. First, a little about its name.

In the 5th Century, St Ninian brought Christianity to Scotland, and chose Dunnottar as a site for one of his chain of Churches. In the 12th Century Dunnottar Castle became a Catholic settlement with the first stone chapel being consecrated in 1276.

William Wallace (“Braveheart,”) Mary Queen of Scots, the Marquis of Montrose and the future King Charles II, all called the Castle home. Here a Scottish garrison once saved the Scottish Crown Jewels from destruction by Cromwell’s invading army.

In 1874, ‘Dunnottar Castle,’ a three-masted 258-foot British iron-hulled ship, was launched in Glasgow, Scotland.

She rests in the Pacific, lost at Kure Atoll on July 15th, 1886 while bound for Wilmington, California from Sydney, Australia with a cargo of coal.

A malfunctioning chronometer put the Dunnottar Castle off course and onto the reef. Though efforts were made to jettison the cargo and repair the damaged hull, the stricken vessel could not be refloated, and the crew abandoned ship for the nearby deserted island. The castaways would have to take charge of their own rescue. (PMNM)

Seven of the crew members, including its Chief Officer, took one of the surviving tender boats and sailed, for 52 days, to Kauaʻi. Upon being informed of the tragedy, the British Commissioner in Honolulu organized a rescue mission. (HawaiianAtolls)

Under the reign of King David Kalākaua, the Hawaiian Kingdom, suspecting that the British might use the occasion to annex the island, shared the expedition expenses and instructed Commissioner James Boyd to take formal possession of Kure. On September 20, 1886 he took possession of the island, then-called Moku Papapa, for the Hawaiian government. (PMNM)

The rescue mission came back to Honolulu with the same amount of people it had sailed out with. No survivors were found on the atoll, except for two fox terriers and a retriever. All of the survivors had been picked up earlier by a passing vessel and were on route to Chile. (HawaiianAtolls)

Before the mid-19th century, Kure Atoll was visited by several ships and given new names each time. Many crews were stranded on Kure Atoll after being shipwrecked on the surrounding reefs and had to survive on the local seals, turtles and birds.

The King ordered that a crude house be built on the island, with tanks for holding water and provisions for any other unfortunates who might be cast away there. But the provisions were stolen within a year, and the house soon fell into ruins.

Thus, the wreck of the Dunnottar Castle precipitated the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi’s official presence at Kure Atoll, Hawaiʻi’s most remote coral atoll at the northwestern extreme end of the entire archipelago. (PMNM)

The Kure Atoll refuge staff (State of Hawaiʻi DLNR-Division of Forestry and Wildlife) came across the wreckage by accident while transiting through the lagoon. Atoll staff radioed the NOAA archaeologists who were surveying two other locations at Kure (The New Bedford whaler Parker and the USS Saginaw), and a preliminary survey was initiated. (PMNM)

The Dunnottar Castle lies adjacent to a shoal area in the vicinity of the atoll reef, accessible only in calm weather. Many of the wooden components, loose materials, and organic fabrics have been swept away, but the heavier elements remain. No small or movable artifacts were encountered. (PMNM)

Large sections of iron hull plate, iron frames, rigging, masts, auxiliary steam boiler, keelson, anchors, windlasses, winches, capstans, davits, rudder and steering gear, cargo hatches, bow sprit, hawse pipes, chain locker, ballast stone, deadeyes, chains, stringers, bitts, ladders etc. are fixed in place on the sea bottom. (PMNM)

The site is approximately 250 feet in length, corresponding to the ship’s original size. The industrial nature of the artifacts and the general lack of coral cover makes the location well-suited for standing up to the power of the winter storms and seas which pound the atoll. (PMNM)

The wreck of the Dunnottar Castle is a nearly complete assemblage of a late-19th century commercial carrier, an incredible heritage resource from the days of the sailing ships like the Falls of Clyde (Honolulu,) Balcalutha (San Francisco Maritime Park) and Star of India (San Diego Maritime Museum) when our maritime commerce was driven by steel masts and canvas, wind power, and human hands. (PMNM)

Kure Atoll is the most northwestern island in the Hawaiian chain and occupies a singular position at the “Darwin Point:” the northern extent of coral reef development, beyond which coral growth cannot keep pace with the rate of geological subsidence. Kure’s coral is still growing slightly faster than the island is subsiding.

North of Kure, where reef growth rates are even slower, the drowned Emperor Seamounts foretell the future of Kure and all of the Hawaiian Archipelago. As Kure Atoll continues its slow migration atop the Pacific Plate, it too will eventually slip below the surface.

