Peter T Young

March 27, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Mokapu

The Hawaiian name for Mokapu is believed to be a contraction of Moku kapu, or ‘sacred island.’

Mokapu is a roughly 10-acre island located approximately 0.7 miles off the north coast of Molokai just east of the Kalaupapa Peninsula.

Mokapu rises steeply out of the water to 360-feet above sea level, ending in a narrow summit ridge.

Like the nearby islands of Okala and Huelo, Mokapu supports some of the most diverse native coastal plant communities in Hawai’i. For example, Mokapu contains 29 native plant species; several of these species are rare and vulnerable to extinction.

The island is dominated by native shrubs, but retains small groves of native lama trees, some native palm trees, which dominate
nearby Huelo, and 11 of the last 14 individuals of the shrub hoawa that is endemic to Molokai.

Mokapu is one of the many offshore islets that form the Hawai‘i State Seabird Sanctuary, created to protect the thousands of seabirds who seek refuge in and around the main Hawaiian Islands.

The majority of seabird-nesting colonies in the main Hawaiian Islands are located on the offshore islands, islets and rocks.

The sanctuary, administered by DLNR’s Division of Forestry and Wildlife, exists to protect not only seabirds but also endangered native coastal vegetation.

These sanctuaries protect seabirds, Hawaiian Monk seals, migrating shorebirds, and native coastal vegetation.

These small sanctuary areas represent the last vestiges of a once widespread coastal ecosystem that included the coastlines of all the main Hawaiian Islands. (DLNR)

“It is prohibited for any person to land upon, enter or attempt to enter, or remain in any wildlife sanctuaries …” Regardless, landing by boat is nearly impossible due to the lack of a safe beach.

Like the nearby islands of Okala and Huelo, Mokapu supports some of the best native coastal plant habitat in Hawai‘i, with 29 native plant species, several of which are rare and vulnerable. (DOFAW)

Historical uses of the island are unknown although rock mound structures are present on the ridgeline of Mokapu. However, the nature and source of these rock structures are unknown.

The difficulty of accessing Mokapu by water and the steepness of its slopes make it unlikely that it was visited often in the past and there are no known human uses of terrestrial areas today.

However, there is fishing along the north shore of Molokai, including areas near Mokapu. Fishing is primarily during the summer since winter seas are often very rough. (DOFAW)

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Mokapu (right)-AMNWR

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Mokapu AMNWR

Mokapu Island, Okala Island, and Leina o Papio Point (from left to right)-Suominen

Huelo Okala Mokapu Islets Waikolu Valley North Shore, Molokai-Forest & Kim Starr

Mokalu, Huelo Okala Islets Waikolu Valley North Shore, Molokai-Thomas

Mokalu, Huelo Okala Islets Waikolu Valley North Shore, Molokai-Forest & Kim Starr

March 25, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Princes to America

Most are aware that Humehume, some of Kauai’s King Kaumuali‘i was sent to America, at least, in part, to receive a formal education. Kaumualii suggested he be called George (after King George of England) when he went abroad. (Warne)

George was about six years old when he boarded the Hazard that ultimately sailed into Providence, Rhode Island on June 30, 1805 after a year-and-a-half at sea. Over the next few years he made his way to Worcester, Massachusetts.

Humehume was “discovered” and taken under the wing of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM). He was sent, along with Henry Ōpūkaha’ia and other Hawaiian youths, to be educated at the Foreign Mission School at Cornwall, Connecticut. (Warne)

“We thank Providence that I have fallen into the hands of Christians. I hope it will be provided so that I can go back to my country and do good among the people.” (Tamoree (Humehume;) Stauder)

Humehume left the Islands as a young child and spent years around English speakers; he lost the knowledge of speaking Hawaiian.

With this interaction with the Hawaiians at the school, He began “learning the Owhyhee language. This friend that lives here with me is a great benefit to me, for he can learn me the Owhyhee language. I can learn him the English language.” (Tamoree (Humehume;) Stauder)

Three years later, on October 23, 1819, the Thaddeus carried the Pioneer Company of American Protestant missionaries to Hawai‘i. There were seven American couples sent by the ABCFM to convert the Hawaiians to Christianity in this first company. With them were four Hawaiian, including Humehume. They arrived in Kailua-Kona on April 4, 1820.

