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November 9, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Crossroads of the Pacific

When whaling was strong in the Pacific (starting in 1819 and running to 1859,) Hawaiʻi’s central location between America and Japan whaling grounds brought many whaling ships to the Islands. Whalers needed food and the islands supplied this need from its fertile lands.

In those days, European and East Coast continental commerce needed to round Cape Horn of South America to get to the Pacific (although the Arctic northern route was shorter and sometimes used, it could mean passage in cold and stormy seas, and in many cases the shorter distance might take longer and cost more than the southern route.)

As trade and commerce expanded across the Pacific, numerous countries were looking for faster passage and many looked to Nicaragua and Panama in Central America for possible dredging of a canal as a shorter, safer passage between the two Oceans.

Finally, in 1881, France started construction of a canal through the Panama isthmus. By 1899, after thousands of deaths (primarily due to yellow fever) and millions of dollars, they abandoned the project and sold their interest to the United States.

After Panamanian independence from Colombia in 1903, the US restarted construction of the canal in 1905. Finally, the first complete Panama Canal passage by a self-propelled, oceangoing vessel took place on January 7, 1914.

The Panama Canal is a 51-mile ship canal in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean (via the Caribbean Sea) to the Pacific Ocean. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. The American Society of Civil Engineers named the Panama Canal one of the seven wonders of the modern world.

The first cargo ship passing westward through the Panama Canal to call at Honolulu was the American Hawaiian Steamship Company’s SS Missourian commanded by Captain Wm. Lyons, on September 16, 1914.

By 2008, more than 815,000 vessels had passed through the canal, many of them much larger than the original planners could have envisioned; the largest ships that can transit the canal today are called Panamax.

OK, so what does this have to do with Hawaiʻi?

In 1893, the Rev. Sereno Bishop of Hawaiʻi spoke of the commercial relationship between Hawaiʻi and the future isthmian canal: “Honolulu is directly in the route of a future part of heavy traffic from the Atlantic to the Pacific which is waiting for the creation of a canal. Trade to and from China and Japan will use the canal route.”

“Impending commerce using the future canal will have serious importance to the political relations of the Hawaiian Kingdom. Honolulu will be a convenient port of call for China-bound California steamers.”

“The opening of the canal will increase Hawaii’s importance as a coaling and general calling station. Tremendous new cargoes of supplies that will cross the Pacific, because of the canal, will need shelter and protection at a common port of supply – Honolulu.” (Historic Hawaii Review)

In 1900, Alfred Thayer Mahan, a US Navy flag officer, geostrategist and historian (called “the most important American strategist of the nineteenth century,”) believed that the American line of communications to the Orient was by way of Nicaragua and Panama, as that of Europe was by the Suez.

Mahan saw that the Caribbean, areas surrounding the future canal, Hawaiʻi and the Philippines composed the strategic outposts for the future isthmian canal.

Mahan also stated, “Whether the canal of the Central American isthmus be eventually at Panama or Nicaragua matters little to the question at hand…. Whichever it be, the convergence there of so many ships from the Atlantic and Pacific will constitute a centre of commerce”. (Hawaii Historical Review)

In 1912, this strategy and declaration was claimed in an article in ‘Paradise of the Pacific’ that Hawaiʻi was truly deserving of the name, “Crossroads of the Pacific”.

The Chamber of Commerce of Hawaiʻi promoted the idea, naming its early-1900s official publication “Honolulu At the Crossroads of the Pacific.”

Testimony in Washington, DC, in 1915, noted that the opening of the canal would affect Hawaiʻi in two ways: traffic to and from the Orient would use Hawaiʻi as a way-station for supplies and instructions; and Hawaiʻi would also be a destination for freight, passengers and tourists.

Later, when Navy Commander John Rodgers and his crew arrived in Hawaiʻi on September 10, 1925 on the first trans-Pacific air flight, they fueled the imaginations of Honolulu businessmen and government officials who dreamed of making Hawaiʻi the economic Crossroads of the Pacific, and saw commercial aviation as another road to that goal.

Two years later on March 21, 1927, Hawaii’s first airport was established in Honolulu and dedicated to Rodgers.

1959 brought two significant actions that shaped the present day make-up of Hawai‘i, (1) Statehood and (2) jet-liner service between the mainland US and Honolulu (Pan American Airways Boeing 707.)

Kau Kau Corner sign

Crossroads_of_the_Pacific-sign-(hawaii-gov)

Crossroads_of_the_Pacific_sign-(whishingonastar)

My beautiful picture

Crossroads_of_the_Pacific_sign-at Arizona_Memorial-(whishingonastar)

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November 5, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

21-Gun Salute

The tradition of rendering a salute by cannon originated in the 14th century as firearms and cannons came into use. Since these early devices contained only one projectile, discharging them rendered them harmless.

