Bligh | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

April 28, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

London Missionaries to Tahiti Aided by Bounty Mutineers

Captain James Cook made three Pacific voyages, which covered a continuous period of British exploration in the south Pacific from 1764 to 1780. Cook’s first expedition (1768-1771) was under the auspices of the British Admiralty and the Royal Society, primarily to observe the transit of Venus from the newly found island of Tahiti.

On this trip, Cook and Joseph Banks, botanist aboard the ship, discovered breadfruit. Banks saw breadfruit as a potential source of cheap and nutritious food for slaves on the sugar plantations of the British West Indies.

He pitched the idea to King George III, who authorized William Bligh (who had been on Cook’s crew on his 3rd voyage to Hawai‘i) to spearhead the breadfruit-gathering expedition. (Rupp, National Geographic)

The Bounty set sail on December 23, 1787, bound for Tahiti; they reached there on October 26, 1788, and spent five months there gathering and potting 1,015 breadfruit saplings they had grown from seed. On April 4, 1789, the Bounty left Tahiti.

In the early hours of April 28, 1789, Master’s Mate Fletcher Christian and 25 petty officers and seamen mutinied and seized the ship.

Bligh and 18 of his trusted crew were given a small boat which Bligh piloted 3,618 miles to Timor aided only by a quadrant and pocket watch, and his memory of charts he had seen. On his return to England, he was promoted to captain and in 1791, returned to Tahiti on the Providence for more fruit. (Mayne)

The Pacific made a particular impression on the British imagination, with the revelation of the Polynesian culture, entirely cut off from any exterior force of civilization.

Cook’s Pacific finds later led to questions for the Evangelicals. Why did British Christianity, with the means at hand, lack a missionary history? When had there last been a serious missionary movement among Christians anywhere?

“(The London Missionary Society) was in consequence formed in England, and zealously seconded by our brethren in North Britain. On notifying our intentions to the public, we met a spirit of zeal and liberality highly encouraging; applications manifold were poured in of candidates for the mission, with subscriptions adequate to the undertaking.”

“Thirty men, six women, and three children, were approved, and presented to the directors for the commencement of the mission.”

“August the 10th, 1796, at six in the morning, we weighed anchor, and hoisted our missionary flag at the mizen top-gallant-mast head: three doves argent, on a purple field, bearing olive-branches in their bills.” (They headed to Tahiti.)

“An ingenious clergyman of Portsmouth kindly furnished Dr. Haweis and Mr. Greatheed (founding members of the London Missionary Society) with a manuscript vocabulary of the Otaheitean language, and an account of the country …”

“… which providentially he had preserved from the mutineers who were seized by the Pandora, and brought to Portsmouth for their trials which was of unspeakable service to the missionaries …”

“… both for the help which it afforded them to learn before their arrival much of this unknown tongue, and also as giving the most inviting and encouraging description of the natives, and the cordial reception which they might expect.” (Wilson)

The vocabulary and island background were originally prepared by Peter Heywood and James Morrison, both were convicted mutineers on the Bounty.

“Indeed so perfectly calm was (Peter Heywood) under his dreadful calamity, that in a very few days after condemnation his brother says …”

“‘While I write this, Peter is sitting by me making an Otaheitan vocabulary, and so happy and intent upon it, that I have scarcely an opportunity of saying a word to him; he is in excellent spirits, and I am convinced they are better and better every day.’”

“This vocabulary is a very extraordinary performance; it consists of one hundred full-written folio pages, the words alphabetically arranged, and all the syllables accented. It appears, from a passage in the Voyage of the Duff, that a copy of this vocabulary was of great use to the missionaries who were first sent to Otaheite in this ship.” (Barrow)

“The petty officer, James Morrison, had employed the three months of his captivity on board the Hector in writing out from notes which he had kept of daily occurrences from the period of the departure of the Bounty from England to his return as a prisoner.”

