Images of Old Hawaiʻi

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

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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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Rotten Row

In Rotten Row the poor ships lie –
Pathetic hulks ‘gainst the brazen sky

Drowzing life through on a lazy tide,
At anchor the vanquished vessels ride.

The surf on the reef vents a hideous sneer
At her ocean’s victims resting there

Never again to plough the seas,
Nor flaunt their flags in the bellying breeze.

The good ships come and’ the good ships go
With ne’er a salute for Rotten Row.

But the green weed loves their unkempt sides,
And the sea-worn hither and thither glides.

At night when the moon breaks through the clouds,
It chases ghosts from the feeble shrouds,

Of men who down to great seas did go
With the broken tenants of Rotten Row.
(HM Ayres; Hawaiian Star, Sep 9, 1909)

“Most harbours scattered over the seven seas have a last haven for ships which have passed from the sphere of usefulness. This haven, in the parlance of the sea is called Rotten Row.” (University of Wellington, NZ)

In Honolulu, “Hulks in rotten row are trembling for their bones, the winds whistling through their ancient forms in fierce glee. A few hats lost in the harbor, a few changes in position of wreckage on the reef, is all that the wind can do at present to be held responsible for in the vicinity of the harbor.” (Evening Bulletin, March 1, 1902)

Formerly known as Naval Row “as it was once proudly known”, located Ewa side and near Sumner’s islet across the harbor from the town, “not all of the vessels in rotten row are wrecks, there are some of them in good ripe old age.” (Evening Bulletin, July 19, 1907)

“That portion of the bay that was once known as “rotten row” and which was cleared of all the old hulks some time ago, is again taking on the aspect of former days. The accumulation is growing and being added to every little while.”

“Captain Miller’s yacht, the Lady, is in the neighborhood of 30 years old. The bark Melanchton is nothing but a hulk, and for over 40 summers she breasted the waves. The Mokolu is next in line. Her usefulness is nearly over. The Kaena, the Hover and the James Makee lay in the line with the old Kaimaloa acting as rear guard for the rotten row.” (Evening Bulletin, July 19, 1907)

“At the request of Lieutenant Slattery the army engineering officer who has charge of surveying the harbor for the improvements by the United States government, the various vessels which have been moored In Rotten Row, were taken elsewhere by their owners.”

“The removal of the craft was only temporary as they occupied considerable space that had to be surveyed. Permission has been granted to the owners to take their craft back to the Row.”

“The hulks which are resting on the bottom in Rotten Row will have to be removed before the work of Improving the harbor is undertaken by the United States government.”

“Lieutenant Slattery says he will notify the owners to remove them and In case of failure to do so, the government will remove the hulks and sell the material for whatever price It will bring to pay the expenses of removal.” (Hawaiian Star, June 26, 1905)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Falls Of Clyde

News on Falls of Clyde prompts me to bring her story back …

She was launched December 12, 1878 by shipbuilders Russell & Co at Port Glasgow, Scotland; the four-masted, full-rigged ship Falls of Clyde became part of the Falls Line fleet – all of which were named after Scottish waterfalls.

Falls of Clyde has a wrought-iron hull with a net tonnage of 1,748 tons and has a registered length of 266-feet, with a 40-foot beam and a 23.5-foot depth of hold.

She was rated the highest rating the maritime insurance firm could provide (Lloyd’s of London.)

Used for trade between Britain and India, the ship was under the British flag and journeyed into the Pacific, stopping at Australia, New Zealand, Bangkok, Hong Kong and Shanghai.

Falls of Clyde made 10 voyages to American ports while under the British flag.  Sailing to San Francisco and Portland for wheat, she also made one voyage to New York. The voyages to San Francisco were particularly important, for they involved the ship in one of the United States and Britain’s most significant maritime trades, the California grain trade.

She was later sold to Captain William Matson in 1898 with plans to be used for the lucrative sugar trade between Hawaiʻi and the continent.  However, according to US law, Falls of Clyde needed American registry to trade between American ports, a right denied to foreign-built and registered vessels.

