Sailing, Shipping & Shipwrecks | Page 7

November 4, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Commercial Fishing in Hawai‘i

In traditional times in Hawai‘i, most of the makaʻāinana (‘common people’) were farmers, a few were fishermen. Tenants cultivated smaller crops for family consumption, to supply the needs of chiefs and provide tributes.

“The land area with which the Polynesian migrant first became familiar was of necessity that along shore, wherever his voyaging canoe made its landfall.”

“This area he termed ko kaha kai (place [land] by the sea). This might comprise a broad sandy beach and the flats above it, or the more rugged shore of cove or harbor with its rocky terrain-in fact many and varied descriptions might fit, according to locale.” (Handys & Pukui)

“The people had ample cultivable land in the moist upland from two to four miles inland at altitudes of one thousand to twenty-five hundred feet. … The soil is most fertile, being formed from the decay of recent lava flows.”

The food plants of Hawaiʻi can be divided into three groups: those known as staple foods (the principal starchy foods – kalo (taro,) ʻuala (sweet potato,) ʻulu (breadfruit,) etc;) those of less importance (to add nutrients and variety to the diet;) and those known as famine foods. (Krauss)

“For every fisherman’s house along the coasts there were hundreds of homesteads of planters in the valleys and on the slopes and plains between the shore and forest.”

“The Hawaiians, more than any of the other Polynesians, were a people whose means of livelihood, whose work and interests, were centered in the cultivation of the soil. The planter and his life furnish us with the key to his culture.” (Handys & Pukui)

“Fishermen and their families living around the bays and the beaches, or at isolated localities along the coast where fishing was practicable, led a life that was materially simpler than that of planters who dwelt on the plains.”

“Their life was less diversified. Many fishermen had not even a patch of ‘uala [sweet potato], for their dwelling places were too windy, too dry, too sandy, and too rocky to support even the hardy sweet potato.”

“They did not have access to pandanus for mat making, nor to wauke or other bark for tapa making, therefore their women had no need for sheds for such work.”

“The fishermen, however, did have halau or sheds for their canoes, nets, and other equipment, and undoubtedly put in as much time in working on hooks, lures, lines, and nets as the farmer gave to his plants. The planter, whose only tool was the digging stick, was not a craftsman as was the fisherman.”

“[T]he harvest festival known as the Makahiki … was the time when food, including hogs and sweet potato (the staple in this dry southern area), were laid on altars (ahu) dedicated to Lono, in tribute to the god who returned each year in the form of rain.” (Handys & Pukui)

“Following a strict code of conduct, which was based on ceremonial and ritual observances, the people of the land were generally able to collect all of the natural resources, including fish – and other marine and aquatic resources – for their own sustenance, and with which to pay tribute to the class of chiefs and priests, who oversaw them.”

“Shortly after the arrival of foreigners in the islands, the western concept of property rights began to infiltrate the Hawaiian system.”

“In the transition from a cultural subsistence-based system to the commercial economy, fish and other harvestable marine organisms went from being perceived and valued in a complex way that was embedded in nature and culture – one fostered through long-term stewardship – to fish as primarily being a commodity or simply food items.”

“What evolved in Hawai‘i under western influence … was the development of a ‘commercial’ fishing industry, involving significant trading centers and a market economy.” (Maly)

“Commercial fishing became important in the Hawaiian Islands with the arrival of the British and American whaling fleets during the early nineteenth century. [They] made Hawai‘i their provisioning and trading headquarters.” (Schug)

“[T]he systematic development of commercial fishing in Hawaii really was started by Japanese immigrants to the Islands.”

“Adapting techniques and vessel design brought from Japan to specific ocean conditions found in Hawaii, the Japanese longline fishermen virtually dominated the industry, as fishermen, auctioneers, and fish dealers, by the beginning of the twentieth century.”

“Gorokichi Nakasuji, often called the ‘father of commercial fishing,’ arrived in Hawaii in 1899. … Nakasuji was responsible for introducing the Japanese sampan to Hawaii waters; it soon became the prototype of Island fishing vessels.”

“Later Nakasuji installed the first gasoline engine in an aku sampan. These developments greatly expanded the ability of Japanese; fishermen to tap the resources of Hawaii’s deep sea fisheries.”

