Sailing, Shipping & Shipwrecks | Page 47

January 5, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Hunnewell and the Missionaries

“It is indeed with a kind of melancholy pleasure I have sat down to write. There is a satisfaction in reflecting on the endearing relation which you sustain towards me that I would not part with for worlds; but when I consider the distance that separates us and the time that has and will elapse before we meet my feelings are overpowered.”

“Instead of becoming habituated to your absence by length of time I seem everyday less reconciled to it & “still alone” seems stamped on everything around me.” (Susannah Hunnewell to her husband James, November 6, 1820)

For all but seven months of the first eleven years of their marriage, James Hunnewell was living in the Pacific, Susannah was in Charlestown, Massachusetts.

On Monday, December 8, 1817, James Hunnewell, officer of the brig Bordeaux Packet, agreed with Andrew Blanchard, master, to remain at Honolulu after the sale of the vessel. (Thrum)

He would dispose of the balance of her cargo and invest and forward the proceeds. This was the beginning of the long business career of Hunnewell connected with the Islands, and his first act in settling there. (Thrum)

“The name … James Hunnewell was early associated with the commercial interests of these Islands, and his long and useful life was marked by such constant goodwill to my kingdom, that I shall always cherish his memory with sincere regard.” (Kamehameha V to Hunnewell’s son; Thrum)

Hunnewell first came to the Islands aboard the ‘Packet’ in October 1816. He agreed to stay and traded his boat and cargo for sandalwood, “We were the only traders on shore at Honolulu that had any goods to sell.” There was no currency at the time, so they generally traded for sandalwood. (Hunnewell, The Friend)

After trading sandalwood in China and then back to the northeast, Hunnewell returned to the Islands in 1820 on the ‘Thaddeus,’ “This was the memorable voyage when we carried out the first missionaries to the Hawaiian Islands.” (He was the person who first announced to the missionaries, that the Tabus were broken, and idolatry abolished. (The Friend, July, 1870))

He stayed … “it was urged by some of the chiefs that knew me on my previous voyage that I should remain instead of a stranger to trade with them.” (Hunnewell)

On January 7, 1822, a small group gathered to print the first work from the press, “Lesson in Owhyhee syllables.” Keeaumoku, a Hawaiian Chief, who had learned the alphabet, was given the honor of striking the first impression off the press, after which Loomis printed the second and Hunnewell the third.

It is a sheet four by six inches, headed “Lesson I,” beneath which are twelve lines, each having five separate syllables of two letters. This was certainly the first printing at the Hawaiian Islands, and probably the first on the shores, of the North Pacific Ocean.

The first printing press at the Hawaiian Islands was imported by the American missionaries, and landed from the Thaddeus. It was not unlike the first used by Benjamin Franklin, and was set up in a thatched house standing near the old mission frame house (but was not put in operation until that January 1822 pressing.) (Hawaiian Club, 1868)

Later, in 1825, he negotiated with the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, “to take the missionary packet out, free from any charge whatever on (his) part for sailing and navigating the vessel – provided the Board would pay and feed the crew, and allow (him) to carry out in the schooner to the amount (in bulk) of some forty to fifty barrels”. (Hunnewell)

Hunnewell decided to return home on the continent (November 20, 1830) and left his partner in charge; Hunnewell thought he would come back to the Islands, but never did. Hunnewell decided to remain at home – the company he formed, was later known as C Brewer (one of Hawaiʻi’s ‘Big Five’ companies.)

Kekela, born at Mokuleʻia, Waialua, Oʻahu was a beneficiary of Hunnewell’s generosity – Kekela attended and graduated from the Lahainaluna Seminary, at the expense of Hunnewell. In recognition of his great obligation to his benefactor, he adopted his name and was ever known as James Kekela.

On December 21, 1849, he was ordained to the Christian ministry, being the first native Hawaiian clergyman, and became the pastor of the native church at Kahuku, Oahu. (The Friend, May 1, 1920)

Later, Kekela saved an American in the Marquesas; President Abraham Lincoln learned of the dramatic circumstances of the rescue and had presented a total of 10-gifts to the rescuers.

Most interesting among the gifts was a large gold watch the President gave to Kekela (a similar watch was given to Kaukau, Kekela’s associate in the rescue.) The inscription on it is translated from Hawaiian as follows:

“From the President of the United States to Rev. J. Kekela For His Noble Conduct in Rescuing An American Citizen from Death
On the Island of Hiva Oa January 14, 1864.”