After the Thaddeus departed, George remained in Kailua-Kona and took Betty Davis, the half-Hawaiian daughter of Isaac Davis, as his wife, or his “rib” as he described her. In a short time they rejoined the missionary party in Honolulu. (Spoehr)

On May 3, 1820, Humehume returned to Kauai and was reunited with his father after many years apart. “At 11 o’clock came to anchor at Wimai opposite the fort. A canoe came off to us with several of the king’s men, one of whom could speak English.”

“George had kept himself concealed in the cabin, until we told him that one of his father’s favorite men was on board, and we thought best that his arrival should be made known to him.”

“We then introduced him to the young prince; he embraced him and kissed him, and then without saying a word, turned round and immediately went on deck, and into his canoe, telling his companions they must go on shore, for their young master had come.”

“A salute of 21 guns was soon fired from the brig, and returned from the fort. … When we arrived at the house, Tamoree and his Queen were reclining on a sofa; as soon as George entered the door, his father arose, clasped him in his arms, and pressed his nose on his son’s after the manner of the country; both were unable to speak for some time.”

“The scene was truly affecting, and I know not when I have wept more freely. When they had become a little more composed, Tamoree spoke and said his heart was so joyful that he could not talk much till to-morrow …” (Ruggles Journal)

He was not the only early prince who was sent to America. It appears Kamehameha also sent Liholiho – although his travels were not as extensive or as long as Humehume’s.

We learn of Liholiho’s travels through references by and about Ōpukahaia and Hopu. As noted by Hopu, “Captain Brintnall of New Haven, Connecticut, in the year 1807, touched and tarried sometime in Owhyhee, one of the Sandwich Islands.”

“Kummahamaah, the principal King of the Sandwich Islands, proposed that one of his sons, a youth about 12 years of age, should accompany Captain Brintnall to America, to receive an education.”

Liholiho was born in about 1797 in Hilo; so, in 1807, Hopu’s estimated age of Kamehameha’s son corresponds with the approximate age of Liholiho at the time.

Hopu further notes, “Two of us, Obookiah and myself, were selected to be the attendants of the young prince: and both of us were immediately received on board the ship. I, as a cabin boy, and Obookiah as a sailor.”

“Then Captain Brintnall made a voyage to the northwest coast of America, to take their seal skins, before he came to Owhyhee, and returned to the Sandwich Islands.”

“In our absence to the northwest coast of America, the King had changed his mind, because he feared that some evil would befall the prince, and he would never return to his father again: So that he stayed in Oahhoo, one of the Sandwich Islands.”

“Both of us, however, who were to have been the attendants of the young prince, having our expectations excited, and having a strong curiosity to see America, we both of us continued in the ship, expecting to return to our native island, by the first favorable opportunity, after gratifying our curiosity of seeing America.” (Hopu)

‘Ōpūkaha’ia does not go into as much detail about Liholiho, but he notes that after leaving the Islands, “We set out on our Journey towards the Seal Islands, on the NW part of America.”

“We continued on these islands during six months, then took our course towards Owhyhee. Two of my countrymen were with me in the ship. One of them concluded to stay at Owhyhee, and the other to proceed on the voyage.” (‘Ōpūkaha’ia)

Lots later, other princes traveled for education. In 1885, brothers Kūhiō, Koa and Edward schooled at St Matthew’s Hall in San Mateo, California. (Even Princess Kaʻiulani was sent to boarding school in England in 1889 at the age of 13.)

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David Kawananakoa (1868-1908) Edward Keliiahonui (1869-1887) and Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole (1871-1922)-PP-97-17-008

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March 24, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Loko

The beginning date for the construction of fishponds in ancient Hawaii is unknown. The builder of the first pond is traditionally reputed to be Ku’ula-kai, “who lived in an undated period of heroes and gods”.

Since fishponds were commonplace in legendary literature attributed to the 14th through the 19th centuries, it is conjectured that they were developed sometime prior to AD 1400.

The Hawaiian fishpond was primarily a grazing area in which the fishpond keeper cultivated algae for his fish; much in the way a cattle rancher cultivates grass for his cattle.

A natural food chain can be expected to produce a ratio of 10:1 in terms of the conversion of one link by another. 10,000-kg of algae make 1,000-kg of tiny crustaceans, which in turn make 100-kg of small fish. These 100-kg of small fish then produce 10-kg of large fish, which when eaten by humans make 1-kg of human flesh.