“Marketing of fish catches, however, proved a major impediment to the development of the industry. Because of the difficulties of keeping fish in fresh condition for market, catches were limited not by the amount of fish available, but by the amount a fisherman felt could easily be sold that day.”

“However, as transportation between the islands improved and as marketing advanced, the commercial fishing industry began to expand. In 1917, the MacFarlane Tuna Canning Company later called Hawaiian Tuna Packers opened for business, and canned tuna became a major outlet for surplus fresh catch.” (Nakayama, Menton)

October 15, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Papaʻāpoho

Papaʻāpoho describes a flat area with a depression or hollow, which is how the island of Papaʻāpoho is shaped. It’s over 1,000-miles from Honolulu.

This 23.4-million-year-old island is over 1.2-miles across and has a land area of approximately 400-acres, making it the third largest island within the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument (to the northwest of the Main Hawaiian Islands.)

Like its name, the island has an elevated rim (its highest point is a 40-foot-high sand dune) surrounding a broad central depression; its lowest point is a depression to the south that runs as a channel toward the ocean.

“This is a low, sandy island, elevated from 20 to 40 feet above the sea. It is about 1 1/4 miles long, and the northern part one mile wide; the surface is covered with green coarse grass.”

“There is what has been a lagoon near the southern part of the island, in the centre of which fresh water was found by digging 5-feet. Birds, fish, seal and turtle abound here, but not so plentiful as at Laysan Island.” (Paty, Polynesian, June 6, 1857)

At 10 pm, October 15, 1805, Urey Lisiansky (Yuri Fyodorovich Lisyansky,) an officer in the Imperial Russian Navy and commanding officer of the exploratory sloop-of-war Neva, ran aground on the island. Captain Lisiansky jettisoned some of the ship’s cargo to free themselves from the shallow waters.

“This island promises nothing to the adventurous voyager but certain danger in the first instance, and almost unavoidable destruction in the event. It stands in the middle of a very perilous coral bank, and, exclusive of a small eminence on the eastern part, lies almost on a level with the sea.” (A Voyage Round the World, Lisiansky, 1805)

“As there is no water, so neither are any trees to be seen on this island. We found, however, several large trunks of trees on the beach, which, no doubt, had been thrown up by the sea. … They were like the red-wood tree, that grows on the banks of the river Columbia in America. I am at a loss what conclusion to draw from the appearance of these trunks of trees in so remote a place.” (A Voyage Round the World, Lisiansky, 1805)

“I also found on the beach a small callabash, which had a round hole cut on one side of it. This could not have been drifted from a great distance, as it was fresh and in good preservation.” (A Voyage Round the World, Lisiansky, 1805)

Before leaving, Lisiansky named the island and shoal; “To the south-east point of the bank where the vessel grounded, I gave the name of Neva; while the island itself, in compliance with the unanimous wishes of my ship’s company, received the appellation of Lisiansky.” (A Voyage Round the World, Lisiansky, 1805)

The spelling Lisianski (not Lisyansky) was officially adopted by the US Geographic Board, October 1, 1924. Other names by which the island has been called include: Lisiansky, Lysianski, Lassion and Pell. (Thrum)

In 1857, King Kamehameha IV asked Captain John Paty to make a voyage of exploration to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. In part, he was sent to investigate the possibility of guano deposits on islands there (for fertilizer for the growing agricultural economy back on the Main Hawaiian Islands.

In addition, he confirmed or corrected the existence (or not) of many islands noted on old charts; “A considerable portion of the time absent has been consumed in looking after islands and banks which do not exist, or are erroneously marked on Blunt’s charts.” (Paty, Polynesian, June 6, 1857)

In the course of his voyage on the schooner “Manuokawai,” on May 11, 1857, Paty took possession of Lisianski Island for the Hawaiian Kingdom (he had previously annexed Laysan, its nearest neighbor, on May 1, 1857.)

In 1890, George D Freeth, an Englishman who had visited the area as early as 1864, and George N Wilcox, who had previously managed a guano operation on Jarvis Island, formed the North Pacific Phosphate and Fertilizer Company.

March 31, 1893, the Provisional Government of the Hawaiian Islands adopted Act 22, confirming the contract between the Minister of Interior and North Pacific for a license for the removal of guano and phosphates from Lisianski (and Laysan.)