Here’s a link to a prior post on the Kekela watch:
http://wp.me/p5GnMi-iz

“This discourse was delivered by the Rev. James B. Miles, pastor of the first parish church, Charlestown, Mass., and is commemorative of Mrs. S. L. Hunnewell, widow of the late Captain James Hunnewell. This friend of Oahu College, and of Hawaiians, died May 2nd, 1869, and the death of his beloved wife followed on the 20th of February, 1870.”

“If Mr. Hunnewell had survived a few months longer, their golden wedding would have been celebrated; but now both have passed away. They were long united in their lives, and in death they were not divided.” (The Friend, July, 1870)

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Captain James Hunnewell-(MissionHouses)

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Brig_Thaddeus-model at Mokuaikaua

Hiram_and_Sybil_Moseley_Bingham,_1819-head of Pioneer Company

William Pitt Kalanimoku (c. 1768–1827) was a military and civil leader of the Kingdom of Hawaii-Pellion

Reproduction_of_Mission_Printing_Press

Kekela_Watch

Kekela_Watch-(honoluluadvertiser)

December 21, 2016 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Millionaires Cruise

Matson Navigation Company’s long association with Hawaiʻi began in 1882, when Captain William Matson sailed his three-masted schooner Emma Claudina from San Francisco to Hilo, Hawaii, carrying 300 tons of food, plantation supplies and general merchandise.

That voyage launched a company that has been involved in such diversified interests as oil exploration, hotels and tourism, military service during two world wars and even briefly, the airline business. Matson’s primary interest throughout, however, has been carrying freight between the Pacific Coast and Hawaii. (Matson)

They started carrying people, too; via ship was the only way to get to/from the Islands. With increasing passenger traffic to Hawaii, Matson built a world-class luxury liner, the S.S. Malolo, in 1927.

At the time, the Malolo was the fastest ship in the Pacific, cruising at 22 knots. Its success led to the construction of the luxury liners Mariposa, Monterey and Lurline between 1930 and 1932. Matson’s famed “white ships” were instrumental in the development of tourism in Hawaii. (Matson)

Then, the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce had an idea for a goodwill mission. “This good-will mission Around the Pacific is one of the most ambitious enterprises ever fostered by the Chamber of Commerce and has become of national, if not international, import.”

“It will be a good will mission in a literal sense because in its wide scope it embodies many purposes which will make it a tangible expression of good will from San Francisco and the nation, of which it is an important part, toward the other nations which fringe the wide stretches of the Pacific”. (Neale; San Francisco Business, April 10, 1929)

“The goodwill mission making the three months voyage on the Malolo will comprise component groups of business and professional men representing every line of constructive, commercial, industrial, social, professional and civic activity in San Francisco.”

“Briefly, the voyage will take three months. It will be made on the Malolo, known as the “Queen of the Matson fleet.” The itinerary includes stops at Yokohama, Tokyo, Nikko, Kobe, Kyoto, Peking, Shanghai, Hongkong, Manila, Saigon, Bangkok, Singapore, Batavia (Jakarta,) Soerabaya (Indonesia,) Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, Suva, Pago Pago, Hilo and Honolulu.” (Neale; San Francisco Business, April 10, 1929)

“All of this was focused under the leadership of Mr. Charles C Moore. … He is a man, in San Francisco, of international mind and contact; he is a man of wide experience and vision; he is a man of dynamic energy; he is a man of tremendous idealism, practical idealism …”

“… he is a man who felt that he could discharge a duty here around the Pacific, having met the peoples of the world at the time of the great exposition, having had contacts with them all during these years.”

“We started out with the idea that we would get all of these people from San Francisco. We failed, fortunately. We thought we would get them all from California. We failed. The trip was on too grand a scale. The scope and character and cost of that trip was almost a million dollars – $900,000 to be exact – and so we appealed to the United States Chamber of Commerce.”

“We wanted it to be strictly a business trip. We secured representatives from twenty-six states and two territories. Practically every man aboard that boat was a business man, or interested in business problems.”

