Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Mutiny on the Globe

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.

Formerly whales were principally taken in the North Seas, the largest were generally found around Greenland, some of them measuring ninety feet in length.  (Lay & Hussey, 1824)

However, rich whaling waters were discovered near Japan and soon hundreds of ships headed for the area.  The central location of the Hawaiian Islands between America and Japan brought many whaling ships to the Islands.  Whalers needed food and the islands supplied this need from its fertile fields.

So plentiful were the whales, and taken with such facility, that the ships employed were not sufficient to carry home the oil and bone, and other ships were often sent to bring home the surplus quantity.  (Lay & Hussey, 1824)

Among the early whalers it was customary to have six boats to a ship and six men to a boat, besides the harpooner. What at that time was considered an improved method in killing whales consisted in hurling the harpoon.  (Lay & Hussey, 1824)

The ropes attached to the harpoon used to be about 1,200 feet long and in some cases all the lines for the six boats were fastened together and ran out by one whale, the animal descending in nearly a perpendicular line from the surface.  (Lay & Hussey, 1824)

Initially, it was customary to bring only the blubber, and instead of boiling the oil out and putting it into casks on board, the fat of the whale was cut up into suitable pieces, pressed hard in tubs carried out for the purpose, and in this situation was the return cargo received at home.  (Lay & Hussey, 1824)

One such whaler, the ship “Globe” of Nantucket, sailed out of Edgartown, Massachusetts, on December 20, 1822, on a whaling voyage around Cape Horn.

With a complement of 21 men under the command of Captain Thomas Worth, she set sail on a whaling expedition to the Pacific. After finding success in the “off Japan” whaling grounds the Globe arrived in Honolulu for provisioning.

There, “six men ran away in the Sandwich Islands, and one was discharged.”  Captain Worth took on seven new crew, four of whom were Silas Payne, John Oliver, William Humphries and Joseph Thomas.

After two years out on that whaling voyage, on the night of January 25, 1824, four of the crew, mutinied near Fanning Island, 900 miles south of the Hawaiian Islands.

Samuel B Comstock, a 22-year-old harpooner, was the instigator of the mutiny.  Sometime prior to the mutiny, he had major quarrels with Captain Worth.

After murdering the captain and first mate, who were both asleep at the time of the assault, the mutineers proceeded to attack the second and third mates, who were in the cabin.  Then they took the ship into Badu Island (Mulgrave Island, north of Queensland, Australia.)

On February 14, the mutineers took the Globe to Mili Atoll in the Marshall Islands. A few of the mutineers started to suspect Comstock intended to destroy the Globe and kill the rest of crew.

Within days of settling on Mili Atoll, Comstock was murdered by his fellow mutineers.

In an atmosphere of distrust existing between the mutineers, Payne and Oliver made an error in judgment of sending Gilbert Smith to secure the Globe.

Smith and 5 other crew (not part of the mutiny) seized the Globe and escaped (included in this group was George Comstock, Sam’s younger brother,) eventually arriving at Valparaiso, Chile, where they were brought into custody by the American consul. The Globe was fitted out and returned to Nantucket, arriving in November 1824.

Back on the Atoll, repeated injuries to the natives on the part of Silas Payne (the second in command of the mutineers at the time of the outbreak, and the murderer of his associate conspirator, Comstock,) so incensed them that one after another of the crew were slain (one of the mutineers, William Humphries, was hung by the others.)

Out of ten castaways on Mili Atoll, only Cyrus M Hussey and William Lay survived.  Half-prisoners and half-adoptees of the natives these two survived for twenty-two months; they were rescued on November 21, 1825 by US schooner Dolphin, commanded by Lieutenant John Percival.

(You may recall that besides bringing the mutineers to justice, Percival (aka “Mad Jack” Percival) had been sent to the Pacific to enforce the settlement of debts owed by Hawaiʻi’s ruling chiefs to American sandalwood dealers.  He caused an incident after his arrival there on January 16, 1826, the chiefs had not only forbidden the women to swim out to the ships, but had restricted the sale of alcohol – it became known as the Battle of Honolulu.)