“This note-book he preserved in the wreck of the Pandora, and to these notices added minute descriptions of the places at which the Bounty had touched, especially the Society Islands …”

“… his long residence at Tahiti enabling him to describe minutely the manners and customs of the inhabitants, as well as the general productions of the islands. The manuscript of this journal, consisting of 300 pages folio, he presented to Peter Heywood when they parted.” (Belcher)

“During his imprisonment and trial, Morrison wrote what was essentially a first draft of his Journal, entitled Memorandum and Particulars respecting the Bounty and her crew. … Following his release, Morrison finished the journal, filling it with vivid observations and descriptions of Tahitian life and culture.”

“Although Heywood’s Tahitian-English vocabulary eventually disappeared, and Morrison’s journal remained unpublished until 1935, the London Missionary Society (LMS) put these documents to use at a much earlier date. The society’s first evangelical mission to the South Seas on the Duff began on August 10, 1796.”

“The ship was delayed for some time at Portsmouth, which gave Reverend Howell the opportunity to share both manuscripts with LMS director Dr Thomas Haweis, who eagerly made copies for the missionaries.” (Morrison Introduction) (Heywood and Morrison were pardoned on October 24, 1792.)

Later, the Tahitians helped American Protestant missionaries in Hawai‘i. Toketa, a Tahitian, arrived in Hawaiʻi in 1818. A convert to Christianity (he likely received missionary instruction in his homeland;) he became a teacher to Hawaiian chiefs, made a visit to Honolulu with Kuakini in January-February of 1822. (Barrere)

On February 4, 1822, “Adams (Kuakini) sent a young Tahitian to us (Toketa,) to obtain for him that part of the spelling book which is printed, with a view to commence learning to read his own language. … This young Tahitian is one of the three, whom we have found here from the Society Isles, able to read and write their native language.”

“He, with one hour’s instruction, is able to read the Hawaiian (Owhyhean) also, and to assist the chief to whom he is attached.” (Missionary Herald, 1823) Toketa then began to teach Kuakini to read and write.

Shortly after (February 8, 1822,) “Adams (Kuakini) sent a letter to Mr B (Bingham) written by the hand of Toketa the Tahitian, which Mr. B answered in the Hawaiian language. – ‘This may be considered as the commencement of epistolary correspondence in this language.’” (Missionary Herald, 1823)

William Ellis was with the London Missionary Society in Tahiti; the London Mission sent Ellis and some others to Hawai‘i. “The deputation, the two native Missionaries and their wives, five other natives and myself, now embarked, and the Mermaid stood out to sea.” (Ellis)

Ellis and the others who joined him from the London Missionary Society (including Tahitians who came with them) worked well with the American Protestant missionaries who arrived in Hawaii in 1820.

The American Mission immediately saw benefit in working with Ellis and The Tahitians … “of bringing the influence of the Tahitian mission to bear with more direct and operative force upon this nation …”

“… trembling under the too great responsibility of the spiritual concerns of the whole nation, & looking with hesitating awe at the great and difficult work of translating the bible & continually casting about for help …”

“… we feel the need of just such talents and services as Brother (Ellis) is able to bring to the work, whose general views of Christian faith practice, & of missionary duty, which accord so well with ours, whose thorough acquaintance with the Tahitian tongue so nearly allied to this …”

“… & which it cost the mission almost a 20 years’ labor fully to acquire, & whose missionary experience, among the South Sea Islands’ kindred tribes, enable him to cooperate with us, with mutual satisfaction, and greatly to facilitate our acquisition of this kindred language …”

“… & the early translation of the sacred scriptures, & thus promote the usefulness, rather than supersede the labors, of all who may come to our aid from America.” (Journal of the Sandwich Island Mission, May 9, 1822)

Ellis remained in the Islands for eighteen months, but returned to England, due to illness of Mary (she died in 1835.) Ellis later remarried and continued mission work in the Madagascar. Ellis died in 1872.)

