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May 5, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

ABCD

“The New Navy of the United States was launched in the waters of uncertainty.”  (New American Navy, Long, 1903)

Following the Civil War, the US Navy rapidly demobilized, and for the next 15 years the fleet was shrinking and becoming technologically obsolete.

A law of 1883 had signaled the end of the old Navy. Repairs were prohibited on wooden warships whenever the cost would exceed 20% of the cost of a new ship of the same size and type.  New construction favored steam while still carrying sails.  In addition, American ships were to be built of American-made steel. Then, naval shipbuilders were introducing a new policy, new ships.

Bids for the new vessels were opened on July 2, 1883. Eight firms participated in the competition. The proposal of John Roach, whose shipyard was at Chester, Penn., was the lowest, and it was accepted.

The unfortunate financial failure of John Roach in 1885 forced the government to take over and complete the first of the new fleet.  (Long, 1903)

“The United States started a squadron of cruisers … the sole purpose of which, sailing under the euphonious title of ‘the Squadron of Evolution,’ will be to demonstrate in a peaceable sort of a way to the rest of the world that the United States Government has a navy, or rather the nucleus of a navy.” (New York Times, November 19, 1889)

The first four vessels of the “New Navy” came to be known as the ABCD Ships because their names began with the first four letters of the alphabet – Atlanta, Boston, Chicago and Dolphin.

They were also known as the “White Squadron” (named for the group’s white-painted hulls.)  Later, other ships were added to the growing, modernizing Navy.

Three years later the Squadron was strengthened by the addition of the cruiser Baltimore and the gunboat Vixen and was ordered to prepare for action by Undersecretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt.

There are some Hawaiʻi ties to a couple of the ABCDs – the Atlanta and the Boston.

Named for a city in northwestern Georgia (originally called Terminus and later Marthasville,) the community was renamed Atlanta when it was incorporated as a city in 1847.

The ship was the second to carry the City’s name (the first was a gunboat acquired by the Navy in the autumn of 1858 and later renamed Sumpter.)  The new Atlanta was part of the new Navy.

When Queen Kapiʻolani traveled to celebrate the Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee in England in 1887, while on a stop in New York, Commodore Bancroft Gherardi invited the Queen to visit the Brooklyn Navy Yard – he wanted to show off some of the new Navy ships.

Queen Kapiʻolani was able to adjust her schedule and visited the facility on her last day in New York.  “Seldom has the yard looked so well.  The commodore’s residence and the Lyceum building had been profusely decorated by Sailor Douglass with the colors of the two nations.”

“Just before the royal party reached the yard a battalion of marines arrived from the Minnesota.  At the same time out came the naval band and discoursed some popular music.”

“The masts, spars and rigging of the Atlanta and Boston were then manned, and Commodore Gherardi and staff in full uniform advanced to the wharf to meet their guests, who were taken on board the Atlanta.”  (The Day, May 25, 1887)

“The Atlanta had been just put into commission and her majesty was shown how quickly the great guns could be handled. Close alongside was the Boston, her powerful propeller churning the water incident to the breaking in of her.”  (Iron Trade Review May 5, 1898)

In a follow-up thank you note (May 30, 1887) from Henry Alpheus Peirce Carter (who coordinated the Queen’s state visits) to US Secretary of State Thomas Francis Bayard notes, “Her Majesty Queen Kapiʻolani (requests) you to convey to the honorable Secretaries for War and of the Navy, her grateful thanks for the attentions and honor paid her … by Commodore Gherardi and officers of the United States Navy at the navy-yard at Brooklyn, on the occasion of her visit”.

“… Her Majesty was the recipient of the kindest attentions, both public and private, and she desires that her very sincere acknowledgments may be properly conveyed to those officers of the Army and Navy of the United States stationed (there.)”  (HAP Carter, May 30, 1887)

A later sight of the Boston was not as pleasant.

It happened in the Islands; Captain Wiltse gave the order … “Sir: You will take possession of the Government building, and the American flag will be hoisted over it at 9 am. Very respectfully, GC Wiltse, Captain US Navy, Commanding USS Boston.”

In accordance with that order, the battalion of the Boston landed at Brewers Wharf, in the city of Honolulu, at 5 pm, January 16, 1893.