Guano mining (1890s,) the release of rabbits (1903) and mice caused ecological damage to Lisianski, as well as the loss of a breeding population of land birds (the Laysan duck was first reported on Lisianski Island in 1828.)

Feather collecting began on Lisianski about 1904. In response to public outcry about the feather trade, Theodore Roosevelt established the Hawaiian Island Bird Reservation, which included Lisianski, in 1909.

An armed party landed on the island in 1910. They arrested feather poachers and confiscated and destroyed about 1.4 tons of feathers, representing 140,400 birds. (NOAA)

Today, with poaching at an end, the rabbits exterminated, and the vegetation again spreading over its low sandy surface, Lisianski once more is becoming a populous bird sanctuary. (janeresture)

It is home to a large Bonin petrel colony (over three-quarters of the Bonin Petrels that nest in Hawaii nest here) and sooty tern colony, as well as a variety of other seabirds.

Lisianski has the only grove of Pisonia grandis trees in the entire Hawaiian Archipelago; this tree is dispersed by seabirds and is favored as a nesting site for many tree-nesting seabird species.

The reefs of Lisianski and surrounding Neva Shoals are called “coral gardens” by some scientists because of their abundance of coral and the variety of growth forms assumed by their colonies, including structures resembling spires, castles, and a variety of other shapes.

Hawaiian monk seals and green sea turtles are common visitors to Lisianski’s sandy white beaches. Migratory shorebirds seen on the island include the kolea (golden plover,) ulili (wandering tattler,) and kioea (bristle-thighed curlew.) The volcanic island is undergoing the slow process of erosion. (NOAA)

Click HERE for a link to a ‘street view’ of Lisianski.

October 10, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Scurvy

“(A) sailor’s diet consisted of salted fish and meat, dried vegetables, weeviled biscuits and rancid oils, cheese, and butter. … The caloric content – estimated at 2,500-3,000 calories – was adequate, but the diet was sorely deficient in vitamins.”

“In the absence of vitamin C, rampant scurvy became responsible for thousands of sailors’ deaths and disabilities. On long voyages, nearly three-quarters of a ship’s crew was likely to be unable to sail because of this deficiency.” (Cuppage)

Scurvy (derived from the Latin name scorbutus) is a disease that occurs when you have a severe lack of vitamin C (ascorbic acid) in your diet. Scurvy causes general weakness, anemia, gum disease and skin hemorrhages. (nih-gov)

It is a gradually debilitating disease that destroys the body’s connecting tissues, causing lethargy, blotchy skin, rotting gums and teeth, and reopening of old wounds or healed fractured bones. If not treated, scurvy leads to death.

Scurvy was at one time common among sailors, pirates and others aboard ships at sea longer than perishable fruits and vegetables could be stored (subsisting instead only on cured and salted meats and dried grains) and by soldiers similarly deprived of these foods for extended periods.

“The plague of the sea,” killed over an estimated 2-million sailors during the Age of Sail. Far more naval personnel died from scurvy than all other diseases combined, including deaths from combat, storms, disasters and shipwrecks. (Captain Cook Society)

In the early years, its causes were imperfectly diagnosed according to prevailing medical theories and assumptions. Mandated treatments prescribed included bleeding and a host of concoctions, some of which would now be considered potentially harmful (e.g. mercury and sulphuric acid.)

One of Captain James Cook’s most important discoveries during his voyages was actually about food. Cook realized that there were certain foods that, if eaten, prevented scurvy. (Mariners Museum)

Cook experimented with a variety of alternatives to combat scurvy. Bown writes, Cook used “a regiment of cleanliness, fresh air, and an antiscorbitic diet.” (Captain Cook Society)

Cook took two major steps to change the diet of his crew. First, every time the ships stopped anywhere that grew fresh fruit and vegetables, he bought some to feed to the crew. However, because there were sometimes weeks between stops, and fruit and vegetables would rot in that time, he had to have another plan. (Mariners Museum)

Cook “eagerly embraced” the Admiralty’s tactics by stocking on board a range of antiscorbitics such as sauerkraut, wort of malt, carrot marmalade, and concentrated (robs) of orange and lemon juice, among other treatments.

He encouraged naturalists who sailed on voyages to identify edible plants to fight scurvy. Fresh vegetables and fruits were added to the ships’ food supply (e.g., scurvy grass, wild celery, the Kerguelen Cabbage.)

