Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Queen’s Surf

“Hamohamo is justly considered to be the most life-giving and healthy district in the whole extent of the island of Oʻahu; there is something unexplainable and peculiar in the atmosphere of that place, which seldom fails to bring back the glow of health to the patient, no matter from what disease suffering.” (Queen Liliʻuokalani)

The Queen “derived much amusement, as well as pleasure: for as the sun shines on the evil and the good, and the rain falls on the just and the unjust, I have not felt called upon to limit the enjoyment of my beach and shade-trees to any party in politics … While in exile it has ever been a pleasant thought to me that my people, in spite of differences of opinions, are enjoying together the free use of my seashore home.”

Because of her nearby homes, they called the coastal area in this part of Waikīkī Queen’s Surf Beach.

In 1914, Mr & Mrs WK Seering of the International Harvester Co in Illinois built a home there.  A couple decades later, Fleischman’s Yeast heir, Mr CR Holmes, bought the home (he also had other Hawaiʻi property, including Coconut Island in Kāneʻohe Bay.) (ilind)

During WWII, the house was used for military retreats and other military uses.  Admiral Nimitz, General Douglas McArthur and staffs spent time there.

After World War II (and following Holmes’ death,) the City & County of Honolulu bought the property and leased it to the Spencecliff Corporation restaurant chain; it became their flagship property and operated it as the hugely popular Queen’s Surf Restaurant and Nightclub.

Sterling Edwin Kilohana Mossman (February 3, 1920 to February 21, 1986) headlined at its upstairs Barefoot Bar.  A man as versatile as he was talented, literally led a double life. A detective with the Honolulu Police Department during the day, after dark he was one of Hawaiʻi’s most popular entertainers. His diversified careers earned him the nickname “Hula Cop”. (TerritorialAirwaves)

The Barefoot Bar was ground zero for this new brand of local comedy. Mossman was the ringleader, along with the likes of Lucky Luck, a zany radio personality, and Kent Bowman, known as KK Kaumanua.  They told stories, sang songs and, when a celebrity from the Mainland happened to come by (and they did a lot), they became part of the show.  (HonoluluMagazine)

Mossman sang and did comedy and included a lot of others in the evening’s entertainment.  The footprints of many of these Island and internationally known entertainers lined the stairway up to the second floor bar.

For a while, downstairs, at the Surf Lanai, Kuiokalani (Kui) Lee sang for the crowds – inside and out of the restaurant.  During the day, the beach was crowded with sun bathers; at night it was full of Island residents listening in on Kui Lee’s long list of local favorites (he’d turn to the ocean and sing a final song to the folks on the beach.)

Born in Shanghai, China, the third child and only son of Hawaiian entertainers Billy and Ethel Lee, Kui Lee was a prolific songwriter.  Folks like Don Ho, Elvis, Tony Bennett and Andy Williams recorded and performed his songs: “I’ll Remember You,” “One Paddle, Two Paddle”, “She’s Gone Again”, “No Other Song”, “If I Had To Do It All Over Again”, “Yes, It’s You”, “Rain, Rain Go Away”, “Get On Home”, “The Days Of My Youth” and “Lahainaluna.”

“Kui was very brash, very positive about his songs,” said Kimo McVay, owner of Duke Kahanamoku’s nightclub from 1961 to ’71 and manager/promoter of Don Ho from 1963 to ’66. “He gave them to Don, and Don, of course, made them hits. When Don became a star because of that material, a national star, that’s what launched Kui. And Kui became the star of Queen’s Surf.” (star-bulletin)

Here is Kui Lee singing Days of My Youth (a reminder for me of growing up in the Islands, and the one time I was able to sit on the beach and listen to Kui Lee perform – unfortunately, Kui Lee died of cancer at the age of 34 in 1966.)  Click HERE for a YouTube for one of Kui Lee’s songs.

Queen’s surf also offered a regular lūʻau on the property.

The stories vary on the cause, but later there was a lease dispute with the City and the Queen’s Surf and the neighboring Kodak Hula Show were evicted, the Queen’s Surf was torn down (1971) and the Waikīkī beachfront area was turned into a public park.

