Images of Old Hawaiʻi

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.

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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)

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Salting Pigs for the Sea-Store

A ship’s stores are the supplies and equipment required for the operation and upkeep of a ship. (Merriam-Webster) Sea-stores are supplies needed while you are out in the ocean sailing.

Part of the stores are food items.  Fresh meat doesn’t last long; folks started salting meat to extend their useful life.

“Salt is effective as a preservative because it reduces the water activity of foods. The water activity of a food is the amount of unbound water available for microbial growth and chemical reactions.” (National Library of Medicine)

“Native Hawaiians used sea salt, pa‘akai (“to solidify the sea”), to season and preserve food, for religious and ceremonial purposes, and as medicine. Preserving food like i‘a (fish) and he‘e (octopus) was essential not just for storage on land, but also to provide nourishment during ocean voyages.” (UH, Sea Earth Atmosphere)

Salt “has ever been an essential article with the Sandwich Islanders, who eat it very freely with their food, and use much in preserving their fish.”  (Ellis, 1826)

During Cook’s visits to the Islands, King’s journal noted “the great quantity of salt they eat with their flesh and fish. … almost every native of these islands carried about with him, either in his calibash, or wrapped up in a piece of cloth, and tied about his waist, a small piece of raw pork, highly salted, which they considered as a great delicacy, and used now and then to taste of.”

“Their fish they salt, and preserve in gourd-shells; not, as we at first imagined, for the purpose of providing against any temporary scarcity, but from the preference they give to salted meats.”  (King, 1779)

“The surplus … they dispose of to vessels touching at the islands, or export to the Russian settlements on the north-west coast of America, where it is in great demand for curing fish, &c.” (Ellis, 1826)

“The salting of hogs for sea-store was also a constant [by the Hawaiians], and one of the principal objects of Captain Cook’s attention.”

“As the success we met with in this experiment, during our present voyage, was much more complete than it had been in any former attempt of the same kind, it may not be improper to give an account of the detail of the operation.”

“It has generally been thought impracticable to cure the flesh of animals by salting, in tropical climates; the progress of putrefaction being so rapid, as not to allow time for the salt to take (as they express it) before the meat gets a taint, which prevents the effect of the pickle.”

“We do not find that experiments relative to this subject have been made by the navigators of any nation before Captain Cook.”

“In his first trials, which were made in 1774, during his second voyage to the Pacific Ocean, the success he met with, though very imperfect, was yet sufficient to convince him of the error of the received opinion.”

“As the voyage, in which he was now engaged, was likely to be protracted a year beyond the time for which the ships had been victualled, he was under the necessity of providing, by some such means, for the subsistence of the crews, or of relinquishing the further prosecution of his discoveries.”

“He therefore lost no opportunity of renewing his attempts, and the event answered his most sanguine expectations.”

“The hogs, which we made use of for this purpose, were of various sizes, weighing from four to twelve stone. [a stone is 14 pounds].”

“The time of slaughtering was always in the afternoon; and as soon as the hair was scalded off, and the entrails removed, the hog was divided into pieces of four or eight pounds each, and the bones of the legs and chine taken out; and, in the larger sort, the ribs also.”

“Every piece then being carefully wiped and examined, and the veins cleared of the coagulated blood, they were handed to the salters, whilst the flesh remained still warm.”

“After they had been well rubbed with salt, they were placed in a heap, on a stage raised in the open air, covered with planks, and pressed with the heaviest weights we could lay on them.”

“In this situation they remained till the next evening, when they were again well wiped and examined, and the suspicious parts taken away.”

“They were then put into a tub of strong pickle, where they were always looked over once or twice a day, and if any piece had not taken the salt, which was readily discovered by the smell of the pickle, they were immediately taken out, re-examined, and the sound pieces put to fresh pickle. This, however, after the precautions before used, seldom happened.”

“After six days, they were taken out, examined for the last time, and being again slightly pressed, they were packed in barrels, with a thin layer of salt between them.”