After Cook ordered sauerkraut served daily at the “Cabbin Table”, the once-reluctant sailors ate it as well and “murmurings” against it ceased. Cook’s experiments with “rigid enforcement of diet and cleanliness” led to “unheard of accomplishment.” (Captain Cook Society)

Cook’s crew was out to sea for a longer period of time than any sailors before them. And yet, not one of Cook’s sailors died of scurvy. This means that Cook proved that certain foods could prevent scurvy, and smart sea captains after him followed his example and took sauerkraut, fruit and vegetables on their voyages. (Mariners Museum)

Cook’s crew first sighted the Hawaiian Islands in the dawn hours of January 18, 1778. His two ships, the HMS Resolution and the HMS Discovery, were kept at bay by the weather until the next day when they approached Kauai’s southeast coast.

On the afternoon of January 19, native Hawaiians in canoes paddled out to meet Cook’s ships, and so began Hawai‘i’s contact with Westerners. The Hawaiians traded fish and sweet potatoes for pieces of iron and brass that were lowered down from Cook’s ships to the Hawaiians’ canoes.

The first written record of sugarcane in Hawaiʻi came from Captain James Cook, at the time he made initial contact with the Islands. On January 19, 1778, of Kauai, he notes, “We saw no wood, but what was up in the interior part of the island, except a few trees about the villages; near which, also, we could observe several plantations of plantains and sugar-canes.” (Cook)

Cook notes that sugar was cultivated, “The potatoe fields, and spots of sugar-canes, or plantains, in the higher grounds, are planted with the same regularity; and always in some determinate figure; generally as a square or oblong”. (Cook)

It appears Cook was the first outsider to put sugarcane to use. One of his tools in his fight against scurvy was beer.

On December 7, 1778 he notes, “Having procured a quantity of sugar cane; and having, upon a trial, made but a few days before, found that a strong decoction of it produced a very palatable beer, I ordered some more to be brewed, for our general use.”

“A few hops, of which we had some on board, improved it much. It has the taste of new malt beer; and I believe no one will doubt of its being very wholesome. And yet my inconsiderate crew alleged that it was injurious to their health.” (Cook)

“I gave myself no trouble, either by exerting authority, or by having recourse to persuasion, to prevail upon them to drink it; knowing that there was no danger of the scurvy, so long as we could get a plentiful supply of other vegetables”.

“But, that I might not be disappointed in my views, I gave orders that no grog should be served in either ship. I myself, and the officers, continued to make use of this sugarcane beer, whenever we could get materials for brewing it.” (Cook, 1778) The image shows Captain Cook.

August 25, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kahului Landing

It is believed that initial Polynesian discovery and settlement of the Hawaiian Islands occurred between approximately AD 1000 and 1200. (Kirch) This effectively started the ‘Settlement’ phase.

For generations, the small, slowly growing population clustered around shore sites near streams that supplied them with water. Such sites are best for inshore fishing.

Kamakau states that there were no chiefs in the earliest period of settlement but that they came “several hundred years afterward … when men became numerous.” The communities shared familial relations and there was an occupational focus on collection of marine resources.

By the 14th century, inland elevations to around the 4,000 foot level were being turned into cultivated fields of the early dryland Kona Field System.

By the 15th century, residency in the dry uplands was becoming permanent, and there was an increasing separation of chiefly class from commoners. In the 16th century the population stabilized and the ahupua‘a land management system was established as a socio-economic unit. (Kepā Maly)

“The sweet potato and gourd were suitable for cultivation in the drier areas of the islands. The cult of Lono was important in those areas, particularly in Kona on Hawaii and ‘Ulupalakua on Maui . At both of these places there were temples dedicated to Lono. The sweet potato was particularly the food of the common people.” (Handy Handy & Pukui)

In the later Hawaiian period (c. 1600-1800), leading to the eventual rise of Kamehameha I to power (c.1791 A.D.), the ko kula kai and ko kula uka (coastal and upland-slopes) of this area came to be extensively cultivated with important staple and supplemental crops suited to dryland planting techniques and the Kona environment. (Kepa Maly)

“Not the smallest piece of Ground was left uncultivated. By their accounts it is hardly possible that this Country can be better cultivated or made to yield a greater sustenance for the inhabitants; they passed thro fields of hay, with which they cover the young Tarro Grounds, to prevent the suns drying it up.”