Kure is the northern-most coral atoll in the world. It consists of a 6-mile wide nearly circular barrier reef surrounding a shallow lagoon and several sand islets. The only land of significant size is called Green Island and is habitat for hundreds of thousands of seabirds.

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Dunnottar-Castle-Altmeier-(NOAA)-07-2006b

Dunnottar-Castle-Tilburg-(NOAA)-07-2006b

Large metal structures o the hull-(hawaiianatolls)

Dunnottar_Wreck-Preliminary_site_Sketch-(NOAA)

Dunnottar Castle in the 17th century - From Slezer's Theatrum Scotia (1693)

February 16, 2020 by Peter T Young 3 Comments

Deaths in Wars

Estimates indicate that at least 618,000 men died in the American Civil War – 360,000 from the North and 258,000 from the South – the greatest loss of American lives in a war. (The 3-day Battle of Gettysburg was the bloodiest, approximately 50,000 Americans died.)

In the Islands, over the centuries, the islands weren’t unified under single rule. Leadership sometimes covered portions of an island, sometimes covered a whole island or groups of islands.

Island rulers, Aliʻi or Mōʻī, typically ascended to power through familial succession and warfare. In those wars, Hawaiians were killing Hawaiians; sometimes the rivalries pitted members of the same family against each other.

At the period of Captain Cook’s arrival (1778-1779), the Hawaiian Islands were divided into four kingdoms: (1) the island of Hawaiʻi under the rule of Kalaniʻōpuʻu, who also had possession of the Hāna district of east Maui; (2) Maui (except the Hāna district,) Molokai, Lānaʻi and Kahoʻolawe, ruled by Kahekili; (3) Oʻahu, under the rule of Kahahana; and (4) Kauai and Niʻihau, Kamakahelei was ruler.

“At that time Kahekili was plotting for the downfall of Kahahana and the seizure of Oahu and Molokai, and the queen of Kauai was disposed to assist him in these enterprises.”

“The occupation of the Hana district of Maui by the kings of Hawaii had been the cause of many stubborn conflicts between the chivalry of the two islands, and when Captain Cook first landed on Hawaii …”

“… he found the king of that island absent on another warlike expedition to Maui, intent upon avenging his defeat of two years before, when his famous brigade of eight hundred nobles was hewn in pieces.” (Kalākaua)

Kamakahelei was the “queen of Kauai and Niihau, and her husband was a younger brother to Kahekili, while she was related to the royal family of Hawaii. Thus, it will be seen, the reigning families of the several islands of the group were all related to each other, as well by marriage as by blood.”

“So had it been for many generations. But their wars with each other were none the less vindictive because of their kinship, or attended with less of barbarity in their hours of triumph.” (Kalākaua)

“By this time nearly a generation of the race had passed away, subsequently to their discovery by Cook. How much of their strength had been exhausted by wars and the support of armies, and how much by new and terrible diseases, it is not easy to estimate. The population was greatly diminished, and the residue unimproved in morals.” (Bingham)

“Whether we contemplate the horrors or the glories of the rude warfare which wasted the nation, we are not to confine our views to the struggles of armed combatants – the wounds, the reproaches, and various evils inflicted on one another…”

“… but the burden of sustaining such armies deserves attention, and the indescribable misery of the unarmed and unresisting of the vanquished party or tribe, pursued and crushed, till all danger of further resistance disappeared, must not be forgotten.” (Bingham)

Fornander states that “It had been the custom since the days of Keawenui-a-Umi on the death of a Moi (King) and the accession of a new one, to redivide and distribute the land of the island between the chiefs and favorites of the new monarch.” This custom was repeatedly the occasion of a civil war. (Thrum)

Human and organic nature were, however, probably the same then as now, and wars and contentions may occasionally have disturbed the peace of the people, as eruptions and earthquakes may have destroyed and altered the face of the country. (Fornander)

“Before the conquest of Kamehameha, the several islands were ruled by independent kings, who were frequently at war with each other, but more often with their own subjects. As one chief acquired sufficient strength, he disputed the title of the reigning prince.”