“The ladies on board the boat were either of the families, or they were business women, or women that sympathized most deeply and furnished a splendid background to the idealism of this particular trip.” (Neale; San Francisco Business, January 8, 1930)

On September 21, 1929, the SS Malolo sailed from San Francisco on the first leg of its Pacific cruise. Some 325 passengers were all acknowledged millionaires, specially selected by the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce and Matson Navigation Company, owners of the SS Malolo. (McPhail)

This was to be the most luxurious cruise ever offered, aboard the world’s newest luxury liner. Because of the affluent passengers, the ‘Around Pacific Cruise’ was also dubbed the ‘Millionaires Cruise.’

They all started that way, but economic conditions changed into the cruise. The Great War had been won, stocks were soaring, speedy new cars and fancy electric products were all the rage, prohibition was ignored, and clothing and hairstyles were wild and loose and sexy.

Just 38 days later, on Black Tuesday – October 29, 1929 – the American stock market crashed and their lives were forever changed. (McPhail)

On Wall Street investors traded some 16 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange in a single day. Billions of dollars were lost, wiping out thousands of investors. Many went from fat cats to paupers. (Grace)

In the aftermath of Black Tuesday, America and the rest of the industrialized world spiraled downward into the Great Depression (1929-39,) the deepest and longest-lasting economic downturn in the history of the Western industrialized world up to that time.

The cruise continued across the Pacific, then to Hilo, Honolulu and home. “The Around The Pacific Good-Will Cruise was completed upon the return of the SS Malolo on December 21st (1929). This cruise is one of the outstanding achievements of the Chamber, and has established San Francisco’s leadership in Pacific trade.” (San Francisco Business)

“To sum up our trip briefly, I would like to say that in this trip we had a great vision of America’s place in the Pacific. The problems of all of these countries are our problems. If they are not solved it is going to wreck us as well as them.”

“The interests of the United States are bound up inextricably in this entire Pacific area. Our economic future is bound up there. The United States will realize more and more that the great future of this country is in the Pacific …”

“… and to properly meet the problems of the Pacific area, and of these Pacific countries, is a matter of vital interest to us and we must apply, in every possible way, all of the resources which we have to this end.” (Neale; San Francisco Business, January 8, 1930)

There was another outcome of the cruise. Typically ships were used as transportation to a destination, where passengers would disembark and stay at luxury hotels at their destination.

The Malolo was so luxurious that it was a destination in and of itself. It established a trend of cruising, where passengers could see far off places, and remain on board in luxury (in many cases those destinations did not have adequate land-based accommodations and would otherwise be bypassed.)

In the last 10-years, demand for cruising has increased 68%. Today (2016 estimates,) over 24-million passengers cruised the seven seas on nearly 450-ships, generating nearly $120-billion in total economic impact. (Cruise Lines International Association)

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Malolo-Honolulu Harbor

Malolo-Stateroom

Malolo-Soda Fountain

Malolo-dancing

Malolo-Smoking-Room

Malolo-Main-Restaurant

Malolo-Dining

Malolo-Main-Lounge

Malolo-Library

Malolo-Saltwater Pool

Malolo-just completed

Malolo with Original Paint

Malolo in Sydney-Nov 1929

Malolo

Malolo-Ship Layout-Cabin Plan

December 13, 2016 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Healani

Water-related races and regattas in the Islands have ranged from swimming, yacht, rowing and canoe races.

One early club was Healani – it was formally incorporated on December 13, 1894, but participated in earlier races under the Healani name.

An early account of competitive rowing appeared in the December 16, 1871, issue of the Pacific Commercial Advertiser: “There was a race between two-oared boats, of which four were entered, Young America the winner … there was splendid rowing exhibited, and the winners became such by purely hard work.”

King Kalākaua’s birthday on November 16th, 1875 marked Hawai‘i’s first regatta with extensive rowing competition. The King, a rowing buff, viewed the event from his yacht along with other members of his royal family.

There were aquatic sports, including five-oared whaleboat races, canoe races, yacht races, and swimming. Capping the day were spectators who climbed greased poles extending over the water. (Honolulu Rowing Club)

“Rowing is very popular, especially at Honolulu, where the Myrtle (‘Reds’) and the Healani (‘Blues’) Boat Clubs have for more than twenty years been rivals in four-oared shell, six-oared and pair-oared sliding seat barge rowing contests.”