Because of the positive role of the London Missionary Society in assisting the Hawaiian mission, any descendant of a person sent by the London Missionary Society who served the Sandwich Island Mission in Hawaii is eligible to be an Enrolled Member in the Hawaiian Mission Children’s Society.

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Mutiny on the Bounty

July 5, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Future Captains

Captain James Cook set sail on three voyages to the South Seas. His first Pacific voyage (1768-1771) was aboard the Endeavour and began on May 27, 1768. It had three aims; go to Tahiti to record the transit of Venus (when Venus passes between the earth and sun – June 3, 1769;) record natural history, led by 25-year-old Joseph Banks; and search for the Great South Land.

Cook’s second Pacific voyage (1772-1775) aboard Resolution and Adventure aimed to establish whether there was an inhabited southern continent, and make astronomical observations.

Cook’s third and final voyage (1776-1779) of discovery was an attempt to locate a North-West Passage, an ice-free sea route which linked the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. Cook commanded the Resolution while Charles Clerke commanded Discovery. (State Library, New South Wales)

“Every Fighting Service has, and must have, two main categories – ‘Officers’ and ‘Men.’ The Royal Navy in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries was no exception. The distinction existed: was indeed more than ordinarily marked. It was not only a naval distinction, but a sharp social one too.”

“‘Officers’ as contemporary society used that word, came from one walk of life, ‘Men’ from another: and, as it was not easy in Society to pass from a lower stratum to a higher, so in the Navy, it was not easy for a ‘Man’ to become an Officer. But it was possible.” (Captain Cook Society)

“Cook had chosen his subordinates well or had been lucky. The officers of the third voyage were a remarkably intelligent group of men.” (Captain Cook Society)

“All the great remaining voyages of the eighteenth century drew on Cook’s officers. Bligh, Portlock, Vancouver, Colnett, Riou, and Hergest all got their commands and served with great distinction. These men then passed on their skills to a second generation of men such as Flinders and Broughton.” (Mackay, Captain Cook Society)

We’ll look at three of these familiar names, here in the Islands, as well as the Pacific – Portlock, Bligh and Vancouver.

Nathaniel Portlock was born in Norfolk, Virginia in about 1748. At about the age of 24, he entered the Royal Navy as an able seaman on the St Albans. On March 30, 1776, he served as master’s mate on Captain James Cook’s third Pacific voyage aboard the Discovery. Portlock was transferred to the Resolution, also on the expedition, in August 1779.

Then, in 1785, a group of London merchants formed the “King George’s Sound Co” (also known as Richard Cadman Etches and Company,) for the purpose of carrying on the fur trade from the western coast of America to China, bringing home cargoes of tea from Canton for the East India Company. They bought two boats; Portlock and George Dixon were selected to sail them (Dixon also previously sailed with Cook to Hawai‘i.)

That year, the two traveled to the North Pacific. Portlock commanded the 1785-1788 expedition from the ship King George, while Dixon captained the Queen Charlotte. The purpose of the expedition was to investigate the potential of the Alaskan fur trade and to resume Cook’s search for a Northwest Passage through the continent.

The pair left England on August 29, 1785, and took nearly a year to reach Alaska, rounding Cape Horn and touching at Hawaiʻi on the way. During the course of their 3-year expedition, they made three trips to Hawaiʻi, first arriving off the coast of Kaʻū, May 24, 1786.

A favorite anchorage on Oʻahu for Portlock was at Maunalua Bay, between Koko Point and Diamond Head (which Portlock named King George’s Bay.)

Maunalua was thought to be well-populated in ancient times. Maunalua was known for its offshore fishing resources, a large fishpond, and sweet potato cultivation. Taro was farmed in wet areas, sweet potato was grown in the drier regions and a series of fishing villages lined the coast. (McElroy) Part of that area now carries the Portlock name.

