Sailing, Shipping & Shipwrecks | Page 43

July 1, 2017 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Joe Bal & Jack Ena

As early as 1811, the fur trading Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) had already hired twelve Hawaiians on three year contracts to work for them in the Pacific Northwest. By 1824, HBC employed thirty-five Hawaiians west of the Rocky Mountains.

The number of Hawaiians working as contract laborers for the Hudson’s Bay Company steadily grew. The large number of Hawaiian workers in the village at Fort Vancouver led to the name “Kanaka Town” in the early 1850s.

The first Native Hawaiian seamen who shipped aboard a foreign whaler in the Pacific fleet left Maui on October 10, 1819. And rather than the Northwest, many ended up in the Atlantic Northeast.

Let’s look back …

The over-fishing of “on shore” New England whales in the 1700s forced local whalers to venture “offshore”, journeying further west in search of their lucrative prey.

The first New England whalers rounded Cape Horn in 1791, and fished off both the Chilean and Peruvian coasts. Many sailed around South America and onward to Japan and the Arctic.

Edmond Gardner, captain of the New Bedford whaler Balaena (also called Balena,) and Elisha Folger, captain of the Nantucket whaler Equator, made history in 1819 when they became the first American whalers to visit the Sandwich Islands (Hawai‘i.)

“I gave orders in the morning to put the ship on a WSW course putting on all sail. … We made the best of our way to the Sandwich Islands where we arrived in six-teen days, had a pleasant passage to the Islands and arrived at Hawaii 19th 9 Mo 1819.“ (Gardner Journal)

Gardner then “Left Oahu 10th of 10 Mo 1819 for Coast of California. I shipped two Kanakas from Maui and had them the remainder of the Voyage and took them to New Bedford.”

“Their names were Joe Bal and Jack Ena, the two names comprising that of my ship Balaena. Much notice was taken of them, singing their national songs and airs. They were the first brought to this place.”

“On a subsequent Voyage I took them back to Maui and left them there, they preferring to stay at their own Island. They were well fitted with clothing for the Voyage. I gave them all the clothing that had been furnished them by the ship, which was sufficient for three years. We had been but six months from home.”

“On a subsequent Voyage I visited Kealakekua and was visited by Comocow (Keʻeaumoku) the principal chief in the province or district. He came often and dined with me.” Gardner then went to Maui.

“On leaving Maui I discharged my Kanakas and these with the desertion of one man left me three ‘short of my complement of the ship’s company. I took two natives from Maui, one from Oahu and one from Onehow (Ni‘ihau.)”

“The names I gave them were Henry Harmony, George Germaine, John Jovel and Sam How. I finished recruiting at Niihau, where we took as many potatoes and yams as we needed. I bought twenty barrels of yams and the same quantity of potatoes of George Tamoree (Kaumuali’i) at Attowai (Kauai.) (Gardner Journal, first whaler in Hawai‘i)

A year later, Captain Joseph Allen discovered large concentrations of sperm whales off the coast of Japan. His find was widely publicized in New England, setting off an exodus of whalers to this area.

These ships might have sought provisions in Japan, except that Japanese ports were closed to foreign ships. So when Captain Allen befriended the missionaries at Honolulu and Lāhainā, he helped establish these areas as the major ports of call for whalers. (NPS)

The whaling industry had a major effect upon Hawaiian commerce and trade. As the Northwest fur trade decreased and sandalwood supplies and values dropped, the whaling industry began to fill the economic void.

Thousands of Hawaiians shipped out as seamen aboard the whaling ships, so many that the crews were often half Hawaiian. Whaling had been “an economic force of awesome proportions in these Islands for more than forty years,” enabling King Kamehameha III to finally pay off the national debts accumulated in earlier years. (NPS)

Many of the Native Hawaiian seamen who arrived were named George, Jack, Joe, or Tom Canacker, Kanaka, Mowee, or Woahoo. Their given names remain lost to us because of the common practice among whaling captains of giving them English nicknames and surnames denoting their origins in the Sandwich Islands, an early name for the Hawaiian Islands.