“Regatta Day, the third Saturday in September, a legal holiday, is the important rowing carnival day, but races are also held on July 4, and at other times. Occasionally crews from the other islands or from the Pacific Coast participate in these races.” (Aloha Guide, 1915)

In the 1920s, there were five rowing clubs in Hawai‘i. The men’s clubs were Myrtle and Healani from Oʻahu and Hilo from the Big Island. The Healani and Myrtle Boat houses were near each other at what is now Pier 2 in Honolulu Harbor.

The Oahu-based Kunalu and Honolulu were the two women’s clubs. Kunalu was coached by Healani, while the Honolulu Girls were affiliated with Myrtle. (Honolulu Rowing Club)

Over time, teams reverted back to the canoe, principal means of travel in ancient Hawaiʻi. Most permanent villages initially were near the ocean and at sheltered beaches, which provided access to good fishing grounds, as well as facilitating convenient canoe travel.

“The canoe racing capital of the Hawaiian Islands … was at Waikiki, an area between the Hui Nalu Club and the Outrigger Club. (M)any canoe races took place in Honolulu Harbor during the regatta time when you had a Myrtle Boat Club, Healani Boat Club, the Hilo Boat Club, they would all participate and many of the canoe races took place right in Honolulu Harbor.” (Steiner)

The ancient Hawaiians paddled the channel waters in their canoes for food, recreation, trade, communication and military purposes. The rich history of the islands is full of accounts of mythical demigods and real-life heroes testing their skills on the oceans.

Control of Hawaiʻi’s channel waterways was an important part of Hawaiian society. This importance is reflected today in modern Hawaiʻi’s claim to state ownership of interisland waters (Hawaiʻi State Constitution, Article XV). (NOAA)

Control of the interisland waterways was an extension of domination of the land by the aliʻi. The “nature of the dominion exercised over a channel lying between two portions of a multi-island unit was based on Polynesian rather than Western concepts.” The Polynesians view the surrounding waters as part of the land. Control of the ocean by Hawaiians was implicit in the control of the islands themselves. (NOAA)

Kaiwi is known for the Kualau or Kuakualau – the strong wind and the rain out in the ocean. It is customary for it to blow in the evening and in the morning but sometimes blow at all times. “Where are you, O Kualau, Your rain goes about at sea.” (McGregor)

Wind speeds decrease in the lee of each island; whereas winds in the channel increase in strength. The area out in the channel is subject to heavy, gusty trade winds.

These winds had an effect on the waters in the channel; “… the ship turned toward Lae-o-ka-laau. As we went on the Kualau breeze of Kaiwi blew wildly, and many people were bent over with seasickness”. (Ku Okoa, 1922; Maly)

In Hawaiian tradition, Lāʻau Point on Molokai represents a point of no return. For those traveling by canoe from Oʻahu to Molokai across the Kaiwi Channel, once Lāʻau Point is sighted, there is no turning back to Oʻahu.

More commonly known today as the Molokai Channel, the Kaiwi Channel separates the islands of Molokai and Oʻahu; it has the reputation as one of the world’s most treacherous bodies of water.

In 1939, William K Pai is reportedly the first person to swim the Kaiwi Channel, from ʻIlio Point on Molokai to the Blowhole near Oʻahu’s Sandy Beach (because he first paddled a little offshore before swimming, it was ‘uncertified.’) Since then, several others have tried and succeeded.

On October 12, 1952, three Koa outrigger canoes launched from Molokai’s west side; nearly nine hours later, Kukui O Lanikaula landed on the beach at Waikīkī in front of the Moana Hotel. Thus began the world’s most prestigious outrigger canoe race, the Molokaʻi Hoe. Two years later, the women’s Na Wahine O Ke Kai, Molokai to Oʻahu Canoe Race, was inaugurated.

Healani is a regular participant in the Molokai to O‘ahu race. In the 1960s, my father skippered his Na Alii Kai (haole sampan boat) and escorted the Healani fiberglass canoe in the Molokai Channel race. He escorted the winning Healani teams (fiberglass) in 1966 and 1967.

“The 1966 race showed what the channel could do. One canoe was destroyed and several damaged in 20-foot seas and 35-knot winds.” (Sports Illustrated) (Waikiki Surf Club won the koa division.)

