Economy | Page 164 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

July 29, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

‘Flying in Rough Air’

The 1930s were the romantic years of flight. At the beginning of the decade, flying across oceans was a life-risking experience. However, beginning in 1936, Pan Am began to fly across the Pacific. (Pacific Aviation Museum)

That year, Patricia Kennedy, in the bow of the plane, christened a plane with coconut water: “I christen thee Hawaii Clipper for the American Territory of Hawaii.” (hawaii-gov)

A couple years later, “Martin flying boat ‘Hawaii Clipper’ (one of three flying boats in regular trans-Pacific service for Pan-American Airways) departed Alameda (on San Francisco Bay) on a flight across the Pacific Ocean to Manila. Intermediate stops were made in Hawai‘i and Guam.”

“A few minutes before 6 a.m. on July 29, 1938, Pan American Airways Captain Leonard Terletzky taxied the Clipper out of Apra Harbor, Hawaii Guam.”

“Terletzky was more than halfway through the six-day, 9,000-mile flight from Alameda, California, to Hong Kong. He’d already made stops in Honolulu, Midway, Wake Island and now Guam. Manila, Macao and Hong Kong were still to come.” (Geoghengan)

The Pan Am crew consisted of Terletzky, First Officer Mark A. Walker, Second Officer George M. Davis, Third Officer Jose M. Sauceda, Fourth Officer John W. Jewett, Engineer Officer Howard l. Cox, Assistant Engineer Officer T.B. Tatum, and Radio Officer William McGarty. The passengers were attended by Flight Steward Ivan Parker. (This Day in Aviation)

“The airliner’s six passengers were: Lieutenant Commander Edward E. Wyman, United States Naval Reserve, of Bronxville, New York. Commander Wyman was the former assistant to Juan Trippe, the founder of Pan American Airways. He was now employed by Curtiss-Wright. Pan American’s traffic manager, Kenneth A. Kennedy, was also on board.”

“Colonel Earl E. McKinley, M.D., United States Army Reserve, Dean of Medicine at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., a bacteriologist, and Fred C. Meier, Ph.D., were collecting airborne bacteriological samples to research transocean bacterial transfer.”

“Major Howard C. French, Air Corps, United States Army (Reserve), the commanding officer of the 321st Observer Squadron based at Vancouver, Washington.”

“Finally, there was Choy Wah Sun (also known as “Watson Choy”), of New Jersey. Mr. Choy was believed to be transporting $3,000,000 in U.S. Gold Certificates for the Kuomintang, the Nationalist Party of China, which was headed by Chiang Kai-shek.” (This Day in Aviation)

“The airplane departed Guam at 11:39 (18:30 CST). The last radio contact was at 22:03 CST saying that it was 565 miles from the Philippine coast, flying through ‘layers of clouds’” and ‘Flying in rough air’. (Aviation Safety)

Her Captain, “Capt. Terletzky was described by Pan-American officials as one of their best flyers. He started flying for the company about 10 years ago and formerly was attached to the South American and Carribean lines. He was a 43-year-old naturalized Russian.”

“In addition to her crew and passengers, the plane carried several hundred pounds of mail and express. Pan-American officials said the three ships flying the Alameda-Manila route had logged a total of nearly 2,000,000 miles of flying over the Pacific.”

“The Clipper’s strong hull was designed to keep the big flying boat afloat indefinitely unless it were demolished by impact with the ocean. It was constructed with bulkheads, like those of surface ships, that could shut off various parts of the plane by closing doors.”

“The ship, equipped with four 800-horsepower wasp motors, could fly if one motor cut out. Moderately-loaded as the ship was, it could keep aloft even if two engines stopped if the pilot ‘tacked’ it to keep it on an even keel.” (Evening Star, July 29, 1938)

“In her noon report the clipper said she was flying through cloud banks and the wind was ‘a bit rough.’ The Weather Bureau here said its maps indicated the weather was good at sea in that vicinity and no storms were in sight.” (Evening Star, July 29, 1938)

“On July 29, 1938, at 0411, Greenwich Civil Time, the Captain of the Hawaii Clipper, an aircraft of Pan American Airways, Incorporated, flying westbound between Guam and Manila, P. I., in regular scheduled foreign air commerce, sent a routine radio position report giving their 0400 O.C.T. position as being Latitude 12 degree 27′ North, Longitude 130 degree 40′ East.”