“In their walk through the Villages they met with real hospitality, every one was desirous of entertaining them, & used enticing arts to prevail upon them to stay some time amongst them; these Villages were never found farther than 4 or 5 miles from the sea side”. (Journals of Captain James Cook, Beaglehole)

“Small bays generally had a cluster of houses where the families of fishermen lived-as in Kona, Hawaii, in the specific localities of Kailua, Holualoa, Kahalu‘u, Keauhou, Napo‘opo‘o, Honaunau, Kealakekua, and Ho‘okena. … Wherever a ruling ali‘i had his establishment there was a large aggregation of domiciles.” (Handy, Handy & Pukui)

Of significance to the land of Kahului, is the fact that a number of early historians record that the area between modern day Kailua Town to Keauhou, was favored by the ali‘i nui (high ranking chiefs) of the island of Hawai‘i as a residence. (Maly)

Kahului is a ili within the ahupua‘a of Holualoa. (Ili, ahupua‘a and moku are Hawaiian terms that refer to land divisions. A moku is a large section of an island, while an ahupua‘a is a portion of a moku that is typically somewhat pie-shaped, and runs from the mountains to the ocean, and an ili is a portion of an ahupua‘a.) (NPS, Henderson House) (Others suggest Kahului is an ahupua‘a.)

Kahului is a part of this larger district that was a significant political seat and population center. (Maly) On the makai side, at Kahului Bay, was a canoe landing.

“Look at all the ulu niu [coconut grove]. This is about 1890, it’s Kahului Bay, there are canoes at the landing, the sand was up. Look where all the people are standing. And there are thatched house here. This is where the Kona Tiki Hotel is now.” (Kepā Maly)

“You know, the shore was very different here, even when I was young. The beach came up with sand and rocks into the yard, and there used to be an old canoe and boat landing in front here. You know Kahului was an important landing, before days.”

“Over there [pointing to a thatched house in the picture on the north side of the landing] that’s where the Kona Tiki Hotel is now. You see, they’ve filled all this in to make the road and hotel. The landing is all changed now.”

“But look, there are so many people, all Hawaiians down on the shore. Now almost all the families are gone. Our house would be just off the picture here. Now, all these walls and house sites are all gone too.” (Luciana Ka‘ailehua Makuakâne-Tripp, Interview with Kepa Maly)

August 14, 2024 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Ships versus Canoes

Humans have tended to live near water, and it is natural to make use of things that float. Logs or bundles of reeds were lashed together to form rafts; hollow trunks can be improved to become dugout canoes. (HistoryWorld)

In ancient marine times, people used rafts, logs of bamboo, bundles of reeds, air filled animal skins and baskets to traverse small water bodies. The first boat was a simple frame of sticks lashed together. (Karanc)

The earliest known boats were log-boats or dugouts, with examples from Holland and Denmark going back to the Middle Stone Age or Mesolithic. (Wright) Carbon dating of a Danish dugout canoe shows its age at between 8040 and 7510 BC.

Over five thousand years ago, in Mesopotamia (present day Syria and Iraq, between the Mediterranean Sea and Persian Gulf,) it is thought that the first sailing vessels were used (a square sail acted like a modern-day spinnaker to run with the wind.)

About 3000 BC, Greek ships had sails, and were pushed along by the wind. Small trading ships usually stayed close to the shore, so the sailors did not get lost. Greek warships had oars as well as sails – some as long as 115-feet.

The earliest plank-built boats (planks attached to a ribbed frame) are from Ancient Egypt and include the royal barge of Pharaoh Cheops, found dismantled in a rock-crypt in front of the great Pyramid and dated to about 2600 BC.

The invention of the sail was the greatest turning point in maritime history. The sails replaced the action of human muscles and sail boats could embark on longer trips with heavier loads. Earlier vessels used square sails that were best suited for sailing down wind. Fore and aft sails were devised later.

Egyptians take the credit for developing advanced sailing cargo ships. These were made by lashing together and sewing small pieces of wood. These cargo ships were used to transport great columns of stone for monument building. (Karanc)

Sea-going vessels followed and are depicted in bas-reliefs and wall paintings. In the Aegean a positive regatta of boats was depicted in fresco on the walls of a building destroyed by the great volcanic eruption of the island of Thera (Santorini) around 1400 BC.