© 2023 Hoʻokuleana LLC

 

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Whaling Ship Anchor at +4,000 Feet?

The plaque inscription states, “Found by the salvage ship ‘USS Beaufort ATS-2’ in July 1972 off Lahaina, Maui.  This anchor is believed to have been made around 1850 and used by one of the whaling ships of that era. Presented to the men of the Kilauea Military Camp by the officers and crew of USS Beaufort ATS-2”

The anchor was a gift, so it is appropriate wherever it is; likewise, the gift of a whaling anchor found off Lahaina (at a location 4,000-feet above the ocean) helps tell some of the stories of Hawai‘i’s military and economy – I think questioning why it’s there and looking into it a bit is helpful, and not something necessarily out of place.

The USS Beaufort (named for Beaufort, South Carolina) was the Navy’s largest and most capable submarine rescue and deep-ocean search-and-recovery ship. She was built in the late-1960s and commissioned on January 22, 1972 and spent most of her service in the Western Pacific. She was decommissioned on March 8, 1996.

Hawai‘i’s whaling era began in 1819 when two New England ships became the first whaling ships to arrive in the Hawaiian Islands.  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.

Whalers’ aversion to the traditional Hawaiian diet of fish and poi spurred new trends in farming and ranching.  The sailors wanted fresh vegetables and the native Hawaiians turned the temperate uplands into vast truck farms.

There was a demand for fresh fruit, cattle, white potatoes and sugar.  Hawaiians began growing a wider variety of crops to supply the ships.

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 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. 

“At present the whale ships visit the Sandwich Islands in the months of March and April and then proceed to the coast of Japan, the return again in October and November remain here about six weeks, and then proceed in different directions …”

“… some to the Coast of California, others cruise about the Equator when they return thither again in March and April and proceed a second time to the Coast of Japan; it usually occupies two seasons on that coast to fill a ship that will carry Three Hundred Tons.”  (Jones report to Henry Clay, Secretary of State, 1827)

“The number of hands generally comprising the Company of a whale ship will average Twenty Five; and owing to the want of discipline, the length and the ardourous duties of the voyage, these people generally become dissatisfied and are willing at any moment to join a rebellion or desert the first opportunity) that may offer …”

“… this has been fully exemplified in the whale ships that have visited these islands, constant disertions have taken place and many serious mutinies both contributing to protract and frequently ruin the voyage.”  (Jones report to Henry Clay, Secretary of State, 1827)

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. Over the next two decades, the Pacific whaling fleet nearly quadrupled in size and in the record year of 1846, 736-whaling ships arrived in Hawai‘i.

Then, whaling came swiftly to an end.  In 1859, oil was discovered and a well was 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.

At volcano … in 1898, Lorrin Thurston owner of Volcano House and head of the Hawai‘i Promotion Committee (forerunner to the Hawai‘i Visitors and Convention Bureau) worked closely with the Inter-Island Steam Navigation Company to create an excursion business from Honolulu to his hotel at Kīlauea.

Although he sold his interest in Volcano House to hotelier George Lycurgus (1858–1960) in 1904, Thurston continued to promote Kīlauea and Hawai‘i’s other natural sites.

He helped with the establishment of the Hawaiʻi National Park, an entity to encompass both Kīlauea and Haleakalā.  Hawai‘i’s new National Park, established August 1, 1916, was the thirteenth in the new system and the first in a US territory.  (Chapman)

The history of the Park generally mirrors the history of Kīlauea Military Camp (KMC.) Interest in Kīlauea as a military training and rest area began in September 1911, when Companies A and F, Twentieth Infantry, arrived. They were followed two years later by one hundred men from Company D, First Infantry, who camped near the Volcano House.  (Nakamura)

Thurston helped negotiate a lease for about 50-acres of land from Bishop Estate; trustees held the lease (they included Ex offico the Commander of the Army Department of Hawaii; Ex officio the Commanding General of the National Guard of Hawaii; Lieut Col John T. Moir, National Guard, Island of Hawaiʻi; GH Vicars of Hilo and LA Thurston of Honolulu and Hilo).

