Images of Old Hawaiʻi

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David Malo

David Malo, one of the early native Hawaiian scholars, was the son of Aoao and his wife Heone, and was born in Keauhou, North Kona Hawai‘i; his father had been soldier in the army of Kamehameha I.

The exact year of his birth is not known, but it was about 1793, around the time of Vancouver’s second visit to the islands.

During his early life Malo was connected with the high chief Kuakini (Governor Adams,) who was a brother of Queen Ka‘ahumanu.

In 1823, Malo moved to Lāhainā, Maui where he learned to read and write. Malo soon converted to Christianity and was given the baptismal name of David.

In 1831, he entered Lahainaluna High School (at about the age of 38;) the school opened with twenty-five students, under the leadership of Reverend Lorrin Andrews – he graduated in the class of 1835.  

From about 1835, he started writing notes on the Hawaiian religion and cultural history, along with other members of the school and instructor Sheldon Dibble.

Malo came to be regarded as the great authority and repository of Hawaiian lore and was in great demand as a story-teller of the old-time traditions, mele, and genealogies, and as a master in arrangements of the hula.

The law which first established a national school system was the “Statute for the Regulation of Schools” which was enacted on October 15, 1840, and was reenacted, with some important amendments, on May 21, 1841.

Malo was appointed as the general school agent for Maui; he was then voted to be in charge of all the general school agents, therefore becoming the first superintendent of schools of the Hawaiian kingdom (where he served at least until the middle of 1845.

He was described as “tall and of spare frame, active, energetic, a good man of business, eloquent of speech, independent in his utterances.”

“He was of a type of mind inclined to be jealous and quick to resent any seeming slight in the way of disparagement or injustice that might be shown to his people or nation, and was one who held tenaciously to the doctrine of national integrity and independence.”

After being ordained to the Christian ministry, he settled down in the seaside village of Kalepolepo on East Maui where he remained until his death in October 1853.

His book, Hawaiian antiquities (Moolelo Hawaii – 1898,) addressed the genealogies, traditions and beliefs of the people of Hawai‘i.

In the “Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition,” Admiral Wilkes (1840,) commenting on books about Hawai‘i, said, “(s)ome of them are by native authors.  Of these I cannot pass at least one without naming him.”

“This is David Malo, who is highly esteemed by all who know him, and who lends the missionaries his aid, in mind as well as example, in ameliorating the condition of his people and checking licentiousness.”

“At the same time he sets an example of industry, by farming with his own hands, and manufactures from his own sugar cane an excellent molasses.”

In the introduction to his book, the trustees of Bishop Museum acknowledge they “are rendering an important service to all Polynesian scholars.”

They also suggest the book “form(s) a valuable contribution not only to Hawaiian archaeology, but also to Polynesian ethnology in general.”

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David Manuia

Abner Paki “appears in the genealogy of the Chiefs of this Nation, from ancient times, and he is a high Chief of this land descended from Haloa, that being the one father of the children living in this world, and the father of our people.”

“Part of his genealogy is taken from the High Chiefs of the land, and he is part of Kamehameha’s, and he is part of Kiwalao’s, and he is a hereditary chief of a single line from ancient times; and he was a father who rescued from trouble his people of this nation from Hawaii to Kauai.”  (Nupepa Kuakoa, Elele E, 6/16/1855, p. 20

He was “the last of the family of old high chiefs. … His father’s name was Kalanihelemaiiluna, and his mother’s Kahooheiheipahu. He was born [at Kainalu] on the island Molokai, in the year ‘Ualakaa,’ [“that being when Kamehameha was farming at Ualakaa” [Round Top above Manoa Valley], Nupepa Kuakoa, Ka Elele E, Buke 10, Aoao 20. Iune 16, 1855].

“He was an intimate friend of the King [Kamehameha III], and was a person of considerable weight and importance in the affairs of the nation. He held during his life, some high offices of trust and honor; being at different times, one of the judges of the Supreme Court, acting Governor, Privy Councillor, member of the House of Nobles, and Chamberlain to the King.”

