Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Newton Kulani Purdy

“The ‘Polynesian Registry’ is a kind of who’s who and where of Hawaiians in New York”. (Lois Taylor, SB, Jan 9, 1963)

“In 1958 [Newton Kulani Purdy] founded the Polynesian Registry to help locals and expats keep up with each other, and has watched it grow from 50 names to more than 1,000, and his newsletter, which started out at two pages, is now more than 30.” (Donnelly, SB Dec 13, 2002)

“Newton Kulani Purdy was born Oct. 15, 1928, in Kalaupapa, Molokai. His father, Robert Waipa Purdy, was a leprosy patient who lived in Kalaupapa with Kulani’s mother, Marcy Kepalai Kinney. Kulani’s mother did not have leprosy but had volunteered to accompany his father to Kalaupapa to care for him as a family helper.”

“State law at the time required the separation of all children at birth from their parents. Most of the children grew up with other relatives or were taken to an orphanage. Immediately after Kulani was born, he was taken from his parents and was raised outside the Kalaupapa settlement by an aunt.”

“Though Kulani was born in Kalaupapa, his birth certificate listed his place of birth as Honolulu. This was a common practice by the Health Department for birth certificates of the children born in Kalaupapa.  At the time it was done to spare children born at Kalaupapa the stigma of having a parent or parents with leprosy.” (Machado)

“Kulani attended Roosevelt High School but left before graduating to join the Army. He was in the Army for seven years, serving as an infantry soldier, military police officer and Army Signal Corps. At one point during his service in the Army, he served under Gen. “Ike” Eisenhower.”

“His final Army assignment was in New York City, where he was honorably discharged. He decided to stay in New York and ended up living there for more than 50 years.” (Machado)

“The Registry took five years to prepare and was originally the brain child of Honolulu born Kulani Purdy, 31, who combined his job as a cutter in New York’s garment district with his love – being with other Hawaiians and collecting lore about the Islands.”

“Kulani accidentally bumped into a cousin, Everett R Kinney, one night in New York and discovered that Everett was living nearby on Long Island.  The encounter so impressed Purdy, that he deserted his collection of more than 200 books about Hawaii and set out to compile the Registry.”

“He enlisted a number of other Island ‘exiles’ in the endeavor, principally Cousin Everett and Ed Kenney, now one of the principals in Broadway’s ‘Flower Drum Song.’ … they want no profit and plan to plough any extra receipts back into enlarging the Registry”.  (Adv, Dec 26, 1959)

“How often have you stood alone in the midst of a strange city and speculated about the people milling about you? And as you walked aimlessly along the streets, you suddenly bumped into a familiar face and miraculously, the city no longer seemed cold and unfriendly.  Or, have you idly sat alone with your thoughts, wondering if per chance your unknown neighbors could be Islanders?”

“We believe that Islanders away from home sooner or later begin a quest for people and things that serve to make them feel a little more in Hawaii-foods, Island talk, an exchange of memories. Our cultural heritage is unique and we somehow like to be able to express it wherever we may be.”

“Who can be listed in this book? Anyone who comes from Polynesia. Island Friends throughout the world or anyone in the business world who deals with things typical of Island culture and interest.”

“Those who want their names to appear in the Registry need only notify the Registry of this intention, for there is no fee attached to this privilege.” (Polynesian Registry Inro by Edward Mana Keeney, SB Feb 2, 1960 )

“Intended basically to permit homesick Islanders to locate each other, the 44-page volume contains the names and ‘off-island’ addresses of 800 individuals and a listing of scores Polynesian clubs, restaurants, gift shops and service establishments.  (SB, Dec 26, 1959)

Purdy’s newsletter, “The Polynesian Registry, kept Hawaiians who were living in the Big Apple in touch with one another. Hawaiians performing in the Hawaiian Room of the Lexington Hotel belonged to Kulani’s network. “

“They included: Mahi Beamer, Ray Kinney, Manu Kanemura Bentley, Mona Joy, Leilani Kaleikini, Betty Makia, Momi Kai Gustafson, Lei Becker, Joyce Ontai, Io Cabanos, Tutasi Wilson and Te Moana Makolo.”