In the early years, to get there, off-island folks took steamer ships to either Hilo or Punaluʻu (from Hilo they caught a train to Glenwood and walked/rode horses to Volcano. From Ka‘ū, a five-mile railroad took passengers to Pahala and then coaches hauled the visitors to the volcano. Later, the roads opened.

The Kilauea Military Camp is located at an elevation of 4,000-feet, directly on the belt road around the island (the road was later relocated mauka of the Camp.)

KMC greeted its first group of US Army Soldiers from Company A, 2nd Infantry, November 6, 1916. Three buildings for dining and recreation were still unfinished, so the visiting Soldiers were expected to provide their own sleeping tents. A couple weeks later, November 17, KMC was officially opened, and many Soldiers came to this unique site.

Then, WWI broke out and virtually all of the troops in Hawai‘i had transferred to the continental US, many of them then moving on in succeeding months to the trenches of France and Belgium.  (Chapman)

To keep the place going, school summer programs and Boy Scouts stayed at the camp.  Following WWI, the trustees transferred their KSBE lease to the Park Service.  By late-1921, soldiers on recreation leave started to return to the Camp and the facilities started to expand.

As part of the original agreement, the Navy built its own rest and recreation camp on a 14-acre parcel adjacent to KMC in 1926. The Navy camp was transferred to KMC’s control in 1935.  (KMC)

On July 1, 1961, Hawaiʻi National Park’s units were separated and re-designated as Haleakalā National Park and Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park.  The relationship between the military and Park Service was not always smooth. 

Today, Kīlauea Military Camp is open to all active and retired armed forces, Reserve/National Guard, dependents, other uniformed services, and current and retired Department of Defense civilians, including Coast Guard civilians and sponsored guests.

© 2023 Ho‘okuleana LLC

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Tom Moffatt

Thomas Ervin Moffatt was born on December 30, 1930 in Detroit, Michigan.  “I didn’t like the city, and I had relatives who lived outside of Detroit, so in my eighth grade, my folks let me work for this cousin of ours who had a mink ranch in a little town called Waterloo, Michigan. So I spent my eighth grade in this little town, in a one-room schoolhouse.”

After eight grade he “returned to Detroit to go to school.”  But as Moffatt describes, “And again, I wasn’t too happy. I got a job washing dishes in a restaurant called Curly’s. And the people who owned it had a farm about forty miles outside of Detroit. And they took me out there one day, and I fell in love with it.”

“And so they needed somebody to work on the farm, so I talked to my folks, and they let me go into high school working on the farm.” At South Lyon High School, he “played football and basketball there, and … [got  a scholarship] to play football for a very famous coach [George Allen] [and] played tackle.”

Not getting a clear answer to his questions about “If I get hurt in football, will my scholarship still be in effect? I couldn’t get a definite answer. So I decided to go to work for a while in a factory and earn enough money to go to college.” (Moffatt, PBS)

“One day, I’m in the corner drugstore in South Lyon, on my way to the tube company to work, and it was a steel mill. And I found this little book about colleges in the United States. The last page was University of Puerto Rico, and University of Hawaii. So I wanted to travel and go to school, and I got interested in University of Hawaii, and that’s how I ended up in Honolulu.”

“I wanted to be a lawyer. And in my first year, I had a speech teacher who said, You have a nice voice, you should get in the radio guild. … So I joined the radio guild, and got interested in being a radio announcer. So the end of my first year, I auditioned for KGU, and didn’t make it as a junior announcer.”

“I went back to school. And I’d go home every night and read the newspaper aloud, and talk, and read stories. Nobody was around, I’d just read every night aloud. So anyway, come the following June, I went back to KGU and got a job. I really got into it. I became a staff announcer at KGU. This was before disc jockeys really.”

“I remember being nervous the first time the microphone opened, and I had to say, This is KGU in Honolulu, high atop the Advertiser Building.”  (Moffatt, PBS)

Shortly thereafter, he was drafted into the Army and “reported to Schofield for sixteen weeks of basic training. This was during the Korean War, and we were all being shipped off to Korea. So just when we concluded our basic training, this tough old sergeant called me in and said, Look, he said, you don’t want to go off to this war.”