© 2024 Hoʻokuleana LLC

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Koholālele Landing

“The slopes of Mauna Kea Volcano steepen near the town of Ookala and the entire coast between Koholalele Landing and Niu Village is lined by steep sea cliffs ranging 50-300 ft high. Only a few foot trails enable access to the shoreline from the headland bluffs above.”

“Periodically the cliffs become saturated with heavy rainfall and may develop landslides. Several streams cut across the Ookala coastal plain creating deep gulches, beautiful waterfalls, and boulder beaches at their terminus. This region receives moderate to high wave energy from north swell and trade wind waves, limiting reef development.” (USGS)

The sugar companies began clearing the fertile lowlands of Koholālele, like much of Hāmākua, in the mid to late-1800s, to make way for the expansion of sugarcane production on the island of Hawai‘i. (Peralto)  (Koholālele (leaping whale) is a land division and landing, Hāmākua and Mauna Kea, and a former steamer landing for sugar plantations.)

“The entire coast line, excepting where the big gulches break through is sheer cliff of varying height up to 400 ft and behind the land, which is cut by frequent gulches, rises with gentle even slope to the mountain: every available bit of land, from the actual cliff edge to the timber line, is cane covered.”

“A fringe of evergreens will be seen along cliff edge in places. These were planted to protect the cane from the NE trade. No off lying dangers were found in the steamer track: they generally pass close in. The landings however should be approached with caution”. (Coast and Geodetic Survey, 1913)

“At one time there were 26 sugar plantations along the [Hamakua Coast]”. (LA Times) “Over the Big Island, with Hawaiian Air Lines – ‘You’re now flying over the Hamakua coast … said our purser. ‘Below us is the most productive soil in the world.  As much as 300,000 pounds of sugar cane have been grown per acre on these plantations.’”

“He could have added that from an 18-mile square area, slightly larger than that of New York City, Hawaii produces over a 1,000,000 tons of sugar, manufactured in the US,’ pointed out my fellow passenger, Roy Leffingwell, of the Hawaii Sugar Plantations association. ‘It’s Hawaii’s main industry ….’” (Burns; Medford Mail Tribune)

Francis (Nelson) Frazier assembled some ‘Notes’ that her father, Richard Nelson, wrote; they were reminiscences of his years at sea and on the inter-island steamers. “The following excerpt describes the method used to transfer cargo and people ashore along the Hamakua Coast, noted for its steep cliffs.”

“I spent three very happy years on the SS Hawaii with Hilo as the home port, learning how to handle the steamers and the wire at the wire landings. Our duty in those years was to act as tenders to the Matson sailing ships.”

“There were two steamers, the Hawaii and the Kaiulani, in this trade, and our work was to tow the sailing ships in and out of Hilo Bay and to place them at their moorings under the direction of the Pilot.”

“We then came alongside the sailing ships and took their cargo on board for the various ‘outside’ plantations and then brought sugar in from those plantations and delivered it to the ships to take to San Francisco.”

“Most of the places we went to had wire landings, but there were a few derrick landings, which were mostly disliked by the Captain and crews of the steamers as they were more dangerous in rough weather than the wire landings, which could be worked in most any kind of weather except when the wind was from the north, when even they were unsafe.”

“The coast of Hawaii known as the Hamakua Coast was a stretch of about 50 miles running north from Hilo to {Kukuihaele]. The shore was a continuous bluff from 100 to 400 feet above sea level.”

“All the plantations were on the top of the bluff, and the reason for the wire landings was that the shore line was so rough and dangerous for boat work most of the time that some means had to be found to enable the loading to be carried on in all kinds of weather.”

