Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kihapū

Triton shell trumpets were used in Italy as long ago as 5150 BC. “Blowing shells” are called Shanka in India, Dung-dkar in Tibet, Quiquizoani in Mayan culture, Nagak in Korea, and Horagai in Japan. (Tarleton)

Conch is a common name of a number of different medium-to-large-sized gastropods (sea snails).  The pū is a Hawaiian conch shell; most in Hawai‘i are from the Triton’s Trumpet and the Helmet Shell.  (Tarleton)

The Pū was used to accompany chants, to announce the beginning of a ceremony, and to communicate across the ocean between people in canoes and those on land.  The blowing of the Pū should always be accompanied by protocol.

When it’s blown, how many times and in which directions all have a complex set of meanings. Traditionally, the Pū was not blown at night; it was thought that doing so would be a call to spirits of the night and darkness. (Hoewa‘a)

We first learn of conch shell use in Hawai‘i in a February 1779 entry in Cook’s Journal.  Initially, Cook “had been received with honour and various rites which he had failed to understand as identifying his arrival as that predicted for Lono, a local deity.”

“Having then left Hawaii he was forced back by storm and a broken mast – a return which caused confusion among the Hawaiians as not conforming to their understanding of the situation.”

The Journal notes, “During the whole morning, we heard conchs blowing in different parts of the coast; large parties were seen marching over the hills …”

“… and, in short, appearances were so alarming, that we carried out a stream anchor, to enable us to haul the ship abreast of the town, in case of an attack; and stationed boats off the north point of the bay, to prevent a surprise from that quarter. …”

Pukui provides insight on a conch story that happened a few centuries prior, “In the days when Kiha was chief of Waipi‘o life in that valley was made miserable by the sounding of the menehune pū. Above the cliff-walled valley was [menehune] land ,where the little people lived their lives with small concern for the Hawaiians below.”

“Our night was day for them and it was then they blew upon their pū, or conch-shell trumpet. Down into the valley came the clear sound of the pū to be tossed back and forth by echoing cliffs till all Waipi’o was filled with sound. Dogs woke and barked, babies cried and there was little sleep to be had the whole night through.”

“Kiha, the chief, offered a reward to any man who would steal the pū and bring it to him. … [Kiha approached a dog owner and] A sudden thought came to Kiha.”

“‘Do you think,’ he asked the old man, ‘that your dog [Puapua] could get something for me? Each night the menehune blow their conch-shell trumpet. There is no sleep for me! No sleep for all Waipi‘o! Do you think your dog can get that pu?’”  The dog then went to retrieve the pū.

“It was a big yellow dog who loosened the conch-shell trumpet, got it firmly in his mouth and stole out of the village onto the trail. Then he ran! But, as he ran swiftly, the wind blew through the conch with a low whistling. That sound woke the menehune. Their pū! Their pū was gone!”

“[T]he big dog scrambled from the river and dropped the pū at Kiha’s feet. Eagerly the chief picked it up. He had it! No more sleepless nights!”

“Kiha kept the pū. With it he sent messages or summoned workers. From that time it bore his name – the Kihapū.” (Pukui)

Kalākaua has a somewhat different take on Kihapū; he noted, “Many legends are related of the manner in which Kiha became

possessed of this marvellous shell …”

“… but the most probable explanation is that it was brought from some one of the Samoan or Society Islands three or four centuries before, and had been retained in the reigning family of Hawaii as a charm against certain evils.”

“In the hands of the crafty Kiha, however, it developed new powers and became an object of awe in the royal household. Whatever may have been the beneficent or diabolic virtues of this shell-clarion of Kiha-of the Kiha-pu, as it is called”.

In Kalakaua’s version, Kiha-pū was stolen from Kiha and he asked a man to have his dog retrieve it; “In a marshy forest in the mountains back of Waipio a band of conjuring outlaws have lately found a retreat.”

“A magic shell of great power, stolen from me many years ago, is now in the possession of some one of them-probably of Ika, their chief.”  The dog retrieved it for Kiha.

“The overjoyed king raised and placed the trumpet to his lips, and with a swelling heart roused the people of Waipio with a blast such as they had not heard for more than eight years.” (Kalakaua) Kahipū is at the Bishop Museum.