“If successful, his chance of permanent power was quite as precarious as that of his predecessor. In some instances the title established by force of arms remained in the same family for several generations, disturbed, however, by frequent rebellions … war being a chief occupation …” (Jarves)

“It is supposed that some six thousand of the followers of this chieftain (Kamehameha,) and twice that number of his opposers, fell in battle during his career, and by famine and distress occasioned by his wars and devastations from 1780 to 1796.” (Bingham)

“However the greatest loss of life according to early writers was not from the battles, but from the starvation of the vanquished and consequential sickness due to destruction of food sources and supplies – a recognized part of Hawaiian warfare.” (Bingham)

Following Kalaniʻōpuʻu’s death in 1782, the kingship was inherited by his son Kīwalaʻō; Kamehameha (Kīwalaʻō’s cousin) was given guardianship of the Hawaiian god of war, Kūkaʻilimoku.

Dissatisfied with subsequent redistricting of the lands by district chiefs, civil war ensued between Kīwalaʻō’s forces and the various chiefs under the leadership of Kamehameha. At the Battle of Mokuʻōhai (just south of Kealakekua) Kīwalaʻō was killed and Kamehameha attained control of half the Island of Hawaiʻi.

The result of the battle of Mokuʻōhai was virtually to rend the island of Hawaii into three independent and hostile factions. The district of Kona, Kohala, and portions of Hāmākua acknowledged Kamehameha as their sovereign. (Fornander)

The remaining portion of Hāmākua, the district of Hilo, and a part of Puna, remained true to and acknowledged Keawemauhili as their Moi; while the lower part of Puna and the district of Kaʻū, the patrimonial estate of Kīwalaʻō, ungrudgingly and cheerfully supported Keōua Kuahuula against the mounting ambition of Kamehameha. (Fornander)

A later battle at ʻIao is described as, “They speak of the carnage as frightful, the din and uproar, the shouts of defiance among the fighters, the wailing of the women on the crests of the valley, as something to curdle the blood or madden the brain of the beholder. (Fornander)

The Maui troops were completely annihilated, and it is said that the corpses of the slain were so many as to choke up the waters of the stream of lao, and that hence one of the names of this battle was “Kepaniwai” (the damming of the waters). (Fornander)

Vancouver was appalled by the impoverished circumstances of the people and the barren and uncultivated appearance of their lands.

“The deplorable condition to which they had been reduced by an eleven years war” and the advent of “the half famished trading vessels” convinced him that he should pursue his peace negotiations for “the general happiness, of the inhabitants of all the islands.” (Vancouver, Voyage 2)

Then, a final battle of conquest took place on Oʻahu. Kamehameha landed his fleet and disembarked his army on Oʻahu, extending from Waialae to Waikiki. … he marched up the Nuʻuanu valley, where Kalanikūpule had posted his forces. (Fornander)

At Puiwa the hostile forces met, and for a while the victory was hotly contested; but the superiority of Kamehameha’s artillery, the number of his guns, and the better practice of his soldiers …

… soon turned the day in his favour, and the defeat of the Oahu forces became an accelerated rout and a promiscuous slaughter. (Fornander) Estimates for losses in the battle of Nuʻuanu (1795) ranged up to 10,000. (Schmitt)

In addition to deaths in wars, epidemics of infections added to the decline in Hawaiʻi’s population from approximately 300,000 at the time of Captain Cook’s arrival in 1778 to 135,000 in 1820 and 53,900 in 1876. (Images from Herb Kane.)

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Kauhi's_last_Stand_at_Kaanapali-(HerbKane)

Arrival_of_Keoua_Below_Puukohola-(HerbKane)

Battle_of_the_Red-Mouthed_Gun-(HerbKane)

Incident_of_the_Splintered_Paddle-(HerbKane)

Kamehameha landing at Waikiki

Kamehameha_Aboard_Fair_American-(HerbKane)

February 15, 2020 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kaʻula

Kaʻula Island lies about 23-miles west-southwest of the south end of Niʻihau.

Geographically and biologically, Kaʻula could be considered to be part of the Northwest Hawaiian Islands. However, it is the westernmost of the Main Hawaiian Islands and is not included in the Northwestern Hawaiian Island section – it is part of Kauaʻi County.

It is Hawaiʻi’s second largest offshore islet (after Lehua,) making it the tenth largest island in the Main Hawaiian Island chain. Due to its size, a lot of people call it Kaʻula Rock.

Kaʻula was one of the first five islands sighted by Captain James Cook in 1778, which he referred to as “Tahoora”.

Cook first sighted Oʻahu on January 18, 1778. On February 2, 1778 his journal entry named the island group after his patron: “Of what number this newly-discovered Archipelago consists, must be left for future investigation.”

