Peter T Young

November 6, 2017 by Peter T Young 4 Comments

Elizabeth Jessamine Kauikeolani Low

Elizabeth Jessamine Kauikeolani Low “was named Clorinda by (her) father, as a nickname, way back when (she) was about six years old. (They) were living on a ranch, (she) loved horses, and had a very bad temper.”

“(Her father) read a book in which a child the same age had the same characteristics and was called Clorinda. So he called (her) Clorinda and it seems to be the one name that stuck all through (her) life”. (Lucas; Watumull)

She was born in Honolulu on August 9, 1895. Her father was Ebenezer Parker (Rawhide Ben) Low – he was married to Elizabeth Pu‘uki Napoleon (“really Napoli. … Became known as Napoleon later.”)

“(Her mother) was always known as Lizzie Low. (Her) mother’s people were not well known to us because she was hanaied by Judge and Mrs. Sanford B. Dole when she was about twelve years of age [circa 1879].”

“Judge Dole was a teacher at Kawaiaha‘o Sunday School and had in his class a little girl of about six whose name was Lizzie Napoleon. And he became very attached to this little girl so when she got a little older, he asked her mother if she wouldn’t allow her to live with them.”

“She didn’t want to go at first but she did finally become attached to both Judge and Mrs. Dole and lived there until she was married.” (Lucas; Watumull)

“(Her) father was known as Rawhide Ben because ever since he was knee high to a grasshopper, I guess, he loved the ranch life. And he was brought up as a member of the family in Mana and Kamuela with the rest of them.” (Lucas; Watumull)

She married Charles Williams (Charlie) Lucas on July 19, 1924; they had one child Laura Lucas (who later married Myron Bennett (Pinky) Thompson.) (His unusual nickname came from his mother. So convinced that she was pregnant with a girl, she decorated the baby’s room completely in pink and purchased pink clothes. Ever since, her son was known as ‘Pinky.’ (Gordon))

Family ties go back to Alexander Adams and John Palmer Parker. Captain Alexander Adams arrived in the Islands in 1811 on the American trading ship the ‘Albatross’ from Boston.

He became an intimate friend and confidential advisor to King Kamehameha I, who entrusted to him the command of the king’s sandalwood fleet. Lucas, a fourth-generation descendant of the John Palmer Parker family, was a notable community leader.

During most of her adult life, Clorinda Lucas devoted her time and attention to child welfare and the problems of Hawaiian people through the Liliuokalani Trust, the Department of Public Welfare and the Department of Public Instruction.

For three years following her graduation from Smith College (BA degree) in 1917, she Lucas worked in New York City for the national board of the YWCA in the Division of Education for Foreign-born Women. She was the first Hawaiian to have professional social work education. (NASW)

“I was with the Department of Public Welfare, we called it in those days. When I first came back from the New York School [of Social Work] in 1937, my first job was director of the Oahu Department of Public Welfare.”

“And I was there until we reorganized and then we had a social work division and a child welfare division and I don’t know, we had a real change tied in with the Social Security Act. And then I was director of the social work division.”

“And then from there I went into the Department of Education and headed the Division of Pupil Guidance and I was there for seventeen years, then retired in 1960.”

Lucas led the Humane Society. She notes, “My first social work job was with the Humane Society when they took care of children. I was there, I guess, about three or four years and then I went to the New York School [of Social Work] and got my training and then came back to the Department of Public Welfare.” (Lucas; Watumull)

Lucas’ daughter, Laura Thompson later became executive director. “(W)e’ve been tied up with animals just about all our lives and of course I’m very happy to know that Laura’s interested in animals too.” (Lucas; Watumull)

But of all the community projects she worked on and worked for that had been the most gratifying and most satisfying, was “of course my connection with the Liliuokalani Trust (she was Chair of the Board of Trustees) has pretty much circumscribed what is important for me to consider for Hawaiians and that has to do with the orphan and destitute children of Hawaiian blood.” (Lucas; Watumull)

“(Lili‘uokalani’s) Will said to build an orphanage and the orphanage was to be made of fireproof materials and it was to have the name Liliuokalani, no cross or steeple. These were all in her Will. But they just didn’t have enough money to do that.”