“The idea of loading by wire was imported from the Pacific Coast when lumber from the redwood forests had been shipped that way for many years. As the trade winds blow almost constantly from the east north east all the landings and moorings were laid out so that the steamer would lay head to the wind and sea.”

“There were four (4) mooring buoys with heavy anchors and chains to them at all wire landings, and a small buoy with a light chain only a few feet longer than the depth of water was fastened to the end of the sea wire, which lay on the sea bottom all the time when there was no steamer using it.”

“There was also a permanent wire from the top of the bluff leading down to an anchor not very far from the shore. This wire was used when first getting the hauling rope from shore. A weight was slid down this wire with the end of the hauling rope attached to it.”

“The ship’s boat would go in to this wire and pick up the end of the hauling rope that came down from the top of the bluff. This end they took back to the ship, and this way the connection with the landing was established.”

“In coming to a wire landing, the steamer was taken in between the two head buoys and one or two anchors let go and enough chain payed out to allow the ship to turn around head to the wind, with the small ‘wire buoy’ alongside the off shore side of the ship near the fore hatch.”

“The ship was then approximately in the right position but not yet secured, so the two boats with the stern lines already coiled in them were lowered, and the stern lines (2) run to the buoys and secured there. When all was connected up and ready the work began.”

“If we had cargo, that was first hoisted up out of the hold and landed on deck or on the half of the hatch cover that was always left on for the crew to stand on. “

“After all the cargo was ashore, the process was reversed and the [bagged] sugar was sent down on the carriage and landed on the ship’s hatch and then tumbled down for the rest of the crew to stow away in the hold.” ((Nelson) Frazier)

“There is an excellent landing at Koholalele Landing, small boats lie at the derrick pier and have a lee from the NE trade. This is an excellent place for getting ashore since the inclined c.r. cut offers easy access to top of cliffs. One mooring buoy, red can.”

“There is a rumor that this landing will be abandoned, because the railroad is going to handle all freight. The Hilo Railroad traverses entire sheet.”

“Paauilo is the terminus. there is no present intention of extending it farther, one reason being that the plantations beyond could give no business, having contracts with the Inter Island SS Co for several years ahead.” (Coast and Geodetic Survey, 1913)

The old Koholālele Landing on the Hāmākua was once considered for use as an emergency airplane landing field. This land, owned by the Hāmākua Mill Company, was not particularly good cane land and that Company was agreeable to exchanging it for other territorially-owned property. (Territorial Aviation Commission, March 4, 1931)

© 2025 Ho‘okuleana LLC

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

125 Years of Young Brothers

John Nelson Young was a chair and cabinetmaker from Canada.  He and his brothers James and Alexander later started a furniture business, one of the first commercial enterprises in San Diego. They called it Young Brothers Carpenters and Furniture Builders (they added undertaking as a sideline).

John and his wife Eleanor had a growing family with five children: Annie Edith Young was born December 28, 1868 (in San Francisco), then in San Diego, Herbert Gray Young, on March 21, 1870; William Edward Young, on April 24, 1875; John Alexander ‘Jack’ Young, on January 2 1882; and Edgar Nelson Young, on July 21, 1885.

Eleanor Young died on February 16, 1894 at age forty-five, leaving minor children Jack, 12, and Edgar, 10. John died September 13, 1896.  Edith accepted the responsibility of raising and educating the youngest brothers, Jack and Edgar. Herbert and William worked to help support the family.

Avalon, Catalina Island

Herb and Will visited Catalina Island in 1898. Then, “In 1899 all four of us were on hand at the island. In addition to the marine garden excursions we offered the special attraction of exhibition diving … Herb would dress and go down. Picking up objects as souvenirs and catching brightly colored fish with a butterfly net for various shore aquariums.”

“Not averse to picking up a few dollars here and there, we four would often conduct parties to the sandab grounds. Sandab, a tasty fish and much in demand, were to be caught only in deep water … We caught then on lines with dozens of hooks each …”

Some suggest this was the beginning of charter fishing; likewise, this marked the beginning of the famous glass-bottom boat rides which were to prove of such great interest and profit at Catalina.