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Kukuiokāne

Heiau drum of Kukuiokāne deeply resounds,
unites the gathering of beloved ones.
Kumukumu’s kapu violated,

Kumukumu is near the head of Wailele stream, which joins Kamo‘oali‘i stream and flows into Kāne‘ohe Bay near Waikalua fishpond. The kukui tree is a form of the god Kamapua‘a, the pig god, and the chant calls on his boars to form a protective barrier around the heiau and the sacred trees:

Kāne’s boars surrounding the kukui grove.
Return again, and yet again, its sacredness to the earth,
living kapu of Kukuiokāne.

Beneath Keahiakahoe, the second-highest peak in the Ko‘olau range was the site of Kukuiokāne.  (Kawaharada)   Keahiakahoe is the name of the mountain which stands at the back of the ahupua‘a of Kaneohe.

It is a land of low hills and valleys, watered by spring-fed streams, and crowded with farms of taro sweet potatoes, sugar cane, pandanus, wauke, bananas and coconut palms. (Akaka)

“There was a farmer that lived in Ha‘ikū Valley and his name was Kahoe. The legend about Keahiakahoe has to do with his imu pit where he cooked his sweet potatoes. Keahiakahoe means ‘the fire of Kahoe.’ And the fire could be seen from the ocean side.”

“So the mountain top that is named for him, Ke Ahi a Kahoe, where the transmitter station was. The tallest part over He‘eia is that peak Keahiakahoe.” (Mahealani; Pacific Worlds)

Kukuiokāne heiau is a temple ruin of unknown antiquity. Probably, it was originally built at some time during the period A.D. 1400-1500, when the political control of the island of O‘ahu was unified under famous chiefs such as Kakuhihewa, Olopana, Kamapua‘a and Kalamakua. (This was a period in Hawaiian history where a number of large temples were built). (Akaka)

Kukuiokāne, light of Kāne, was once the largest and most important heiau of the region. The heiau was dedicated to Kāne, the god of life-giving water and farming.

Kāne was the leading god among the many gods of our ancestors, and Kāne was worshipped as the god of procreation and as the ancestor of both chiefs and commoners. (Akaka)

Kāne gives his name not just to the heiau, but to the ahupua‘a itself, Kāne‘ohe: ‘ohe, or bamboo, is one of his forms. (Landgraf & Hamasaki)

Thrum reported in 1915 that Kukuiokāne was “being destroyed” to plant pineapples fields. McAllister visited the area in 1933 and noted that the heiau was gone, but that “the ploughed-up remains indicate heavy walls and several terraces.”

In 1988, archaeologist Earl Neller reported that while probing for sites in the path of the freeway, he had found the site of the heiau. However, the following year, after further excavation, the Bishop Museum declared that the site identified by Neller represented dry land agricultural terraces, not a heiau. Work on the freeway continued. Neller was replaced.

In 1991, Bishop Museum’s archaeological project director Scott Williams concluded that the site identified by Neller and three adjoining sites formed an agricultural complex that included Kukuiokāne.

A place name and the flora around this site speak of the presence of Kāne and his heiau. A nearby site on the pali of Keahiakahoe is named Papua‘a a Kāne, the pig enclosures of Kāne, where the god is said to have kept his prized pigs. Beneath it is a grove of kukui trees, the rich, oily nuts providing food for the pigs.  (Landgraf & Hamasaki)

Because of the destruction of this heiau by Libby, McNeill & Libby Company, a disease attacked their pineapples and the undertaking was a failure, according to the old Hawaiians of the district.

The structure was said to be very large and if the many stones, some several feet in thickness, scattered throughout the area are any indication of the extent and importance of the former heiau, the native conception is quite justified. The ploughed-up remains indicate heavy walls and several terraces. It is impossible to obtain dimensions. (Kumupono)

Kukuiokane heiau was directly in the path of H-3 (the sixteen-mile freeway runs between the Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam (formerly Pearl Harbor Naval Base) in Pu‘uloa, and the Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Kaneohe Bay on Mōkapu Peninsula, tunneling through the Ko‘olau Mountains from Hālawa Valley to Ha‘ikū Valley).