An 1834 editorial in the New Bedford Mercury defined “Canackers” for New England readers. “The term Canacker bears the same meaning as our English word man and is used by the natives to signify man, in general …”

“… and a man as distinguished from a woman or female. The present established mode of writing it is Kanaka, pronounced Kah nah kah, with the accent on the second syllable.” (Lebo)

Other Native Hawaiians landed in Nantucket, New Bedford, and nearby ports almost immediately after Joe Bal and Jack Ena. By the 1830s, Nantucket whalers employed about fourteen hundred seamen, including Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. Four or five hundred men arrived or departed annually.

At least six sailor boarding houses operated during the 1820 to 1860 period when Native Hawaiian seamen frequented Nantucket.

At least one house, near Pleasant Street in Nantucket’s New Guinea section, primarily or exclusively boarded Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, and a sign identified William Whippy’s establishment as the “William Whippy Canacka Boarding-House.”

These whalers, on countless other New England voyages with Hawaiian crews, contributed to the economic and social history there. They shared their cultural traditions, languages, skills and knowledge with New England’s citizens and with each other aboard the whaleships. (Lebo)

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June 22, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Morning Star

“The long looked for missionary ship was a thing of life and beauty, adorned with nearly her full complement of snow-white sails, and sitting so daintily upon the water.”

“’Beautiful,’ we exclaimed. ‘Nani,’ said our ninety native passengers, ‘nani loa,’ – ‘very beautiful!’ and so she was. With unmingled admiration we scanned her elegant proportions, her neatly turned stem, her graceful prow, her modest but significant figurehead, her perfect lines, her tall and beautiful tapering masts.” (Bond; Baker)

Many proudly proclaimed, “I owned shares in a ‘Morning Star.’”

Let’s look back …

In less than 30-years after the first missionaries landed in Hawai‘i, as the missionary spirit grew in the Hawaiian churches, the Hawaiian Missionary Society was formed.

This led the missionary fathers to the idea of exploring the islands to the west for the purpose of new mission work in Micronesia in partnership with the American Board.

In 1853, a mission south to the Marquesas Islands had been started. In carrying it on, it had been necessary to charter small and uncomfortable vessels at high prices to take out missionaries with their supplies and to send mail and delegates annually to encourage and look after them.

In Micronesia such a long time elapsed before the first mail arrived after the mission was established, that a missionary’s mother had been dead 2-years before he received the sad news.

At another station, where food was scarce and the variety limited, a missionary came so near starving that when a vessel arrived with supplies, he was so weak that he had to be carried on board the vessel and carefully nursed back to health.

Titus Coan proposed that the ABCFM ask children on the continent to take ten cent shares of joint ownership in such a missionary vessel, to be called ‘Day Star;’ his proposal of such to folks in Boston was approved, but with one change, the name to be ‘Morning Star.’

It was the first of five ‘Morning Stars.’

Those ‘Morning Stars’ were on missions to the South Pacific. The task of those men was outlined in Honolulu in 1870 at the Hawaiian Evangelical Association, where it was said, “Not with powder and balls and swords and cannons, but with the loving word of God and with His spirit do we go forth to conquer the islands for Christ.” (Nimitz; Baker)

On her first voyage to Micronesia (leaving Honolulu August 7, 1857) she had sailed about 10,000-miles, and her practical value for the work had been all that was expected. It was said that the little vessel had already performed a service that would warrant the whole expense of building her. (Baker)

By 1865, she had finally become so worn that they decided to sell her and build another vessel. In 1866 children were again asked to take stock in a new vessel. Enough was raised to build a new ship.

Like the first, the second ‘Morning Star’ was a hermaphrodite brig (square-rigged foremast and fore-and-aft mainmast.) She was built at East Boston, launched September 22, 1866; sailed from Boston under Captain Hiram Bingham, Jr, on November 13, 1866 and reached Honolulu March 15, 1867.