“His newsletter also reached Hawaiians in Delaware, Pennsylvania and Maryland. ‘He also was an integral part of organizing Hawaiian luau in Central Park every May Day, and later held on June 1 as it was too cold in May,’ Hale Kaohu Rowland said.”

“‘The luaus are still being held. Kulani would have us gather at Nainoa and Pat Brett’s little restaurant called The Poi Bowl on 71st Street. Later on, we all met at Janu Cassidy’s shop called Radio Hula, in Soho, and also at The Symphony Cafe, a restaurant on 56th and 8th that my husband, Manny, and I had part-ownership,’ Hale said.” (Ben Wood)

“Kulani was a confirmed bachelor, and his ‘ohana consisted of all the ‘local’ expats in and around the New York area, extending into New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland.”

“He was known as the glue that held everyone together and was the first to reach out to homesick Hawaiians in Manhattan. Everyone knew him for his kindness and generosity.” (Machado)

Purdy left New York in 2006 to return home to Molokai; he died February 11, 2012 at the in Leahi Hospital at the age of 83.

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Puu ‘Ō‘ō Ranch

William Herbert (Willie – WH) Shipman (1854-1943) was born on December 17, 1854, at Lahaina, Maui to William Cornelius Shipman and Jane Stobie Shipman. Willie’s parents had signed up as missionaries destined for Micronesia.

They stopped over at Lahaina, Maui because his mother was due to deliver Willie within 2 months. His parents then took a mission station in Kaʻū, Hawaiʻi, based in Waiʻōhinu.

Willie Shipman was inducted into the Paniolo [Hawaiian Cowboy] Hall of Fame in 2017. (Hawai‘i Cattlemen’s Council) “Originally old man Shipman [WH Shipman] had 72,000 acres that ran from the ocean up to the National Park. … He needed money so he sold off quite a bit of that land from actually from the Puna Road up to the National Park boundary.” (Devine, Pili Productions)

Of Shipman’s four ranches, Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō was the most productive, being both large and well-watered. An estimated 5,000 head of cattle ran at Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō, 1,500 at Keauhou, and only ‘a few’ at ‘Āinahou. (Langlas)

Kea‘au Ranch was once well maintained, but by about the 1930-40s it was neglected and produced few cattle. “[I]t was categorized as a ranch, but it was more like a wild cattle operation. You know, it wasn’t controlled like Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō.” (Devine, Pili Productions)

Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō Ranch covered 23,000 acres between the 5,000 to 6,500 feet elevation. (Tuggle) Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō Ranch was first established by John T Baker, a Hawaiian-Tahitian-Caucasian protege of Kalākaua. (Langlas)

Baker came to Hawai‘i Island in 1886 when his high-ranking wife, Ululani, was appointed governess of the island. He became a successful rancher and businessman in Hilo, and in 1892-93 served as Hawai’i Island governor.

Baker obtained a lease in Pi‘ihonua in 1887 and must have started ranching at Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō some time after that. ‘He had built some fences, and about 600 head of mixed cattle, including some Longhorns, were found on the ranch at that time.’ (Henke) Baker used to go up to the ranch every September with an entourage. (Langlas)

(Baker “is best known, perhaps, as the original of the statute of King Kamehameha, for which he was asked to pose, due to the striking likeness to the ancient ruler.” (Advertiser, Sep 8, 1921) “Likeness refers to a likeness of features rather than of body.” (Charlot))

In 1899, Baker sold the ranch lease to Shipman. Shipman introduced Hereford bulls to upgrade the stock and increased the number of cattle. Shipman expanded the ranch to 23,000 acres, including the upper portions of all the ahupua’a owned by the sugar plantations north to Honohina. (Langlas)

In the early part of the century, the ranch included two government leases in Pi‘ihonua and leases of sugar plantation lands to the north in the ahupua‘a of Pauka‘a, Pāpa‘ikou, Makahanaloa, Hakalau Nui and Honohina.