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It all happened in about a year …

A lot went on in other parts of the world:

February 17, 1818 – Henry ‘Ōpukaha‘ia died at the Foreign Mission School in Cornwall CT

October 20, 1818 – the 49th parallel was established as the border between US & Canada

November 21, 1818 – Russia’s Czar Alexander I petitioned for a Jewish state in Palestine

December 24, 1818 – ‘Silent Night’ composed by Franz Joseph Gruber and first sung the next day (Austria)

December 25, 1818 – Handel’s Messiah, premiered in the US in Boston

January 2, 1819 – The Panic of 1819 began, the first major financial crisis in the US

January 25, 1819 – Thomas Jefferson founded the University of Virginia

February 6, 1819 – Sir Stamford Raffles entered into a treaty with the deposed Sultan of the area which gave Britain authority over the island of Singapore in return for a pension and recognition of that Sultan’s status as legitimate ruler.  (The event which founded modern Singapore.)

February 15, 1819 – The US House of Representatives agrees to the Tallmadge Amendment barring slaves from the new state of Missouri (the opening vote that led to the Missouri Compromise)

February 22, 1819 – Spain cedes Florida to the US

March 2, 1819 – Arkansas Territory is created

May 22 – June 20, 1819 – The SS Savannah became the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean (Savannah, Georgia to Liverpool, England

July 4, 1819 – Arkansas Territory is effective

August 6, 1819 – Norwich University is founded by Captain Alden Partridge in Vermont as the first private military school in the United States.

August 7, 1819 – Battle of Boyacá: Simón Bolívar was victorious over the Royalist Army in Colombia. Colombia acquired its definitive independence from Spanish monarchy.

August 24, 1819 – Samuel Seymour sketches a Kansa lodge and war dance at the present location of Manhattan, Kansas, while part of Stephen Harriman Long’s exploring party. This work is now the oldest drawing known to be made in the state of Kansas.

October 23, 1819 – led by Hiram Bingham, the Pioneer Company of American Protestant missionaries from the northeast US set sail on the Thaddeus for the Sandwich Islands (now known as Hawai‘i.)  The Mission Prudential Committee in giving instructions to the pioneers of 1819 said:

“Your mission is a mission of mercy, and your work is to be wholly a labor of love. … Your views are not to be limited to a low, narrow scale, but you are to open your hearts wide, and set your marks high. You are to aim at nothing short of covering these islands with fruitful fields, and pleasant dwellings and schools and churches, and of Christian civilization.”  (The Friend)

December 14, 1819 – Alabama is admitted as the 22nd US state

A lot went on in the Islands:

To set a foundation, we are reminded that in 1782 Kamehameha I began a war of conquest, and, by 1795, with his superior use of modern weapons and western advisors, he subdued all other chiefdoms, with the exception of Kauai.  King Kamehameha I launched two invasion attempts on Kauai (1796 and 1804;) both failed.

In 1804, King Kamehameha I moved his capital from Lāhainā, Maui to Honolulu, O‘ahu.  In the face of the threat of a further invasion, in 1810, Kaumuali‘i decided to peacefully unite with Kamehameha and ceded Kauai and Ni‘ihau to Kamehameha and the Hawaiian Islands were unified under a single leader. The agreement with Kaumuali‘i marked the end of war and thoughts of war across the archipelago.  Later, Kamehameha returned to his home, Kamakahonu, in Kailua-Kona on the Island of Hawaiʻi.

Here is some of what happened in Hawaiʻi in that fateful time:

September 11, 1818, Argentine corsair Hipólito (Hypolite) Bouchard (1783–1843,) signed and Kamehameha placed his mark on a Treaty of Commerce, Peace and Friendship with Hipólito Bouchard, that, reputedly, made Hawaiʻi the first country to recognize United Provinces of Rio de la Plata (Argentina) as an independent state.  In recognition of the reported ‘treaty’, there is a street in Buenos Aires, Argentina named Hawai (a bit misspelled.)

April of 1819, Don Francisco de Paula Marin was summoned to Kailua-Kona the Big Island of Hawai‘i to assist Kamehameha, who had become ill.  Although he had no formal medical training, Marin had some basic medical knowledge, but was not able to improve the condition of Kamehameha.