“Well, in the meantime it was obvious that children should not be brought up in orphanages, especially babies that have lost their parents. So then they went to court, when there was enough money to do something with it, went to court and got permission from the court to at least take care of the children in a little different way”

“Instead of building an orphanage, to find homes where they could have fairly close relationship with just one or two people instead of many. So this was allowed, with the understanding that the trustees would always have in the back of their minds that someday they would have to build an institution of some sort.” (Lucas; Watumull)

“So, since then, we have worked on this foster care program or adoption program, anything so that you put children with families where they can become an integral part of them.”

“And I would say probably that’s been the most satisfying experience for me. That to see this thing grow from a rather limited concept, which was the thing to do at the time she died, to what you could do today.”

“And I will say that the thing that to me is the most satisfying is we have done some very innovative things and with this trust money.” (Lucas; Watumull)

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Clorinda Lucas

November 4, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Growing US Influence

“It was the Napoleonic Wars more than anything else which allowed Hawai‘i to begin to shift from the British to the American sphere of influence.”

“In 1792, in 1793, and again in 1794 – while the French Revolution was spilling only French blood and the future Admiral Lord Nelson had no cause to marshal His Majesty’s ships at home – Capt. George Vancouver visited the budding conqueror Kamehameha and accepted his offer on behalf of George III of a pseudo-protectorate over Hawai‘i.” (Stauffer)

“Kamehameha’s chief foreign advisors, the British subjects Isaac Davis and John Young, continued their efforts to maintain close relations with their homeland by building on the great initial relations and understanding between the two nations …”

“… and as late as the 1810s Western naval officers recognized a special relationship, a de facto protectorate or alliance as some wrote, existing between Great Britain and Hawai‘i.”

“Into the breach created by the withdrawal of the British came the spirited American merchants, dissuaded from American-European trade by Jefferson’s embargo on Napoleonic combatants.”

“Although delayed slightly by the American-British War of 1812, American merchants experienced an economic boom through the sandalwood trade at the war’s close.”

“By 1820, the year of the establishment of the American-dominated whaling industry centered in Hawai’i as well as the landing of the first American missionaries there, Americans associated with Hawai’i played a key role in the political economy of the northern Pacific.”

“From the wild fur-trading camps of Astoria and Portland to the rollicking ports of Lahaina and Honolulu to the Chinese markets at Canton, business came increasingly under the domination of American traders.”

“Like the British during the previous hundred years, the Americans spread their political relations behind the advance formations of their merchants.”

“Only after decades of American commerce being established in the Pacific did the United States Navy follow.”

“In 1825 a Pacific Squadron made up of the single frigate United States and the small schooners Dolphin and Peacock was mobilized and sent to Peru to guard the routes of American shipping around the Cape.”

“And, as commerce had brought the Navy that far, it was not surprising when, one year later, commerce brought first one and then the other of those schooners to Hawai‘i to address the concerns of American whalers and traders.” (Stauffer)

“Thomas ap Catesby Jones was “Ordered to the Pacific Squadron in 1826, Jones, with the rank of Master Commandant (i.e., Commander) was in command of the sloop Peacock when he was sent to the South Seas and Hawai‘i later that year.”

“Jones’ sloop-of-war Peacock made good time from the Society Islands, arriving at Honolulu after a trip of just 22 days. Spying the whaler Foster out from Nantucket anchored off the mouth of Honolulu harbor, Jones boarded her at four o’clock in the afternoon of October 10, 1826, to gain a background report on the Islands.”

“By 3:30 p.m. the next day the Peacock had been brought into the harbor and was at anchor.”

“Lord Byron had put into port a year earlier and, while not bringing a cession treaty from London, he had reaffirmed the special interest and feelings existing between Great Britain and Hawai‘i.”