The Great Adventure

After the season on Catalina ended, Herb landed a berth on a schooner bound for the Hawaiian Islands, and Will decided to join him on what he would later call ‘the great adventure.’  “On January 9, 1900, we sailed out of Golden Gate toward the Great adventure …”

“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 …”

“Although there was then no actual tourist trade, which has of late years assumed such importance in Hawaii, all ships on their way to or from the Orient and Australia made Honolulu a port of call, and the harbor in 1900 was always a veritable forest of masts so that mooring was at a premium.”

The first view of Honolulu that greeted Herb and Will on January 19, 1900 revealed a town numbering fewer than 45,000 residents. For several days, Chinatown had been burning to what would become a smoldering ruin in an effort to rid the city of bubonic plague.

“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?”

“Herb and I had just seventy-five dollars between us, which wasn’t very much. It had to last until we were able to find some new occupation. The decision was easy as we were in no danger of starvation aboard the Surprise, and we could still have our jobs there.”

Jack Young arrived later that year (October 16, 1900); Youngest of all, Edgar, arrived in July 1901 (but being only fifteen at the time, he attended McKinley High School before returning to California to study medicine; he became a Doctor and returned to the Islands.)

 They Formed Young Brothers

The brothers bought a small launch, the Billy, and started running a ‘bum boat’ service in Honolulu harbor – they called their family business Young Brothers.

Their early years were focused on activities at Honolulu Harbor.  When a ship came in, the anchor line had to be run out to secure the ship. Or if the ship needed to unload, a line had to be carried to the pier. The brothers would run lines for anchoring or docking vessels, carry supplies and sailors to ships at anchor outside the harbor, and various other harbor-related activities.

They did other things to entertain people, as well.

Shark Hunting

From their first days in Honolulu, the Young brothers were fascinated by the big sharks that infested the waters just outside the harbor where the garbage was dumped.

While the three brothers (Herb, Will & Jack) were involved in their daily harbor activities, they came to befriend boat captains, passengers and interested bystanders who were fascinated by tales of sharks, and more particularly whether they attacked humans.

This led to a small side-business in shark hunting that quickly earned William the nickname ‘Sharkey Bill.’ Fishing parties would he formed from among hotel guests, who were taken out on the Billy for a day of shark fishing.

Flying Fish Hunting

It was the idea of Jack … “He has been plying the waters of the bay at all hours of the day and night for many years and had grown so accustomed to seeing the buzzing blue fish leap out of the water as his launch plowed past that he knew, almost to a foot, where every school of flying fish is between the bell buoy and Diamond Head.”

“Yesterday a new sport was born; Waikiki bay was the birthplace, and HP Wood of the Hawaii promotion committee was the accoucheur. For the first time in the history of the field and gun were flying fish flushed with a steam launch and shot on the wing.”

“Taking pot shots at fish on the wing is sport of the first water, affording plenty of exercise in the good sea air, giving the opportunity for quick shooting, providing for the use of all the alertness contained within a man and being not too hard upon the fish.”

Activities In and Around Honolulu Harbor

The next year they bought the Fun from the Metropolitan Meat Market and took over the contract to deliver meat and other fresh supplies to the ships anchored in the harbor.

Herb and Will also worked as a diving team, salvaging lost anchors, unfouling propellers, or inspecting hulls of ships for repairs. A more frequently needed undersea service was to scrape the sea growth off the hulls of ships.

The launches of the Young Brothers were routinely asked to pull stranded boats or ships off the shore or reef or to rescue ships in trouble at sea.

They entered a contract to use the Waterwitch launch as a revenue and patrol boat, and to take boarding officers to all incoming liners. Herb had the privilege of presenting her and flying the Custom’s flag on May 21, 1903. The Waterwitch remained in service for over forty years.