“This position is approximately 582 nautical miles east-southeast of Manila. The position report was received by the radio operator at Panay, P. I., who was at that time standing radio guard over the operation.”

“The ground station acknowledged this report and requested the Clipper to stand by for a routine weather sequence report. The radio operator at Panay was unable to obtain acknowledgement of messages sent the clipper”. (CAA Investigation; Lost Clipper)

“For several hours after the Clipper’s usual landing time – between 2:30 and 3:30 p.m. (1:30 and 2:30 a.m. Eastern standard time) Pan-American officials insisted they were not worried.”

“At 6:30 p.m. one official, although unable to explain the Clipper’s failure to report by radio at the regularly scheduled intervals, said: …”

“‘She had to go around the storm and buck headwinds, therefore we did not expect her until around 6 o’clock tonight (5 a.m. Eastern standard time) even now we consider her only a half hour late. But that is not unusual.’” (Evening Star, July 29, 1938)

Hawaii Clipper never arrived at its destination. What happened to it and the fifteen persons on board remains one of the enduring mysteries of aviation history. (This Day in Aviation)

“Flying conditions and visibility had been generally good, but the plane had flown through scattered showers. No reason was advanced as to why she might have been forced down, but it was pointed out that if she made a safe landing she could float on the Pacific Ocean as well as any boat.”

“The Army transport Meigs, only 87 miles away from the Clipper’s last reported position, was immediately ordered to search the area. The Navy tender Penguin was sent from Guam at 8:20 p.m., Guam time (6:50 a m., E. S. T.), carrying a Pan-American radioman and an airways mechanic. She was expected to reach the scene Monday.” (Evening Star, July 29, 1938)

“The giant Hawaii Clipper, with 15 occupants, missing approximately 12 hours on a flight from Guam to Manila, was made the object of an intensive search by air, sea and underwater craft tonight.”

“The only possible clue to the fate of the Pan-American Airways trans-Pacific plane, which vanished Friday en route here from Guam and California, was a huge oil slick ominously spreading across the ocean some 500 miles east of here and near the spot where the clipper last reported herself.” (Evening Star, August 1, 1938)

“A ‘thick oil area,’ marking the spot where the Trans-Pacific Hawaii Clipper presumably hit the ocean, was discovered by the army transport Meigs today 500 miles from Manila.”

“For nearly six days, warships and fighting planes combed the Pacific stretches in all directions from a point more than 500 miles east of here where the flying boat radioed her last position a week ago today.”

“Army and Navy authorities said they stood ready to answer any call if a clue to the plane’s whereabouts was found, but naval officials said they had abandoned the search for the present because every probability and possibility of finding the clipper was exhausted.” (Evening Star, August 5, 1938)

“There was no indication of how disaster overtook the Hawaii Clipper, whose last radio report at 8:09 pm. Thursday indicated that all was well. She had mentioned rain and moderately rough winds. But her log showed no indication of a storm, which might have brought lightning and sudden death to her veteran crew of nine and six prominent passengers.” (Lowell Sun, July 30, 1938)

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Patricia Kennedy christens the Pan American Hawaii Clipper with coconut water, Pearl Harbor-PP-1-9-004-May 1935

Ceremony christening the Pan American Hawaii Clipper, Pearl Harbor-PP-1-9-006-1936

hawaii_clipper

Hawaiian musicians who performed at the christening of the Pan American Hawaii Clipper, Pearl Harbor-PP-1-9-003-1936

Cutaway drawing of the Boeing 314 reveals the clipper’s various cabins and compartments-Smithsonian

First trans-Pacific passengers boarding the Pan American Hawaii Clipper continuing their flight across the Pacific-PP-1-9-005-1936

Pan Am’s Boeing 314 had a lower set of seawings to provide balance and buoyancy on the water-Smithsonian

A Martin M-130 clipper could seat 16 passengers confortably with plenty of room to walk around-Smithsonain

The Martin M-130 clipper’s main cabin also served as a dining room-Smithsonian

Lounge on Pan Am’s Boeing 314 transformed into a dining room at mealtime-Smithsonian

A Martin M-130 clipper provided comfortable sleeping berths for the long overnight flight to Hawaii-Smithsonian