“In contrast, the American Navy had not been well represented in the Islands. In the War of 1812 an American privateer holding authentic Letters of Marque and Reprisal had sailed into Honolulu harbor only to be captured, together with several merchant ships, by the British warship Cherub.”

“The next American military ship to enter Honolulu was the sloop Dolphin, commanded by Lieutenant John ‘Mad Jack’ Percival, dispatched by Commodore Hull specifically to look into the matter of the alleged ‘debts,’ and received at port on January 26, 1826.”

“The object of my visit to the Sandwich Islands was of high national importance, of multifarious character, and left entirely to my judgment as to the mode of executing it, with no other guide than a laconic order, which the Government designed one of the oldest and most experienced commanders in the navy should execute”. (Jones, Report of Minister of Foreign Affairs)

“Under so great a responsibility, it was necessary for me to proceed with the greatest caution, and to measure well every step before it was taken; consequently the first ten or fifteen days were devoted to the study and examination of the character and natural disposition of a people who are so little known to the civilized world, and with whom I had important business to transact.”

“The Sandwich Islanders as legislators are a cautious, grave, deliberate people, extremely jealous of their rights as a nation, and are slow to enter into any treaty or compact with foreigners, by which the latter can gain any foot-hold or claim to their soil.”

“Aware of these traits in the character of the Islanders with whom I had to negotiate, I determined to conduct my correspondence with them in such a manner as at once to remove all grounds of suspicion as to the object and views of the American Government, and to guard against misrepresentation and undue influence”.

“(I also wanted to) give the Chiefs and others in authority, the means of understanding perfectly the nature of my propositions, I took the precaution to have all official communications translated into the Oahuan language, which translation always accompanied the original in English”.

“(B)y giving them their own time to canvass and consult together, I found no difficulty in carrying every measure I proposed, and could I have been fully acqainted with the views of my government, or been authorized to make treaties, I do not doubt but my success would have been complete in any undertaking of that character.” (Jones Report to Navy Department, 1827)

Jones’s first order of business was the matter of the deserters; after initial discussions with local Hawaiian officials about a comprehensive treaty, Jones proposed on October 31, 1826, that a ‘rule’ be established, “which ought never to be departed from”’ regarding foreigners in Hawai’i.

Under the proposed ‘rule,’ all American sailors who had deserted their ships would be immediately removed from the Islands no matter under what circumstances or how far back in the past the desertion had occurred. Secondly, any American otherwise living in Hawai’i who had no “visible means of making an honest livelihood” would be removed. Finally, Jones proposed that “all other foreigners who did not support a good character” should likewise be banished.

Governor Boki, as well as both the American and British representatives were in favor of the proposal. He then approached the issue of ’debts’ (on November 4, 1826) – these primarily dealt with the ‘payment’ of sandalwood that was promised to traders for goods given. The chiefs agreed to pay off all the ‘debts’ in full. (Staffer)

Then on November 13, “The communication … which accompanied some regulations of general interest to our commerce in the Pacific was not less successful”. (Jones Report to Navy Department, 1827)

On December 23, 1826, the US signed a treaty (Articles of Arrangement) with the Kingdom of Hawaii thus indirectly recognizing Hawaiian independence. (State Department Historian) It is generally referred to as the Treaty of 1826 and was Hawaiʻi’s first treaty with the US.

It “received the signatures of the Ruling Princes and Chiefs, in testimony of their approbation of them, and as a pledge of their sincere friendship and confidence in the American Nation, and their earnest desire to remain neutral and take no part in any foreign wars.” (Jones Report to Navy Department, 1827)

The meeting considered the ‘Articles of Arrangement,’ a trade agreement between the US and the Hawaiian Kingdom, which was accepted and signed by Thomas ap Catesby Jones, and Kaʻahumanu as Queen Regent, Kalanimōku as Prime Minister, and the principal chiefs Boki, Hoapili, and Nāmāhāna. (Gapp)

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Peacock-sloop

November 3, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Trade Winds

The spice trade began in the Middle East over 4,000 years ago. Initially, the spice trade was conducted mostly by camel caravans over land routes. The Silk Road was an important route connecting Asia with the Mediterranean world, including North Africa and Europe.