Initially, the tradition began as a custom among ships, whose captains had volleys fired upon entering a friendly port to release its arsenal, which demonstrated their peaceful intentions (by placing their weapons in a position that rendered them ineffective.)

This custom was eventually adopted by the British navy whose ships fired seven-gun salutes, choosing the number seven because it was thought to be the luckiest of the odd numbers.

And, it was thought seven was also selected because of its astrological and Biblical significance. Seven planets had been identified and the phases of the moon changed every seven days.

The Bible states that God rested on the seventh day after Creation, that every seventh year was sabbatical and that the seven times seventh year ushered in the Jubilee year.

Land batteries, having a greater supply of gunpowder, were able to fire three guns for every shot fired afloat, hence the salute by shore batteries was 21 guns.

As time went on, gun salutes continued to be fired in odd numbers, due to the fact that ancient superstitions held that uneven numbers were lucky. (Even as far back as 1865, firing of an even number of guns in salute was taken as an indication that a ship’s captain, master or master gunner had died on the voyage.)

The US Navy regulations for 1818 were the first to prescribe a specific manner for rendering gun salutes (although gun salutes were in use before the regulations were written down).

Those regulations required that “When the President shall visit a ship of the United States’ Navy, he is to be saluted with 21 guns.” (It may be noted that 21 was the number of states in the Union at that time.)

For a time thereafter, it became customary to offer a salute of one gun for each state in the Union, although in practice there was a great deal of variation in the number of guns actually used in a salute.

After 1841, it was customary for a US president to receive a 21-gun salute, with the vice president receiving 17. Today, however, the vice president receives 19.

On Aug. 18, 1875, Great Britain and the United States announced an agreement to return salutes, “gun for gun,” making the 21-gun salute the highest national honor.

In 1890, regulations designated the “national salute” as 21 guns and redesignated the traditional Independence Day salute, the “Salute to the Union,” equal to the number of states. Fifty guns are also fired on all military installations equipped to do so at the close of the day of the funeral of a President, ex-President, or President-elect.

The 21-gun salute became the highest honor a nation rendered.

Today, the national salute of 21 guns is fired in honor of a national flag, the sovereign or chief of state of a foreign nation, a member of a reigning royal family, and the President, ex-President and President-elect of the United States. (Senator Daniel Inouye was given a 19-gun cannon salute.)

It is also fired at noon of the day of the funeral of a President, ex-President or President-elect, on Washington’s Birthday, Presidents Day and the Fourth of July. On Memorial Day, a salute of 21 minute guns is fired at noon while the flag is flown at half-mast.

In Hawaiʻi, “King Kalākaua, the Queen, and the national flag were accorded a 21-gun salute, an ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary rated 19 guns, a governor or high commissioner 17, an admiral of the fleet 15, a minister resident 13, a charge d’affaires 11, a consul general nine, and a consul seven.” (Schwieizer)

While King Lunalilo was on his deathbed, he requested a burial at Kawaiahaʻo Church, with his mother on the church’s ground. He wanted, he said, to be “entombed among (my) people, rather than the kings and chiefs” at Mauna ʻAla (Royal Mausoleum) in Nuʻuanu Valley.

Lunalilo died February 3, 1874; during his funeral procession, eyewitnesses reportedly stated that a sudden storm arose, and that twenty-one rapid thunderclaps echoed across Honolulu which came to be known as the “21-gun salute.” (RoyalOrderOfKamehamehaI-org)

While the sum of the digits in 1776 adds up to 21, reportedly there is no historical link to the year of our nation’s signing of the Declaration of Independence and the 21-gun salute.

21-Gun-Kaka‘ako Saluting Battery and flagstaff-(Hammatt)-1887

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090915-N-9824T-227 YORK, Pa. (Sept. 15, 2009) Seaman Sarah Rickett, assigned to USS Constitution, demonstrates how Sailors in the past would prepare a cannon for firing. The gun drill demonstration by the Constitution crew was one of many Navy events scheduled during York Navy Week, one of 21 Navy Weeks planned across America in 2009. Navy Week is designed to show Americans the investment they have made in their Navy and increase awareness in metropolitan areas that do not have a significant Navy presence. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Devin Thorpe/Released)

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‘Tropic Lightning’ welcomes its new commander-25thID_ChangeOFCommand-(Army)