In 1947, Thor Heyerdahl, departed from Peru on the balsawood raft Kon-Tiki, demonstrating that a vessel made of nine balsa tree trunks up to 45-feet long, 2-feet in diameter, lashed together, could have been carried people 5,000-miles across the Pacific Ocean out 1,500 years ago.

In 1970, using Ra II, a papyrus reed lashed boat, Heyerdahl showed such vessels could cross the Atlantic, from Morocco to Barbados.

As boat designed evolved, the Vikings (around the 8th – 12th centuries) incorporated a keel into the hull design. Sails evolved, too; most look to the development of the triangular sail as the significant innovation (called lanteen (Latin) found in the Persian Gulf. Combined, this is basically what we know as today’s sailboat.

Before European open ocean exploration began, Eastern Polynesia had been explored and settled. (Herb Kane)

More than three thousand years ago, the uninhabited islands of Samoa and Tonga were discovered by an ancient people. With them were plants, animals and a language with origins in Southeast Asia; and along the way they had become a seafaring people.

Arriving in probably a few small groups, and living in isolation for centuries, they evolved distinctive physical and cultural traits. Samoa and Tonga became the cradle of Polynesia, and the center of what is now Western Polynesia. (Herb Kane)

Because of the great distances, these must have been sailing double-hulled canoes, with paddling as auxiliary power used only for brief periods-to launch or land canoes, or keep off a dangerous lee shore.

Changes in the primary power mode of the larger canoes of the Hawaiian Islands from sail to paddling, followed by a return to sail.

Voyaging vessels were double-hull; hulls were deep enough to track well while sailing across the wind or on a close reach into the wind. The round-sided V hulls provided lateral resistance to the water while under sail. (Herb Kane)

The most widely distributed and presumably most ancient sail was a triangle made up of strips of fine matting sewn together and mounted to two spars, one serving as a mast; the other, as a boom, usually more slender and either straight or slightly curved.

Throughout Eastern Polynesia, the same basic design probably persisted throughout the era of long distance two-way voyaging. (Herb Kane)

The double-hulled voyaging canoes were seaworthy enough to make voyages of over 2,000 miles along the longest sea roads of Polynesia, like the one between Hawai‘i and Tahiti.

And though these double-hulled canoes had less carrying capacity than the broad-beamed ships of the European explorers, the Polynesian canoes were faster: one of Captain Cook’s crew estimated one could sail “three miles to our two.” (Kawaharada)

In 1976, Hokuleʻa, the double-hulled Hawaiian voyaging vessel, demonstrated the Hawaiʻi – South Pacific sailing, when it left Hawaiʻi and reached Tahiti. (Hokuleʻa continues today on a worldwide voyage.)

Voyaging between Hawaiʻi and the South Pacific appears to have ceased several centuries before European arrival. No explanation is found in the traditions. (Herb Kane)

As long distance voyaging declined, the need shifted from voyaging canoes to large canoes for chiefly visits and warfare within the Hawaiian Islands, resulting in changes in canoe design.

For these short coastal and inter-island trips, paddling replaced sailing as the dominant power mode. Never certain when hospitality might turn sour, chiefs prudently traveled with bodyguards. (Herb Kane)

Throughout the years of late-prehistory, AD 1400s – 1700s, and through much of the 1800s, the canoe was a principal means of travel in ancient Hawaiʻi. Canoes were used for interisland and inter-village coastal travel.

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.

Fast forward to post-‘contact’ and the time of the Islands’ unification; a new style of boat was in the islands and Kamehameha started to acquire and build them.

The first Western-style vessel built in the Islands was the Beretane (1793.) Through the aid of Captain George Vancouver’s mechanics, after launching, it was used in the naval combat with Kahekili’s war canoes off the Kohala coast. (Thrum)

Encouraged by the success of this new type of vessel, others were built. The second ship built in the Islands, a schooner called Tamana (named after Kamehameha’s favorite wife, Kaʻahumanu,) was used to carry of his cargo of trade to the missions along the coast of California. (Couper & Thrum, 1886)

From 1796 until 1802 the kingdom flourished. Several small decked vessels were built. (Case) According to Cleveland’s account, Kamehameha possessed at that time twenty small vessels of from twenty to forty tons burden, some even copper-bottomed. (Alexander)