Trade on the Silk Road was a significant factor in the development of the great civilizations of China, India, Egypt, Persia, Arabia, and Rome.

In the 15th century, the spice trade was transformed by the European Age of Discovery. By this time, navigational equipment was better and long-haul sailing became possible.

Rich entrepreneurs began outfitting explorers in hopes of circumventing Venice by discovering new ways to reach the areas where spices were grown. There were many voyages that missed their targets, but several of them ended up discovering new lands and new treasures.

When Christopher Columbus set out in search of India, he found America instead, and brought back to Spain the fruits and vegetables he found, including chiles (he called them ‘peppers’, and the term ‘chile pepper’ persists to this day). (Spice Road)

It was not until 1487 that Bartholomew Diaz set off on the voyage that finally reached the southern tip of Africa. By rounding the Cape of Good Hope, Diaz proved that the Atlantic and Indian Oceans were not landlocked, as many European geographers of the time thought, and rekindled the idea that a sea route to India might indeed be feasible.

In 1497 King John’s successor, Manuel I, appointed Vasco da Gama to lead a pioneering voyage to India. The fleet consisted of four ships, two of which had been specially constructed. These were square-rigged ships of shallow draught weighing about 200 tons.

The flagship, St Gabriel, was captained by Vasco da Gama, and the St Raphael was under the command of his brother Paolo da Gama. Berrio Nicolau Coelho commanded a lanteen-rigged caravel of about 100 tons, and the fourth ship was a store ship. they rounded the Cape of Good Hope. (Winser; BBC)

On Christmas Day 1497 the three remaining ships were sailing northwards along the east coast of what is now South Africa and called the country ‘Natal’. By January 11, 1498 they were exploring the mouth of Copper River (‘Rio Cobre’), named after the copper ornaments worn by the local population. (Winser; BBC)

As spices became more common, their value began to fall. The trade routes were wide open, people had figured out how to transplant spice plants to other parts of the world, and the wealthy monopolies began to crumble. (Spice Road)

The development of ocean travel in the 16th century brought with it an increasing knowledge of wind patterns. The phrase ‘trade wind’ is ancient. Deriving from an old use of ‘trade’ to mean a fixed track.

It is applied to any wind which follows a predictable course. Since such winds can be of great value to merchant ships making long ocean voyages, the term becomes understood in the 18th century to mean winds which support trade. (World Heritage Encyclopedia)

Then, the captain of a sailing ship seeks a course along which the winds can be expected to blow in the direction of travel. During the Age of Sail the pattern of prevailing winds made various points of the globe easy or difficult to access. Back then, some ships could only sail downwind. (Silk Road)

The Portuguese recognized the importance of the trade winds in navigation in the Atlantic Ocean as early as the 15th century. They learned, in order to reach South Africa, they needed to go far out in the ocean, head for Brazil and around 30°S go east again.

Following the African coast southbound means upwind in the Southern hemisphere. In the Pacific Ocean, the full wind circulation, which included both the trade wind easterlies and higher-latitude Westerlies, was unknown (to Europeans) until Andres de Urdaneta’s voyage in 1565.

By the 18th century the importance of the trade winds to England’s merchant fleet for crossing the Atlantic Ocean had led both the general public and etymologists to identify the name with a later meaning of ‘trade’, ‘(foreign) commerce’. (World Heritage Encyclopedia)

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Map_prevailing_winds_on_earth-WC

WindPatterns

global_currents

surface_current_map

Principal Voyages of Exploration-Duiker

November 2, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Overboard

“On our way towards China my poor friend Thomas fell overboard. He was so careless, not knowing what he was about, he went outside of the ship and drew salt- water to wash plates with (for he was a cabin’s boy.) When the ship rolled he got in the water.” (‘Ōpūkaha‘ia)

“It was early in the morning, while my Captain was fast asleep in the cabin. But while I was in the water, longside of the ship, I called to one of my shipmates, who stood on the helm, ‘Mix, Mix’.”