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Healani 1st-1966 & 1967 Molokai to Oahu non-koa-K Young-Na Alii Kai-Escort Boat

Home of Healani-PCA-Sep_23,_1901

Regatta-PCA-Sep_23,_1901

Healani Quarters-PCA- Sep_20, 1902

Regatta Day-PCA-Sep_21,_1907-Healani_Senior_Men

Regatta Day-PCA-Sep_21,_1907-Healani_Freshmen

Healani Boat Club

December 9, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Solace

The keel for the Iroquois was laid on March 26, 1926 along with the keels for two other ships; Iroquois was delivered thirteen months later. She was built by Newport News Shipbuilding for the Clyde Steamship Company as the passenger liner.

Iroquois was designed for luxury liner service along America’s eastern seaboard and was handsomely appointed and featured ornate staircases and darkwood paneling in their public spaces.

She met the highest classification of the American Bureau of Shipping and was touted as the largest and fastest vessel in service between Florida and New York. She could carry 640 passengers in first class and 114 in steerage. Their crews numbered 166. (Newport News Shipbuilding Apprentice School)

On July 13, 1936 Iroquois had an accident while she was running for the Eastern Steamship Company. She ran aground on Bald Porcupine Island. Captain Walter Hammond was preparing to leave for New York early in the morning. Under thick fog, the vessel ran aground and then the tide left the ship beached high.

In mid-1940, she was purchased by the US Navy and was extensively modified her internally, creating a hospital ship with a capacity for 418 patients and accommodations for a complement of 466, including a small cadre of nurses.

Renamed Solace, her aft, fake funnel was removed and she was painted all white, with bold red crosses emblazoned on her sides, funnel and top decks; she was commissioned on August 9, 1941 and assigned to the Pacific fleet and soon was home ported in Hawai‘i. (Newport News Shipbuilding Apprentice School)

She arrived at Pearl Harbor on October 27, 1941. At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941,) the Solace was the only hospital ship operating in the Pacific. She was anchored at Pearl Harbor when at 8 am the first of the attack started.

The ship discharged 141 patients to duty in order to make room for casualties. On December 7th, 132 patients were admitted aboard the ship (over 70 percent of casualties were burn cases.) (pearlharbor-org)

“As soon as it was realized that air raid was on, steps were immediately taken to close all watertight doors and ports, and cargo ports except the two at the gangways, to call away rescue parties, and to prepare all hospital facilities and supplies for maximum service.”

“The emergency ward of 50 beds was put together, and as many patients then in wards returned to duty or moved as possible. Two motor launches were immediately dispatched with rescue parties to the Arizona, and other boats lowered and sent on similar duty.”

“About 0820 hours, boat loads of casualties began to arrive, and were immediately taken care of by the medical personnel, assisted by available men from the deck divisions.”

“At 0900 the ship got underway, having slipped it’s forward and after moorings, and shifted from berth X4, near Dobbin and destroyers to berth X13 in the clear.”

“All hands worked most energetically to handle the casualty cases. Too much praise cannot be given to the doctors, nurses, and corpsmen of the ship.”

“Special mention is made of the heroic action in the face of grave danger in the case of the first two boat crews and their stretcher parties.”

“They boarded the burning Arizona, while its crew was abandoning ship, and they rescued the burned and injured casualties found on its deck, some very close to the flames, and three casualties on a camel and one man swimming in oily water that was aflame.”

“After unloading at the Solace, #2 motor launch made two trips to the West Virginia and brought back casualties to the Solace; #1 motor launch on its second trip rescued several more men from the stern of the Arizona and more casualties from the West Virginia.”

“On its third trip it received casualties from the West Virginia. On its fourth trip, it picked up some men in the water and transferred them to a gig. Shortly thereafter, when many men had jumped into the water after an explosion on board that ship the boat picked up over three dozen.”

“The surface was covered with flames. The boat engineer, jumped into the water to rescue an Ensign. The Coxswain had to get into the water to quench his own smoldering jumper. With this boat load delivered to the Solace and a quick change of clothes for its crew, the boat took a salvage party to the Oklahoma where it remained until about midnight.”