“The most prominent feature in his character was firmness; where he took a stand, he was immovable. On the death of Kamehameha III, he prophesied that he should survive his Royal master but a few months, though he was in usual health at the time.”

Kamehameha III died December 15, 1854; Paki died June 13, 1855.  Paki’s “wife Konia, (also a high chief,) who survived him two years, she dying in 1857.” (Bennett, 1871)

Paki and Konia were the parents of Bernice Pauahi Paki Pākī (born December 19, 1831).  “Paki and Kona must have been a striking contrast. Pali was 6 feet 4 inched in height.  He had massive arms and legs, a handsome body and the lithness of a good athlete.  Konia was short, had a quick, intelligent face ad was frankly fat. She was noted for her sweet disposition.”

“Kalani [princess] Pauahi, the little high chiefess, did not remain long with her mother Konia. She was adopted Hawaiian style by the High Chiefess Kīna‘u. … Kīna‘u … had three sons – Moses, Lot and Alexander Liholiho. She yearned for a daughter, so she took the child of Konia out of her own mother’s arms and reared her for 8 years.” (Clarice Taylor)

High Chief Caesar Kapaʻakea and his wife High Chiefess Analeʻa Keohokālole had several children, including future King David Kalakaua (born (November 16, 1836)) and Lydia Liliʻu Kamakaʻeha (future Queen Lili‘uokalani) (born September 2, 1838).

As was the custom, Liliʻu was hānai (adopted) to the Pākīs, who reared her with their birth daughter, Pauahi. The Pauahi and Lili‘u developed a close, loving relationship.

As Lili‘uokalani noted, “When I was taken from my own parents and adopted by Paki and Konia, or about two months thereafter, a child was born to Kīna‘u. That little babe was the Princess Victoria [born November 1, 1838], two of whose brothers became sovereigns of the Hawaiian people [Kamehameha IV and V].”

“While the infant was at its mother’s breast, Kīna‘u always preferred to take me into her arms to nurse, and would hand her own child to the woman attendant who was there for that purpose.”

“I knew no other father or mother than my foster-parents, no other sister than Bernice. I used to climb up on the knees of Paki, put my arms around his neck, kiss him, and he caressed me as a father would his child …”

“… while on the contrary, when I met my own parents, it was with perhaps more of interest, yet always with the demeanor I would have shown to any strangers who noticed me.”

“My own father and mother had other children, ten in all, the most of them being adopted into other chiefs’ families; and although I knew that these were my own brothers and sisters, yet we met throughout my younger life as though we had not known our common parentage. This was, and indeed is, in accordance with Hawaiian customs.”  (Lili‘uokalani)

But there seems to be another child associated with Paki.

A portion of the program for the Dedication of Paki Hall at Kamehameha School for Boys (1960) noted, “While a young man living in Kohala, Paki married Ka-iwi and to them was born David Manuia.”

“Manuia’s granddaughter, Laika, was the mother of Jonah Kumalae, known to kamaainas as the editor of the Hawaiian newspaper Ke Alakai o Hawaii.”

“Mr. Kumalae’s grandson, Richard Among, who was graduated from The School for Boys in the class of 1951, is the only known descendant of High Chief Paki to have attended The Kamehameha Schools. [Richard Awong was in attendance and was introduced at the dedication event.]”

“Richard and other progeny of Paki living in Honolulu observe the tradition of chiefly modesty, and few people are aware of their illustrious ancestry.”

“After the death of his wife in Kohala, Paki married Laura Kana-holo Konia, granddaughter of Kamehameha the Great and daughter of the Conqueror’s first-born son, Ka-o-lei-o-ku.”