“He just kinda said, Hey, you got a talent, and they need a radio announcer at Armed Forces Radio at Tripler Hospital. I’ll lend you my car. He gave me the keys, and I drove to Tripler Hospital. And since I’d had some training in commercial radio, they grabbed me up right away. So I spent the next two years defending my country at Tripler Hospital.”

“I stayed there for the rest of my Army career. And then I went back to KGU. And I started at KIKI also, so I was working at three radio stations, really. I’d do my … Army duty at Tripler and worked my eight hours, and then I’d work in the other stations. So I began my disc jockey career, really, at KIKI. It was kind of fun.” (Moffatt, PBS)

There were no music videos, no iTunes, it was just you and a disc jockey, the faceless voice spinning the hottest hits from artists like the Beatles, Elvis Presley, and Paul Revere & the Raiders. (PBS Hawaii)

“All of a sudden, I started listening to this music, and getting requests for a guy with a funny name. Elvis Presley. And I started playing his music. And that’s where it exploded. All of a sudden, every kid on the island was listening, and I was the only one playing in the islands, really, I was the only one playing rock and roll.” (Moffatt, PBS)

In 1957, Moffatt was approached by entrepreneurs Ralph Yempuku and Earl Finch with a deal too good to pass up. “They were looking to bring in some performers and wanted me to be their adviser.”

“They said if the show makes money, I’d make money; if it doesn’t make money, I wouldn’t lose anything. And I didn’t have to put up any money. That’s how I learned the business.” (Moffatt, Hawaii Business)

Moffat’s name is synonymous with entertainment in Hawai‘i. Tom Moffatt Productions produced live concerts, sporting events, ice shows, fundraisers, hotel and corporate parties and international attractions.

Though he will forever be known as the man who brought Elvis to Hawai‘i, it is his promotion of the state of Hawai‘i that has distinguished him from his peers. His productions have helped to put the state on the global map as a legitimate international entertainment venue, bringing superstars such as Michael Jackson, Elton John and the Rolling Stones.

In addition to his work in promoting Hawai‘i to the world, Moffatt has also been a dedicated supporter of local entertainers. From the Brothers Cazimero May Day concerts to the Brown Bags to Stardom talent contest, Moffatt has helped to nurture and promote homegrown talent. (UH)

When Hawai‘i became the 50th state in 1959, Honolulu’s fourth-oldest radio station, KHON, became KPOI. A crew of young broadcast vets known as the ‘Poi Boys’ came on and played the Top 40 hits mixed in with outrageous fun and games. The Poi Boys included ‘Uncle’ Tom Moffatt, Bob ‘The Beard’ Lowrie, ‘Jumpin’’ George West, Sam Sanford and ‘Whodaguy’ Ron Jacobs.

Moffatt received a Na Hoku Hanohano lifetime achievement award in 2002, was named by Honolulu magazine as among the 100 most influential people in Honolulu in 2005, was nominated to the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2009, and in 2014, the city proclaimed a “Tom Moffatt Day” in honor of the 50-year anniversary of his first show at the Blaisdell Center. (HNN)  “Uncle Tom” died December 12, 2016.

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Isthmus

Volcanoes in the Hawaiian Islands form in response to hot-spot magmatism deep below the lithosphere. As a volcano is moved away from the hot spot by motion of the Pacific tectonic plate, it ceases volcanic activity and a new vent forms.

Thus, a chain of volcanoes forms along the direction of plate motion, with younger volcanoes near the position of the hot spot.

As volcanoes emerge above the sea surface, they form a gently sloping volcanic shield; the period from when a new volcano breaks the sea surface to the end of shield building is estimated to last about 0.5 million years.

Throughout the growth of a volcano and for some time after completion of its shield, weight on the thin oceanic crust causes the volcano to subside. During shield building, rapid growth outpaces subsidence and there is a net increase in height and area. However, when shield building ceases, net subsidence submerges many areas formerly above sea level.