Two smaller parcels were bought in fee simple, an 80-acre piece with a spring on it makai of the Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō ranch house, and a 500-acre parcel in Pāpa‘ikou which contained the old Hitchcock house at Pua ‘Ākala.

In the 1940s the ranch got the lease of Kipuka ‘Āinahou in Humu‘ula, just south of the Humu‘ula Sheep Station, and ran cattle there until about 1950.

Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō Ranch was part of WH Shipman’s larger operations, mostly centered in Puna. Shipman had a sugar plantation at ‘Ola‘a, with the mill at Kea‘au. He had three ranches in Puna: Kea‘au Ranch on the lava land of Kea‘au ahupua‘a, Keauhou Ranch north of Kilauea Crater, and ‘Āinahou Ranch south of Kilauea Crater. (Langlas)

There were three stations built on Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō Ranch: the main Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō headquarters and the Puakala house station, which were built early, and the Saddle House, built later.

In the 1940s, there were permanent personnel (mostly Japanese) at the ranch responsible for fencing, maintaining the ranch houses, breaking horses, and watching the cattle. Many of the cowboys, who did the driving, branding, and so on, were based at Kea‘au or at Keauhou Ranch and only came up when there was a big job to do; these cowboys were mostly Hawaiian and Portuguese. (Langlas)

The Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō headquarters had a koa ranch house for the owners, a couple of bunkhouses and a cottage for the cowboys and fence-men, a stable, and barn. The Puakala station had a koa house built by Hitchcock, a couple bunkhouses, and a barn. The cowboys lived up there when they worked that end of the ranch. (Gene Olivera, Langlas)

“In Puu ‘O‘o we had one, two, three bunk houses for the cowboys. For the cowboy and the fencemen. We had the whole house. In Puakala we had another three house, you know counting the big house eh.”

“[W]e had all the cowboys. We had about 33, 34 cowboys at that time. Yeah, used to stay up there, live up there [at Puu ‘Ō‘ō]. But after they made the Saddle road good, most of the boys that married, they came home eh. They don’t sleep out, only us the single ones used to stay up there.”

“So the one that fencemen, ah they, most of the time they kept outside the fence line where they live to the job. So they camp out there. They stay yeah. Where had the water gulch, come down where they get water to take a bath and all that. Then when they want water they come up the house because they had spring water at Puu ‘Ō‘ō house.” (Olivera, Pili Productions)

In the early days of the ranch (probably beginning in 1903, about the time the railroad was completed up to Glenwood), the cattle were driven to market down the Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō – Volcano Trail to Keauhou Ranch, then down to Glenwood Station where they were loaded onto railroad cars and shipped down to Kea’au or Hilo. (Langlas)

“The Hilo Railroad Company was chartered May 28, 1899. The road has been constructed from Waiakea, at the east side of Hilo Harbor, to Kapoho, in the district of Puna, a distance of 24 miles.”

“On this line, and 7 miles out from Hilo, is the Olaa Sugar Company’s mill. From this point the railroad runs through Keeau and Olaa to the 22 milepost [Glenwood] on the Volcano road, 9 miles from the Volcano House. … This part of the line is nearly constructed, and will probably be finished by January 1, 1903.” (Report of the Governor, 1902)

After that, the cattle were still driven down to Volcano, but from there they were trucked down to Kea’au. Once Saddle Road was built, in 1943, Shipman trucked the cattle down that way instead. (Langlas)

Shipman also had a controlling interest in the Hilo Meat Company, which slaughtered most of the cattle from Big Island ranches (other than Parker Ranch) and which supplied the local market. The cattle were slaughtered al Kea‘au and the meat was sold at Hilo Meat Company on Front Street in Hilo.