“The four masted iron ship Falls of Clyde (under the command of Captain Matson,) floating the Hawaiian flag, the Oceanic Steamship Company’s pennant and her own signal letters, came into the harbor at 10 o’clock this morning.  … “

“The Falls of Clyde brings about 1,000 tons or general merchandise, a large part of which is machinery for the Honolulu plantation.  She also brings 40 mules and 8 horses for the plantation and a stallion for W. G. Irwin & Co.”  (Hawaiian Star, January 20, 1899)

“She is the first four masted Iron ship with yards on each mast that ever came into this harbor flying the Hawaiian flag. Her authority for flying this flag is a temporary register Issued to her by Hawaiian Consul General Wilder at San Francisco.”  (Hawaiian Star, January 20, 1899)

A special provision was added to the 1900 ‘Organic Act;’ Section 98 of the Act states: “That all vessels carrying Hawaiian registers on the twelfth day of August, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, and which were owned bona fide by citizens of the United States, or the citizens of Hawaii …”

“… together with the following-named vessels claiming Hawaiian register, Star of France, Euterpe, Star of Russia, Falls of Clyde, and Wilscott, shall be entitled to be registered as American vessels, with the benefits and privileges appertaining thereto, and …”

“…the coasting trade between the islands aforesaid and any other portion of the United States, shall be regulated in accordance with the provisions of law applicable to such trade between any two great coasting districts.”

Converted to US registry, Falls of Clyde then was involved in the Hawaiian transpacific sugar trade for Matson Navigation Co.  She carried people, too.

Her cargo hold was not limited to the sugar plantation business; just as modern Matson ships bring in assorted cargo that fill a variety of shelves across the islands, the Falls of Clyde supplied the Islands with various goods that filled the needs of the past.

Here’s a brief summary of an early manifest: “The ship Falls of Clyde sailed yesterday for Hilo with an assorted cargo valued at $23,599 and including the following: 95 bbls flour, 41 ctls wheat, 914 ctls barley, 231 bales hay, 18,521 lbs bran, 12 ctls corn, 75,000 lbs rice, 12 tons salt, 6492 gals wine, 900 lbs lard, 25 cs canned goods, 189,947 lbs fertilizer, 114,174 ft lumber, 38,000 lbs cement, 4200 lbs tobacco, 550 gals distillate, 65 cs gasoline, 150 cs coal oil, 101 cs assorted oils, 100 bxs soap, 1 cs arms and ammunition, 15 pkgs agricultural implements, 3 pkgs machinery, 3 rolls leather, 50 sks coal, 75 pkgs wagon material, 10 pkgs millwork, 6 cs matches, 25 bales paper, 85 kegs white lead, 20 cs paints, 6 pkgs dry goods, 4 pkgs bicycles and parts, 3 bales twine, 1 cs shoes, 30 mules.” (San Francisco Call, February 19, 1905)

The four-masted vessel, originally rigged as a ship, was down-rigged to a bark; in addition, Matson modified and built a large wooden deckhouse forward and a charthouse on the poop deck.

She carried sugar from Hilo to San Francisco until 1906 when the Associated Oil Company (a group of 45 independent oil producers in which Matson had an interest) bought the ship and in 1907 Falls of Clyde was once again modified when she was converted into a sailing oil tanker.

Associated Oil added 10-tanks within the hull, a boiler room and a pump room with a carrying capacity close to 750,000-gallons.  She also carried molasses from Hilo to San Francisco over the next 13 years.

In 1921, she was sold to the General Petroleum Corporation who, after dismasting, then used her as a floating petroleum barge in Ketchikan, Alaska.

General Petroleum reorganized as Socony-Vacuum (now Mobil Oil) in 1959 and developed new shore facilities at Ketchikan. No longer needed, Falls of Clyde was again sold and towed to Seattle, and laid up.