“Two thousand Hawaiian Sunday-school children marched to the wharf to see ‘their ship’; for three or four thousand out of one hundred and fifty thousand of her stockholders were Hawaiians.” (Bingham)

“It was on March 28, 1867, that the Star began her missionary work in the Pacific, still sailing under command of Captain Bingham. The plan for her yearly trip is to go from Honolulu first to the Gilbert Islands, although they are the southernmost group, lying directly under the equator.”

“This is in order to take advantage of prevailing winds and currents. Then she sails northwest nearly a thousand miles to Ponape, taking the other mission islands on the way.” (Bingham)

After only three years of service, unfortunately one evening the ‘Morning Star’ left Kusaie for Honolulu, but drifted dangerously near the island. Boats were lowered to tow, but she had to be anchored and held, when a severe squall struck her.

She tried to sail out of danger, but failed and struck the rocky reef in a heavy surf. The missionaries and all on board, with some of their possessions, were saved in a boat; the ‘Morning Star’ was wrecked. After waiting a month, the missionaries reached Honolulu on February 8, 1870, in a chance vessel which came along.

The children were called upon, and, again, responded and with insurance, a third ‘Morning Star’ (of similar design to the second ‘Morning Star’) was started. “(I)n the summer of 1871, a third ‘Morning Star’ dawned on the waiting isles.” (Bingham)

For the 10th annual trip, the captain noted, “The whole distance sailed during the voyage is 15,783 miles. Number of passengers carried, 243. The number of islands sighted is 48, at 27 of which we stopped one or more times.”

“We entered 16 lagoons, anchored 43 times, and spent 147 hours standing off and on. We laid at anchor 79 days, and boated 568 miles. We had 1,546 miles of adverse currents, and 989 hours of calm.” (Bray; Missionary Herald)

Unfortunately, on February 22, 1884, the third ‘Morning Star’ was wrecked on Kusaie, about 6-miles from where the second ‘Morning Star’ was lost.

Already planned for replacement, a fundraising campaign was already underway for a fourth ‘Morning Star’. As with the others, it was successful and the Board felt justified in building at once, and the contract was made at Bath, Maine. Thus they began to build the same month that the third ‘Morning Star’ was wrecked.

The fourth ‘Morning Star,’ was a barkentine (foremast only being square-rigged, main and mizzenmasts fore-and-aft rigs but carrying no topsails so far as pictures show). She had a hollow iron mainmast for a smokestack, for auxiliary steam-power for use in calms and strong currents and in entering lagoons.

She had comfortable cabins, staterooms, etc., between the main-deck and a hurricane-deck, and three water-tight compartments below, the center compartment having the engine boilers and coal-bunkers. Upon the substantial hurricane-deck all the working of the ship was done, and it provided a promenade of nearly a hundred feet.

She sailed on her first missionary voyage to Micronesia on May 2, 1885, and reached one of the Gilbert Islands in just three weeks. However, on January 26, 1886:

“… late in the afternoon, we ran upon a small coral reef in Ponape lagoon, where we remained upwards of forty hours. I need not say we heartily rejoiced when we were afloat again, damaged only by a small leakage.” (Wetmore; Baker)

The fourth ‘Morning Star’ “served long and well until 1900,” when she was sold for the ‘carrying trade’ between San Francisco and Cape Nome, Alaska. There was a break until 1904, when it was decided to build a fifth ‘Morning Star’.

This fifth and last ‘Morning Star’ (a steamer,) after being inspected at Boston by many shareholders, was dedicated and farewell services held on board on June 4, 1904.

Dr Hiram Bingham (II,) who had sailed to Micronesia on the first ‘Morning Star’ in 1856, and whose father, Hiram Bingham, Sr, had then been present and prayed at the time of departure, was present and offered the prayer of dedication.