“Assisting the ship during the most difficult time were about six medical officers from other ships, one civilian doctor (USPHS,) five volunteer nurses part of first day and eleven part of second day”

“In addition to the ship’s chaplain, Protestant, two Catholic chaplains, from Nevada and Tangier, were aboard most of the first two days.” (Action Report by Benjamin Perlman, Commanding Officer, December 12, 1941)

For the rest of the war, until she was joined by the Relief from her North Atlantic duties, by the Comfort and also the Tranquility, the Solace, known as the “Great White Ship,” carried on alone doing an efficient and noteworthy job servicing the fleet at such bloody places as the Coral Sea, Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima. (navy-mil)

Solace served in the Pacific Theatre of Operations throughout the entire war and participated in six major island invasions. Between December, 1941, and January, 1946, she steamed over 170,000 nautical miles and provided treatment and evacuation home for over 25,000 patients.
Solace (ex Iroquois) was sold by the US War Shipping Administration to the government-owned Turkish Maritime Lines in April of 1948. She underwent a year-long conversion effort to restore her for future use as a passenger liner; renamed Ankara, her passenger spaces were completely modernized allowing for 175 in first-class, 152 in second-class and 72 in steerage-class.

Ankara was popular with Mediterranean passengers, and often carried pilgrims to Mecca until laid up in 1977. After remaining idle for almost four years, and at age 54, she was sold for scrap in 1981. (Newport News Shipbuilding Apprentice School)

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Solace

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Ankara

November 21, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Bonin

‘Mu nin to’ or ‘Bu nin to’ are the Japanese sounds for three Chinese ideographs which would be translated ‘no man island.’ A group of Islands later took the name Bonin Islands.

A Spanish explorer, Ruy Lopez de Villalobos, was reported to have discovered the islands in 1543; he had given the name Arzobispo to the islands.

Villalobos commanded an exploring expedition that sailed from Mexico some time in 1542 or 1543. After reaching the Philippines on August 26, 1543, he sent off a small ship, the San Juan, having a crew of eighteen or twenty men, to explore in a northerly direction.

Somewhere about the beginning of October they sighted some islands, which from the description were almost certainly some of the Bonin group. They did not land and shortly afterwards steered back for the Philippines, and the chief reason given is that their stock of water was not sufficient for them to proceed.

In about the year 1675 a Japanese vessel was driven by a storm to these islands which, though uninhabited, they found to be pleasant and fruitful and, in default of other name, described as Buninto.

But this is not the name by which they are commonly known in Japan, nor is the year 1675 the first in which there is record of them, for these same islands are claimed to have been discovered in 1592 by a certain Ogasawara Sadayori, a Japanese warrior under Hideyoshi.

The Islands were granted to him as a fief, so that they became known as the Islands of Ogasawara (the name the group keeps today.)

“This small but interesting, and from its situation, valuable group of islands, lies in latitude 27° north, longitude 146° east, within five hundred miles distance from the city of Yedo in Japan.”

“It appertains to Great Britain, having been discovered by an English whaling vessel in 1825, and formally taken possession of by Captain Beechey of HMS Blossom in 1827. There were no aboriginal inhabitants found on the islands nor any trace that such had existed.”

“Their aggregate extent does not exceed two hundred and fifty square miles; but their geographical position — so near Japan, that mysterious empire, of which the trade will one day be of immense value —“

“… gives them a peculiar importance and interest. The climate is excellent, the soil rich and productive, and there is an admirable harbour well fitted for the port of a commercial city.” (Alex Simpson, Acting Britich Consul for the Sandwich Island)

HMS Blossom, under command of Captain Beechey, was a sloop carrying fifteen guns and a complement all told of 122 men. She had been dispatched from England on May 19, 1825, with instructions to co-operate with Franklin and Parry’s Arctic Expeditions.

The Blossom anchored in a harbor on June 9, 1827, having first attempted to fetch the southernmost group; but finding wind and current against the ship and discovering in the nearest land an opening which appeared to give promise of a good harbor, Captain Beechey made for this and anchored in Port Lloyd, to which he gave this name out of regard to the then Bishop of Oxford.

Captain Beechey was much surprised to find here two Europeans who turned out to have been two of the crew of the English whaler William, which vessel had been wrecked in Port Lloyd some eight months previous to the Blossom’s arrival. The name of one of the men was Wittrein; that of the other is not given.

It appears that after the wreck of the vessel the crew set to work to build a small schooner in order to find their way to Manila, as the chances of their being picked off from Port Lloyd were somewhat remote.

To their surprise, however, a whale ship, the Timor, appeared, and took off the crew of the wrecked vessel with the exception of these two men.

