Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

125 Years of Young Brothers

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

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

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

Avalon, Catalina Island

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

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

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

The Great Adventure

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

“At last, on January 19, after a fine voyage, we sighted Honolulu. The green shores. the white beach and coral formations, the boats of the Kanakas, the town rising at the harbor edge to be lost in the verdure of the tropical plants …”

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

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

“We dropped anchor at quarantine and stood on deck, silently, in wonder at the natural beauty of the island. Would our dreams come true here?”

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

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

 They Formed Young Brothers

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

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

They did other things to entertain people, as well.

Shark Hunting

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

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

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

Flying Fish Hunting

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

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

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

Activities In and Around Honolulu Harbor

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

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

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

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

Young Brothers Boathouse

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

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

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

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

Young Brothers Incorporated in 1913

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

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

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

Libby’s

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

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

Tandem Towing

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

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

Building Breakwaters

Most associate Young Brothers as an inter-island barge company.  But, in their early years in the Islands, Young Brothers did a lot of things.  Young Brothers was given a contract to help with the original dredging of Pearl Harbor. They engaged to tow mud scows out to sea and dump them.

They also got involved in the construction of a couple substantial breakwaters that continue to protect Hilo and Nawiliwili.

Miki and Kāpena Class of Tugs

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

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

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

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

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

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

Young Brothers Moving Forward

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

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

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

Our Young Family Connection

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

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

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

Click the link for more information on the 125 Anniversary:

Click to access 125_Years_of_Young_Brothers.pdf

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

© 2025 Ho‘okuleana LLC

by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Jean François de Galaup, comte de LaPérouse

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Captain George Gilley

“Word of the Bonin Islands had reached Hawaii, and there were already one or two of the chance residents in Oahu who were entertaining the idea of going to these newly-discovered islands and trying their fortune there as colonists.”

“In [1830] Captain Samuel H Dowsett, father of Mr JI Dowsett of this city, look in the schooner Unity the first inhabitants and colonists to the Bonin Islands.”

“The members of the expedition were almost all foreigners married to Hawaiian women, under the leadership of one Mazarro, an Italian. Others were Millinchamp … Savory and Gilley …” (Daily Bulletin, Aug 23, 1883)

“By 1835, their grass-hut settlement attracted at least six more enterprising wāhine and several other disaffected Westerners, including Englishman William Gilley. One of the colony’s 16 wāhine bore children who took his name – among them William Jr., Michael, Lizzie, and around 1840, George.” (Hancock)

“[S]upplies came by way of roving whalers that occasionally appeared on the eastern horizon. As a teenager, George Gilley jumped at the first opportunity to leave on one, arriving in Hawai‘i via a whaling ship and sticking around.”

“An 1855 letter, sent to the Bonin Islands from a family friend in Honolulu, mentioned that ‘George has been here 2 or 3 times but I could not persuade him to go home and see his mother. He seems to like this place so much.’” (Hancock)

Historians suggest “that young Hawaiian males left Hawai’i as workers on whaling ships and traveled to China, Europe, Mexico, and the U.S. mainland. In addition, many ventured into the Pacific Northwest territory, worked in the fur trade, and ended up settling in those areas.” (pbs-org)

“Hawaiian sailors were known for their seamanship and swimming abilities and made desirable recruits for the whaling captains, so much so that the Hawaiian government began to regulate this recruitment and passed laws requiring bonds to ensure the sailors’ return to the islands as early as the 1830s.”

“The demographic decline due to foreign diseases (an additional import of the early western whalers) made it all the more important to ensure the return of local sailors to Hawai‘i. Nonetheless, the role of Kānaka maoli in the American whaling fleet continued to increase.”  (NOAA)

“Sandwich Island crew … are complete water-dogs, therefore very good in boating. It is for this reason that there are so many of them on the coast of California; they being very good hands in the surf.”

“They are also quick and active in the rigging, and good hands in warm weather; but those who have been with them round Cape Horn, and in high latitudes, say that they are useless in cold weather. In their dress they are precisely like our sailors.”  (Dana, 1840)

“Gilley is described as ‘one of Hawaii’s own children’ and many of the crew also are reported to be from Hawai’i. This portrayal dovetails with other narratives about Captain Gilley’s Kanaka heritage and the vessel’s primarily Native Hawaiian crew.” (Lebo)

“Many thousands of Native Hawaiian seamen took whaling cruises beginning with four young men who left in 1819 aboard the American whaleship Balaena. … over 7,000 native seamen … shipped aboard foreign whaling vessels between 1859 and 1867.” (Lebo)

Of all of those Hawaiians that set sail, George Gilley is “the only known Native Hawaiian whaling captain in history”. (Hancock) (Lebo)

“Gilley navigated Arctic storms and treacherous fields of coral, ice, and thrashing leviathans that shivered the timbers of all who braved the North Pacific in the great blubber rush of the 19th century.”