“I brought home with me some barrels of this pork, which was pickled at Owhyhee in January 1779, and was tasted by several persons in England, about Christmas 1780, and found perfectly sound and wholesome.” (Cook’s Journal)

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Hāmākua and Hilo Coast Landings

“The Hawaiian Group consists of five principal islands, viz: Hawaii, Maui, Oahu, Molokai and Kauai, upon which the main portion of the inhabitants reside, and where the principal industries are carried on; three minor islands, viz. Lanai, Kahoolawe and Niihau, where the population is very sparse, and three barren rocks, viz. Molokini, Lehua and Kaula.”

“There are three principal ports at which the voyager may land, viz: Honolulu on Oahu, Kahului on Maui, and Hilo on Hawaii. All these have direct communication with San Francisco, but only the first has steam communication. The latter ports can at present be reached by sailing vessels.” (Whitney, Tourist Guide, 1890)

“There is also a fleet of steam and sailing vessels in the InterIsland, South Sea and Pacific Coast trade belonging to Honolulu. The principal local organizations are the Wilder Steamship Company and the Inter-Island Steam Navigation Company.” (Whitney, Tourist Guide, 1890)

By the 1930s, “Vessels of three steamship lines make Hilo on the island of Hawaii a regular port of call. The Inter-Island Steam Navigation Go. Operates modern steamers between Honolulu and Hilo twice each week. Certain ships of the Matson Navigation Co., after stopping at Honolulu, continue on to Hilo and furnish a part-daylight trip among the islands. …”

“The vessels of the Nippon Yusen Kaisha South America West Coast Line stop at Hilo 1 day after leaving Honolulu, en route from the Orient to South America via San Francisco, service approximately every 5 weeks.”

The sugar companies began clearing the fertile lowlands of Hāmākua in the mid to late-1800s to make way for the expansion of sugarcane production on the island of Hawai‘i. (Peralto)

“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)

In the district of Hāmākua “come sugar plantations, mills and scattered houses. For nearly sixty miles there is one continuous ribbon of cane and a succession of mills until Hilo is reached.”

“The Hilo coast, which commences four miles before reaching Laupahoehoe, is abrupt and pierced by numerous gulches, large and small. There are said to be sixty-two from Laupahoehoe to Hilo. Down each of these winds a stream, ending, in most cases, in a waterfall that leaps into the sea. These slender silver threads seem to be countless.” (Whitney, Tourist Guide, 1890)

“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.”

“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.”

“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.  [The Sugar was taken] in from those plantations and delivered it to the ships to take to San Francisco.” ((Nelson) Frazier)

North to south, here are some brief descriptions of the landings where the steamers stop to deliver goods and transport sugar in 1909: Kukuihaele, Honoka‘a; Pa‘auhau; Koholālele; Kuka‘iau; O‘okala (Kaiwiki); Laupāhoehoe; Papa‘aloa; Hakalau; Honomu; Pepe‘ekeo; Pāpa’ikou and Wainaku.

Kukuihaele Landing “Consists of a fifteen-ton derrick at the foot of a bluff, connected with the warehouse at the top of the bluff at about 100 feet elevation, with an inclined cable railway about 200 feet in length. From this warehouse runs an inclined cable railway to the mill. distance of about 2,300 feet, thence to a warehouse on the government road about 6,000 feet distant from landing.”

“Volume of freight is a maximum of 7,000 tons outgoing sugar and about the same quantity of incoming merchandise. Passengers and mail occasionally land here”.  “[F]reight is hauled from the landing on cars by means of cable to the warehouse upon the government road – elevation 800 feet, in three stages, viz …”

“… first, from landing to landing warehouse, transferred upon other cars; second, to mill power house; third, then reattached to three thousand seven hundred feet cable to warehouse; a total distance of about six thousand feet, which necessitates the handling of freight no less than three times.”