“I managed the Hilo Meat Company for thirty-nine years. … Shipman had a controlling interest in the meat company and I was working for the meat company. But I was also, in fact Shipman paid half my salary and the meat company paid half my salary when I first started with the meat company.”

“Shipman and Kapapala [owned by Brewer] and Kukaiau, [owned by] Davies [shipped cattle to Hilo Meat], and we bought cattle from a lot of independents, little Hamakua people and all that, C.L. Chow at one time who was involved with the Standard Meat Market.”

“Parker Ranch had an interest in Hilo Meat Company’s small stock holding. And they really didn’t ship cattle here. They really set up Hilo Meat to buy cattle from everybody else. I mean this island was the only island that produced more then it could take care of itself.” (Devine, Pili Productions)

“They had to ship to Honolulu. And Parker Ranch shipped all their cattle to Honolulu. Yeah, to Hawaii Meat Company that they had a controlling interest in, in other words to, if they started dumping cattle on this island that’d be chaos.”

“Too much produced and no markets so Mr. Carter, AW Carter, who was a trustee of Parker Ranch, who was quite an astute person and he figured out that they’d better not, that it didn’t take much figuring that they’d better ship all their cattle to Honolulu.”

“Otherwise there’d be too much competition here. So he set up, he was the one was instrumental in setting up Hilo Meat Company and getting the various ranchers to take stock in it and let Hilo Meat control more or less what was sold on this side of the island”. (Devine, Pili Productions)

Within the Hakalau Forest area as the juncture of three of the big ranches of east Hawai‘i (Parker Ranch to the uplands in Humu‘ula, Kuka‘iau Ranch to the north in Maulua Nui and beyond, and Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō Ranch to the south). (Tomonari-Tuggle) However, mauka ranching here started to phase out.

In 1985, the Fish & Wildlife Service, with the active involvement and support of The Nature Conservancy, purchased Shipman Ranch lands and established the Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge. Later, other nearby privately owned parcels were purchased or donated to the refuge.

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Christian Jacob Hedemann

Christian Jacob Hedemann was born at Flensborg in the Dukedom of Slesvig, Denmark on May 25, 1852; he was the son of a military surgeon Christian August Ferdinand Hedemann, 1810-1879, and his wife Caroline Amalie Cloos, 1824-1867.

Christian Jacob Hedemann married Meta Marie Magdalene Nissen in Denmark October 27, 1877; she was born at Copenhagen June 23, 1850.

Christian Jacob Hedemann was educated at the famous boarding School Herlufsholm (founded 1565), and at the Danish Technical University from which he graduated. In 1870-1878 he served as a draughtsman and constructor of machinery at Burmeister & Wain at Copenhagen. (Wangel)

“A friend of his father, August Unna, a Danish sugar plantation owner on Hana, Maui an isolated part of the islands, offered Christian Hedemann a position as chief engineer.” (Davis)

In 1878 he came to Hawaii and became factory manager and engineer on the Hana plantation. (Nellist) Hedemann was responsible for the construction of sugar mill machinery to be delivered to Hana.

This appointment turned out to become a 6-years employment, and a life-long friendship. In 1884 he came to Honolulu Iron Works in order to construct machinery for sugar cane industry. (Wangel)

When Mr. Hedemann joined the Honolulu Iron Works in 1884, it was little more than a repair shop. With the development of the sugar industry on a large scale in Hawaii, the plant began the manufacture of sugar mill machinery and the furnishing of complete sugar factories. It has constructed most of the modern sugar mills in the Territory. (Nellist)

As a manufacturer of sugar cane factory equipment he got Honolulu Iron Works to become leading in the world. 1904 he was appointed general manager of Honolulu Iron Works. (Wangel)

In 1905, Mr. Hedemann realized the need for a New York branch and, against the advice of many leading business men of Honolulu, an office was opened in small quarters at No. 11 Broadway, New York City.