“We saw five of them, whose names, as given by the natives, are Woahoo (Oʻahu,) Atooi (Kauai,) Oneeheow (Niʻihau,) Oreehoua (Lehua) and Tahoora (Kaʻula.) …. I named the whole group the Sandwich Islands, in honour of the Earl of Sandwich.” (Clement)

Kaʻula is 0.7-miles long, about 540-feet high and has an area of about 130-acres (about the size of Ala Moana and Magic Island Parks.)

Around 100,000-seabirds of 18-different species nest on Kaʻula, with many sooty terns, brown noddies, boobies and wedge-tailed shearwaters.

ʻŌlelo No’eau recall several stories of Kaʻula birds:
“Ahē no ka manu o Kaʻula, he lā ʻino”
When the birds of Kaʻula appear wild, it denotes a stormy day. (Pukui, #8)

“Hāika Kaʻula i ka hoʻokē a na manu”
There isn’t room enough on the island of Kaʻula, for the birds are crowding. (Pukui, #411)

Kaʻula has no beaches for landing; there are steep cliffs on all sides of the island. A large sea cave is located at the northwestern end of the island.

ʻŌlelo No’eau recall the Kaʻula sea cave and the shark god Kuhaimoana:
“Kūʻonoʻono ka lua o Kuhaimoana”
Deep indeed is the cave of Kuhaimoana. (Pukui, #1923)

As early as 1921, the Light House board decided that a navigational light was needed on Kaʻula. On December 13, 1924, per Governor’s Executive Order 173, Kaʻula was set aside for the US Lighthouse Reservation for a Lighthouse Station to be under the management and control of the Department of Commerce.

The first documented ascent of Kaʻula was made on July 10, 1925, when a party under the direction of lighthouse superintendent Fred A Edgecomb (my great uncle) succeeded in making a landing and worked until the 21st building a trail and ladder to the summit. The lighthouse was eventually put into commission in 1932. The trail (and ladders) have long since washed into the ocean. (Brown, HJH)

In a memorandum regarding Kaʻula, Edgecomb noted, “On the summit at the north end of Kaula Rock the remains of several stone enclosures were found, showing unmistakable evidence of having been built by human hands.”

“These may have been prayer shelters, heiaus, or even ruins of forts as they are located in echelon, just at the top of the bluff where a trail would come out from the north landing. Certainly these walls have not been used or repaired in this generation.” (Brown, HJH)

Hawaiians visited to fish and to harvest seabirds, feathers and eggs. Stories tell that Kaʻula was also the source of a certain type of stone highly valued for making octopus lures. (OIRC)

The US Lighthouse Service operated the automatic gas light near the summit of Kaʻula from 1932-1947. Following World War II, US Coast Guard used Kaʻula as a radar navigation target.

The US Coast Guard, successor to the Lighthouse Service, later granted a revocable permit to the Navy (September 9, 1952) to use 10-acres on the southeastern tip of the island as a live fire air-to-surface and surface-to-surface practice range; the Coast Guard later (1965) transferred the Island to the Navy.

In 1978, the State of Hawaiʻi contemplated the inclusion of Kaʻula Island into a State Seabird Sanctuary and an Attorney General memorandum took the position that the Island belonged to the State. In part, it noted that since it was no longer being used for lighthouse purposes, the set aside in Governor’s Executive Order Number 173 should be canceled by appropriate documentation.

Navy lawyers took the position that the Island is owned by the US government and that transfer of jurisdiction, control, accountability and custody of Kaʻula Island to the Department of the Navy from the US Coast Guard was proper and in conformance with US law. (Hawaii Range Complex EIS)

From 1981 through the present, the Navy uses Kaʻula for restricted training limited to air-to-ground bombing using inert ordnance (up to 500-lbs) and live gunnery training. There is a 3-nautical mile (nm) radius restricted area and a 5-nm radius warning area around the island – both extending up to 18,000-feet. (Hawaii Range Complex EIS)

Permission from the US Navy is required to be on or around the island. The matter of ownership appears to be still in question, with the Feds and State disagreeing on who owns the island.

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Kaula Rock from the southeast-(summitpost)

Kaula Rock

Sea Cave on the northwest end of Kaula Rock-(summitpost)

Kaula Rock, from the northwest-(summitpost)

West face of Kaula Rock (viewing north)-(summitpost)

70 feet down at Five Fathom Pinnacle, Southwest of Kaula Rock-(summitpost)

Bomb on Kaula, Navy target island NW of Niihau

Crater on Kaula Island, Navy bombing target, from a 500 lb bomb.