Honoka‘a Landing has “a fifteen-ton derrick on a masonry pier on a rock bluff, operated either by steam furnished from boiler at landing, or by compressed air from the mill. An incline cable railway from the derrick to the mill, three-quarters of a mile long, is operated either by steam, or by a ninety horsepower gasoline engine, which also operates the air compressor when the mill is shut down.”

“There is also a further incline cable railway leading up to the Government belt road, at an elevation above 1,000 feet, where the plantation maintains a warehouse and a freight clerk. … There are about 12,000 tons of sugar and a small amount of other freight outgoing annually and about 12,000 tons of incoming merchandise and lumber.”

“There is an average of six steamers per month, all being tramp steamers, but one, which call regularly once a week. These vessels run to and from Honolulu.”

Pa‘auhau Landing has “a twenty-ton derrick for heavy machinery connected with the warehouse on the top of the cliff by an incline cable railway built on very heavy masonry foundation, also a wire rope landing running into another large warehouse on top of the cliff. The wire rope equipment is very heavy and the cable is 700 feet Jong.”

“The plantation railway system runs into and alongside warehouses. There is a roadway leading to the warehouse ; this road is considered private, at least in part, but always open to the public during plantation business hours.”

“Volume of freight 10,500 tons of sugar and some 600 to 3000 bags of coffee outgoing annually-probably about the same amount of incoming freight. …  About 8 to 10 steamers call here every month. This is the only landing in Hamakua district having regular steamer connection with Hilo, the sugar going to Hilo for across ocean shipment.”

Koholālele Landing “is about 2 miles from the plantation headquarters [Hamakua Mill] and about 3 miles from the Paauilo village.  There is a fifteen-ton derrick sixteen feet above sea level operated by steam, also an incline cable railway 800 feet long to the main warehouse, into which the tracks of the plantation railway run.”

“There is a very good anchorage at this landing, protected by a point of rock, and it is said that this landing can be worked when Honokaa, Kukuihaele and Paauhau are impossible.”

“Volume of freight about 10,000 tons of sugar per annum, and very little outgoing freight from outsiders; mostly small packages for which no charge is made. The incoming freight is estimated at 5,000 tons per annum.”

“There is an average of one steamer a week calling here, with no regular dates, most steamers being bound to or from Honolulu and way ports, the sugar going to Honolulu.”

Kuka‘iau Landing “consists of a twenty-ton derrick on a staging 20 feet above water at the foot of the bluff, and an incline cable railway to a second landing 195 feet above the sea. This incline cable railway is on a 52 degree uniform slope, and consists of double tracks with 2 cars or car elevators, the top of which are tracked, connected by cable-one going up while the other goes down; the derrick and cable railway being operated by steam.”

“About 1,500 to 2,000 tons of merchandise, and about 100,000 feet of lumber per year are handled over this landing besides the sugar output of Kukaiau.  This landing is seldom used for mail or passengers …. About three Inter-Island steamers call at this landing each month at irregular intervals, the sugar being shipped to Honolulu.”

O‘okala (Kaiwiki) Landing “is a wire rope landing on top of a bluff about 395 feet above sea, using a wire cable 850 feet long. All heavy freight for Kaiwiki Sugar Company is handled at Laupahoehoe. … The plantation management reports that no outside freight is handled here except for Ookala store, run by a Japanese, and Sam Wo Jam’s store.”

Laupāhoehoe Landing … “Laupahoehoe is a singular place, standing on lava, which has been declared to be the last expiring effort of Maunakea, a strip running right to the sea, down the great rent in the coastline, which forms the Laupahoehoe Valley.”

“At Laupahoehoe the landing is very good and the lands rich. Messrs. Lidgate and Campbell have fine cane growing and every prospect of success in their enterprise at this place.” ((1877) Maly)  “There is also an excellent landing at this plantation.” (Bowser, 1880; Maly)  As noted in summaries of the surrounding Landings, Laupāhoehoe was the place of choice for ‘heavy’ freight.