However, it became cost prohibitive to maintain the ship and a decision was made in 1905 to sell her. Thus ended a half century of missionary ‘Morning Stars,’ 1856 to 1905. (Lots of information and images here are from Baker and Bingham.)

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Morning Star-1

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Map of Eastern Micronesia-Bingham

Certificate for the Children’s Morning Star

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Certificate for the missionary packet, Morning Star

May 23, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Timeline Tuesday … 1990s

Today’s ‘Timeline Tuesday’ takes us through the 1990s – construction of first geothermal well, Akebono becomes first foreign-born to achieve Yokozuna rank in sumo, H-3 opens and Hawaii Convention Center opens. We look at what was happening in Hawai‘i during this time period and what else was happening around the rest of the world.

A Comparative Timeline illustrates the events with images and short phrases. This helps us to get a better context on what was happening in Hawai‘i versus the rest of the world. I prepared these a few years ago for a planning project. (Ultimately, they never got used for the project, but I thought they might be on interest to others.)

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May 21, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Nootka Sound

“Their Britannic and Catholic Majesties being desirous of terminating, by a speedy and valid agreement, the differences which have lately arisen between the two Crowns, have considered that the best way of attaining this salutary object would be that of an amicable arrangement which …”

“… setting aside all retrospective discussions of the rights and pretensions of the two parties, should regulate their respective positions for the future on the bases which would be conformable to their true interests …”

“… as well as to the mutual desires with which Their said Majesties are animated, of establishing with each other, in everything and in all places, the most perfect friendship, harmony, and good correspondence.” (Nootka Sound Convention)

Let’s look back …

Spain claimed the Pacific as its exclusive territory by right of the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494). Britain argued that navigation was open to any nation, and territorial claims had to be backed by effective occupation.

British and Spanish claims to the Pacific Northwest had overlapped since the 16th century, though conflict developed only after voyages to the region by Cook, Dixon, Meares and others. (Boston Rare Maps)

In July 1789 Esteban Martínez, Spanish commandant at Nootka Sound, seized several British merchant ships. John Meares, part owner of these ships, reported the seizure to his government in his Memorial of 30 April 1790.

Britain demanded compensation and threatened war, but Spain declined to pay compensation and prepared for war, hoping its long-standing Bourbon ally, France, would provide assistance. (Historica Canada)

The resulting crisis brought the two nations close to war, but the Spanish backed off after realizing that without the help of France—distracted by the Revolution—they could not hope to match British naval power.

The result was the first Nootka Convention (signed October 28, 1790), in which the Spanish acknowledged the British right to maintain outposts in Nootka Sound and engage in whaling outside a “Ten-League Line” off the Northwest coast. (Boston Rare Maps)

Under the terms of 3 conventions Spain was obliged to accede to British requests and compensate the British for their losses. Under the third Nootka Convention (January 11, 1794) Spain and Britain recognized each other’s rights of trade at Nootka Sound and in other Pacific coast areas not already controlled by Spain.

Subjects of either nation could erect temporary buildings at Nootka, but not permanent garrisons or factories. Neither nation could claim exclusive sovereignty.

Nootka Sound was to be maintained as a free port by Spain and Britain, and to be open to other nations. On March 28, 1795 both countries completed their withdrawal from Nootka Sound. The controversy ended in symbolic victory for British mercantile and political interests. (Historica Canada)

Peace in the Pacific allowed for commerce to the Hawaiian Islands to expand, as well as expand the roles of a new player, the US.

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

The traders and whalers found ‘The Islands,’ as they called the Hawaiian group, an ideal place to procure fresh provisions, in the course of their three-year voyages.

“… the Sandwich Islands offer a station for intermediate repose, where health animates the gales, and every species of refreshment is to be found on the shores.” (Meares)

Of the ships that visited the islands, all but a small fraction were American. “The commerce of the United States, which resorts to the Sandwich islands, may be classed under five heads, viz.:”

“First, Those vessels which trade direct from the United States to these islands, for sandal-wood, and from hence to China and Manilla, and return to America.” (Annually, the number may be estimated at six.)