All purchasing for the iron works was then done directly through this office, thus dispensing with Eastern agents, and contracts for the furnishing of sugar factories and equipment in Puerto Rico, Cuba, Mexico and Louisiana were obtained. One of these was for the largest sugar factory in the world, located in Cuba, having a daily grinding capacity of 9,000 tons of cane.

Hedemann also went to Japan and Formosa and secured contracts for the building of seven large sugar mills, all of the machinery being built at the Honolulu works, and later fifteen sugar factories were constructed in the Philippines.

The Honolulu Iron Works had a plant in Manila where the requirements of the Philippines are met and two dry docks for the repairing of local ships. The New York office of the Honolulu Iron Works Co. became a large division and occupied a large portion of two floors in the famous Woolworth Building, besides operating a branch engineering office in Havana, Cuba. (Nellist)

1917 he retired from Iron Works Management, retained as Advisory and Technical Director, 3rd Vice President of the firm. (Wangel)

Hedemann was also a noted, although amateur, photographer. “Hedemann carried a camera with him, having taken up photography as a natural extension of his fascination with mechanical developments.”

“He made a visual record of his experience in the islands, photographing the family’s exotic surroundings and providing evidence of its well being, that could be kept for posterity and shared with his relatives in Denmark.”

“He created a virtually unrivalled view of 19th century Hawaii, highlighting change and industrial development in the islands. … Hedemann’s first dated photograph, a view of his house with a Danish flag flying gaily overhead was taken February 1, 1880.” (Davis)

“Early in 1883 Hedemann went to considerable trouble to convert his carriage shed into a small studio where he could take portraits. To illuminate the room, he made sections of the roof removable, creating a makeshift skylight.”

“Using plans from early photo journals, he had a portable reflector and head rests made in the blacksmith and carpenter shops at the mill.”

“In this ‘Big Photo Studio in Hana, Sandwich Islands’, as he jokingly called it, Hedemann executed a body of work of lasting importance.”

“Opening the studio not only enhanced his ability to control the photographic environment but also created a neutral location where the haole (Caucasian) photographer could establish a formal relationship with unfamiliar sitters.”

“Before starting the studio, Hedemann’s portraits were limited to family members and fellow Danes; now he proceeded to produce a remarkable visual inventory of the growing ethnic diversity in Hana.”

“Photographs he took there, as Meta noted later, depict ‘the many different people who came around to work in the fields from time to time … Southern Islanders, Chinese, Portuguese, and even a small colony of Scandinavians.’” (Davis)

“Hedemann took his camera inside sugar mills, and the Honolulu Iron Works. His photographs of the mills reflect personal pride in his accomplishments as well as the prevailing fervor of the steam age and Hedemann’s love of ‘beautiful things for the sake of their perfection of design and intricate workmanship.’”

“The gleaming sugar mill machinery of Hana Plantation provided forms pleasing to the photographer’s eye but also emblems of the industrial era.”

“Hedemann helped organize the Hawaiian Camera Club, drawing amateur photographers he knew in Honolulu together with others he had met during his travels around the islands on Iron Works business.”  (Davis)

In March, 1917, he was decorated by the King of Denmark as a “Knight of Dannebrog.” He became an American citizen in 1903. (Nellist)

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Hilo Country Club

“For years Hilo has had no golf course.  A links  at the Volcano and the residents of Hamakua coast and of the Kohala region can get a round or two whenever they desire.” (HTH, Sep 23, 1925)

“The Hilo Country Club was the name chosen for Hilo’s new golf club which has purchased 123 acres of excellent golf land in Kaumana, … at a meeting of the members of the organization held Monday evening in the Chamber of Commerce rooms.”