“Laupahoehoe (leaf of lava) is an extensive village situated at the mouth of a deep gulch, on a flat stretch of land. It has the only landing used for passengers on this side of the island, outside of Hilo. … [however,] at times it is impossible to land.” (Kinney (1913))

Papa‘aloa Landing “is a wire rope landing, 182 feet above sea level, using a wire 925 feet long; also an incline cable railway connecting the wire rope landing with the plantation warehouse 330 feet distant and on about 30 feet higher ground. The railway is operated by a water wheel; the wire rope trolleys by steam.”

“There is very little outside business handled at this landing. The owners have no schedule of landing charges, but by special arrangements occasionally handle freight for outsiders …. Heavy pieces of plantation freights are handled through Laupahoehoe. Most steamers are to and from Honolulu where sugar is shipped.”

Hakalau Landing “consists of a wire cable 150 feet above the sea and an incline cable railway about 400 feet long running from wire landing warehouse to another warehouse and power house on public road. A derrick landing at the foot of the bluff is connected with the warehouse at the top of the bluff by a cable railway.”

“Practically nothing is landed here except for the plantation, and plantation employees. … Nearly all steamers touching here are to and from Hilo, to which point the sugar is shipped.”

Honomu Landing “consists of a derrick for handling heavy machinery at the foot of the bluff connected with an incline cable railway; also a wire landing for handling sugar and merchandise.”

“No outside freight is handled at this place, except by special arrangement and this is seldom because of the irregularity of steamer service-the outside freight of the sur rounding country being nearly all hauled overland from Hilo.  About 11,000 tons of plantation freight, incoming 6.700 tons of sugar are passed over this landing per year, nearly all of which goes to or comes from Hilo.”

Pepe‘ekeo Landing “consists of a derrick for heavy machinery and a wire rope for handling plantation sugar and merchandise. About 12,000 tons of plantation freight pass over this landing per year. There is no regular steamer service as the shipping at this place depends on the loading or discharging of vessels lying in Hilo harbor.”

Pāpa’ikou Landing “consists of a derrick at boat landing for handling heavy freight; a wire cable system operated from tower on top of low bluff is used for handling sugar and plantation merchandise: very little outside freight is handled over this landing, and only by special arrangement.”

Wainaku Landing “consists of derrick for handling incoming freight and heavy pieces of outgoing freight, and chute from warehouse to lighter for handling sugar.”

“This landing is a little less than one mile distance from Hilo on the Hilo Bay. All freight to and from this landing, with the exception of occasional cargoes of lumber or heavy machinery by Inter-Island steamers, is handled by lighters from ships lying in Hilo harbor.”

(Most information here related to respective landings comes from a 1910 ‘Report of the Commission Appointed to Investigate Private Wharves and Landings.’)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Captain Cook Monument

Between 1768 and 1778 England’s maritime explorer, James Cook, made three expeditions to the Pacific. Cook’s third (and final) voyage (1776-1779) of discovery was an attempt to locate a North-West Passage, an ice-free sea route which linked the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.  (State Library, New South Wales)

In the dawn hours of January 18, 1778, on his third expedition, British explorer Captain James Cook on the HMS Resolution and Captain Charles Clerke of the HMS Discovery first sighted what Cook named the Sandwich Islands (that were later named the Hawaiian Islands.)

On the afternoon of January 20, 1778, Cook anchored his ships near the mouth of the Waimea River on Kauai’s southwestern shore.  After a couple of weeks, there, they headed to the west coast of North America. After the West Coast, Alaska and Bering Strait exploration, on October 24, 1778 the two ships headed back to the islands.

“When Cook’s ships, the HMS Resolution and HMS Discovery entered Kealakekua Bay in January 1779, they had already paid brief visits to the Hawaiian islands of Kauai, Niihau and Maui and had sailed along much of the coast of Hawai‘i itself.” (Orr)

After a short stay, Cook got under sail again to resume his exploration of the Northern Pacific. Shortly after leaving Hawaiʻi Island, the foremast of the Resolution broke. They returned to Kealakekua.