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. Savory, on his recovery, threw himself warmly into the project.

Shortly after (1830,) colonists from Hawaiʻi made their way to Bonin. Nathaniel Savory, an American citizen – but none the less under English auspices – was one of the founders of the first colony, of which he subsequently became chief, on the Bonin Islands.

Savory had served in some capacity on an English merchantman which in the year 1829 put in at Honolulu. He lost a finger in his right hand during the firing of a cannon salute. Having to undergo surgical treatment, his vessel left him behind at the port of Oahu.

“They sailed accordingly in 1830, took with them some Sandwich Island natives as labourers, some live stock and seeds, and landing at Port Lloyd, hoisted an English flag which had been given them by Mr. Charlton.”

Savory had many acquaintances among the storekeepers in Honolulu, and many friends among the captains of whalers and small trading vessels to the South Seas. From all accounts, the islands were fruitful; fish and turtle abounded; the climate was warm and genial; and the prospects of opening out some lucrative trade seemed altogether promising.

Plans took shape, the scheme being furthered in every way by Mr. Richard Charlton, at that time British Consul in Honolulu; and a schooner was fitted out which eventually set sail in the month of May, 1830, with Savory, Aldin Chapin, John Millinchamp, Charles Johnson, and Matteo Mazarro; they arrived on June 26, 1830. (Cholmondeley, Tokyo Metropolitan University)

Owing to the circumstances under which the first colony had been established on the Bonins, the early settlers, whether British subjects or not, had always regarded themselves as coming ultimately under the jurisdiction of the British Consulate in Hawaii.

“The cliffs in many places round the harbour came so close to the beach as to leave no cultivatable ground between them and the sea; but where valleys occur they have all been turned to account, with the exception of one on the west side of the inner harbour, which has probably been left vacant as a careening and repairing place for vessels.” (Captain Collinson; Cholmondeley)

Materially, the colony was prospering, and opportunities of sale and barter were furnished when, not unfrequently, whalers and other vessels came to visit it.

After Savory established himself on the Bonin Islands, captains of whalers and trading vessels came along to see him; take news of him back to his family; become bearers of their letters to him; and it is with him that Savory’s store-keeper friends want to transact business.

“The little settlement has been visited by several whaling vessels since that period, and also by a vessel from the British China Squadron.”

“(Mazarro,) anxious to get additional settlers or labourers to join the infant colony, the whole population of which only numbers about twenty, came to the Sandwich Islands in the autumn of 1842 in an English whaling vessel.”

“He described the little settlement as flourishing, stated that he had hogs and goats in abundance, and a few cattle; that he grew Indian corn and many vegetables, and had all kinds of tropical fruits; that, in fact, he could supply fresh provisions and vegetables to forty vessels annually.” (Alex Simpson, Acting British Consul for the Sandwich Islands)

“The island was greatly developed by grains which Savory had sent from the United States, and everything was so blooming and prosperous …” (Boston Transcript, August 30, 1887; Daily Bulletin, October 31, 1887)

Commodore Perry re-opened the long closed doors of Japan in 1861. That year, Japan made the first attempt is made to recover her long lost hold on the islands.

Towards the end of the year 1861, a Japanese steamer was despatched to Port Lloyd from Yedo, as the city of Tokyo was originally called, having on board a commissioner, subordinate officers, and about a hundred Japanese colonists.

On Sunday, November 21, 1875, the Meiji Maru, a Japanese ship, captained by an Englishman or American of the name of Peters, left Yokohama at noon with four Commissioners on board — Tanabe Yaichi, Hayashi Masaki, Obana Sakusuke, and Nezu Seikichi. Her destination was the Bonin Islands – Japan took control of the Bonin Islands.

From the year 1876 until 1904 when, under the Revised Treaties foreigners secured the right of travel and residence in any part of the Japanese Empire, no new settlers other than Japanese could make their home on the Bonin Islands.

The two chief islands are no longer ‘Peel’ Island and ‘Bailey’ Island. As newer maps and charts supersede the old ones, the names given by Captain Beechey will gradually disappear and be forgotten. ‘Peel’ Island is now Chichijima, Father Island; its harbor Futami ; ‘Bailey’ Island is Hahajima, or Mother Island. (Lots of information here is from Cholmondeley.)

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