Young Brothers Boathouse

The first Young Brothers Boathouse was near the lighthouse in Honolulu Harbor.  ln March of 1903, the Youngs moved to a spot near what is now Piers 1&2. The Young Brothers’ boathouse was home to Herb, Will and Jack and was a structure well known on the waterfront.

“Young Brothers’ Boathouse, where we lived, near the harbor entrance, was the center of information along the waterfront. From this point of vantage, everything going in or out, or approaching, was seen by those of us on duty at the Boathouse.”

“Two or three launchmen and a couple of deckhands were sure to be found about the place besides ourselves, and we were on twenty-four-hour service with the Customs people and Immigration Service.”

“In front were moored our boats, the Fun, the Billy, the Brothers and the Huki Huki. Alongside was warped the Water Witch, a fifty-footer used for Customs work. This boat, brought down by Archie Young, for whom we went to work at first on Oahu, is still in service after thirty-two strenuous years.”

Young Brothers Incorporated in 1913

In 1903, Edith moved to the Hawaiian Islands and joined her brothers.  In 1905, Herb sold his interest in the Young Brothers business and went to the mainland to look for work as a diver.

“Young Brothers was incorporated [May 5, 1913], and for the first time someone outside the family directed activities.”  Following incorporation, Will stopped taking an active role in the operations of the company, preferring to pursue his fascination with sharks, and eventually left the islands for good in 1921 to become a well-known international shark hunter.

Jack, the last founding member of the company, remained as the operating manager.

Libby’s

Libby began to grow pineapple on land leased from Molokai Ranch; their activities were focused primarily in the Kaluakoʻi section of the island.  Lacking facilities and housing, the plantation began building clusters of dwellings (“camps”) around Maunaloa.

Libby’s need to ship fruit from the growing area on Molokai, to pineapple processing on Oʻahu created an opportunity for the brothers.  Young Brothers, using their first wooden barges, YB1 and YB2, hauled pineapples from Libby’s wharf to Honolulu.  “That’s how [Young Brothers] started the freight.”  (Jack Young Jr)

Tandem Towing

With expanded freight service to Molokai (to Kolo and Kaunakakai,) Young Brothers further innovated with the practice of tandem towing – towing two barges with one tug.

About 1929, Young Brothers’ Captain Bob Purdy pioneered this because two barges were needed to serve Molokai.  They would drop one barge off at Kolo for pineapples and then carry on to Kaunakakai for general freight; they’d pick up the Kolo barge on the way back to Honolulu.

Building Breakwaters

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 Hilo and Nawiliwili.

Miki and Kāpena Class of Tugs

In 1929, the tug Mikimiki (‘to be quick, to be on time’) was launched.  She made the voyage to Hawaiʻi from the West Coast, towing a 140-foot steel barge, in eleven days, sixteen hours and ten minutes. This worked out to an average speed of 8.5 knots, bettering the record of the earlier Seattle-built Mahoe by almost three days.

The excellent performance of the original Mikimiki led to the adoption of her basic design for a large fleet of tugs produced for the US Army Transport Service in West Coast shipyards for World War II service.

At the beginning of 1942, more ships were needed for the war effort. Folks recognized the Mikimiki design “could be used as it was a proven, reliable tug that has already been drawn and lofted, and was available with only slight design changes”.

Miki-class tugs were built for the US Army during World War II to haul supplies and rescue stalled ships; a Miki-class tug landed men on the beach in Normandy during World War II.

Young Brothers continued with another innovation; the Kāpena class tugs that modernizes the Young Brothers’ fleet.  ‘Kāpena’ means ‘captain’ in the Hawaiian language, and the name for the class of ships celebrates the skill and innovation of Young Brothers’ Hawaiian navigators and will be home-ported in Kaunakakai, Molokai.