“Bernice Pauahi, daughter of Paki and Konia and beloved benefactress of The Kamehameha Schools, was a chiefess of the highest rank.” (Program narrative at dedication of Paki Hall at Kamehameha School for Boys, Nov 4, 1960)

However, if you do the math, Paki was “the last of the family of old high chiefs. … He was born on the island Molokai, in the year ‘Ualakaa’ [“that being when Kamehameha was farming at Ualakaa”, Nupepa Kuakoa, Ka Elele E, Buke 10, Aoao 20. Iune 16, 1855].”  (Bennett, 1871)

Kamehameha was farming sweet potatoes at Ualakaa between 1808 and 1812 0 so Paki would have been born sometime in that range.

The challenge is Clarice Taylor says David Manuia “was born in 1810 at Puakawau, North Kohala”.  This reference is likely from an obituary statement in the newspaper by Mrs LK Keliaa, the daughter of Manuia, who gave that birth year.

Keliaa stated, “He was born in Piiakawau, North Kohala, Hawaii, in AD 1810, born to Paki k. and Kaiwi w., five of them, three males, two females, but he was taken away by the his children died and only one was left alive, until he found this M.H. 1889, and at 2 o’clock in the morning on Friday the 11th of this month, his life was called by the Almighty, and he took it away.”

“In M. H. 1836. He entered the Lahainaluna College, and for several years, he graduated with the approval of his teachers, and returned to his native land, and after a while, he found public offices from the government, that is, Teacher, Headmaster, Tax Officer, Police Officer, Judge, and a Marriage License Officer.”

“His job, however, continued as the school principal, until he left Hawaii in March 1870 for Honolulu, Oahu, where he stayed until his death.”

“He is married to a woman, and they have one child, DM. Puna Manuia, and the woman died, and a long time later, he remarried the woman, they lived and had one more child and in AD 1853, the second woman died, and He remained celibate until he passed away.”

“D. Manuia is one of the oldest brothers of the Kohala, and was also a church leader of that place until he moved to Oahu, and in that Christian position he lived, and he is also one of the strong support of the works of the Lord in Kawaiahao which is being held by the father Rev HH Parker, and it was nothing to him for long periods under the works of the Lord.”

“He was 79 years old in this world … was a kind man, and he was a welcomer to the guests who visited his home, until his death.” (Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, Bishop Museum Archives)

So, it is a mystery how Paki (apparently born in the year ‘Ualakaa’, 1808-1812) could be the father of Manuia (apparently born 1810), but there are definitive statements made by Kamehameha Schools, Clarice Taylor and the obituary that he is.

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Charles Titcomb

Charles Titcomb was a practical Yankee of considerable ability (born in Boston, July 24, 1803), a watchmaker by trade, who had reached the Hawaiian Islands as a sailor on the bark Lyra that was wrecked in the ‘false passage’ (apparently around Maui) in 1830.  (Damon and PCA March 31, 1883) He lived/worked at various places on Kauai.

Koloa

He initially settled at Koloa, Kauai.  At the time, “Clusters of native dwellings are scattered on the plain, but the principal village is situated a mile from the beach, at a short distance from the missionary buildings.”

“Fields of sugar cane, taro, yams, and other vegetables, bespeak a more than usual attention to agriculture. The population of Koloa, which is about three thousand, is increasing rapidly by emigrations from other districts. But the principal attractions here are the estates of Messrs. Ladd & Co. and Messrs. Peck & Titcomb, American gentlemen.”

“From Ladd and Company Messrs. Peck and Titcomb subleased about 400 acres on which, from 1836 to 1840, they conducted careful experiments in raising cotton, coffee and silk.”

“Their mulberry trees throve so that one of the little hills on their land was soon called Mauna Kilika, or Silika, as it still is on old maps. …  Beset by one difficulty after another, such as drought, blight and failure of the silkworm eggs to hatch even when taken in bottles to the mountain tops for a lower temperature, silk culture was abandoned about 1840.”