Frederick Albert Edgecomb (1887-1972) Superintendent 19th Lighthouse District, Hawaiian Islands (1930-1939)

February 13, 2020 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Boudoir Serenaders

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Secret Service did not have a vehicle with adequate protection, so President Roosevelt made use of a heavily armored Cadillac that was originally owned by gangster Al Capone – Roosevelt rode in it to give his “Infamy” speech to Congress the day after the attack. (CBS)

Alphonse Gabriel Capone (“Al Capone,” “Scarface”) was born of an immigrant family in Brooklyn, New York on January 17, 1899. He quit school after the sixth grade and later became a member of a notorious street gang. Johnny Torrio was the street gang leader, among the other members was Lucky Luciano.

About 1920, Capone joined Torrio in Chicago where he had become an influential lieutenant in the Colosimo mob. The rackets spawned by enactment of the Prohibition Amendment, illegal brewing, distilling and distribution of beer and liquor, were viewed as “growth industries.”

The mob also developed interests in legitimate businesses in the cleaning and dyeing field, and cultivated influence with receptive public officials, labor unions and employees’ associations.

Torrio soon succeeded to full leadership of the gang; in 1925, Capone became boss when Torrio, seriously wounded in an assassination attempt, surrendered control and retired to Brooklyn.

The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre on February 14, 1929, might be regarded as the culminating violence of the Chicago gang era, as seven members or associates of the “Bugs” Moran mob were machine-gunned against a garage wall by rivals posing as police. The massacre was generally ascribed to the Capone mob, although Al himself was in Florida.

On October 18, 1931, Capone was convicted of tax evasion and prohibition charges and served his sentence in the US Penitentiary in Atlanta and at Alcatraz.

After serving his term, suffering effects from syphilis, he had deteriorated greatly and became mentally incapable (in 1946, doctors concluded Capone then had the mentality of a 12-year-old child.) He died of a stroke and pneumonia on January 25, 1947. (FBI)

The Capone automobile link post-Pearl Harbor attack noted above is not the only connection of the gangster to the Islands.

Al Capone’s brother, Ralph, liked Hawaiian music. His reputed favorite Hawaiian musician was Johnny Kaʻaihue (Johnny Ukulele.) Johnny left the Big Island in 1916 when Duke Kahanamoku hired him as a member of the band that accompanied the Duke’s surfing demonstrations in Atlantic City and other spots on the mainland.

When Johnny was in town, Ralph would let Johnny stay in a suite in one of the hotels run by the mob.

Besides being an entertainer, Johnny was also an expert swimmer, and when he wasn’t playing music, he was appearing and competing against the likes of Johnny Weissmuller and Buster Crabbe.

But that’s not the extent of the connection of the Capones to Hawaiʻi.

It turns out Al Capone liked Hawaiian music, too.

Ralph Kolsiana was born on Oahu in 1912. When he was six, the family moved to Philadelphia, where there was a sizable Polynesian community, as there was in Atlantic City, Cleveland and Chicago.

His father played woodwinds with John Philip Sousa; he introduced his son to the Royal Hawaiian School of Music in Philadelphia, where Ralph and his brother John were taught by Jimmy Kahanalopua and Henry Kamanuwai.

At some point in the late-twenties the two brothers entered a talent show, the Major Bowes Amateur Show, and won the first prize of $1,000.

In the early thirties the two of them and Kamanuwai were invited to play at the Steel Pier in Atlantic City, as part of a large group called Aldridge’s Steel Pier Hawaiians.

Ralph Kolsiana was one of the early greats of the steel guitar but is largely unknown because he played clubs instead of radio dates and only recorded a handful of records – he also performed as the Ralph Kolsiana Islanders.

I’ll let Kolsiana tell the rest of the story …

“It was in the early 30s that we were hired by the infamous gangster Al Capone in Miami.”

“(H)e had us come and play on one of his small islands that were connected by small arch-type bridges in a group near the Miami Area.”

“You may find this as amusing as we did at the time, but he and his cohort were really hung up on Hawaiian music. We were to serenade his guests who stayed overnight in the master bedroom of his mansion.”

“This room had alcove-like sections which were closed in by beautiful blue velvet curtains. We would serenade them while they made love after the big party downstairs was over.”

“We did the same at his posh hotel suites in New York City. He called us his ‘Boudoir Serenaders.’” (Kolsiana; Ruymers; Brookes)

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February 12, 2020 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Election Riot of 1874

1874 – On the continent, Jesse James and his gang participated in one of the most famous train robberies in history; at Gads Hill, Missouri, it was first time the James Gang robbed individual passengers.