“He heard me. Then he cried out, ‘Thomas is overboard.’ (Hopu)

“The Captain calls all hands upon the deck, and ordered to have all the sails pull down in order to let about-While we were working upon our sails, my friend Thomas was out of sight.” (‘Ōpūkaha’ia)

“At this time, the wind blew very high, so that the waves roared, and the ship was going at about nine knots an hour. It was a considerable time before the necessary orders could be given, to put the ship about for my rescue. In the mean time, I lost sight of the ship, after which I was swimming in the water.”

“In this situation, though I was an expert swimmer, I gave myself up for lost.” (Hopu)

“While he was in the water he pulls all off his clothes in order to be lighter. We turned our ship and went back after him.” (‘Ōpūkaha’ia)

“Then I cried to my god, Akooah, for help, and made my vow to him, in the hour of trouble, that if he would save me out of the great and mighty waters, and I might reach the ship, I would devote to my god, Akooah, a fine jacket, which I had received from my Captain, as a present.”

“And I also made several short prayers to the great Spirit, while I was swimming in the water, before that I could see the ship. I considered myself in the greatest danger of being swallowed up in the mighty ocean.”

“I expected to die before the ship would reach me. While the waves of the sea were breaking over my head, every moment, I then thought that it must be a very hard thing for me to die, in the full strength of this mortal body.”

“While I was thinking in this situation, I saw a bird come from God, as I thought, out of the clouds, down to me, on the water. I was very glad to behold him flying over my head, and I was greatly rejoiced to see such a messenger sent down to me from the great Spirit.”

“I then talked to him in these words, ‘If you are a bird of God, please to go back to your master, and tell him that I have already given a jacket to your master and come quickly and save me, that I perish not in this deep water, where is no bottom.’”

“Then the ship again reached me …” (Hopu)

We found him almost dead. He was in the water during the space of two and a half hours. O how glad was I then to see him for he was already gone.” (‘Ōpūkaha’ia)

“ … and I was taken on board: but I could not speak a word to any one of my shipmates, because I was almost dead when I got on board the ship.”

“Immediately after I got on board, a great shark came alongside of the ship. I suppose the shark followed my track.”

“O! What a wonderful mercy of God is this, that God who is infinite in kindness to so unworthy a creature as I am; and whose hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear.”

“When the poor cry for help, in their troubles, he is always near to save them.” (Hopu)

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Thomas_Hopu

November 1, 2017 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Liljestrand

Howard Liljestrand was born in Iowa in 1911. The child of medical missionaries, he was raised in Sichuan, China. He graduated from Harvard Medical School and met his wife, Helen Betty Horner, at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Cape Cod.

In 1937, Betty and Howard Liljestrand arrived in Hawaii as honeymooners and medical missionaries en route to China – they came to Hawaii so Howard could complete his residency at Queens Hospital.

The two had planned to return to China, but the country’s growing political tensions of the coming Communist revolution delayed and, ultimately, diverted them and kept them in the Islands. He worked at a plantation hospital near Pearl Harbor, where the couple raised four kids. (Quill)

When Howard and Betty Liljestrand decided to move from their Plantation Style cottage in Aiea to a neighborhood closer to Honolulu.

Knowing that they wanted to build a house, the Liljestrands spent a decade looking for the ideal plot of land. It was on a hike in the rain forest on Tantalus that they decided that this was where they wanted to build their home.

While hiking they met George Coulter sitting on his porch watching the sunset. They struck up a casual conversation, telling George about their desire to move to the mountain. Realizing how much they loved it, George offered to sell them a portion of his land.