“Mr. Titcomb then transferred his equipment across the island to Hanalei to begin similar attempts there. And sugar thus remained the one active commercial enterprise in Koloa.” (Damon)

Hanalei

“In the course of time other white settlers were attracted to the fertile and well-watered region of Hanalei and Waioli, among whom the first to undertake a business venture systematically was this same Charles Titcomb of Koloa.”

“While his interests were frankly commercial, and it was of course essential that his silk worms should be fed on Sunday, as on every other day, it is not true, as has sometimes been alleged, that the missionaries of Hanalei attempted to thwart his industrial efforts.”

“The refutation of this charge is made on the indisputable authority of Mr. G. N. Wilcox, who grew up in one of the two mission homes at Waioli and knows the history of Kauai as it is known to no other living person today.”

The missionaries at Hanalei, as at Koloa, rejoiced that Hawaiians had now some means of profitable labor by which they could free themselves from the restrictions of the konohiki, or overlord. And while the missionaries regretted that a certain amount of labor was necessary on the Sabbath, it came to be regarded as an inevitable accompaniment of economic change.”

“And when on, or even perhaps before, the blighting of his mulberry trees at Koloa, Mr. Titcomb started cuttings in the Hanalei river bottom, a prodigiously rapid growth was the result, even also as ratoons.”

“Mr. Jarves states that Mr. Titcomb had obtained his lease of Hanalei river lands from the king as early as 1838. A fairly good quality and quantity of silk was soon produced, the Hawaiian women proving skilful in the art of reeling the delicate threads from the tiny cocoons, and the first export was made in 1844, but profits were too slow to warrant the necessary outlay of capital.”

“Securing berries from the Kona fields of Messrs. Hall and Cummings, Mr. Titcomb gradually replaced his mulberry orchards with coffee plants, and thus opened direct competition with his immediate neighbors.”

“Another commercial venture, somewhat farther afield, was made by Mr. Wundenberg in company with Messrs. Titcomb and Widemann late in 1848, when the three gentlemen left their families on Kauai and proceeded to join the gold rush to California. The net result seems to have been chiefly in the realm of experience, for it was not long before all three had returned to their former agricultural pursuits. …”

“In 1853 [Robert Wyllie] bought the Crown lands at Hanalei which were leased by the Rhodes Coffee Plantation, and two years later Captain Rhodes sold out his financial interest in it to Mr. Wyllie.”

“After the visit of the royal personages at Hanalei in 1860, Mr. Titcomb’s plantation became known as Emmasville and Mr. Wyllie’s as Princeville Plantation, in honor of the event. And Princeville is the name which persists to this day as the title of the estate.”

“In 1862 the Princeville plantation, following Mr. Titcomb’s lead, was converted from coffee to sugar and the face of the river valley took on a materially different aspect. Mr. Wyllie added the two ahupuaas, land divisions, of Kalihikai and Kalihiwai, to his Princeville estate, and sent to Glasgow for his sugar mill.” (Damon)

“Foremost in enterprise, Mr. Titcomb was the prime mover in introducing the Tahitian variety of cane, which for so many years was the backbone of the industry.”

“The whaling captain entrusted with the importation of this new cane chanced to make port at Lahaina, whence the samples were distributed throughout the islands. Hence the name, Lahaina cane, for that staple variety which was in reality from Tahiti.”

“[T]he coffee plantation of Mr. Titcomb at Hanalei was reported, just before the drought, as in excellent order and always a model of good management and thrift.” (Damon)

Coffee was grown successfully at Hanalei during the 1840s and 1850s until a blight caused by aphids wiped out over 100,000 coffee trees.  (Soboleski, TGI)

“In 1852 Irish potatoes constituted the largest export from the islands to California, but two years later the Hawaiian planters ‘were eating potatoes from California of better quality and less price.’”

“By the process of the survival of the fittest, sugar was becoming Hawaii’s staple product. Yet even that finally proved unsuited to the cool, wet climate of Hanalei.”