“The Kāpena Jack Young is named after Captain Jack Young, one of three brothers who founded Young Brothers in 1900 [and his son, Jack Young Jr, who was also a captain and active with the company].  Each of the four new Kāpena class tugs are named after an original Young Brothers’ captain, including nā Kāpena George Panui Sr. and Jr., Bob Purdy, and Raymond Alapa‘i.”

Young Brothers Moving Forward

In 1999, Saltchuk Resources, Inc acquired Young Brothers and selected assets of Hawaiian Tug & Barge. Saltchuk is the parent company of Foss Maritime.

Saltchuk is a privately owned family of diversified transportation and distribution companies headquartered in Seattle. Throughout North America, Saltchuk companies provide Air Cargo, Marine Services, Energy Distribution, Domestic Shipping, International Shipping and Logistics.

In 2014, Hawaiian Tug & Barge (HTB) was rebranded and incorporated into the Foss Maritime fleet, and Young Brothers remains a wholly-owned independent subsidiary of Foss Maritime, part of the Saltchuk Marine family of companies.

Our Young Family Connection

I am the youngest brother of the youngest brother of the youngest brother of Young Brothers. (My grandfather was the youngest of the Young Brothers; my father was the youngest brother in his generation; and I am the youngest brother in our family.)

Jack Young Sr is my grandfather. Jack Sr had three children, Jack Jr, Dorothy (Babe) and Kenny. Kenny is my father. When Jack Sr’s two sons (Jack Jr and Kenny) became old enough, they joined Young Brothers.

While the Young family has been out of Young Brothers for a long time, we still feel very much a part of it, and its history and heritage.

Click the link for more information on the 125 Anniversary:

Click to access 125_Years_of_Young_Brothers.pdf

(Lots of information here is from Young Brothers, Young family background and genealogy, William Youngs’ book ‘Shark! Shark!, and oral history interview with Jack Young Jr.)

© 2025 Ho‘okuleana LLC

by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Jean François de Galaup, comte de LaPérouse

“… the island of Mowhee (Maui) looked delightful …. We could see waterfalls tumbling down the mountainside into the sea …  the trees crowning the mountains, the greenery, the banana trees we could see around the houses, all this gave rise to a feeling of inexpressible delight.”

“… the waves were breaking wildly against the rocks and, like new Tantaluses, we were reduced to yearning, devouring with our eyes what was beyond our reach.”  (The first sight of Maui, as described by LaPérouse, May 30, 1786)

What LaPérouse saw, sailing down the coast from Hāna, and where he eventually landed, was known to the ancients as Keoneʻōʻio (“bonefish sand.”)

In this area, permanent Hawaiian occupation was based on use of marine resources and dryland crops (primarily ʻuala (sweet potato)) in mauka areas. Fish and other marine resources were important staples – as the name suggests, ʻōʻio (bonefish) were once abundant.  (DLNR)

In 1786, La Perouse noted as many as five villages in the area, each with 10 to 12 thatched houses. Those living at the shore focused primarily on fishing and had comparatively easy access to potable water at shoreline springs. The residents traveled between the uplands and the coast to trade products.

By the mid-1840s land use in Honuaʻula transitioned from primarily traditional subsistence to agricultural business activities.  An estimated 150-people were living at Keoneʻōʻio in 1853.  (DLNR)

The Bay is now more commonly called LaPérouse Bay, named after the first foreign visitor to the island of Maui.

Jean François de Galaup, comte de LaPérouse was born August 22, 1741, the eldest son of a well-to-do middle-class family of landowners from Albi in Southern France (Lapérouse was the name of a family property that he added to his name.)  (Dunmore)

After an early education at the Jesuit College in Albi, at the age of 15, he joined the French Navy.  Almost immediately, he was engaged in the struggle between France and England in Canada and was taken prisoner by the British at the disastrous naval battle of Quiberon Bay; he spent two-years in captivity.

Repatriated from England, he was posted again to sea duties; for five years he was engaged in defense of the French possessions in the Indian Ocean – again, in the rivalry between France and England.