The Liljestrands purchased 2.5 acres from Coulter in 1946: a 2 acre square parcel on one side of Coulter’s house lot, and a half acre parcel on the other side that was just below a ridge-line overlooking the city. The half-acre parcel didn’t have the entire view they wanted, the other side of the ridge was conservation land owned by the Territory of Hawaii.

They made an even trade with the Territory; they would deed the 2 acre square parcel to the Territory for conservation land in exchange for the half acre parcel on the other side of the ridge-line from their own. This secured the view of the city that they wanted, and created the house lot for their new home. (NPS)

Given their lifestyle, they had an extensive list of programmatic needs. First and foremost, the wanted a home of unusual quality and livability. They firmly believed in the ‘emotional power of architecture to give meaning to life’ and pursued a ‘spirit lifting’ quality in their home. (Penick; Pace Setter Homes)

They wanted “morning sun in the kitchen, no morning sun in the bedroom (Howard was a late sleeper), a single loaded corridor, views from every room, no rooms as passageways, lots of storage, a front door easily and naturally accessible, places where work can be left out, and a circular drive.” (Liljestrand House)

They hired Vladimir Ossipoff to design their 6,700-square-foot dream house, with Betty, who was clearly ahead of her time, serving as general contractor. The Liljestrands moved into the house, which was nearly complete, in 1952. (Quill)

The house has an irregular H-shaped floor plan, with one wing set at a 45 degree angle, instead of perpendicular to the middle wing. The house is constructed of redwood which throughout has been managed with a variety of treatments to fit the feeling and flow of the floor plan. (NPS)

The house is set far off the street, down a private road with a security gate. The road services two residences, and divides after 50 yards or so, with the left driveway leading to the Liljestrand property.

Ossipoff designed the house to showcase the view from the ridge. The house was situated on the ridge to extend the view from Diamond Head in one direction to the airport in the other.

The natural beauty around the house was an important element incorporated into the design. The use of floor to ceiling windows and walls that slide away, entirely open the house to the outside world. The long driveway and forested area provide privacy.

Between 1946 and 1965, House Beautiful named 17 Pace Setter houses for the post–World War II years. The Liljestrand House was selected in 1958, commanding the cover and 53 pages of the magazine.

The Pace Setters were not designated to impress the fine-arts world but to translate high design for a postwar nuclear family. Frank Lloyd Wright’s houses could be too dark, and Le Corbusier’s roofs leaked, but the Pace Setters were livable. (Departures)

The Liljestrand House typifies a romantic vision of midcentury life, with a kitchen that includes work stations for flower arranging, sewing, typing and gift wrapping.

The living and dining rooms have an open plan for parties, with conversational seating areas for intimacy. Recreational activities are relegated to the downstairs – with billiards, Ping-Pong, movie screenings and a kidney-shaped pool outside.

The house builds on aspects of previous Hawaiian architecture, the low, simple front façade draws from earlier Craftsman and the vernacular Plantation Style of houses. Ossipoff’s vision embraces key concepts of life in Hawaii, such as the expansion of the living area to include the outdoors. (NPS)

Almost fifty years after its publication in House Beautiful, the Liljestrand House appeared in Western Interiors and Design, on the cover of Metropolis, and in the book, The Hawaiian House Now.

In 2007 and 2008, respectively, The Liljestrand House was listed on the Hawaii State and the United States National Registers of Historic Places.

In 2009, the Liljestrand House received a Preservation Award from the Historic Hawaii Foundation. In a letter to the Liljestrand Family the Historic Foundation called the house “one of the most, if not the most, intact historic structures in the state.”

They also recognized that the furniture, built-in interiors, and contents – all designed or selected by the architect – remain in original condition; the architectural source materials – notes, memos, letters, drawings, materials lists, invoices, and even the building permit – exist; and that film and photos of the construction exist.

The Liljestrand family has created the Liljestrand Foundation. The mission of the Foundation is to preserve the house and to make that preservation purposeful by opening the house to the public for tours and for charitable, cultural, and educational activities. (Liljestrand House)

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