First paying passengers of the Pan American Hawaii Clipper-PP-1-9-002-1936

First paying passengers of the Pan American Hawaii Clipper-PP-1-9-001-1936

Pan Am brochure captures the romance of flying on a Boeing 314 clipper to Hawaii Smithsonian

Pan Am brochure captures the romance of flying on a Boeing 314 clipper to Hawaii-Smithsonian

Cutaway drawing of a Martin M-130 clipper reveals the multiple cabins in the plane-Smithsonian

Cutaway drawing of the Boeing 314 reveals the clipper’s various cabins and compartments-Smithsonian

July 28, 2018 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

He keiki aloha nā mea kanu

Beloved children are the plants (Pukui 1983:76, verse 684)

The forests, as the home of the akua, were seen as awesome and profoundly spiritual places. One did not enter them, or take from them, without first asking permission, and respectful behavior was always shown to all of the beings that lived there. (Anderson-Fung & Maly)

The gathering of plants served many important cultural purposes. Plants were consumed for food and medicine (e.g., the bark of the root of the ʻuhaloa was used for sore throat), used as tools and building materials, art, and adornments. (Kumupaʻa)

Participants in a recent Puna-based ethno-historical analysis noted that the Puna uplands have been traditionally accessed to gather lāʻau (plants, wood) for a variety of uses, and these practices must continue to be exercised today.

1. Native Out-planting: Because many of the native plants gathered by practitioners are rapidly dying off, it was recommended that action be taken to replace and reestablish these valuable forest plants.

2. Cultural Access: Community participants recommended that the forest be kept open and accessible to cultural practitioners such as hālau hula, artists, and lāʻau lapaʻau healers for native plant gathering. (Kumupaʻa)

Papa Henry Auwae, a prominent Kahuna Lā‘au Lapa‘au (Hawaiian herbalist), spoke of some of the different medicinal plants and herbs in the forest (and concern for the plants that had been impacted by the prior contemplated geothermal use):

“Plenty lā‘aus out here. Kōpiko. Oh boy. Oh my, the lama and the ‘ōpikos are all down. You see this tree here? Oh, my goodness. This is ‘ōpiko, this tree here. And the bark, all this bark here is all wasted already, you see. Poho, all this, all wasted.”

“And this is, we can use this for — you know, a woman when they miscarriage, all the time miscarriage. And this is the kind of bark we use for tea, make it into a tea form. But this is all waste. How many years this thing old? Oh, my goodness, cannot get anything. Poho.”

“You cannot get a tree like this to grow overnight. It takes years. And this kind of tree, they don’t grow too fast, they grow real slow, very slow. That one here took about 300 years, 300, 400 years. This is all waste, waste, wasted forever.

“And this is the kind of thing, we should stop people like this desecrating the forest. Why don’t they see people like us Hawaiians and we can help them, you know …”

“… go into a place like this and then try and save our herbs, our trees, you know, our lifestyle, instead of just waste it for themselves, through greediness. They like all the money. But how much life can they save? I can save life. Can they save life?”

“And this tree is gone forever. We cannot get this tree back in life again. And how many more trees like this that they had damaged and wasted? Cannot tell. We have use of the forest, we have the use of all the herbs in the forest to save people, to save human life.”

“And every time I walk and I see in a forest like this, I feel, I feel for the ‘āina. I feel what my grandmother taught me about the lā‘aus, how long it takes for the lā‘au to grow.”

“And people just come over here with a bulldozer and just knock it down. They don’t think, they don’t have any feelings.”

“You see that small leaves there? ‘Olu‘olu. That’s another medicine that we use. And it’s very scarce and very rare. This root here is important. This root here I would take this for medicine now. And I’m going to take this home for medicine right now. ‘Ohu nui.”

“For a person, I have a person coming up and he has been losing his voice; he cannot talk. So this is what we’re going to use to try and bring his voice back again. In a forest like this, there are a lot of lā‘au that can cure people. People all over the world you can cure.” (Nā Maka o ka ʻĀina; Kumupa‘a)

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July 25, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Raising Cane

“The Hawaiian race is, to all appearance, dying out; and the resources of the land are in large part idle and untouched—a promise and a temptation. At this juncture the Hawaiian people and the Hawaiian government could appropriately ask, What must we do to be saved?”