Also on the continent, at Comer, Alabama, the White League (comprised of white Alabamian Democrats), formed an armed mob and killed at least seven black Republicans and a white Republican judge’s son, injured at least 70 more and drove off over 1,000 defenseless Republicans from the polls – it became known as the Election Riot of 1874 (also the Coup of 1874.)

But that was there, what was happening here in Hawaiʻi?

On February 12, 1874, nine days after the death of King Lunalilo, an election was held between the repeat candidate David Kalākaua and Queen Emma, widow of King Kamehameha IV.

This was the second election of Hawaiʻi’s leadership – the kingdom’s Constitution stated if the monarch dies before naming a successor “such vacancy, shall cause a meeting of the Legislative Assembly, who shall elect by ballot some native Alii of the Kingdom as Successor”.

Therefore, the elections were held by the members of the legislature, not the public. The election was held in a special session of the Legislature at the old Courthouse on Queen Street (it was almost the last official action to take place in the courthouse.) When the vote was tallied, Kalākaua won by a count of 39 – 6.

Emma’s supporters (referred to as the “Queenites,” “Emmaites” or the “Queen Emma party”) were unhappy with the decision – an angry mob of about 100 of the Queen’s followers gathered.

No outbreak occurred … until the Committee of five representatives, which had been appointed to notify the King of his election, attempted to leave the building and enter a carriage waiting to convey them to the Palace.

“The crowd surrounded the carriage and laid hands on them, and they attempted to defend themselves, as best they could without weapons, two of them were badly wounded before they effected entrance into the building to which they retreated.” (Hawaiian Gazette – March 4, 1874)

A riot ensued and many of the legislators were attacked, with one subsequently dying from his injuries (Mr. Lonoaea, representative from Wailuku, Maui.)

“An extra Police force had been enrolled the day previous, but except from those stationed inside, little or no assistance was obtained from the Police, who simply stood by and looked on, apparently sympathizing with the mob. It may be added that none of them were armed even with batons.” (Hawaiian Gazette – March 4, 1874)

The queen’s followers first surrounded and besieged the courthouse. “The building was in great disorder, nearly every window being smashed and apparently all of the furniture having been broken. The floors were littered with mutilated books and torn papers and that of the upper room was blood stained in several places.” (WHH Southerland)

Since the Hawaiian army had been disbanded after a mutiny sometime before, and the militias were unreliable, there was nobody to stop the riot. The Honolulu police force deserted and also joined in the unrest, even fighting against each other depending on their political sympathies.

“The only alternative, in this emergency, was to seek aid from the war vessels in port. About half-past 4 pm, a written request was sent by Charles R Bishop (the Minister of Foreign Affairs,) on behalf of the Government, to the American Minister Resident, for a detachment to be landed from the US ships Tuscarora and Portsmouth, lying in the harbor. And a similar request was transmitted to the British Consul General.” (Hawaiian Gazette – March 4, 1874)

The request stated, “Sir: A riotous mob having unexpectedly made a violent attack upon the Court House and the Members of the Legislature which we have not the force at hand to resist, I have to request that you will cause to be furnished at the earliest moment possible aid from the US ships “Tuscarora” and “Portsmouth” to the Police, in quelling the riot and temporarily protecting life and property. Your obedient servant, Chas. R. Bishop” (Hawaiian Gazette – March 4, 1874)

A force of 150 American marines and sailors under Lieutenant Commander Theodore F. Jewell were put ashore along with another seventy to eighty Britons under a Captain Bay from the sloop HMS Tenedos.

The Americans headed straight for the courthouse, pushing back the rioters, and placing guards, they also occupied the city armory, the treasury the station house and the jail.

British forces marched up Nuʻuanu Valley to Emma’s house where they dispersed a large crowd. They then went back to Honolulu to man the palace and the barracks.

“The American and English landing forces patrolled the city for a few nights and about one week later, no other disturbances occurring in the meantime, were withdrawn to their respective ships.” (WHH Southerland)

(The USS Tuscarora happened to be in port because it was surveying a suitable route for a submarine telegraph cable between San Francisco and Honolulu. They were taking a line of deep-sea soundings at intervals of thirty miles apart between the two ports.)

Kalākaua took the oath on February 13 (Queen Emma immediately acknowledged him as king,) after which his right to the throne was no longer in threat.

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