“Upon coming to anchor, we were surprised to find our reception very different from what it had been on our first arrival; no shouts, no bustle, no confusion … but the hospitable treatment we had invariably met with, and the friendly footing on which we parted, gave us some reason to expect, that they would again have flocked about us with great joy, on our return.”

“… there was something at this time very suspicious in the behaviour of the natives; and that the interdiction of all intercourse with us, on pretence of the king’s absence, was only to give him time to consult with his chiefs in what manner it might be proper to treat us.” (‘The Voyages of Captain James Cook,’ recorded by Lieutenant James King) On February 14, 1779, Cook was killed.

“The bodies of Captain Cook and the four men who died with him were carried to Kalaniʻōpuʻu … and the chief sorrowed over the death of the captain. … Then they stripped the flesh from the bones of Lono. The palms of the hands and the intestines were kept; the remains (pela) were consumed with fire.” (Kamakau)

“The bones were preserved in a small basket of wicker-work, completely covered over with red feathers; which in those days were considered to be the most valuable articles the natives possessed, as being sacred, and a necessary appendage to every idol, and almost every object of religious homage throughout the islands of the Pacific.”  (Ellis)

Among Cook’s officers were George Vancouver, who would later lead a four-year survey of the northwest coast of America, and William Bligh, destined to be made famous by the storied mutiny on the Bounty. Also on board were Nathaniel Portlock and George Dixon.

“Vancouver and other noted English voyagers touching at Hawaii visited the fatal spot, but it was nearly fifty years before the event was commemorated in any tangible form. This first effort is to the credit of Lord Byron, commanding HBM’s ship Blonde (that brought from England the remains of Kamehameha II and his consort), during his visit at Kealakekua in July 1825”. (Thrum HAA, 1912)

“Lord Byron, Mr. Ball, Davis and [Andrew Bloxam] laid the first four stones of a pyramid to form the base of a monument to his memory. A large post was fixed in the middle of this, and on the top was nailed a brass plate, with the following words engraved upon it:”

“‘To the memory of Captain James Cook, R. N., who discovered these islands in the year of our Lord 1778. This humble monument was erected by his fellow countrymen in the year of our Lord 1825.’” (Restarick)

Later, as noted by Mark Twain in his visit to Kealakekua in 1866, “Tramping about … we suddenly came upon another object of interest. It was a cocoanut stump, four or five feet high, and about a foot in diameter at the butt.”

“It had lava bowlders piled around its base to hold it up and keep it in its place, and it was entirely sheathed over, from top to bottom, with rough, discolored sheets of copper, such as ships’ bottoms are coppered with. Each sheet had a rude inscription scratched upon it – with a nail, apparently – and in every case the execution was wretched.”

“It was almost dark by this time, and the inscriptions would have been difficult to read even at noonday, but with patience and industry I finally got them all in my note-book They read as follows: ‘Near this spot fell Captain James Cook The Distinguished Circumnavigator who Discovered these islands A.D. 1778. His Majesty’s Ship Imogene, October 17, 1837.’” (Mark Twain, Sacramento Daily Union, August 30, 1866)

Other remembrances Twain noted that different sheathing on the stump were, “This sheet and capping put on by Sparrowhawk September 16, 1839, in order to preserve this monument to the memory of Cook.”

Another noted, “This bay was visited, July 4, 1843, by HMS Carysfort, the Right Honorable Lord George Paulet, Captain, to whom, as the representative of Her Britannic Majesty Queen Victoria, these islands were ceded, February 25, 1843.”

More said, “This tree having fallen, was replaced on this spot by HMS V Cormorant, GT Gordon, Esq., Captain, who visited this bay May 18, 1846.”  “Parties from HM ship Vixen visited this spot Jan. 25 1858.” “Captain Montressor and officers of H. M. S. Calypso visited this spot the 18th of October, 1858.” (Twain)

Then, a more permanent memorial was built; the unveiling of what is the present Captain Cook monument in Kealakekua Bay took place on November 14, 1874.