“Judging from the steps that were taken and the discussions that were indulged in, we may conclude that the things which the missionaries and other resident foreigners believed to be necessary were:
1. to develop the latent industry of the people and the natural resources of the land;
2. to get Hawaii formally recognized as an independent nation;
3. to establish a government along modern constitutional lines which would be understood and respected by foreigners as well as by natives.” (Kuykendall)

“About 1836 the missionaries were led to take a general survey of conditions in Hawaii and the progress which had been made toward Christian civilization.”

“They were compelled to admit that while a great change had been effected in the religious views and religious institutions of the country, little or no improvement had been made in the economic and political condition of the nation.”

“So impressed were they with this fact that they prepared a memorial on the importance of increased effort to cultivate the useful arts among the Hawaiian people.” (Kuykendall)

“The missionaries, intent on providing a needy nation of 125,000 souls, with ample means of instruction in every useful department, and unwilling to have the ordinary useful arts of life neglected, applied to their Directors specifically for forty-six additional missionary laborers, to be sent at once, pointing out the location and the work for each …”

“… and before the close of this year they, moreover, sent to the ABCFM and other philanthropists, a memorial on the importance of increased efforts to cultivate the useful arts among the Hawaiian people.” (Bingham)

The memorial stated, in part, “The introduction and cultivation of the arts of civilization must, it is believed, have an important bearing on the success of the preaching of the Gospel, and the permanence of evangelical institutions in the Sandwich Islands.”

“But if there were no immediate connexion, and the influence of the latter could be permanent without the former, still the arts and institutions of civilized life are of vast importance to the happiness, improvement, and usefulness of any nation where they are, or may be, properly fostered. “

“Of the importance of both, our Directors were aware, when they instructed us to aim at raising up the entire population of these islands to an elevated state of Christian civilization, and to get into extended operation and influence the arts, institutions, and usages of civilized life and society.”

“The people need competent instruction in agriculture, manufactures, and the various methods of production, in order to develop the resources of the country (which are considerable), for though there is a great proportion of waste and barren territory in the group, yet either of the principal islands is doubtless capable of sustaining quadruple the whole population, were its resources properly and fully called forth. “

“They need competent instruction immediately in the science of government, in order to promote industry, to secure ample means of support, and to protect the just rights of all.”

“They need much instruction and aid in getting into operation and extended influence those arts and usages which are adapted to the country, calculated to meet the wants, call forth and direct the energies of the people in general, and to raise up among them intelligent and enterprising agents, qualified to carry on the great work of reform here and elsewhere.”

“There are various obstacles to be met at the outset. … They have not the capital nor the encouragement to enter on any great plan of improvement in bringing forward the resources of the country.”

“Though the people, as a body, perform considerable labor for themselves and drudgery for superiors, yet there is a great deficiency in the amount of profitable industry.”

The missionaries suggested that “a company be formed on Christian and benevolent principles, for the express purpose of promoting the interests of this country by encouraging the cultivation of …”

“… sugar-cane, cotton, silk, indigo, and various useful productions adapted to the soil and climate; and the manufacture of sugar-cane, cotton, silk, clothing, hats, shoes, implements of husbandry, etc.”

“Should the agriculturists have the control and profits of land, they would pay a rent to the government which would be better than is now received, as they would probably occupy chiefly ground that is not now tilled at all.”

“Thus the government would be an immediate gainer, besides the ultimate and immediate advantage to the people. A school, either under the direction of the mission or of the company, should be maintained in connexion with every establishment.”

“The Society, or company, on entering on this plan, would need a ship freighted with materials, implements of husbandry, and other articles, and to be always at their service. A considerable amount of funds would be requisite to get under weigh …”

“… but it is believed the enterprise would pay for itself, in a pecuniary point of view, in a few years, and the persons engaged in it obtain an economical support for themselves and families.”

“The profits of the whole establishment at these islands, above the original and current cost, must be devoted to the support of schools, or churches, charitable institutions, or internal improvements in the nation, according to the judgment of the company, for the benefit and elevation of the people, conformably with regulations to be approved by the ABCFM, or the SI Mission.” (Mission Memorial, 1836; Bingham)

In part, the suggestion was put into practice by some of the missionaries on O‘ahu and Kauai. A writer in the Sandwich Island Mirror, in 1840, stated that missionaries on Kauai, at a distance from Koloa, had set up sugar mills as early as 1838, grinding cane for the natives on shares.”