May 8, 1819, King Kamehameha I died.

“Kamehameha was a planner, so he talked to brothers Hoapili and Hoʻolulu about where his iwi (bones) should be hidden,” noting Kamehameha wanted his bones protected from desecration not only from rival chiefs, but from westerners who were sailing into the islands and sacking sacred sites. (Maiʻoho)

Their father, High Chief Kameʻeiamoku, was one of the “royal twins” who helped Kamehameha I come to power – the twins are on the Islands’ coat of arms – Kameʻeiamoku is on the right (bearing a kahili,) his brother, Kamanawa is on the left, holding a spear.

September 19, 1819, Edmond Gardner, captain of the New Bedford whaler Balaena (also called Balena,) and Elisha Folger, captain of the Nantucket whaler Equator, became the first American whalers to visit the Hawaiian Islands

November 1819, Kamehameha I, his son, Liholiho (King Kamehameha II) declared an end to the kapu system.   “An extraordinary event marked the period of Liholiho’s rule, in the breaking down of the ancient tabus (kapu), the doing away with the power of the kahunas to declare tabus and to offer sacrifices, and the abolition of the tabu which forbade eating with women (ʻai noa, or free eating.)”  (Kamakau)

“The custom of the tabu upon free eating was kept up because in old days it was believed that the ruler who did not proclaim the tabu had not long to rule…. The tabu eating was a fixed law for chiefs and commoners, not because they would die by eating tabu things, but in order to keep a distinction between things permissible to all people and those dedicated to the gods”. (Kamakau)

Kekuaokalani, Liholiho’s cousin, opposed the abolition of the kapu system and assumed the responsibility of leading those who opposed its abolition.  Kekuaokalani (who was given Kūkaʻilimoku (the war god) before his death) demanded that Liholiho withdraw his edict on abolition of the kapu system.  (If the kapu fell, the war god would lose its potency.)  (Daws)

The two powerful cousins engaged at the final Hawaiian battle of Kuamoʻo; Liholiho’s forces defeated Kekuaokalani.

December 1819, just seven months after the death of Kamehameha I, the allies of his two opposing heirs met in battle on the jagged lava fields south of Keauhou Bay.  Kekuaokalani (wanting restoration of the kapu) marched up the Kona Coast from Kaʻawaloa and met the warriors under Liholiho (Kamehameha II) at Kuamo‘o, just south of Keauhou.  Liholiho’s forces won.

April 4, 1820 (after 164-days at sea) the Thaddeus arrived and anchored at Kailua-Kona with the Pioneer Company of American Protestant missionaries

Over the course of a little over 40-years (1820-1863 – the “Missionary Period”,) about 180-men and women in twelve Companies served in Hawaiʻi to carry out the mission of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) in the Hawaiian Islands.)

At the time,

“This village (Honolulu,) which contains about two hundred houses, is situated upon a level plain extending some distance back from the bay part of which forms the harbour, to the foot of the high hills which abound throughout the Island. The little straw-huts clusters of them in the midst of cocoanut groves, look like bee-hives, and the inhabitants swarming about them like bees.”

“In passing through the midst, in our way to the open plain, it was very pleasant to hear their friendly salutation, Alloah (Aloha,) some saying, e-ho-ah, (where going?) We answered, mar-oo, up yonder. Then, as usual, they were pleased that we could num-me-num-me Owhyhee (talk Hawaiian.)”  (Sybil Bingham)

“Passing through the irregular village of some thousands of inhabitants, whose grass thatched habitations were mostly small and mean, while some were more spacious, we walked about a mile northwardly to the opening of the valley of Pauoa, then turning south-easterly, ascended to the top of Punchbowl Hill an extinguished crater, whose base bounds the north-east part of the village or town.”  (Hiram Bingham)

“Below us (below Punchbowl,) on the south and west, spread the plain of Honolulu, having its fish-pond and salt making pools along the sea-shore, the village and fort between us and the harbor, and the valley stretching a few miles north into the interior, which presented its scattered habitation and numerous beds of kalo (taro) in it various stages of growth, with its large green leaves, beautifully embossed on the silvery water, in which it flourishes.”  (Hiram Bingham)