“The course will be a regulation nine hole course, capable of accommodating-more than 150 golfers at one time. …  The club has more than enough land so that when Hilo needs an 18-[hole] course it will be an easy matter to enlarge the nine-hole course.” (HTH, Sep 2, 1925)

“The Hilo Country Club golf course in Kaumana is now complete and will be ready for play in July or August … The course in the estimation of many prominent golfers is the best in the Territory.” (HTH, Apr 16, 1926)

“The Hilo Country Club’s new golf course will be informally opened on August 22, when members of the club are allowed to use the links”. (HTH, Aug 10, 1926)

“[T]hat golf course was put up by the plantations, all the C. Brewer and all the big fives. All the plantation managers were the members and directors so whenever we want something like fertilizer, we got it from the plantations.”

“That’s the only way we could have survived then. Mostly it was managers and the bank, the judges, the police chief and all those. … “ (Susumu Tanimoto, oral history Pili Productions)

“[A]ll the functions like socializing was done at the Yacht Club, the same members. That Country Club was mostly for golf. And all the social gatherings, the same group, they all belonged to the Yacht Club.”

“It was quite a big club house though. We could seat 250 for dinner, upstairs and one open floor you know. We could seat 250. … We had catered to some you know class reunions and some weddings and things like that.” (Susumu Tanimoto, oral history Pili Productions)

“[W]hen I first there they won’t take any Orientals or any other nationality.”  (Susumu Tanimoto, oral history Pili Productions)  Susumu Tanimoto joined the Hilo Country Club in 1945.

“Well I first went to the Country Club as a custodian and during that time there were nobody around. Everybody was drafted or either volunteered.”

“So they didn’t have any guy, any custodian. And for me it was lucky because my wife could be in the kitchen and I could take over the rest of the janitorial job and everything. That’s how we started.”

“[T]hat was one of the nicest club house. Too bad though. And we had a bar. … All with hard wood, koa. Oh one of the best. Real, real old timer. … [the clubhouse as] Two story, like this basement. That’s where we had all our everyday doing. You know golf, golf shop, lunch. We serve lunch on the, upstairs was purely for big gatherings, dance.”

“But working there for couple of years then I took up golf cause I was on the golf course. … after I became pro. That’s why they made me the pro, to get all Orientals, all the doctors and lawyers and all the Oriental businessmen.”

“So I did went out and I got a lot of the businessmen and professional men to join the club. And we were doing fine.”  (Susumu Tanimoto, oral history Pili Productions)

“[W]e had the Hilo Open, we had the Island Champion, four or five big ones through the year. Cause we were the only golf club then, before the Muni came.”

Then, the “Hilo Municipal [Golf Course] opened up 1958 or ’59. And from there on the membership became low because they could play golf cheaper. So then we start struggling.” (Susumu Tanimoto, oral history Pili Productions)

Tanimoto “wasn’t happy with the club so I just resigned and… They hired another pro while I was still working there. That got me mad you know so I quit. And after I quit all the boys that I have brought them to the club, to let them join, they all resign too.”

“So right off the bat gone. They had no income then. All the guys that I had recruited, they all resign when I resign and left the club. I think they operate about six months after I left.”  Tanimoto opened a pro shop in Hilo.  (Susumu Tanimoto, oral history Pili Productions)

“[S]ale of the {Hilo Country] club had been considered for several months. The club has bank debts, and other outstanding bills totalling approximately $150,000.” (HTH, Nov 4, 1973)

“[T]he vote for approval of the sale was 266 to 2. A vote of 224, or 75 per cent of the 297 club stockholders, was needed for approval of the sale.”

“Originally, three offers were received, one for $800,000 and two for $850,000. All three were rejected by the Country Club board of directors because of the wide variation of sale conditions.”

“Uniform sale conditions were then laid down by the directors and the firms were invited to submit offers. The firm with the $800,000 offer upped it to $850,000. One of the firms offering $850,000 re-submitted the offer and the other withdrew.” (HTH, Jan 1, 1974)

The property was deeded to Obata Pacific Inc on March 7, 1974. (HTH, Sep 16, 1974)  Obata Pacific intended to expand the nine hole course to 18 holes and develop other recreational facilities.  (HTH, Jan 1, 1974)

Things got worse … “Obata Pacific, a Hawaii corporation owned by Mr. and Mrs. Minoru Obata of Tokyo, took title to the 63-acre, nine-hole Kaumana course and clubhouse last March, putting down 10 per cent of the $855,000 sale price.”