“The same writer gave an interesting survey of the situation on O‘ahu and Maui in 1840. He reported that Rev. John Emerson at Waialua had a mill run by horse power and made sugar and molasses for the natives on shares …”

“… Rev. Artemas Bishop at Ewa had a mill run by water power, where he had made for himself and the natives during the past season several tons of sugar, besides molasses …”

“… Rev. Hiram Bingham had raised sugar cane on his field, having it manufactured at a Chinese mill in the back part of Honolulu; Dr TCB Rooke had a mill in Nu‘uanu valley; three or four native young men had begun to develop a small plantation in the Ko‘olau district …”

“… Governor Kekūanāoʻa, Dr. Judd, and others had organized a company to establish a plantation and mill near Honolulu; on Maui, several Chinamen had mills in operation, where they made sugar upon shares.”

Rev Richard Armstrong wrote from his station at Wailuku, Maui, July 7, 1840: “I have assisted the natives to break in some twelve yoke of oxen, which have done a great deal towards relieving the people of their burdens.”

“Three years ago every thing, food, timber, potatoes, pigs, stoves, lime, sand, etc., were carried on the backs of natives, or dragged on the ground by their hands.”

“Their taxes were carried sometimes thirty or forty miles in this way; but almost all this drudgery is now done by carts and oxen, and the head men say they cannot get the men on their lands to submit to such work as they once could. This is clear gain.”

“By a request of the king I have taken some part in inducing the people about me to plant sugar-cane. A fine crop of sixty or seventy acres is now on the ground ripe, and a noble water-mill, set up by a China-man, is about going into operation to grind it. I hope some good from this quarter. I keep one plough a going constantly with a view to the support of schools.” (Armstrong, Missionary Herald)

“In the years from 1835 to 1840 a great many sugar mills were set up in various parts of the kingdom, being especially numerous on Maui, O‘ahu, and Kauai. In the early part of 1838 there were reported to be ‘in operation, or soon to be erected, twenty mills for crushing cane, propelled by animal power, and two by water power.’ (Jarves)”

“An interesting point is the large part taken by Chinese in the setting up and operation of these mills. The mills of this period were mere toys in comparison with those of a later time and together produced a very small amount of sugar with a disproportionate quantity of molasses.” (Kuykendall)

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sugar-cane

July 20, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Outrage – Missionaries, Merchants and Whalers

Edmond Gardner, captain of the New Bedford whaler Balaena (also called Balena,) and Elisha Folger, captain of the Nantucket whaler Equator, made history in 1819 when they became the first American whalers to visit the Sandwich Islands (Hawai‘i.)

A year later, Captain Joseph Allen discovered large concentrations of sperm whales off the coast of Japan. His find was widely publicized in New England, setting off an exodus of whalers to this area.

These ships might have sought provisions in Japan, except that Japanese ports were closed to foreign ships. So when Captain Allen befriended the missionaries at Honolulu and Lahaina, he helped establish these areas as the major ports of call for whalers. (NPS)

At that time, whale products were in high demand; whale oil was used for heating, lamps and in industrial machinery; whale bone was used in corsets, skirt hoops, umbrellas and buggy whips.

In Hawaiʻi, several hundred whaling ships might call in season, each with 20 to 30 men aboard and each desiring to resupply with enough food for another tour ‘on Japan,’ ‘on the Northwest,’ or into the Arctic.

The central location of the Hawaiian Islands between America and Japan brought many whaling ships to the Islands. Whalers needed food and the islands supplied this need from its fertile lands. Starting with Cook’s arrival, his crew and later the whalers sought and received other pleasures.

Kaʻahumanu and her followers seem to have concluded that an alliance with the missionaries would bring greater religious, political and economic benefits than the future envisioned from the foreign businessmen.