In addition, over long time periods, erosion is an important factor in changing the topography of an island. Erosion is difficult to model because there is no accurate way to determine the timing and magnitude of all events. (Price and Elliott-Fisk)

Maui is a doublet – that is, it originally consisted of two distinct islands which were later united.  (USGS) West Maui and Haleakala lava flows joined to form a broad, low isthmus. (Holthus) The 7-mile wide valleylike isthmus earned Maui the nickname of the “valley isle.” (Britannica)

“The north side of the isthmus, the location of Pauleukalo Marsh and Kanaha Pond, consists of stream-transported sediments and beach material. The marshes have formed in coastal depressions. Kanaha Pond formed in weathered lava. During floods, freshwater overflows the wetland and the barrier ridge and discharges directly to the ocean.”

“The beaches along the north side of Maui’s isthmus are discontinuous and fronted by beachrock outcrops. Beach rock up to 790 ft offshore from the present beach indicates a general trend of erosion over the last few hundred years.”

“The south side of Maui’s isthmus supports a 4 mi long, gently curved barrier beach which separates Kealia Pond from the ocean. Water level fluctuates seasonally, forming a 400-500 acre shallow, brackish pond in winter and spring, and exposing extensive red-brown mudflats in summer.”

“The wetland is slowly filling with stream-transported deposits of terrigenous material and wind-blown beach sands. The pond’s

drainage outlet is periodically blocked by sand, but clears during heavy streamflows.”  (Holthus)

The abundance of water in Nā Wai ʻEhā ((“The Four Great Waters”) – Waiheʻe River, Waiehu Stream, Wailuku (ʻĪao) Stream and Waikapū Stream are in central Maui) enabled extensive loʻi kalo (wetland kalo) complexes, including varieties favored for poi-making such as “throat-moistening lehua poi.” (CWRM)

Nā Wai ʻEhā once “comprised the largest continuous area of wetland taro cultivation in the islands.” Its “complex agricultural system of wetland kalo cultivation,” together with the abundant protein sources in the streams and nearshore waters, supported one of the largest populations on Maui.

The fertile kalo lands, complex system of irrigation ʻauwai (ditches) and abundant fresh water from Nā Wai ʻEhā sustained Hawaiian culture for 1,000-years.

Given the makeup of the Nā Wai ʻEhā, Waiheʻe River and ‘Īao historically would have flowed continuously to the coast; Waiehu Stream would have flowed continuously to the coast at least 95 percent of the time; and Waikapū Stream would have flowed continuously to the coast less than half of the time.  (USGS)

While water was flowing in the river valleys, in about 1840 it was estimated that, “The isthmus is too dry to be fit for cultivation; it is in extent about twenty by fifteen miles. During nine months of the year it is a fine grazing country, and feeds large herd of cattle, that are mostly owned by foreigner.” (Wilkes (1840-41))

“The district of Wailuku is composed of valley and upland. The soil in the former is extremely rich and well watered; the upland, also, produces good crops when sufficient moisture can be had. Potatoes, corn, sugar-cane, and sweet potatoes, are the chief products of the windward side of the island.” (Wilkes)

“Between the beaches of Kahului and those of Maalaea and Kalepolepo lies a vast expanse of level land, forming an isthmus connecting east and west Maui, which as it exists is fit for nothing except the pasturage of animals and in some places not even fit for that owing to an entire destitution of water supply.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, June24, 1876)

“The area of this land is perhaps not less than fifty thousand acres, and capable, if irrigated, of producing many thousand tons of sugar. Most of this belongs to the government, and if the spirit of enterprise were rife among those in authority …”

“… this whole plain could be turned into a garden, for there is an abundance of water running waste upon the highlands of Haleakala amply sufficient if utilized for this purpose to supply the entire tract.”

“The subject of irrigation of this plain has been more than once brought forward for consideration, but no thorough investigations have been divulged, if they have ever been made, as to the best means of bringing down the waste water on to it, or the probable expense that would accrue, although the feasibility of the project is not to be doubted.”