“Second, Those vessels which are bound to the north-west coast, on trading voyages for furs, and touch here on their outward-bound passage, generally winter at these islands, and always stop on their return to the United States, by the way of China.” (The number may be estimated at five.)

“Third, Those vessels which, on their passage from Chili, Peru, Mexico, or California, to China, Manilla, or the East Indies, stop at these islands for refreshments or repairs, to obtain freight, or dispose of what small cargoes they may have left.” (The number may be estimated at eight.)

“Fourth, Those vessels which are owned by Americans resident at these islands, and employed by them in trading to the northwest coast, to California and Mexico, to Canton and Manilla.” (The number may be estimated at six.)

“Fifth, Those vessels which are employed in the whale-fishery on the coast of Japan, which visit semi-annually.” (The number may be estimated at one hundred.).” (John Coffin Jones Jr, US Consulate, Sandwich Islands, October 30th, 1829)

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The launching of the North West America Ships of Meares at Nootka Sound in 1788-Webber

Seizure of Capt. Colnett during the Nootka Crisis in 1789

Nootka Sound

The New South Sea Fishery or A Cheap Way to Catch Whales-Political-Cartoon-1791

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May 7, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Dædalus

“In the morning of the 7th of May (1792,) the Dædalus (a supply ship to Vancouver’s expedition) arrived in that bay where the Resolution and Discovery had anchored in 1779, but Mr Hergest declined anchoring there, as he considered the inhabitants of that neighbourhood to be the most savage and deceitful of any amongst those islands.”

“For this reason he lay to, and purchased from the natives some hogs, vegetables, and a few gourds of water. In the evening he stood off shore, and desired that the inhabitants would bring a farther supply of water and refreshments the next morning …”

“… but it falling calm, and the current setting the ship to the westward, it was near noon on the nth before they regained the shore, when Mr Hergest receded from his former wise determination, and, unhappily for himself and those who fell with him, ordered the ship to be anchored.”

“The cutter was hoisted out and veered astern for the better convenience of purchasing water from the natives, but before three casks were filled, which was soon done, he ordered the cutter alongside, the full casks to be taken out and replaced by empty ones …”

“… and then, accompanied as usual by Mr Gooch, he went on shore, and another boat was hoisted out for the purpose of obtaining water, while those on board continued making purchases until near dusk.”

“At this time the cutter returned with only five persons instead of the eight who had gone on shore in her, from whom was learned the distressing intelligence that Mr Hergest and Mr Gooch, and two of the boat’s crew, having landed, unarmed with two of the water-casks to fill …”

“… their defenceless situation was perceived by the natives, who immediately attacked them, killed one of the people, and carried off the commander (Hergest) and the astronomer (Gooch.)”

“The other, being a very stout active man, made his escape through a great number of these savages, fled to the boat, and with two others landed again with two muskets, and with the intention to rescue their officers and to recover the body of their messmate. “

“They soon perceived that both Mr Hergest and Mr Gooch were yet alive amongst a vast concourse of the inhabitants, who were stripping them and forcing them up the hills behind the village: they endeavoured to get near the multitude …”

“… but were so assailed by stones from the crowd, who had now gained the surrounding hills, that they were under the painful necessity of retiring -, and as night was fast approaching, they thought it most advisable to return on board, that more effectual means might be resorted to on this unfortunate occasion.”

“Mr New immediately assembled all the officers, to consult with them what was best to be done. It was agreed to stand off and on with the ship during the night, and in the morning to send the cutter well manned and armed on shore, and if possible to recover their unfortunate commander and shipmates.”