William Bligh was part of the Cook’s crew on its third voyage. Bligh later captained the Bounty on a voyage to gather breadfruit trees from Tahiti and take them to Jamaica in the Caribbean. There, the trees would be planted to provide food for slaves.

According to a legend, the chief Kahai brought the breadfruit tree to Hawaiʻi from Samoa in the twelfth century and first planted it at Kualoa, Oʻahu. Only one variety was known in Hawaiʻi, while more than 24 were distinguished by native names in the South Seas. (CTAHR)

“This tree, whose fruit is so useful, if not necessary, to the inhabitants of most of the islands of the South Seas, has been chiefly celebrated as a production of the Sandwich Islands; it is not confined to these alone, but is also found in all the countries bordering on the Pacific Ocean.” (Book of Trees, 1837)

Bligh didn’t make it back on the Bounty, his crew mutinied (April 28, 1789;) one reason for the mutiny was that the crew believed Bligh cared more about the breadfruit than them (he cut water rationing to the crew in favor of providing water for the breadfruit plants.) Bligh’s tombstone, in part, reads he was the “first (who) transplanted the bread fruit tree.”

In the introduction to Captain George Vancouver’s journals of his voyage to the Pacific, his brother John wrote, “that from the age of thirteen, his whole life to the commencement of this expedition, (to the Pacific) has been devoted to constant employment in His Majesty’s naval service.” Vancouver was one of the seamen and midshipman who had travelled with Cook on his second and third voyages.

In 1791, Vancouver later entered the Pacific a dozen years later in command of the second British exploring expedition. (HJH) Vancouver visited Hawaiʻi three times, in 1792, 1793 and 1794.

On the first trip, Vancouver’s ships “Discovery” and “Chatham” first rounded the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, and traveled to Tahiti, via Australia and New Zealand, and then sailed north to the Hawaiian Islands.

On his second trip in February 1793, the “Discovery” and “Chatham” first circled and surveyed the Island Hawaiʻi. From a meeting he had with Kamehameha, he noted in his Journal, that he was …

“… agreeably surprised in finding that his riper years had softened that stern ferocity, which his younger days had exhibited, and had changed his general deportment to an address characteristic of an open, cheerful, and sensible mind; combined with great generosity, and goodness of disposition.” (Vancouver, 1798)

When Kamehameha came aboard the ship, taking Vancouver’s hand, he “demanded, if we were sincerely his friends”, to which Vancouver answered in the affirmative. Kamehameha then said “he understood we belonged to King George, and asked if he was likewise his friend.”

“On receiving a satisfactory answer to this question, he declared the he was our firm good friend; and according to the custom of the country, in testimony of the sincerity of our declarations we saluted by touching noses.” (Vancouver, 1798)

In the exchange of gifts, after that, Kamehameha presented four feathered helmets and other items, Vancouver gave Kamehameha the remaining livestock on board, “five cows, two ewes and a ram.”

The farewell between the British and the Hawaiians was emotional, but both understood that Vancouver would be returning the following winter.

Just before Vancouver left Kawaihae on March 9, 1793, he gave Isaac Davis and John Young a letter testifying that “Tamaahaah, with the generality of the Chiefs, and the whole of the lower order of People, have conducted themselves toward us with the strictest honest, civility and friendly attention.” (Speakman, HJH)

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George_Vancouver-arriving_at_Kealakekua_Bay

Mutiny_HMS_Bounty

Kahai-The_Grandson_of_Moikeha-(herbkane)

Transplanting_of_the_bread-fruit_trees_from_Otaheite,_1796

ohn Ellis, the Bread-fruit-1775

Bligh’s_survival_voyage_after_the_mutiny-(HerbKane)

William Bligh’s tombstone-(first_transplanted_breadfruit)

Cook_-_Bligh_Map_of_Hawaii_-_Geographicus_-_Hawaii-cook-1785

Nathaniel_Portlock-(WC)

Portlock-China_Walls

Maunalua_Bay-(bishopmuseum)