“During the reign of Kamehameha V, some investigations were said to have been made, but as to their nature or comprehensiveness the public were allowed to remain in the dark, or to be satisfied with the dicta of his imperious ministry, that the engineering would be too costly and the whole affair too ponderous to be handled by the government.”

“This is certainly one of our first and greatest needs, and with reciprocity to back us there would be no fear of the result… We have heard of a suggestion to irrigate this plain, or a part of it, by water derived from the streams of Waiehu and Waihee, much of whose water now runs to waste.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, June24, 1876)

By the 1870s, growing plantation interests in the region sought out ways to turn what had become almost desolate isthmus lands and neighboring kula lands of Maui, green with cane.

Their economic plan was made viable by the passage of a Reciprocity Treaty between the United States and the Hawaiian Kingdom on January 30, 1875; and subsequent ratification of the treaty by King Kalākaua on April 17, 1875.

The treaty went into effect on September 9th, 1876, and on September 13th, 1876, King Kalākaua granted issuance of the first Water License for construction of the “Haiku Ditch,” and drawing water out of streams of the Hāmākua Loa District.

The initial development of the ditch system was authorized as a part of the Hawaiian Kingdom’s program to promote prosperity for all the people of the Kingdom. (Kumupono)

Sugar was planted and the West Maui streams were diverted.  In addition, five ditches originating in East Maui at different levels are used to convey the water from that region to the cane fields on the isthmus of Maui.

In order of elevation they are Haiku, Lowrie, Old Hamakua, New Hamakua, and Kailuanui ditches. They cross about 20 gulches east of Maliko, all of which have more or less water at all times and large quantities after storms. (USGS, 1910-1911)

Wailuku Sugar was organized in 1862 by James Robinson, Thomas Cummins, J Fuller and agent C Brewer.  In 1878, through his friendship with King Kalākaua, Claus Spreckels secured a lease of 40,000-acres of land on Maui and by 1882 he founded the Hawaiian Commercial Company (later known as Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company – HC&S.)

The late-1890s saw internal family conflicts.  Spreckels lost control of HC&S and in 1898; it became a part of Alexander & Baldwin Co.  Following the 1948 merger of HC&S and Maui Agriculture Co., HC&S became a division of Alexander & Baldwin.

Fast forward to December 2016, Hawai‘i saw its last sugar harvest on the Maui isthmus.  In December 2018, Alexander & Baldwin (A&B) announced that it had sold its 41,000-acre sugar plantation in Maui’s central plains to Mahi Pono LLC, a joint venture between Pomona Farming LLC, a California-based agricultural group, and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments), one of Canada’s largest pension investment managers.

Much of the sugar land is now in diversified farming (with orchard and row crops such as lime, lemon, orange, tangerine, coffee, avocado, macadamia nut, ‘ulu, onion, kale, lettuce, watermelon, bananas, coconut, and lilikoi) by Mahi Pono.

As of December 2022, Mahi Pono had planted more than 1.64 million trees on approximately 8,625 acres of land.  In addition to our tree plantings, we have also prepared over 9,000 acres of grass pastureland to support our Maui Cattle Company grass-fed beef operations. Their products are typically sold under the Maui Harvest brand. (Mahi Pono)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Building Breakwaters

In 1899, Herbert, William, Jack and Edgar Young were at Catalina Island; the year before they started taking fishing parties out daily and conducting excursions to the coral gardens.

Then the Hawaiian Islands attracted their attention, and, as William put it, they “went with high hopes and the spirit of a pioneer toward strange lands and all the beauty of sky and sea in the blue Pacific.” (Herb and William were headed to Hawai‘i.)  “On January 9, 1900, we sailed out of Golden Gate toward the Great adventure …”

“For years we had heard tales of Hawaii; now at last we were to see it for ourselves. Every passing hour, every wave curling under our bows brought us so much nearer, and the eyes of youth, straining ahead of the ship, seemed almost to glimpse a palm-fringed shore where life was gay and living carefree.”