After the battalion was formed, they marched first to the United States consulate, where Lieut. Draper, with his company, was detached with orders to proceed to the legation and leave half his command in charge of the orderly sergeant, returning with the remainder to the United States consulate, himself, and remain there as a guard until further orders.

The remainder of the battalion then marched down King Street. In passing the palace the battalion, in column of companies, gave a marching salute, trumpeters sounding four ruffles in honor of the royal standard, which was flying there.

At 2:30 pm the next day, a civilian, armed, reported that a policeman had been shot while attempting to stop a wagonload of ammunition which was being conveyed to the old armory where the civilian forces enrolled by the committee of safety were then assembling, and that a large crowd was collecting on Merchant Street.

The battalion was immediately assembled under arms in the yard in rear of the building to await developments. Until nearly 6 o’clock, the men leading the citizens’ movement had assumed charge of the Government building without opposition of any kind; the civilian companies under arms had marched in and established a line of sentries about the Government building.

The Boston’s battalion was kept in rear of the camp, at their company parades, with arms stacked. About 1 pm, they were notified that a Provisional Government, of which Mr. SB Dole was presiding officer, was in complete possession.  A letter from the United States minister recognized it as the de facto government of the Hawaiian Islands, and the battalion was to consider it as such.

On January 19 new quarters were provided for the battalion at the unoccupied house on King street, the property of Mr. CR Bishop.  That home was formerly the home of Abner Pākī and his wife Laura Kōnia (Kamehameha III’s niece.)  Their child, Bernice Pauahi Pākī and hānai daughter, Liliʻu (later Queen Liliʻuokalani) were raised as sisters.  The battalion of the Boston named this former home of the Queen Camp Boston.

A proclamation from Minister Stevens establishing a protectorate over the Hawaiian Islands in the name of the United States, pending negotiations with the Hawaiian Commissioners at Washington, was read.

At 9 am, the United States ensign was hoisted over the building, the battalion and civilian forces presenting arms.  The Hawaiian flag, hoisted on the pole in the grounds, received the same salute.  (Lots of information from the Report of the Committee on Foreign Relations.)

© 2022 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Filed Under: Military Tagged With: Dolphin, White Squadron, Boston, Hawaii, Wiltse, Queen Victoria, Kapiolani, Chicago, Haleakala, ABCD Ships, Atlanta, Arlington Hotel

January 2, 2022 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Mary Had a Little Lamb

Mary had a little lamb;
Its fleece was white as snow;
And everywhere that Mary went,
The lamb was sure to go.

It followed her to school one day,
Which was against the rule;
It made the children laugh and play
To see a lamb at school.

And so the teacher turned it out;
But still it lingered near,
And waited patiently about
Till Mary did appear.

This poem is a true story … Yes, there really was a ‘Mary’ and she did have a ‘Little Lamb’. The lamb became her pet, and has always been known everywhere as ‘Mary’s lamb.’

Mary Elizabeth Sawyer was born on March 22, 1806 on a farm in Sterling, Massachusetts. Her father was Thomas, the son of Ezra Sawyer, and her mother was Elizabeth Houghton.

In 1815, Mary, then nine, was helping her father with farm chores when they discovered a sickly newborn lamb in the sheep pen that had been abandoned by its mother. After a lot of pleading, Mary was allowed to keep the animal, although her father didn’t hold out much hope for its survival. Against the odds, Mary managed to nurse the lamb back to health.

I’ll let Mary tell the rest of the story (from books by Dickerson and another by Ford) …

“One cold, bleak March morning I went out to the barn with father; and after the cows had been fed, we went to the sheep pen, and found two lambs which had been born in the night. One had been forsaken by its mother, and through neglect, cold and lack of food was nearly dead.”

“I saw it had still a little life, and asked to take it into the house; but father said, No, it was almost dead, anyway, and at the best could live but a short time. But I couldn’t bear to see the poor little thing suffer, so I teased until I got it into the house.”

“Then I worked upon mother’s sympathies. At first the little creature could not swallow, and the catnip tea mother made it could not take for a long time.”