After several attempts to save the ship of the fate of being scuttled as a breakwater, a group of civic and historic-minded folks in Hawaiʻi, aided by funds from the Matson Navigation Co. and other donations (spearheaded by the Friends of Falls of Clyde,) purchased and returned the ship to Honolulu in 1963.

With lots of voluntary help she was restored, remasted and rerigged and, under management of Bishop Museum, in 1970 she was opened to the public at Pier 5.

Damaged by Hurricane Iwa in 1982, she was moved to Pier 7, and over the course of a few years she was restored and became the centerpiece of the Hawaiʻi Maritime Center, moored at Pier 7 in Honolulu Harbor.

Maintaining any boat is expensive, particularly one that dates to the late-1800s.

The Friends of Falls of Clyde mobilized and rallied, again, and on September 25, the Museum’s Board of Directors approved the sale to the Friends, a non-profit 501(c)3 organization dedicated to the preservation and restoration of the Falls of Clyde.  (The Friends took ownership of the Falls of Clyde from Bishop Museum on September 30, 2008.)

“The ship Falls of Clyde (FOC) was placed on the Hawai‘i Register of Historic Places (HRHP) and the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1973. It was designated a National Historic Landmark (NHL) in 1989 because of its exceptional national significance as the oldest surviving American tanker and the only surviving sailing oil tanker left afloat in the world.” (HHF)

On June 28, 2023 the State of Hawai‘i Department of Transportation announced that it will seek to remove the Falls of Clyde from the Hawai‘i Register of Historic Places. The Hawai‘i Historic Places Review Board recently met to address an application to delist the Falls of Clyde.

Historic Hawai‘i Foundation testified, “If the Hawai‘i Historic Places Review Board concurs with HDOT’s finding and subsequently takes action to remove the ship from the state register of historic places, only one of its five designations would be affected.”

“Removing the listing from the Hawai‘i Register would have no effect on the national designations, which are governed by the U.S. Department of the Interior. FOC would still be listed on the National Register and as a National Historic Landmark.” (HHF)

Let’s remember the bottom line … Falls of Clyde is the world’s only surviving four-masted, full-rigged ship and is the oldest surviving American tanker and the only surviving sailing oil tanker left afloat.  (Lots of information and images from NPS, Historic Hawaiʻi and Friends of Falls of Clyde.)

Physical things help us see things. Losing the last means we no longer ‘see’ her to remember her.

© 2023 Hoʻokuleana LLC

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Toilet Paper, Bottled Water …

Folks in Hawai‘i have developed a scarcity mentality – whenever the wind blows, it rains hard or someone gets a hint of a possible dock strike on the West Coast there is a run on toilet paper, bottled water and any number of ‘essentials.’

Maui Mento Braddah helps show this …

“Historically the first modern toilet paper was made in 1391, when it was created for the needs of the Chinese Emperor family. Each sheet of toilet paper was even perfumed. That was toilet paper as we have come to think of it.”

“In the late fifteenth century, paper became widely available. However, mass manufacturing of modern toilet paper began in the late 19th century.”

“Joseph C. Gayetty created the first commercially packaged toilet paper in 1857. His toilet papers were loose, flat, sheets of paper. Joseph founded The Gayetty Firm for toilet paper production in New Jersey and his first factory-made toilet paper was ‘The Therapeutic Paper.’”

“Thomas Seymour, Edward Irvin and Clarence Wood Scott began selling some kind of toilet paper in Philadelphia in 1867. In 1879, Scott brothers founded the Scott Paper Company. The Scott Paper Company’s toilet paper was the first toilet paper sold in rolls. In 1890 the Scott Paper Company made its Waldorf brand toilet paper in rolls.”