“A spokesman for Obata in Hilo confirmed to the Tribune-Herald this week that the firm is nearly two months late in making a final balloon payment. … planning work on renovation of the facility has been suspended. A December reopening date for the club has been postponed by Obata indefinitely”. (HTH, Sep 1, 1974)

The property went into foreclosure and the golf course never reopened.

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Captain George Gilley

“Word of the Bonin Islands had reached Hawaii, and there were already one or two of the chance residents in Oahu who were entertaining the idea of going to these newly-discovered islands and trying their fortune there as colonists.”

“In [1830] Captain Samuel H Dowsett, father of Mr JI Dowsett of this city, look in the schooner Unity the first inhabitants and colonists to the Bonin Islands.”

“The members of the expedition were almost all foreigners married to Hawaiian women, under the leadership of one Mazarro, an Italian. Others were Millinchamp … Savory and Gilley …” (Daily Bulletin, Aug 23, 1883)

“By 1835, their grass-hut settlement attracted at least six more enterprising wāhine and several other disaffected Westerners, including Englishman William Gilley. One of the colony’s 16 wāhine bore children who took his name – among them William Jr., Michael, Lizzie, and around 1840, George.” (Hancock)

“[S]upplies came by way of roving whalers that occasionally appeared on the eastern horizon. As a teenager, George Gilley jumped at the first opportunity to leave on one, arriving in Hawai‘i via a whaling ship and sticking around.”

“An 1855 letter, sent to the Bonin Islands from a family friend in Honolulu, mentioned that ‘George has been here 2 or 3 times but I could not persuade him to go home and see his mother. He seems to like this place so much.’” (Hancock)

Historians suggest “that young Hawaiian males left Hawai’i as workers on whaling ships and traveled to China, Europe, Mexico, and the U.S. mainland. In addition, many ventured into the Pacific Northwest territory, worked in the fur trade, and ended up settling in those areas.” (pbs-org)

“Hawaiian sailors were known for their seamanship and swimming abilities and made desirable recruits for the whaling captains, so much so that the Hawaiian government began to regulate this recruitment and passed laws requiring bonds to ensure the sailors’ return to the islands as early as the 1830s.”

“The demographic decline due to foreign diseases (an additional import of the early western whalers) made it all the more important to ensure the return of local sailors to Hawai‘i. Nonetheless, the role of Kānaka maoli in the American whaling fleet continued to increase.”  (NOAA)

“Sandwich Island crew … are complete water-dogs, therefore very good in boating. It is for this reason that there are so many of them on the coast of California; they being very good hands in the surf.”

“They are also quick and active in the rigging, and good hands in warm weather; but those who have been with them round Cape Horn, and in high latitudes, say that they are useless in cold weather. In their dress they are precisely like our sailors.”  (Dana, 1840)

“Gilley is described as ‘one of Hawaii’s own children’ and many of the crew also are reported to be from Hawai’i. This portrayal dovetails with other narratives about Captain Gilley’s Kanaka heritage and the vessel’s primarily Native Hawaiian crew.” (Lebo)

“Many thousands of Native Hawaiian seamen took whaling cruises beginning with four young men who left in 1819 aboard the American whaleship Balaena. … over 7,000 native seamen … shipped aboard foreign whaling vessels between 1859 and 1867.” (Lebo)

Of all of those Hawaiians that set sail, George Gilley is “the only known Native Hawaiian whaling captain in history”. (Hancock) (Lebo)

“Gilley navigated Arctic storms and treacherous fields of coral, ice, and thrashing leviathans that shivered the timbers of all who braved the North Pacific in the great blubber rush of the 19th century.”