Hawaiian ponds “are closer to the following: 10,000 pounds of algae and detritus make 1,000 pounds of herbivorous fish; 1,000 pounds of herbivorous fish make about 100 pounds of carnivorous fish, or man”. (Hiatt; Kelly)

Thus, herbivorous fish produced in Hawaiian fishponds provided man with protein 100-times more efficiently than the natural food chain.

Patient observation by Hawaiian fishermen of the habits of herbivorous fish (what and where they ate) was undoubtedly part of the great fund of knowledge held by Hawaiians about the sea and the plants and animals, which inhabit it.

‘Ama‘ama (grey mullet) was the most popular fish raised in Hawaiian walled seashore fishponds (awa (milk fish) was another).

Certainly, the Hawaiians recognized the value of walled fishponds and built them wherever conditions permitted. (Kelly) Pond types include:

Loko kuapa whose main characteristic is a seawall as its artificial enclosing feature and which usually contains one or more sluice gates.

Loko puʻuone (sometimes called loko hakuʻone), an isolated shore pond usually formed by a barrier beach building a single elongated sand ridge parallel to the coast.

Loko wai, a freshwater fishpond located inland from the shore.

Loko i’a kalo, another inland fishpond which utilized an irrigated taro plot (fish were grown in the waters flowing among the earth mounds planted with taro corms).

Loko ʻume ʻiki is similar in shape and construction to loko kuapa, however, it is a fishtrap characterized by numerous stone flanked lanes which led fish into netting areas with the ebb and flow of the tide. This last type is also the only pond where women were permitted to net.

The first three types were royal fishponds in the sense they were owned exclusively by the ruling chiefs and managed by a caretaker, or kiaʻi loko, or in some cases by a lesser chief, the konohiki, who served as a managerial overseer of both the pond and the adjacent agricultural lands.

The latter two types of ponds, while technically owned by the ruling chiefs, were the domain of families with makaʻāinana (commoner) access. Commoners’ rights to the harvest, however, were never independent of the chief’s.

The most important of the shore ponds was the loko kuapa which consisted of an arc-shaped wall extending out from the shore onto a reef flat and back again; these ranged in area from one acre to over 500 acres.

The mortar less walls were constructed of basalt cobbles and blocks, and coral fragments. These were usually several yards thick and projected about one yard above the highest tide level. Only a high chief could command the labor necessary to construct such monumental structures.

The spaces in the mortarless masonry walls made them permeable and served to reduce stress from tidal, wave, and current energy. The construction of seaward versus interior pond wall flanks was equally sophisticated.

Seaward flanks were inclined slopes which further permitted the seawall to withstand wave energy and to absorb, per square inch, more energy than a more vertical alignment.

In 1848, when King Kamehameha III pronounced the Great Māhele, or land distribution, Hawaiian fishponds were considered private property by landowners and by the Hawaiian government.

This was confirmed in subsequent Court cases that noted “titles to fishponds are recognized to the same extent and in the same manner as rights recognized in fast land.”

Because of their location in the coastal zone, Hawaiian fishponds are controlled by a regulatory framework where County, State and Federal agencies each exercise some degree of control over activities associated with the pond.

There is a separate chapter in the State laws (Hawaiʻi Revised Statutes – HRS §183B) that deal with fishponds. Under certain circumstances, reconstruction, restoration, repair or use of any Hawaiian fishpond are exempt from the requirements of chapter §343 (environmental review laws.) (Information her is primarily from Kelly and NPS.)

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Fish_Ponds_at_Honoruru,_Oahu,_by_John_Murray,_after_Robert_Dampier-(WC)-1836

Punaluu Fishpond bulging in the center-1930s-600

Molii Fishpond-in-background-over pineapple rice-1890-600

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Fishpond Kailua side of Libbyville-1924

Loko Wai-Alekoko Fishpond-(malamahuleia)-1912

Alekoko Fishpond Wall-(Baker)

Alekoko Fishpond – still in use-KHS-1934

March 23, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Stone House

In 1840, a land dispute between Mr. Richard Charlton, the first British ambassador to Hawaiʻi, and the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi would spark the infamous “Paulet episode” which led to the forced cession of the Hawaiian Islands to Britain in 1843. (KSBE)

“The restoration of the Hawaiian Monarchy in July 1843 – ending the five-months-long illegal seizure and occupation by the Englishman, Lord George Paulet – created the chief, and indeed the only, notable site in Kulaokahu‘a.”