“In 1871, Zeth Wheeler patents rolled and perforated toilet paper. In 1877 he founded the Albany Perforated Wrapping Paper Company. In 1897, company began selling and marketing standard perforated toilet paper on a roll.”  (Toilet Paper History)

The average person in the US uses about 100 rolls of toilet paper each year. The US has been mass producing toilet paper since the late 1800s. And while other industries like shoe manufacturing have fled the country, toilet paper manufacturing has not. Today there are almost 150 US companies making this product.  (Zagorsky)

“In Honolulu the issue is tissue. And you don’t ask for the salt and pepper. You ask for salt and paper.”

“Toilet paper and salt have all but vanished from the shelves of Hawaii’s stores as a result of the 100‐day West Coast shipping strike that has largely cut off the fleet of ships that normally brings supplies to Hawaii from San Francisco, 2,400 miles east.” (NY Times Oct 19, 1971)

But we have not been alone; back in 1974, “Johnny Carson told his faithful late-night television audience. ‘But have you heard the latest? I’m not kidding. I saw it in the paper. There’s a shortage of toilet paper.’” (NY Times, Feb 3, 1974)

“The day after Carson read the clipping (and made a few jokes) about the ‘toilet paper shortage’ people didn’t realize the story had been about commercial toilet paper and there was a surge of panic buying of consumer-grade toilet paper.”

“This resulted in the stores selling out of the toilet paper they had on the shelves — which of course reinforced the rumor of a toilet paper shortage.” (Snopes)

Back then (1974) the New York Times was suggesting folks on the continent were getting what folks in Hawai‘i already had … a “‘shortage psychology,’ almost an eagerness among many Americans to anticipate the next shortage. Such an attitude, brought on by shortages of gasoline, electricity and, for a time, even onions, seems to assure no future shortage of shortage rumors.”

But, Hawai‘i is different … Hawai‘i is the most-isolated populated-place.

In 2022, Hawai‘i imported $2.52B, making it the 49th largest importer out of the 53 importers in United States. That year, Hawai‘i exported $703M, making it the 53rd largest exporter out of the 53 exporters in United States. (Observatory of Economic Complexity)

With respect to food, Hawai‘i’s local production is 9.3% of total market requirement, and the state is dependent on imports for the remaining 90.7%, mainly from the continental US.  (Loke and Leung)

And, what comes into Hawai‘i is dependent on an efficiently operating import system.  That invariably involves ships bringing these products to our shores.  And, that is dependent on the functioning docks on the continent and in the Islands.

The longshore industry is the work of loading and unloading ships’ cargoes. In the old days of clipper ships, sailings were frequently unscheduled, and labor was often recruited at the last minute by shoreside criers calling: “Men along the shore!” – giving rise to the term “longshoremen.” (ILWU)

The first longshore unions on the West Coast were founded in the 19th century. By 1902 the longshoremen were loosely affiliated with the American Federation of Labor’s International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA). But their ties to national headquarters were weak, and most returned or lost their charters within a few a years.

Initially, the longshore unions grew slowly. Each local was protective of its geographical jurisdiction and limited work opportunities, and none was eager to give up their autonomy to any federation.

“‘Almost all of our domestic cargo arrives via the West Coast ports,’ said Warren Sugimoto, administrative services officer with Hawaii’s harbors division.”

“‘If the [work stoppage] lasts awhile, it will have a major impact. If it’s very short term, the impact would be negligible.’” (Los Angeles Times)

As an example, “The International Longshore and Warehouse Union strike shut down every dock on the West Coast while bosses and union leaders fought over a new contract.”

“Hawaii residents were completely dependent on those shipments for a variety of goods – salt, rice – but none seems to have stuck in the memory like the lack of toilet paper.” (Wall Street Journal, March 29, 2020)

As indicated in the 1974 experience with the remark by Johnny Carson, shortages can develop overnight (for no apparent reason – other than someone (and a growing number of others) feels the need to have ‘enough’).

Think back to 2020, during the COVID days … businesses in Hawai‘i were rationing toilet paper and other commodities because of the ‘run’ on these items.  It seems like anything can trigger the next, at any time.

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