By adopting Christianity, Kaʻahumanu and most of the other Chiefs could claim to rule in the name of the God worshipped by most western leaders, perhaps gaining legitimacy and respect in their eyes. (Kashay)

The chiefs “proceeded to take more active measures for suppressing the vices which were destroying their race, and for promoting education. In the seaports of Honolulu and Lahaina this policy immediately brought them into collision with a lawless and depraved class of foreigners.” (Alexander)

Laws promulgated by Kaʻahumanu to be observed throughout the kingdom, and supported by the chiefs from all over the group except Boki. (These were the laws:)
1. You shall not commit murder; he who puts another to death shall himself die.
2. You shall not commit adultery; he who commits this crime, man or woman, shall be banished to Kahoolawe.
3. You shall not practice prostitution; anyone guilty of this shall be imprisoned and beaten across his back with a rope, and if he still fails to keep the law shall be banished to Kahoolawe.
4. Natives and foreigners are forbidden to manufacture, sell, or drink liquor.” (Kamakau)

“It is said to have been the motto of the buccaneers that ‘there was no God this side of Cape Horn.’ Here, where there were no laws, no press, and no public opinion to restrain men, the vices of civilized lands were added to those of the heathen, and crime was open and shameless.”

“Accordingly, in no part of the world has there been a more bitter hostility to reform. As soon as laws began to be enacted to restrict drunkenness and prostitution, a series of disgraceful outrages were perpetrated to compel their repeal.” (Alexander)

In the mid-1820s and early-1830s, several clashes (writers of the time referred to them as ‘ourtages’) happened that included the missionaries, merchants and whalers.

Outrage at Lahaina, 1825 – The ship ‘Daniel,’ of London, commanded by Captain Buckle, arrived at Lahaina October 3d, 1825, and the crew soon found that a change had taken place on shore since their last visit.”

“Two days later several of them entered Mr. Richards’s house and threatened him and his wife with death if he did not procure the repeal of the obnoxious law.”

“Their calm and heroic demeanor seems to have saved their lives for a time. On the 7th a larger company, armed with knives and pistols, landed under a black flag and forced an entrance into the yard, when the natives interfered, barely in time to rescue the lives of their teachers.”

“Outrage of the ‘Dolphin,’ Lieutenant Percival – On the 23d of January, 1826, the United States armed schooner ‘Dolphin,’ Lieutenant John Percival, arrived at Honolulu from the Marshall Islands, where he had taken off the surviving mutineers of the whale-ship ‘Globe.’”

“About this time the American ship ‘London’ was wrecked at Lanai, and the ‘Dolphin’ went there to save the cargo. On his return, February 22d, Lieutenant Percival called on the queen regent, and demanded the repeal of the law against vice, threatening violence if it were not done.”

“On the 26th his men attacked the houses of Kalanimōku, who was ill, and the mission premises, and did considerable damage before they were driven off. Mr Bingham was rescued from their hands by the natives, narrowly escaping with his life.” (Alexander)

The ship captains “blamed Bingham for the prohibition on prostitution and threatened to tear down Bingham’s house…. the sea captains were adamant that the missionaries were to blame for imposing Christian, Ten Commandment-based laws.”

“But during the confrontation with Captain Percival and Kaʻahumanu, she insisted that the aliʻi had accepted the word of Christ and that they were responsible the ban of (prostitution)”. (Brown)

Marie Alohalani Brown recounts correspondence of the time explaining the 1826 event:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ypKgWNNjBc

“Second Outrage at Lahaina – In October, 1826, the crews of several whale-ships landed at Lahaina, threatening to massacre Mr. Richards and his family, who happened to be absent at Kailua, Hawaii. They went in a body to demolish his house, but found it strongly guarded.”

“They continued rioting several days, breaking open and plundering the houses of the natives. The native women had all fled to the mountains with Kekauōnohi, who was acting as governess in Hoapili’s absence, and remained there until the ships sailed for O‘ahu.”

“Third Outrage at Lahaina – In October, 1827, another assault was made at Lahaina by the crew of the ‘John Palmer,’ an English whaler, commanded by Captain Clarke, an American.”

“Governor Hoapili, having learned that several native women were on board, contrary to law, demanded that they should be landed. The Captain evaded and ridiculed the demand from day to day.”

“At last one evening the governor detained him on shore, and seized his boat to enforce his demand. Upon Captain Clarke’s promise to return the women in the morning, he was released.”

“Meanwhile the crew had opened fire on the village with a nine-pound gun, aiming five shots at Mr. Richards’s house, which, however, did little damage. The next morning Captain Clarke sailed for Honolulu, without keeping his promise.” (Alexander)

In March 1831, Kaʻahumanu and Kuakini came down hard, imposing moral law in Honolulu. The two restricted liquor licenses, the sale of rum, and gambling. They also tabooed ‘lewdness, & Sabbath breaking,’ meaning that both Hawaiians and foreigners could no longer play games, dance, ride horses or carouse on Sundays.