“Propelled by a jetstream of sheer talent, Gilley was an exemplar of the Native Hawaiian initiative, skill, and fearlessness that rendered a small island kingdom a player in the global economy.” (Hancock)

Gilley, as Captain of the William H Allen, was involved in a couple notable, fateful voyages in the north Pacific … there was an Arctic whaling disaster that included “the loss of 11 whaling vessels, including the Desmond, all of which were abandoned in the ice near Point Tangent, Alaska, on September 5, 1876.” (Lebo)

“The [William] H Allen. This Honolulu whaler and trader returned from the Arctic on Thursday last, have done very fairly. She brings two survivors of the wrecked crews of last season, the only ones, so far as at present known, remaining out of the sixty men who elected to stay by the ships.”

One of these is a Hawaiian and the other a Tahitian. They report that one of the ships – the Acors Barnes – could have been got out last fall, but that the Tahitians on board found some rum, got drunk, and run her ashore. The two [survivors] lived among the Indians during the winter.” (PCA, Oct 27, 1877)

Then, “At East Cape, the crew of the [William] H Allen had a fight [some called it a massacre] with the Indians, who boarded her and demanded rum. This being refused the Indians began an [assault] upon the crew, which ended in the killing of some fifteen of the former.”

“The Indians of that locality have long been reputed to be a bad lot. In the attack, one Hawaiian seaman lost his life [Honuailealea (Lebo)], and two were wounded.” (PCA, Oct 27, 1877)

“[T]he trading conflict revolved around liquor, a commodity the whalers often traded to Siberian and Alaskan natives for ivory, furs, and other local articles. … The traders included several chiefs, numerous young men, a few women, and several elderly men.”

“They came from one of several villages at Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska. They frequently traded with whalers and with native communities on both sides of the Bering Strait as well as those who lived on the intervening islands.” (Lebo)

“[A]t 4 o’clock in the afternoon on the 4th of July, 1877, a canoe drew abreast of us, and then left; after that, another canoe pulled up, with thirty or more men aboard, along with two women. When they approached the ship, two chiefs boarded, along with the men, while the women remained on the canoe.” (Polapola; Lebo)

“[O]ne of the chiefs was caught stealing liquor and that the skirmish erupted when that chief and another native assaulted the captain and first mate.” (Lebo)  “After our battle, the Hawaiians were victorious”. (Polapola; Lebo)

“Gilley and his crew of Hawaiians, African Americans, and Cape Verdeans killed thirteen Alaska Natives … The episode reverberated for years, and trust between the whalers and the Native population around Cape Prince of Wales never recovered.”  (NPS)

“Sometime around Kalākaua’s birthday race in 1880, Gilley registered a home address in Pauoa, O‘ahu, but he did not stay there long. He followed the whaling industry to San Francisco, where he became captain of the bark Eliza until at least 1884, touching at Honolulu occasionally.”

“By 1886, the middle-aged whaler downgraded station but upgraded technology, becoming first mate on the steam-powered Grampus. No longer captain, Gilley lost regular listing in whaleship reports.” (Hancock)

“In 1899, gold was discovered at the coastal settlement of Nome, Alaska, drawing thousands of prospectors and, apparently, George Gilley, who arrived via the bark Alaska in the spring of 1900.”

“In August, he sailed over to the Siberian coast, and anchored near the shore. … As the ship approached Sledge Island, about 20 miles offshore, Gilley took a seat on the ship’s rail and looked across the blue at the coast of stone gray and green.”

“Then the wind shifted, and for once in his life, he did not rise to meet its force. The boom swung around and knocked George Gilley into the frigid sea. His men raced astern as the ship grazed onward, only to watch him drown.”

“The crew worked like whalers, and not without difficulty, to hoist Gilley’s lifeless body out of the water, back into the crisp morning air. They took him on to Nome. … His death was not evidently reported in Hawai‘i.” (Hancock)

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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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