“Mr. Titcomb, in the lead as usual, sold the Emmasville Plantation of over seven hundred acres to Mr. Wyllie in 1863 and moved to Kilauea, further to the eastward on the Kauai shore. Here he bought the Kilauea land grant from the king and established himself in cattle ranching.”  (Damon)

Kilauea

“He built himself a house, which until very recently was used as the Kilauea plantation hospital; and when Mr. Widemann came to Hanalei in 1864, Mr. Titcomb secured his herd of cattle from Grove Farm.”

“Capt. Dudoit and Mr. Titcomb of Hanalei also met with considerable success at Kilauea, but the former moved his family to Honolulu in 1862.”

“These two gentlemen had become discouraged with the struggles in sugar at Princeville and were attempting the somewhat drier climate to the eastward.”

“In 1877, when Titcomb sold his Kilauea ranch to English Capt. John Ross and Edward Adams for the purpose of growing sugar cane, Kilauea Sugar Plantation was founded, with Titcomb staying on to build the plantation’s first sugar mill.” (Damon)  Kilauea Plantation closed in 1971. (Soboleski, TGI)

“Having primitive works, his whole product was for many years put into syrup, during which time ‘Titcomb’s Golden Syrup’ was the choice article of our  groceries. … Titcomb was an industrious, law-abiding citizen; a neighbor to be desired, and an affectionate husband and father.” (Daily Honolulu Press, March 24, 1883)

Titcomb married Kanikele Kamalenui in 1841; they were the parents of at least 3 sons and 5 daughters.  Kanikele died January 16, 1881; Charles died March 21, 1883.

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Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh’s Visit to the Islands

Prince Alfred, the fourth child and second son of Queen Victoria and Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the Prince Consort, was born at Windsor Castle and was second in the line of succession behind his elder brother, Albert Edward, Prince of Wales.

Alfred was christened by the Archbishop of Canterbury, William Howley, at the Private Chapel in Windsor Castle on 6 September 1844. He was given the names Alfred Ernest Albert, although was always known to the family as “Affie”.

Alfred expressed a wish to join the navy and in accordance with this he passed the entrance examination in August 1858, and was appointed as midshipman in HMS Euryalus at the age of fourteen.

On the abdication of King Otto of Greece, in 1862, Prince Alfred was selected to succeed him, but the British government blocked plans for him to ascend the Greek throne, largely due to the fact that the Queen strongly opposed the idea.

He therefore remained in the navy, and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant on February 24. 1863, serving under Count Gleichen on HMS Racoon, and captain on February 23, 1866, being then appointed to the command of the frigate HMS Galatea.

On May 24, 1866, Alfred was created Duke of Edinburgh and Earl of Ulster and Earl of Kent by his mother Queen Victoria.  (English Monarchs)

“In the year 1869 the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Alfred of England, arrived in the harbor of Honolulu [on July 21], being in command of Her Britannic Majesty’s ship-of-war Galatea. As soon as the king learned of the duke’s presence he made special preparations for his reception …”

“… and for his better accommodation on shore he assigned for his use the residence of the late Kekuanaoa, who died in November of the preceding year.” (Liliʻuokalani)

A “large number of Hawaiians men, women and children amounting to some thousands, visited H. B. H. the Duke of Edinburgh, each bringing a present, in accordance with an ancient custom among the people called hookupu.”

“Many of the presents were of value, while others were only valuable as showing the good feeling of the donors towards His Majesty’s Guest.” (Hawaiian Gazette. August 4, 1869)

“I gave a grand luau at my Waikiki residence, to which were invited all those connected with the government, indeed, all the first families of the city, whether of native or foreign birth. …”

“Major JH Wodehouse, so long the ambassador of Great Britain at Honolulu, had just arrived with Mrs. Wodehouse; and they were of the invited guests, the prince specially inviting them to drive out to my house with him. I suppose the feast would be styled a breakfast in other lands, for it was to begin at eleven o’clock in the forenoon.”