“The soil is of the best kind, producing cocoanuts, bananas, and plantains, bread fruit, papia, ohia, oranges, lemons, limes, grapes, tamarinds, sweet potatoes, taro, yams, watermelons, muskmelons, cucumbers and pineapples, and I doubt not would yield fine grain of any kind.”  (Ruggles, The Friend)

“We were sheltered in three native-built houses, kindly offered us by Messrs. Winship, Lewis and Navarro, somewhat scattered in the midst of an irregular village or town of thatched huts, of 3,000 or 4,000 inhabitants.”  (Hiram Bingham)  “(O)ur little cottage built chiefly of poles, dried grass and mats, being so peculiarly exposed to fire, beside being sufficiently filled with three couples and things for immediate use, consisting only of one room with a little partition and one door.”  (Sybil Bingham)

“In addition to their homes, the missionaries had grass meeting places, and later, churches.  One of the first was on the same site as the present Kawaiahaʻo Church.  On April 28, 1820, the Protestant missionaries held a church service for chiefs, the general population, ship’s officers and sailors in the larger room in Reverend Hiram Bingham’s house.  This room was used as a school room during the weekdays and on Sunday the room was Honolulu’s first church auditorium.”  (Damon)

The image shows Liholiho eating with women (Mark Twain-Roughing It.) 

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Penal Colonies

Before 1778, crime and punishment were closely related to the social and political structure of society.  Crimes were judged by their relationship to religion and class.  Crimes against the kapu system were severely punished, often by death. For these crimes involved offenses against the gods or the great chiefs. Such offenses threatened the basis upon which society was organized.  (King)

John B Whitman who was in the Islands from 1813 to 1815 noted, “The word tarboo (kapu) is used to signify certain rites and ceremonies established by ancient custom, the origin of which is forbidden, either to touch, eat, drink, use, or wear ….”

“I have often witnessed with surprise, the strict attention paid to the observance of the tarboos of individuals, the variety of which, obliges them to be extremely careful, and to become well acquainted with those of the Chiefs, and their connections.”

Following the death of Kamehameha I in 1819, King Kamehameha II (Liholiho) declared an end to the kapu system.   “An extraordinary event marked the period of Liholiho’s rule, in the breaking down of the ancient tabus, the doing away with the power of the kahunas to declare tabus and to offer sacrifices”  (Kamakau)

In part needing to fill the void left by the abolition of the kapu, on March 8, 1822, two “Notices” (essentially the first printed laws) were published at Honolulu.

The first related to disturbances caused by seamen having liberty on shore and provided that any of them “found riotous or disturbing the peace” should be imprisoned in the fort and detained there until thirty dollars was paid for the release of each offender.”  (Kuykendall)

The second “Notice” read: “His Majesty the King, desirous of preserving the peace and tranquility of his dominions, has ordered that any foreigner residing on his Islands, who shall be guilty of molesting strangers, or in any way disturbing the peace, shall on complaint be confined in the Fort, and thence sent from the Islands by the first conveyance.”  (Kuykendall)

The King, Kuhina Nui and Chiefs decided that exile and banishment from the Kingdom was a way to handle troublesome foreigners. It was not long before they realized that the same principles could be used to control their own people. They began to define new laws and new crimes.  (King)

Missionary William Richards wrote, “The common penalty threatened to those who should break the laws, was banishment to the island of Tahoorawe (Kahoʻolawe) ….”

Describing the imprisonment of the first prisoners sent to the Island, Richards noted, “The chiefs then unanimously expressed their approbation of the sentence that had been passed upon them by the chiefs at Oʻahu, and declared their determination to punish all who should be guilty of like crimes.”

“They then called the governor of Kahurawe (Kahoʻolawe,) to whom they committed the criminals, charging him to keep them safely; at the same time telling him, that if they escaped from the island, he would be called to account for it.”