031207-N-5024R-087 Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (Dec. 7, 2003) Ð Members of the U.S. Marine Corps Rifle Detail perform a 21-gun salute during the 62nd Pearl Harbor Anniversary ceremony of the attack on Pearl Harbor, held aboard the USS Arizona Memorial. More than 250 distinguished visitors and veterans were expected to attend the ceremony which also included the guided missile destroyer USS OÕKane (DDG 77) rendering honors, more than 40 wreath presentations, a 21-gun salute and the playing of taps. The Guest Speaker was Commander, U. S. Pacific Command, Adm. Thomas B. Fargo. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer’s Mate 2nd Class Johnnie R. Robbins. (RELEASED)

ARLINGTON, VA – JULY 13: A firing party fires a 21 gun salute during a funeral service for U.S. Army Maj. Paul Syverson at Arlington National Cemetary July 13, 2004 in Arlington, Virginia. Syverson was killed June 16 when he stopped to buy equipment at the PX at a U.S. base north of Baghdad. When CIA agent Johnny Mike Spann was killed in an Afghanistan prison uprising, Syverson was one of the special forces commandos sent in to retrieve his body and curtail the intense fighting. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

A cannon salute is fired at the change of command ceremony

Third Marine Regiment Honors Fallen Heroes

US Navy sailors give a 21-gun salute-Pearl_Harbor

Don_Ho-Water_Cannon_Salute-(honoluluadvertiser)

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Downtown and Vicinity-Map-1887-noting_Kakaako_Saluting_Battery

November 1, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kualoa Airfield

O‘ahu used to be nearly twice as big as it is now. (Thompson) The Island consists of two major shield volcanoes: Waiʻanae and Koʻolau; the eroded remnants of which are the Waiʻanae Range and the Koʻolau Range.

Waiʻanae is the older of the two (breaking the ocean surface ~3.9 to ~2.8 million-years ago) and makes up the western part of O‘ahu. Koʻolau volcano started as a seamount above the Hawaiian hotspot around 4-million years ago. It broke sea level some time prior to 2.9-million years ago.

Mokoliʻi (Chinaman’s Hat) and Mokuoloe (Coconut Island) are erosional remnants of the bedrock Koʻolau basalt; Kapapa and Kekepa (Turtleback) Islands are of limestone; and Ahu O Laka Island is a sand bar that is uncovered at low tide. (Moberly)

Kualoa is an ancient Hawaiian land division (ahupua‘a) at the north end of Kāne‘ohe Bay, windward O‘ahu. The ahupua‘a extends from the coast to the top of the nearly vertical, fluted mountain behind.

Kualoa is important as a symbol of sovereignty and independence for O’ahu, its role as a place of refuge, its role as a place where sacrificial victims for religious rituals were drowned, and its history as a sacred residence of chiefs.

In modern time, Coast Artillery existed as a distinct branch within the Army since 1901 and as a combatant “line” arm after 1920. Its stated mission was to protect fleet bases, defeat naval and air attacks against cities and harbors, undertake beach defense while acting as army or theater reserve artillery, and provide a mine-planter service.

Prior to WWII, Oʻahu defenses were divided between Pearl Harbor and Honolulu Harbor; however, with more military facilities being constructed on the island, the coastal defense program also expanded.

The area of Kualoa Regional Park has been modified in the past as a result of different land uses. Prior to World War II the lands were part of the sugarcane plantation of Kualoa.

The lands were converted to a fighter airfield during the World War II period, and reverted to grazing use after the war. The City and County of Honolulu condemned the land in the 1970s and converted it into a park.

Behind the beach at Kualoa Beach Park and running into the Kualoa Ranch property was a temporary facility used for a World War II airfield.

Kualoa airfield was evidently constructed during the early portion of WWII (maybe around 1942) and probably used as a satellite field for units assigned to Bellows Field, and was used mainly for training.

The earliest depiction of the field which has been located was a May 10, 1942 photo of Kualoa Field, which showed the field as having a single north/south runway.

It was depicted as having a single 6,500′ (north-south) runway. No evidence suggests that Kualoa was ever paved.

The entire runway was formed of pierced steel planking. The steel planking makes a strong case that the military had no plans to keep Kualoa open any longer than it was needed.

The road to Ka‘a‘awa and farther up to the north shore crossed over Kualoa’s runway, so the cars would have to wait whenever an airplane took off.

A row of revetments for protected aircraft parking was along the west side of the runway.

In about 1944, construction project ‘302’ was started for Kaneohe’s 3rd battery. It had two 6-inch guns, built at the northern reaches of Kāneʻohe Bay. Local engineers modified the conventional plans to fit local geographic conditions.

The battery was not named until after the end of the war (it was later named, Battery Cooper (after Avery J Cooper)) and it served for about 5-years as part of the World War II-era coastal defense program.

The 28th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, operating P-38, F-4 and A-24 aircraft was stationed at Kualoa between October 9, 1944 and May 8, 1945. The 18th Fighter Group, operating P-40s, also was stationed there briefly.