Then, the American Revolutionary War began (1775–1783.)  In 1778, the French, through Treaty of Alliance, entered on the side of the Americans and provided military support to the Colonies.

As part of this support, in 1782, LaPérouse was given a commission to destroy British installations in the Hudson Bay compounds in Canada.  He captured three ships and conquered the forts.  However, in doing so, as a sign of his benevolent intentions, he did not destroy their food supply (providing the means for the conquered British to survive the Canadian winter.)

After the signing of the Treaty of Versailles (ending the American Revolutionary War for the foreign allies,) France’s King Louis XVI supported a French expedition around the world.  Interested in geography, and eagerly following the voyages of Captain Cook, he decided to send an exhibition on a voyage of discovery that would rival the achievements of Cook.  (LaPerouse Museum)

LaPérouse left the French port of Brest in August 1785 and headed south.  In the next 2 ½-years, his ships L’Astrolabe and La Boussole would sail many thousands of miles and cross the Indian, Atlantic and Pacific Oceans several times.

Two of the King’s personal instruction read as follows:
“On all occasions, Sieur de LaPérouse will act with great gentleness and humanity towards the different peoples whom he will visit during the course of the voyage.”

“His majesty will consider it as one of the happiest events of the expedition if it should end without costing the life of a single man.”

LaPerouse’s journal while at Maui notes he honored the first instruction: “Although the French are the first to have stepped onto the island of Mowee (Maui) in recent times, I did not take possession of it in the King’s name.”

“This European practice is too utterly ridiculous, and philosophers must reflect with some sadness that, because one has muskets and canons, one looks upon 60,000 inhabitants as worth northing, ignoring their rights over a land where for centuries their ancestors have been buried, which they have watered with their sweat, and whose fruits they pick to bring them as offerings to the so-called new landlords.”

“Modern navigators have no other purpose when they describe the customs of newly discovered people than to complete the story of mankind. Their navigation must round off our knowledge of the globe, and the enlightenment which they try to spread has no other aim than to increase the happiness of the islanders they meet”.  (LaPérouse)

LaPérouse stayed at Maui for only two days. He then sailed westward passing between Kahoʻolawe and Lānaʻi and into the channel between Molokaʻi and Oʻahu.

The places the expedition visited between 1785 and 1788 included Alaska, California, Hawaiʻi, Korea, Japan, Russia, Tahiti, Samoa and finally the east coast of Australia.

Unfortunately, the King Louis XVI’s second instruction was not met.

The last official sighting of the LaPérouse expedition was in March 1788 when British lookouts stationed at the South Head of Port Jackson saw the expedition sail from Botany Bay. The expedition was wrecked on the reefs of Vanikoro in the Solomon Islands during a cyclone sometime during April or May 1788.

A monument to LaPérouse stands at Keoneʻōʻio reads:
On May 30th, 1786
French Admiral Jean-Francois Galaup Comte De LaPérouse,
Commanding The Two Frigates La Boussole And L’astrolabe,
Was The First Known European Navigator To Land
At Keoneʻoʻio Also Called LaPérouse Bay On The Island Of Maui.
Donated By The Friends Of LaPérouse On May 30th 1994

Other memorials in other parts of the Pacific also honor LaPérouse; in addition, there are many places named for LaPérouse, including LaPérouse Bay, Maui, and two other LaPérouse Bays in Canada and the Easter Islands – and, even a crater on the moon.

The area near Keoneʻōʻio is now the ʻAhihi-Kinaʻu Natural Area Reserve, the first designated Natural Area Reserve in Hawaiʻi in 1973. The 1,238 acres contain marine ecosystems (807-submerged acres – the only NAR that includes the ocean,) anchialine ponds and lava fields from the last eruption of Haleakala 200-500-years ago.

© 2025 Hoʻokuleana LLC

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

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)

© 2024 Ho‘okuleana LLC