“Many of the older residents recall the common rumor in their early days here of that barren island having been a convict station, but, like the writer, are at a loss to define either the time of its designation as such, or its date of termination.”  (Thrum)

“In its origin, doubtless the fact that not a few escaped convicts from Botany Bay, who had made their presence felt on these shores in early days had familiarized the king and chiefs with the subject of banishment, was an influence toward its recognition and adoption here as a penalty for crime.”

“While the time and circumstance of its origin is clouded with uncertainty, it appears to have been a working factor at the time of the visit at these islands of Wilkes’ Exploring Expedition, in 1840-41.”  (Thrum)

The account therein given is the only one published by an early writer:  “Kahoʻolawe – is fourteen miles long by five miles wide. It is uninhabited except by a few fishermen, and is used as a place of exile; at this time there was one state prisoner confined on it. Lieut. Budd – set out in search of the town.”

“After wandering over the rugged face of this barren island for many miles he discovered, to his great joy, from the top of a ridge, a cluster of huts near the water, which they soon reached.”

“They proved to be inhabited by Kenemoneha, the exile above spoken of, who for the crime of forgery had been condemned to spend five years in exile upon this island. This was effected in a singular manner, and the punishment of the offender will serve to show the mode in which the laws are carried into execution.”

“The village is a collection of eight huts and an unfurnished adobe church. The chief has three large canoes for his use.  The only article produced on the island is the sweet potato, and but a small quantity of these.”

“All the inhabitants of the island are convicts, and receive their food from Maui; their present number is about fifteen. Besides this cluster of convicts’ huts there are one or two houses on the north end inhabited by old women. Some of the convicts are allowed to visit the other islands, but not to remain.”  (March, 1841)

“It used to be a penal settlement, and no doubt the convicts enjoyed there as much ease and freedom from both surveillance and labor as their hearts could wish. I have heard that the late Kinimaka had a fine time of it. He was a native of some little rank and had his own dependants who used to swim from the shores of Maui and take him what he wanted to make his banishment entirely agreeable.”

But Kahoʻolawe was not the only penal colony.

Kekāuluohi (Kuhina Nui as Kaʻahumanu III) (1839-1845) “made Kahoʻolawe and Lānaʻi penal settlements for law breakers to punish them for such crimes as rebellion, theft, divorce, breaking marriage vows, murder, and prostitution.”  (Kamakau)

Others substantiate it: “Enquiring among Hawaiians upon this subject we have an account from a venerable native writer of this city, formerly of Honuaʻula, Maui who testifies of his own knowledge not only of the existence of the penal settlement of Kahoolawe about the year 1840, but one also at Lae-o-Kaʻena, Lānaʻi; the former island being designated for the men, and the women being banished to the latter place.”

“The women were conveyed across to Lae-o-Kaʻena by the schooner Hoʻoikaika, afterwards the men were sent to Kahoʻolawe, among whom was the Maui chief Kinimaka, who was designated as superintendent of the exiles.”

“The work he assigned to them was the erection of houses of stone and dirt (adobe) at a place called Kaulana, a small bay, where with some residents they numbered 80 or more. After its designation as a convict station the former settlers left and returned to Honuaʻula, whence most of them had come.”

However, some of the men stole some canoes and “went over to Lae-o-Kaʻena, Lanai, and brought all the women to Kahoʻolawe to share their solitude .. (where) they lived peaceably together until in 1843 … (when they put an end to the law)  and sent the exiles to their respective localities to work upon the roads.”

“It is possible, however, that in the “Act of Grace” of Kamehameha III, in commemoration of the restoration of the flag by Admiral Thomas July 31st of that year, whereby “all prisoners of every description” committed for offenses during the period of cession “from Hawaiʻi to Niʻihau …”

“… be immediately discharged,” royal clemency was extended to include prisoners of earlier conviction, since which time the laws on banishment appear to have been a dead letter long before, dropped from the statutes, apparently without special repeal.”  (Thrum)

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Herman Melville

Herman Melville was born in New York City on August 1, 1819.  The family name was Melvill, and he added the “e” to the name.  His father was a merchant from New England. His mother came from an old, socially prominent New York Dutch family.

Melville lived his first 11 years in New York City.  After the collapse of the family’s import business in 1830 and Allan Melvill’s death in 1832, Herman’s oldest brother, Gansevoort, assumed responsibility for the family and took over his father’s business.