“The sailor-prince mounted the driver’s box of the carriage, and taking the reins from that official, showed himself an expert in the management of horses. … Kalama, widow of Kamehameha III, drove out to Waikiki in her own carriage of state”.  (Liliʻuokalani)

“The drivers of these carriages wore the royal feather shoulder-capes, and the footmen were also clad in like royal fashion. It was considered one of the grandest occasions in the history of those days, and all passed off as becoming the high birth and commanding position of our visitor.”

“The guests were received with every mark of courtesy by my husband and myself, as well as by His Majesty Kamehameha V, who was one of the first arrivals.”

“When the prince entered, he was met by two very pretty Hawaiian ladies, who advanced and, according to the custom of our country, decorated him with leis or long pliable wreaths of flowers suspended from the neck.” (Liliʻuokalani)

“As Mrs. Bush, considered one of the most beautiful women in the Hawaiian Islands, advanced, and proceeded to tie the Bowery garland about the neck of the prince, he seemed perhaps a bit confused at the novel custom …”

“… but, submitting with the easy grace of a gentleman, he appeared to be excessively pleased with the flowers and with the expression of friendly welcome conveyed to him by the act.”

“Balls, picnics, and parties followed this day of enjoyment; and the prince gave an entertainment in return at his own house, which was attended by my husband and myself, and by most of the distinguished persons in the city.” (Lili‘uokalani)

“The day of departure for the Galatea arrived; and the prince called on me to express the pleasure he had taken during his visit, and the regrets he felt at leaving us.”

“On this occasion he presented me with an armlet emblematic of his profession; it was of solid gold, a massively wrought chain made after the pattern of a ship’s cable, with anchor as a pendant.” (Lili‘uokalani)

“On Monday last, the Galatea sailed for Japan. The Duke of Edinburgh was accompanied to the wharf by His Majesty, attended by his Staff. The parting between His Majesty and the Duke was most cordial.”

“Large numbers of people had assembled on the wharf to see the Duke embark, and as he stepped into his barge, many rushed forward with wreaths, bouquets and flowers, throwing them into the barge and over the Duke, until His Royal Highness was quite covered.” (Hawaiian Gazette. August 4, 1869)

“We have met once since those days, at the Queen’s Jubilee, during my visit to London in 1887. Our past acquaintance was cordially recognized by the prince, who was then my escort on a state occasion, my nearest neighbor on the other hand being the present Emperor of Germany.” (Lili‘uokalani)

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The Spray Will Come Back

Joshua Slocum was born on February 20, 1844, in Nova Scotia. He was the fifth of eleven children. His father was a hard disciplinarian and from his early teens, he made several attempts to run away to the sea.

At the age of fourteen he became cook on a local fishing schooner and soon afterwards he and a friend shipped out, bound for Dublin. From Dublin, he went to Liverpool becoming an ordinary seaman on the British merchant ship Tangier which was bound for China.

Joshua Slocum’s first command in 1869 was the barque Washington which he took across the Pacific from San Francisco to Australia and then onwards to Alaska. In 1871, while in Sidney, he married his first wife, an American named Virginia Walker. They went on to have four children, all born in different countries.

In remote Alaska, the Washington ended up dragging her anchor during a gale, ran ashore and was a total loss. However, Slocum managed to save the cargo and crew, bringing them back safely in the ship’s open boats.

The shipping company was impressed by this feat of leadership and seamanship and gave him command of the Constitution which he sailed to Honolulu and later Mexico.

After the Constitution he commanded the Benjamin Aymar in the South Seas. However, when the owner sold the vessel, he became stranded in the Philippines.

There he was given the 90 ton schooner, Pato. Reviving his fortunes, he crossed the North Pacific to British Columbia. During this period, Slocum fulfilled his wish to become a writer by becoming a temporary correspondent for the San Francisco Bee.

Crossing to Hawaii, he sold the Pato and bought the Amethyst which he sold in Hong Kong for an interest in the full-rigged ship Northern Light. This was his ‘best command’ and was considered the ‘finest American sailing vessel afloat’ at the time.