“The exact locale – the future Thomas Square – leaped into history with, literally, a bang. On the morning of July 31, two pavilions decorated with greens and a flagstaff stood on the plain east of town.”

“On the street line to the west, tents from warships in port punctuated their arid surroundings. A thick mat of rushes paved the line of march. Thousands waited for the ceremonies of the day.”

“At 9:30, Rear Admiral Richard Thomas of the British navy called on the King to sign official documents. A half hour later, several companies of English sailors and marines were drawn up on a line facing the sea, with an artillery corps on their right.”

“Admiral Thomas and his staff arrived in the King’s state carriage, while the Monarch himself came on horseback, accompanied by the household troops. The artillery honored His Majesty with a 21-gun salute.”

“At a given signal, the British flag officer bowed his colors; the British flag was then lowered and the Hawaiian flag raised amid salvos, first from Thomas’s HMS Carysfort, then from English and American warships, merchantmen and whalers, and finally from the Honolulu fort and the Punchbowl battery.”

“A great cheer arose as the wind caught the folds of the Hawaiian flag. Admiral Thomas read a long declaration, after which marines, sailors, and artillery passed in a review witnessed by Commodore Lawrence Kearney and officers of the USS Constellation.”

“Hawaii’s sovereignty had been restored.” (Greer)

“‘Her Majesty’s Government,’ we learn in a letter from the Earl of Aberdeen, ‘viewed with the highest approbation, the whole of his proceedings at the Sandwich Islands, as marked by a great propriety and an admirable judgment throughout …’”

“‘… and as calculated to raise the character of British authorities for justice, moderation, and courtesy of demeanor, in the estimation of the natives of those remote countries, and of the world.’” (Polynesian, August 3, 1850)

“Richard (Darton) Thomas was born at Saltash, county of Cornwall. … This officer entered the navy the 26th of May, 1790, on board the Cumberland 74, Captain John M. Brule, and sailed in the course of the same year with a squadron under Rear Admiral Cornish, for the West Indies”. (Polynesian, August 3, 1850)

“The King too, Kamehameha III, moved by gratitude, intimated a wish that the Rear Admiral would sit for his portrait in full uniform, that His Majesty ‘might have and preserve in his palace the likeness of a British officer who …’”

“‘… in restoring to him his kingdom, dared to act on his own sense of right, counting upon the approval of his magnanimous, Queen, in which he was not disappointed.’” (Polynesian, August 3, 1850)

“No nobler men ever touched those Islands, than some of the officers of the American and English navies.” (Richard Armstrong) Admiral Thomas died in Stonehouse, Devon on August 21, 1857.

“Our home ‘Stone House’ was named after the English residence of Admiral Thomas, of the British Navy, who restored the national flag which his subordinate, Lord George Paulet, had, in his absence, hauled down, taking possession of the Islands in the name of the Queen.”

“Lord George was compelled by the Admiral to restore the flag and salute it with his own guns. The day was thereafter kept as a national holiday, and the name of Admiral Thomas is held in grateful remembrance.” (Richard Armstrong)

Later, in 1881, the Sacred Hearts Father’s College of Ahuimanu moved from the windward side into the former Rev. Richard Armstrong’s home, “Stonehouse” on 91 Beretania Street adjoining Washington Place.

At that time, the name ‘College of St. Louis’ was given to the institution in honor of Bishop Louis Maigret’s patron Saint, Louis IX.

Then, on September 19, 1883, the Punahou Preparatory School was opened for the full term at Stone House “Three of the trustees were present at the opening exercises, together with many parents of the pupils, of whom there were 85 present, with a prospect of a larger attendance …”

“It is the design of the trustees to have no pupils at Punahou proper, except such as are qualified to proceed with the regular academic course.” (The Friend, October 4, 1883)

By the 1898-1899 school year, there were 247 students in grades 1-8 in the Punahou Preparatory School. Later, in 1902, the Preparatory School was moved to what is now known as the Punahou campus, where it occupied Charles R Bishop Hall.