After two years as a bank clerk and some months working on the farm of his uncle, Thomas Melvill, Herman joined his brother in the business. About this time, Herman’s branch of the family altered the spelling of its name.

Inexperienced and now poor, Melville tried a variety of jobs between 1832 and 1841. He was a clerk in his brother’s hat store in Albany, worked in his uncle’s bank, taught school near Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

In 1839, at the age of 20, Melville took his first voyage across the Atlantic sea as a cabin boy on the merchant ship the St. Lawrence.  After this expedition and a year exploring the West, Melville joined the crew of the whaling ship Acushnet in January of 1841.

He later sailed for a year and a half aboard the Acushnet; Melville and a fellow seaman deserted the ship, only to be captured by cannibals in the Marquesas Islands, the Typee.  But the natives turned out to be gentle hosts.

More than five months after deserting the Acushnet, Melville’s adventures were not over.  He later joined the crew of whaler Charles and Henry, where he worked as harpooner.

When the Charles and Henry anchored in Maui Island five months later in April of 1843, Melville took up work as a clerk and bookkeeper in a general store in Honolulu.

On August 17, 1843, he enlisted as a seaman on the frigate “United States,” flagship of the Navy’s Pacific Squadron.

His four years during his twenties (1841-1845) working on whaling ships provided him with material for his first three novels.  Melville was also able to communicate the fear and terror of a whale hunt, a feat that would make his greatest work, Moby Dick, a literary tribute to the whaling industry.

Melville returned to his mother’s house determined to write about his adventures. His subsequent writings borrowed from his own experiences as well as other peoples’ fantastic stories that he heard during his travels.

The books that recounted his experiences and made his reputation were Typee (1846); Omoo (1847); Mardi (1849), a complex symbolic romance set in the South Seas; Redburn (1849) and White-Jacket (1850).

Melville then began Moby-Dick, another “whaling voyage,” as he called it, similar to his successful travel books. He had almost completed the book when he met Nathaniel Hawthorne (The Scarlet Letter, The House of the Seven Gables, etc.) Hawthorne inspired him to radically revise the whaling documentary into a novel of both universal significance and literary complexity.

Melville had a brief stay in Hawaiʻi.

In 1843, he spent four months in Hawaiʻi; at some point early in his stay he worked in a Honolulu bowling alley as a pinsetter.  He also spent time beachcombing in Lāhainā.

He describes surfing in passages of Mardi and a Voyage Thither (his first pure fiction work – reportedly based on his travels linked to his brief stay in the Islands:)
“Past the break in the reef, wide banks of coral shelve off, creating the bar where the waves muster for the onset, thundering in water bolts that shake the whole reef till its very spray trembles. And then is it that the swimmers of Ohonoo most delight to gambol in the surf.”

“For this sport a surfboard is indispensable, some five feet in length, the width of a man’s body, convex on both sides, highly polished, and rounded at the ends. It is held in high estimation, invariably oiled after use, and hung up conspicuously in the dwelling of the owner.”

“Ranged on the beach, the bathers by hundreds dash in and, diving under the swells, make straight for the outer sea, pausing not till the comparatively smooth expanse beyond has been gained. Here, throwing themselves upon their boards, tranquilly they wait for a billow that suits.”

“Snatching them up, it hurries them landward, volume and speed both increasing till it races along a watery wall like the smooth, awful verge of Niagara. Hanging over this scroll, looking down from it as from a precipice, the bathers halloo, every limb in motion to preserve their place on the very crest of the wave.”

“Should they fall behind, the squadrons that follow would whelm them; dismounted and thrown forward, as certainly would they be run over the steed they ride. ’Tis like charging at the head of cavalry; you must on.”

“An expert swimmer shifts his position on his plank, now half striding it and anon, like a rider in the ring, poising himself upright in the scud, coming on like a man in the air.”

“At last all is lost in scud and vapor, as the overgrown billow bursts like a bomb. Adroitly emerging, the swimmers thread their way out and, like seals at the Orkneys, stand dripping upon the shore.”  (Herman Melville)

Melville died September 28, 1891.  (The inspiration and information, here, is primarily from pbs-org)

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