At a public meeting on April 1, 1831, Kauikeaouli announced that he had sequestered the lands, forts and laws of Honolulu, and had given them to Kaʻahumanu.

She, in turn, decreed that future governmental policy would be based on the 10 Commandments, and put Kuakini in charge of enforcement. (Daws)

The new Governor threatened that ‘if any transgressed he should take all their property and pull their houses down.’ Under the leadership of a native by the name of ‘Big Ben,’ the Hawaiian police constantly patrolled the streets of Honolulu.

As part of their new duties, they invaded private homes, grog shops, and gambling halls, searching for contraband liquor and lawbreakers. In the process, Big Ben’s force confiscated drinks, broke up billiard, bowling, and card games, and wreaked havoc on the lives of the foreign population. (Kashay)

The whaling industry was the mainstay of the island economy for about 40 years. For Hawaiian ports, the whaling fleet was the crux of the economy. More than 100 ships stopped in Hawaiian ports in 1824.

The effect on Hawaiʻi’s economy, particularly in areas in reach of Honolulu, Lāhainā and Hilo, the main whaling ports, was dramatic and of considerable importance in the islands’ history.

Then, whaling came swiftly to an end. In 1859, an oil well was discovered and developed in Titusville, Pennsylvania; within a few years this new type of oil replaced whale oil for lamps and many other uses – spelling the end of the whaling industry.

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July 19, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Mother Baldwin

When celebrating the 100th anniversary of its founding, “Punahou pauses to pay tribute to its oldest living graduate, Mrs. Henry Perrine Baldwin (Emily Whitney Alexander) of Maui, who observed her 95th birthday in January of (that) year.”

“Mrs. Baldwin’s family has had many associations and connections with Punahou during its hundred years of existence.”

“Her father, the Rev. William Patterson Alexander, was one of the missionaries who signed the resolution passed at the general meeting in 1841 for the founding of the school. He was a trustee of Punahou when it was incorporated in 1853.”

“Mrs. Baldwin, then Emily Whitney Alexander, entered Punahou Preparatory, as the school was first known, in 1857, when she was eleven years old. She attended the school from 1857 to 1864 except for one year, and was graduated in 1864 at the age of eighteen.”

“Upon her graduation, she was appointed to the teaching staff of the school, and taught the subjects of geometry, algebra and American history.”

“At the time of her appointment, her brother, W. D. Alexander, was president of the school. He served as president from 1864 to 1870. and prior to that was acting president in 1859 and 1860.”

“Emily Whitney Alexander left Punahou in 1866, and in 1870 she was married to Henry Perrine Baldwin, at the beginning of his career as Maui’s foremost builder.”

“During the early years of their marriage, and throughout their life together, she was his constant helpmate and inspiration.”

“Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin’s first home was at Sunnyside, where the Rev. and Mrs. W. E. Rowan now reside. There their children, Harry A. Baldwin, Mrs. Maud Baldwin Cooke, Frank F. Baldwin, Arthur A. Baldwin. Dr. William D. Baldwin and the late Fred Baldwin, were born.”

“In later years, when they had moved to Haiku to live, they became parents of the late Mrs. Charlotte Baldwin Rice and Samuel A. Baldwin.”

“Before moving to Maluhia in the Makawao district, where Mrs. Baldwin now makes her home, the couple lived at Spreckelsville, where a great deal of Mr. Baldwin’s pioneering in the sugar industry took place.”

“Now known throughout the territory as ‘Mother Baldwin,’ Mrs. Baldwin is beloved by a large circle of friends throughout Hawaii.”

“Her interest in Punahou has continued down the years, and through her financial assistance many students who otherwise would not have been able to attend the school have been able to matriculate there.”

“During her entire lifetime Mrs. Baldwin was devoted herself to civic and community good. Her charities are legion, accomplished quietly and without publicity.”

“To worthy organizations throughout the territory she has been an unstinting friend, and to thousands of individuals she has given help and assistance. Deeply religious, she has been a devoted church woman all her life.”

“It is truly said of her that her life is a benediction, her friendship a blessing to all who know her.” (Maile Stevenson Kearns)

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