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Armstrong-Stonehouse

March 22, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

First Foreigners Who Stayed

Following ‘contact,’ trade between the northwest coast of America and China began in 1785 or in the spring of 1786. Ships began to call at the islands for fresh supplies and water. In some cases they came to spend the winter where the climate was not as severe as on the northwest coast of America.

Members of the crews of these early visitors were left at the islands either as agents for their ships or their owners, with instructions to learn the language and to collect cargoes of sandalwood, supplies, etc., or as deserters.

Simon Metcalfe (sometimes spelled Metcalf) (1735-1794) was an American fur trader. Reportedly, Simon Metcalfe was the first American captain to take sea otters on the Northwest Coast and the first American to trade those skins in China.

In 1789, Simon Metcalf (captaining the Eleanora) and his son Thomas Metcalf (also a trader, captaining the Fair American); their plan was to meet and spend winter in the Hawaiian Islands.

The Eleanora arrived at the Big Island; Captain Simon Metcalf sent his boatswain, John Young, ashore to see the country. That evening, as Young attempted to return to his ship, Kamehameha’s forces detained him (Kamehameha had placed a kapu on anyone going on the ship.)

Young was captured and Metcalf, unaware, was puzzled why Young did not return. Metcalf waited two days for Young to return; finally, sensing danger or becoming frustrated, Metcalf departed and set sail for China (abandoning Young,) not knowing that his son had been killed not far away.

On March 22, 1790 wrote a letter to four foreigners, residents on the Islands, SI Thomas, I Ridler, Js Mackey and John Young (an apparently different John Young than his boatswain). These may have been the first foreigners who stayed (at least for a while) in the Islands. Simon Metcalf wrote a letter to them:

“Sirs, As my Boatswain landed by your invitation, if he is not returned to the Vessel, consequences of an unpleasant nature may follow (to distress a Vessel in these Seas is an affair of no small magnitude.”

“If your Word be the Law of Owhyhee as you have repeatedly told me, there can be no difficulty in doing me justice in this Business, otherwise I am possessed of sufficient powers to take ample revenge which it is your duty to make the head Chief acquainted with.”

SI Thomas, one of those residing at Kailua to whom Captain Metcalf addressed his letter, was probably an American. He arrived in either the Columbia or the Lady Washington in the fall of 1788 and landed at Kailua, Hawaii. The length of his residence in Hawaii is not known.

I. Ridler was Carpenter’s Mate on the Columbia and was left in the fall of 1788 to collect sandalwood. In 1791 Captain Joseph Ingraham in the brig Hope, while cruising off Maui, was hailed by a double canoe in which were three white men, besides natives.

These men were dressed in malos (loin cloths), being otherwise naked. They were so tanned that they resembled the natives. They told Captain Ingraham that they had deserted Kamehameha, who had maltreated them, after the arrival at Kailua of the boatswain of the Eleanora.

These men were Ridler, James Cox and John Young. They went to China with Ingraham, which he did in the summer of 1791. Ridler, however, returned with Ingraham to Hawaii in October, 1791, and accompanied him back to New England on the same voyage. He resided in Hawaii about four years.

J. Mackey (also identified as M’Key) probably arrived in September, 1787, in the Imperial Eagle, Captain Barclay. (Cartwright) “John M’Key was born in Ireland and went to Bombay in the East India Company’s service.”

“Two vessels, the Captain Cook, under Captain Lowrie, and the Experiment, under Captain Guise, were fitted out in 1785 to go to the American coast. M’Key engaged on the Captain Cook as surgeon.” (Dixon)

In August, 1787, M’Key sailed the Imperial Eagle, bound for China. She touched at Hawaii, where they took aboard a Hawaiian woman named ‘Winee’ as a maid for the captain’s wife, who had accompanied her husband on this voyage.

It is not known whether M’Key stayed in Hawaii or not. It is quite possible that he did so and was the Mackey to whom Captain Metcalf addressed the letter above referred to. (Cartwright)

The nationality of John Young (the one noted in the letter) has not been definitely established – it is suggested he was American. He was a resident of Kailua, Hawaii, when Captain Metcalf called there, and it was to him that the letter above referred to was addressed.

This John Young and the boatswain of the Eleanora were different persons. The Boatswain of the Eleanora always claimed he was an Englishman from Liverpool. (Cartwright)

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