“Propelled by a jetstream of sheer talent, Gilley was an exemplar of the Native Hawaiian initiative, skill, and fearlessness that rendered a small island kingdom a player in the global economy.” (Hancock)

Gilley, as Captain of the William H Allen, was involved in a couple notable, fateful voyages in the north Pacific … there was an Arctic whaling disaster that included “the loss of 11 whaling vessels, including the Desmond, all of which were abandoned in the ice near Point Tangent, Alaska, on September 5, 1876.” (Lebo)

“The [William] H Allen. This Honolulu whaler and trader returned from the Arctic on Thursday last, have done very fairly. She brings two survivors of the wrecked crews of last season, the only ones, so far as at present known, remaining out of the sixty men who elected to stay by the ships.”

One of these is a Hawaiian and the other a Tahitian. They report that one of the ships – the Acors Barnes – could have been got out last fall, but that the Tahitians on board found some rum, got drunk, and run her ashore. The two [survivors] lived among the Indians during the winter.” (PCA, Oct 27, 1877)

Then, “At East Cape, the crew of the [William] H Allen had a fight [some called it a massacre] with the Indians, who boarded her and demanded rum. This being refused the Indians began an [assault] upon the crew, which ended in the killing of some fifteen of the former.”

“The Indians of that locality have long been reputed to be a bad lot. In the attack, one Hawaiian seaman lost his life [Honuailealea (Lebo)], and two were wounded.” (PCA, Oct 27, 1877)

“[T]he trading conflict revolved around liquor, a commodity the whalers often traded to Siberian and Alaskan natives for ivory, furs, and other local articles. … The traders included several chiefs, numerous young men, a few women, and several elderly men.”

“They came from one of several villages at Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska. They frequently traded with whalers and with native communities on both sides of the Bering Strait as well as those who lived on the intervening islands.” (Lebo)

“[A]t 4 o’clock in the afternoon on the 4th of July, 1877, a canoe drew abreast of us, and then left; after that, another canoe pulled up, with thirty or more men aboard, along with two women. When they approached the ship, two chiefs boarded, along with the men, while the women remained on the canoe.” (Polapola; Lebo)

“[O]ne of the chiefs was caught stealing liquor and that the skirmish erupted when that chief and another native assaulted the captain and first mate.” (Lebo)  “After our battle, the Hawaiians were victorious”. (Polapola; Lebo)

“Gilley and his crew of Hawaiians, African Americans, and Cape Verdeans killed thirteen Alaska Natives … The episode reverberated for years, and trust between the whalers and the Native population around Cape Prince of Wales never recovered.”  (NPS)

“Sometime around Kalākaua’s birthday race in 1880, Gilley registered a home address in Pauoa, O‘ahu, but he did not stay there long. He followed the whaling industry to San Francisco, where he became captain of the bark Eliza until at least 1884, touching at Honolulu occasionally.”

“By 1886, the middle-aged whaler downgraded station but upgraded technology, becoming first mate on the steam-powered Grampus. No longer captain, Gilley lost regular listing in whaleship reports.” (Hancock)

“In 1899, gold was discovered at the coastal settlement of Nome, Alaska, drawing thousands of prospectors and, apparently, George Gilley, who arrived via the bark Alaska in the spring of 1900.”

“In August, he sailed over to the Siberian coast, and anchored near the shore. … As the ship approached Sledge Island, about 20 miles offshore, Gilley took a seat on the ship’s rail and looked across the blue at the coast of stone gray and green.”

“Then the wind shifted, and for once in his life, he did not rise to meet its force. The boom swung around and knocked George Gilley into the frigid sea. His men raced astern as the ship grazed onward, only to watch him drown.”

“The crew worked like whalers, and not without difficulty, to hoist Gilley’s lifeless body out of the water, back into the crisp morning air. They took him on to Nome. … His death was not evidently reported in Hawai‘i.” (Hancock)

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