The monument was constructed by Robert Lishman. “Mr. [Lishman], superintendent of public works, is now preparing material for a monument to the memory of Captain James Cook … The monument will be built of concrete stone, on the spot where the celebrated navigator fell at Kaawaloa, Kealakekua Bay, Hawaii.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, Oct 31, 1874)

(“In 1871, [Robert Lishman] was summoned from Australia where he had been living for many years, by King Kamehameha V to come to Hawaii to superintend the construction of Aliʻiolani Hale, and now known as the Judiciary building.” (Independent, May 13, 1902))

(Later, in 1876, Lishman designed and built the gothic style Royal Mausoleum for King Lunalilo on the grounds of Kawaiaha‘o Church. (HHF))

“The erection of a suitable and durable monument to the memory of Captain James Cook has been often proposed and more than once attempted, but has now been happily accomplished under the direction of Mr Wodehouse, the British Commissioner, with the cooperation of Captain Cator of HMS ship Scout …”

“… who kindly conveyed the architect and his men and materials to the spot in Kealakekua Bay, where the circumnavigator fell, and where now, nearly a century later, a fitting monument is at last dedicated to his memory.”

“It is a plain obelisk, standing on a square base, the whole being twenty-seven feet in height, and constructed throughout of a concrete composed of carefully screened pebbles and cement, similar to tie material of which the fine public buildings in this city are built.”

“It stands on an artificially leveled platform of lava only a few feet distant from and above the highwater mark, and fifteen or twenty yards from the shore or lava slab on which the great seaman stood when struck down.”

“The site is thus the most suitable that could have been chosen, and is the gift of Princess Likelike, wife of Hon. AS Cleghorn. The expense of the erection is partly borne by subscribers in England …”  (Hawaiian Gazette, November 25, 1874)

“At that time, the cannon and chain were not set up, Mr Lishman had nothing to do with that work. They were later put up by Lieutenant Robinson of the British sloop of war Tenedos.” (Hawaiian Star, May 13, 1902)

On January 26, 1877, a 5,682 square foot parcel of land was conveyed (for $1) by Her Royal Highness Princess Miriam Likelike (sister of Kalakaua and Lili‘uokalani) and Likelike’s husband Archibald S Cleghorn (parents of Ka‘iulani) “in Trust” to James Hay Wodehouse “Her Britannic Majesty’s Commissioner and Consul General for the said Kingdom of the Hawaiian Islands (hereinafter designated Trustee)”.

The land was conveyed “for the following uses and purposes and for none other that is to say in trust to keep and maintain on the granted premises a monument in memory of Captain Cook”. (Coulter)

“The site of Cook’s death is marked by a small plaque set in the stone at the water line.” (Orr)  “The original plaque’s history dates to 1928 and disappeared in 1956. Another plaque was installed by the British Consulate in the Hawaiian Islands, but was damaged in an attempted theft in 1985.”

“A new granite plaque was installed in 1990 after donations from private individuals. That plaque had been removed from its location after it became dislodged during an episode of high surf.” In 2018, “A new plaque that memorializes the spot where Captain James Cook was killed … is back on the historic Captain Cook memorial Awili landing at Ka‘awaloa.”

It reads: ‘Near This Spot Capt. James Cook Met His Death February 14, 1779’. DLNR’s Division of State Parks and others drilled and bolted a 260-pound concrete block and plaque in the original place. (DLNR Release, July 20, 2018)

(Contrary to urban legend, the monument site is not owned by the British Government; ownership has been in the name of the British Consul General (the individual) – a representative would check in with DLNR, from time to time.  And, lately, real property tax records note the owner of the land is ‘Captain Cook Monument Trust’ (others note that is a British non-profit).)

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