“An old chief belonging to Attowai, who had been on board since the Dædalus entered the Bay, and had been promised by Mr Hergest a passage to his native island, went also in the boat, to assist as an interpreter, and to employ his good offices. He was first landed, and went towards the natives, of whom he demanded the absent gentlemen …”

“… on which he was informed they were both killed the preceding night. Having delivered this message, he was sent back to demand their bodies; but was told in reply, that they had both been cut in pieces, and divided amongst seven different chiefs; at least it was fa understood by those in the boat from the language and signs which the chief made use of.”

“After this conversation the savages came in great numbers towards the sea side, and threw stones at the party in the boat, who fired several times and at length obliged them to retire. Finding their errand to be completely fruitless, the boat returned on board, in which the old chief re-embarked, and the vessel bore away …”

“… they filled their sails, and having then no business at Attowai, they made the best of their way towards Nootka, agreeably to my directions.” (Vancouver)

In the spring of 1793 Vancouver returned from the coast of America to Hawai‘i …

“On the 18th March Vancouver left Lahaina with Kamohomoho on board. After examining the southern and western shores of Molokai, he anchored off Waikiki, Oahu, on the 20th March 1793.”

“The main object of Vancouver’s visit to Waikiki was to see that the remaining murderers of the officers and man of the ‘Dædalus’ were apprehended and punished. Kamohomoho, who had accompanied Vancouver as high commissioner from Kahekili to attend to this business, secured the apprehension of three natives, who were brought on board the ‘Discovery’ for trial.”

“A native – whom Vancouver calls Tohoobooarto, who had been a voyage to China with some of the foreign traders, who spoke a little English, and who said he had visited the ‘Dædalus’ in Waimea Bay, and went ashore in the same boat as Lieutenant Hergest after dissuading him from landing – was the principal witness who identified the prisoners to Kamohomoho, by whose orders they were apprehended.”

“A Mr Dobson, who had been midshipman of the ‘Dædalus’ on the occasion, identified one of the prisoners as having been very turbulent and insolent on board of the ‘Dædalus’ before Lieutenant Hergest went ashore, and who immediately followed him thither …”

“… and whom the crew of the ‘Dædalus,’ after the occurrence, accused of having been the ringleader or principal actor in the murders committed on shore.”

“Adding to this the general belief of the chiefs present that the prisoners were concerned in and guilty of the crime they stood accused of – an opinion confirmed by Kalanikūpule himself, who, however, pleaded sickness as an excuse for not attending the trial – Vancouver considered himself justified in sanctioning their conviction and punishment.”

“The three prisoners denied their guilt, and stoutly asserted their ignorance of the whole occurrence. ‘This very assertion,’ Vancouver thinks, ‘amounted almost to self-conviction …”

“… as it is not easy to believe that the execution of their comrades by Titeeree’s orders for the same offence with which they had been charged had not come to their knowledge, or that it could have escaped their recollection.’”

“On the 2nd March the prisoners were placed in a double canoe alongside of the ‘Discovery,’ and, in sight of the shore and of numbers afloat in their canoes, were publicly executed, a chief, whom Vancouver calls Tennavee, shooting each one of them with a pistol.”

“It is very probable that the three first natives who were punished with death by the order of Kahekili for the murder of the ‘Dædalus’ people were more or less concerned in the affair …”

“… and that when Kahekili learned from the foreigners residing with him that such an outrage on an English national vessel would surely, sooner or later, meet with condign punishment and prove highly injurious to himself, he then ordered the execution of the three first offenders as an expiation, and to put himself right on the record, as it were.”

“And it is equally probable – their protestations to the contrary notwithstanding – that the three last offenders, who were executed in the presence of Vancouver, were also implicated in the murder.”

“But we have the positive declaration of SM Kamakau, who in after-life conversed with one of the parties participating in the murder, that Koi, the head and instigator of the whole affair, and his immediate subordinates, were neither apprehended, punished, nor even molested …”

“… and that the parties executed were criminals of other offences, who, their lives having been forfeited under the laws and customs of the country, were imposed upon Vancouver as the guilty parties in the ‘Dædalus’ affair.” (Fornander)

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