Koko_Marina-05-26-52

King_George-Queen_Charlotte-(Raymond Alistair Massey-maunalua-net)

George_Vancouver-(WC)

George_Vancouver’s_Discovery

George_Vancouver_statue-(WC)

May 25, 2013 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Tree of Life

“If a man plant ten breadfruit trees in his life, which he can do in about an hour, he would completely fulfil his duty to his own as well as future generations.” (Joseph Banks, 1769)

Banks had been on the Endeavour with Captain Cook on his first voyage to the South Pacific in 1768-1771. William Bligh was part of the Cook’s crew on its third voyage when it made contact with Hawaiʻi in 1778.

Bligh later captained the Bounty on a voyage to gather breadfruit trees from Tahiti and take them to Jamaica in the Caribbean. There, the trees would be planted to provide food for slaves.

For thousands of years, Ulu (Breadfruit) was a staple food in Oceania. It is believed to have originated in New Guinea and the Indo-Malay region and was spread throughout the vast Pacific by voyaging islanders.

It was a canoe crop – one of around 30 plants brought to the Hawaiian Islands by the Polynesians when they first arrived in Hawaiʻi.

Known as ‘Ulu’ in Hawaiʻi and Samoa, ‘Uru’ is the Tahitian word for the tree, ‘Kuru’ in the Cook Islands, and ‘Mei’ in the Marquesas, Tonga and Gambier Islands, scientifically, it’s known as Artocarpus altilis.

William Dampier, claims credit for giving the fruit its English name, breadfruit. His description of it, from his 1688 Voyage Round the World, notes:
“The Bread-fruit (as we call it) grows on a large Tree, as big and high as our largest Apple trees. It hath a spreading head full of branches, and dark leaves. … When the fruit is ripe it is yellow and soft; and the taste is sweet and pleasant. The Natives of this Island use it for bread: they gather it when full grown, while it is green and hard; then they bake it in an Oven, which scorcheth the rind and makes it black: but they scrape off the outside black crust, and there remains a tender thin crust, and the inside is soft, tender and white like the crumb of a Penny Loaf. There is neither seed nor stone in the inside, but it is all of a pure substance like Bread; it must be eaten new; for if its kept above 24 hours, it becomes dry, and eats harsh and choaky; but ’tis very pleasant before it is too stale. The fruit lasts in season 8 months in the year, during which time the Natives eat no other sort of food of Bread kind.” (Smith)

The breadfruit is multipurpose, it may be eaten ripe as a fruit or under-ripe as a vegetable – it is roasted, baked, boiled, fried, pickled, fermented, frozen, mashed into a puree, and dried and ground into meal or flour.

The Breadfruit Institute at the National Tropical Botanical Garden, Hawai‘i, is engaged in a Global Hunger Initiative to expand plantings of good quality breadfruit varieties in tropical regions. The institute’s director is Diane Ragone, PhD.

Click here for a link to the NTBG Breadfruit Institute.

More than 80% of the world’s hungry live in tropical and subtropical regions – this is where breadfruit thrives. The trees require little attention or care, producing an abundance of fruit with minimal inputs of labor or materials.

Trees begin to bear fruit in three to five years, producing for many decades. Crop yields are superior to other starchy staples. An average-sized tree will readily produce 100-200 fruit per year.

The Breadfruit Institute manages the world’s largest collection of breadfruit, conserving over 120 varieties. The Institute has developed effective methods to propagate and distribute millions of plants of productive nutrient-rich varieties.

This initiative aims to disseminate breadfruit plants to alleviate hunger and support sustainable agriculture, agroforestry and reforestation in the tropics.

The same can hold true, here at home.

Centuries ago, the Hawaiians recognized breadfruit’s benefit and brought it with them to Hawaiʻi – we can learn from that.

The image shows a drawing of Ulu (breadfruit) by John Ellis, 1775. In addition, I have included other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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