However after two years he sold his interest and bought the barque Aquidneck in which he sailed to Buenos Aires. While there his wife, Virginia, died at the age of 35.

The following year, 1886, he married his cousin Henrietta Elliott and the Aquidneck ran between Baltimore and South America. During this time he lived through a cholera epidemic, an outbreak of smallpox (which killed several of his crew), and later a mutiny in which he was forced to shoot two men.

A few months later, in 1887, his ship ran aground and broke up in Brazil, marooning him and his family and ruining his fortunes. Unwilling to return to the United States as a castaway and a pauper, he used native help and the wreckage of his ship to build a 35-foot, junk rigged, dory which he named “Liberdade”.

The next year, he, his wife and children sailed this small, homemade craft across 5,500 miles of open ocean to South Carolina. Slocum wrote his first book ‘Voyage of the Liberdade’ about the trip. In recognition for this feat the Liberdade was placed on view at the Smithsonian Institution. (Chesapeake Bay Lighthouse Project)

Then, he sailed alone …

At noon on April 24, 1895, Joshua Slocum cast off his dock lines in East Boston and set out to sail alone around the world in the 37’ sloop Spray.

“The first name on the ‘Spray’s’ visitors’ book in the home port was written by the one who always said, ‘The ‘Spray’ will come back.’”

“The ‘Spray’ was not quite satisfied till I sailed her around to her birthplace, Fairhaven, Massachusetts, farther along.”  (Slocum)

“The ‘Spray’ … plunged into the Pacific Ocean at once, taking her first bath of it in the gathering storm. There was no turning back even had I wished to do so, for the land was now shut out by the darkness of night.”

“To cross the Pacific Ocean, even under the most favorable circumstances, brings you for many days close to nature, and you realize the vastness of the sea. Slowly but surely the mark of my little ship’s course on the track-chart reached out on the ocean and across it, while at her utmost speed she marked with her keel still slowly the sea that carried her.”

“On the forty-third day from land, – a long time to be at sea alone, – the sky being beautifully clear and the moon being “in distance” with the sun, I threw up my sextant for sights. I found from the result of three observations, after long wrestling with lunar tables, that her longitude by observation agreed within five miles of that by dead-reckoning.” (Slocum)

“Taking things by and large, as sailors say, I got on fairly well in the matter of provisions even on the long voyage across the Pacific. I found always some small stores to help the fare of luxuries; what I lacked of fresh meat was made up in fresh fish, at least while in the trade-winds …”

“… where flying-fish crossing on the wing at night would hit the sails and fall on deck, sometimes two or three of them, sometimes a dozen. Every morning except when the moon was large I got a bountiful supply by merely picking them up from the lee scuppers.” (Slocum)

“The Pacific is perhaps, upon the whole, no more boisterous than other oceans, though I feel quite safe in saying that it is not more pacific except in name. It is often wild enough in one part or another.”

“I once knew a writer who, after saying beautiful things about the sea, passed through a Pacific hurricane, and he became a changed man.  But where, after all, would be the poetry of the sea were there no wild waves?”

“At last here was the ‘Spray’ in the midst of a sea of coral. The sea itself might be called smooth indeed, but coral rocks are always rough, sharp, and dangerous. I trusted now to the mercies of the Maker of all reefs, keeping a good lookout at the same time for perils on every hand.” (Slocum)

More than once during his 38-month circumnavigation, Slocum was reported as having gone missing. There were times when it was presumed he had been lost.

But when Slocum finally sailed into Newport, Rhode Island, at 1 am on June 27, 1898, he proved all the doubters wrong. Slocum and his Spray had sailed into history. (New Bedford Whaling Museum)

At the age of 51, Captain Joshua Slocum became the first man to sail around the world alone. His 46,000-mile voyage in the 36-foot sloop ‘Spray’ was only part of a life of adventure, exploration and ingenuity, making him one of the world’s most famous sailors. (South Bay Sail)

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