Since Kualoa Field had been constructed on land that was not owned by the military, it was returned to its original owners after WW2.

The Kualoa Airfield was closed at some point between 1944-1947 (as it was labeled “Kualoa AAB (Closed)” on the 1947 Hawaiian Islands Sectional Chart.)

Kualoa Airfield by Chinaman’s Hat with P-38 in camouflage revetment.

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Kualoa Airfield by Chinaman’s Hat with P-38 in camouflage.

B-17, LB-30 and B-18 aircraft on field.

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B-24 Liberator Bomber at Kualoa airfield

Orlando, Fla. – Barely visible beneath the wings of a Lockhead P-38 Lighting are the deadly bombs with which this multi-purpose plane can blast enemy troops, ships and gun emplacements. As shown in recent demonstartions at the AAF Tactical Center, Orlando, Fla., the Lockhead P-38, now being used as a fighter-bomber, is capable of carrying bomb pay loads up to 2,000 pounds, thus affording the Allies another potent weapon for use against Germany and Japan in coming offensive.

October 16, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Mānā

Mānā is a coastal plain with an ancient sea cliff at its inner edge, which extends from Waimea in the south to the north on the western shores of Kauaʻi.

Throughout prehistory, large areas of the Mānā Plain were covered by the great Mānā wetlands, allowing native Hawaiians to canoe as far south as Waimea.

The Legend of Barking Sands suggests there was an old Hawaiian fisherman who lived in a hut near the beach with his nine dogs. During his fishing trips he would tie his dogs to stakes in the sand, three to each of three stakes. He would then get into his canoe and go fishing.

One day while he was at sea and the dogs were tied as usual, he was caught in a very bad storm. For hours he battled the heavy seas until he was finally able to return to land. He was so exhausted that he crawled to his hut, forgetting to untie his dogs.

When he awoke the next morning and went outside, the dogs were nowhere in sight. All he saw were three small mounds of sand where the dogs had been tied. As he stepped on one of the mounds, he heard a low bark. Another step brought another bark; he still couldn’t find the dogs.

Believing the dogs had been buried in the sand because of the storm the day before, the fisherman began to dig. As each shovel full was removed, more sand took its place. He finally gave up, and every day after that when he crossed the beach he could hear the low barking.

The dogs were never found, and to this day the sands of Mānā have been known as Barking Sands.

The scientific explanation of these sounds from the sands is that the grains of Mānā sand are tiny, hollow spheres. When rubbed together, the give off a popping sound similar to the barking of dogs. This only occurs when the sand is very dry. Wet sand gives off almost no sound.

Up until the mid-1880s, the great Mānā wetlands, east of the plain, covered large areas of the lowlands. Approximately 1,700-acres of permanent, semi-permanent and seasonal wetlands were present on the Mānā Plain.

After the arrival of Europeans to the island, aquaculture transitioned to agriculture through the eventual draining of the wetlands and the cultivation of sugar cane and rice.

One of the first European settlers, Valdemar Knudsen, drained a portion of the Mānā wetlands be excavating a ditch through to the ocean a Waiele. The first sugarcane was planted in Kekaha in 1878.

The area is now home to farmers and a military facility that is known as the Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF.)

PMRF is a test and evaluation facility for Ballistic Missile Defense programs. It is the world’s largest instrumented multi-environment range capable of supporting surface, subsurface, air and space operations simultaneously.

There are over 1,100-square miles of instrumented underwater range and over 42,000-square miles of controlled airspace.

In 1921, the land area known as the Barking Sands was acquired by the Kekaha Sugar Company. This area became a runway for private planes. In 1932, Australian pilot Kingsford Smith completed a historic flight from Barking Sands to Australia in his Ford Trimotor.

In 1940, the US Army acquired the land, naming the installation Mana Airport and paving the runway. In 1941, the Army acquired additional acreage, giving Mana Airport a total of 2,058-acres. Private airlines frequently utilized the airport and during World War II there were a great deal of military flight operations there.

In 1954 the base was officially designated Bonham Air Force Base.

The US Navy’s first began operations at Bonham in 1956, testing its Regulus I missile. Soon after, in 1958, the Pacific Missile Range Facility was established in order to support the growing demand of the Navy at Bonham.

In 1964, the Pacific Missile Range Facility and Bonham were transferred to the Navy, becoming Pacific Missile Range Facility, Barking Sands.

In 2004, when I was at DLNR, an Agricultural Preservation Initiative (API) was approved by the State of Hawai‘i Board of Land and Natural Resources.

The API provides a buffer to PMRF and ensures that land on the Mānā Plain owned by the State of Hawai‘i and leased to the Agribusiness Development Corporation remains as agricultural lands (the agreement runs to 2030.)