“At last, on January 19, after a fine voyage, we sighted Honolulu. The green shores. the white beach and coral formations, the boats of the Kanakas, the town rising at the harbor edge to be lost in the verdure of the tropical plants …”

“… the great forest of masts and spars in the harbor, the clear water and brilliant coloring of everything within eyeshot made a picture that the years could not dim. Here at last was the land of my dreams, the real El Dorado, the place which one may leave, but to which he will always return, the enchanting isles where there is no good-bye, but only Aloha.”

“We dropped anchor at quarantine and stood on deck, silently, in wonder at the natural beauty of the island. Would our dreams come true here?”

Most associate Young Brothers as an inter-island barge company.  But, in their early years in the Islands, Young Brothers did a lot of things.  Young Brothers was given a contract to help with the original dredging of Pearl Harbor. They engaged to tow mud scows out to sea and dump them.

They also got involved in the construction of a couple substantial breakwaters that continue to protect some significant bays.

In the late 19th century, the growing sugar industry in East Hawai’i demanded a better and more protected port, and a breakwater was constructed on Blonde Reef in Hilo Bay to shield ships from rough waters as they entered Hilo Harbor.

 In 1911, Young Brothers contracted with the Lord Young Construction Co. to tow barges to build the breakwater at Hilo harbor on the Big Island.

They bought the tug Mikiala and went to work towing barges of huge rocks from the Hamakua coast and dumping them to build the long breakwater which protects the harbor today. Building it took many long months.

Jack Young was in charge of the work at Hilo and spent the better part of a year skippering the Brothers (the name of their tug) as it towed a scow loaded with rock to be dumped on the breakwater extension.

Dangerous conditions that developed during the Hilo breakwater construction were somewhat inevitable, given the unpredictable ocean swells and enormous load carried by the rock scow.

A news article appearing in the Pacific Commercial Advertiser on December 25, 1911, provides some insights into the job of building the breakwater as the Young Brothers’ crew experienced it:

“The sea had been rough for several days, and finally made it impossible to work. On Monday, the … scow was taken out in tow of the Hukihuki, having on board about 125 tons of rock, which it was to dump on the bottom ….”

“Here the substructure, which has been laid by Lord & Young, forms a kind of artificial reef over which the waves break in stormy weather. On the day in question, the breakers were thundering in at a great rate, and great combers were continually sweeping the deck of the scow.”

“Nevertheless, the Hukihuki bucked through the swirling water, and she had just brought the scow over the substructure, though not in the exact place where the load was to be dumped, when trouble began.”

“The heavy scow was let down, in the trough between two big waves, to such a depth that one of her edges struck the rock of the substructure with such a force that the timbers were splintered and broken, and the water began to pour in through the leak.”

“All thought of depositing the load had to be abandoned, and the Hukihuki maneuvered the disabled craft out of the breakers. The scow was sinking so rapidly that it was impossible to save the load, and good Kapoho rock was jettisoned.”

“By good seamanship the scow was towed to safety, where she is being repaired.”

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

It was while they were engaged in building the Hilo breakwater that Captain Jack Young met and fell in love with Alloe Louise Marr. She had come to Hilo from Oakland, California, in 1909 with her father, Joseph Thomas Marr, to visit his cousin, Jack Guard.

John Alexander (Jack) Young and Alloe Louise Marr were married in a double wedding ceremony with her cousin, Stephanie Guard and John Fraser on September 20, 1911 at Hilo.  They returned to Honolulu to live.  The couples remained friends and co-workers in shipping.

In 1922, Young Bros. Ltd. contracted the towing to build the breakwater at Nawiliwili harbor hauling by barge the 6-ton rocks from the quarry on the coast of Maui to build the base of the breakwater.

The waterfront community was shocked when Captain Jack Young died of a heart attack at his home on October 23, 1946.  Alloe Louise Young was afflicted with a brain tumor in 1945 and died October 9, 1947 at her home on McKinley Street.

I am the youngest brother of the youngest brother of the youngest brother of Young Brothers.  Jack and Alloe Young are my grandparents.

We never met them, and they never knew they had grandchildren from their son Kenny; they both had died before they knew my mother was pregnant with my older brother. (Lots of information here is from Young Brothers: 100 Years of Service and a Young family background and genealogy.)

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