“I got the lamb warm by wrapping it in an old garment and holding it in my arms beside the fireplace. All day long I nursed the lamb, and at night it could swallow just a little. Oh, how pleased I was!”

“But even then I wasn’t sure it would live; so I sat up all night with it, fearing it wouldn’t be warm enough if there was not someone at hand to look out for its comfort.”

“In the morning, much to my girlish delight, it could stand; and from that time it improved rapidly. It soon learned to drink milk; and from the time it would walk about, it would follow me anywhere if I only called it.”

“My little pet was a fast grower, as symmetrical a sheep as ever walked, and its fleece was of the finest and whitest. Why, I used to take as much care of my lamb as a mother would of a child. I washed it regularly, kept the burdocks picked out of its fleece, and combed and trimmed with bright-colored ribbons the wool on its forehead.”

“When that was being done, the lamb would hold down its head, shut its eyes, and stand as quiet as could be. From the time it could walk until the season came for the sheep to go to pasture my lamb stayed in the woodshed.”

“It did not take kindly to its own species; and when it was in the field, it preferred being with the cows and horses instead of with other sheep.”

“’The lamb was a ewe and became the mother of three lambs, a single one and twins, and her devotion to her little family was as strong as could be.”

“We roamed the fields together and were, in fact, companions and fast friends. I did not have many playmates outside the dumb creatures on the place. There were not many little girls to play with, and I had few dolls; but I used to dress up my lamb in pantalets, and had no end of pleasure in her company.”

“Then I had a little blanket or shawl for her; and usually when that was on, she would lie down at my feet, remaining perfectly quiet and seemingly quite contented.”

“The day the lamb went to school, I hadn’t seen her before starting off; and not wanting to go without seeing her, I called. She recognized my voice, and soon I heard a faint bleating far down the field. More and more distinctly I heard it, and I knew my pet was coming to greet me. My brother Nat said, ‘Let’s take the lamb to school with us.’”

“Childlike, I thought that would be a good idea, and quickly consented. The lamb followed along close behind me. There was a high stone wall to climb, and it was rather hard work to get her over. We got her on top, then clambered over to take her down.”

“She seemed to understand what was expected, and waited quietly for us to take her off the wall. When the schoolhouse was reached, the teacher had not arrived, and but few of the scholars were there. Then I began to think what I should do with the lamb while school was in session.”

“I took her down to my seat – you know we had old-fashioned, high, boarded-up seats then. Well, I put the lamb under the seat and covered her with her blanket; and she lay down as quietly as could be.”

“By and by I went forward to recite, leaving the lamb all right; but in a moment there was a clatter, clatter, clatter on the floor, and I knew it was the pattering of the hoofs of my lamb.”

“Oh, how mortified I felt! The teacher was Miss Polly Kimball, who was afterward married to a Mr. Loring, and became the mother of Loring, the circulating-library man of Boston. She laughed outright, and of course all the children giggled.”

“It was rare sport for them, but I could see nothing amusing in the situation. I was too ashamed to laugh, or even smile, at the unlooked-for appearance of my pet. I took her outdoors, and shut her in a shed until I was ready to go home at noon. Usually I did not go home till evening, as we carried our lunch with us; but I went home at noon that day.”

The poem

There are a couple stories about the poem, and who wrote it.  Mary said the author was John Roulstone … “Visiting the school that morning was a young man by the name of John Roulstone, a nephew of the Reverend Lemuel Capen, who was then settled in Sterling.”

“It was the custom then for students to prepare for college with ministers, and for this purpose Mr. Roulstone was studying with his uncle.”

“The young man was very much pleased with the incident of the lamb; and the next day he rode across the fields on horseback to the little old schoolhouse, and handed me a slip of paper which had written upon it the three original stanzas of the poem.” (Mary, in Dickerson)

However, in 1830, Sarah Josepha Hale, a renowned writer and influential editor (she’s also known as the “Mother of Thanksgiving” for helping making the day a holiday), published Poems for Our Children, which included a version of the poem.

According to Mary herself, Roulstone’s original contained only the three stanzas, while Hale’s version had an additional three stanzas at the end.

Mary admitted she had no idea how Hale had gotten Roulstone’s poem. When asked, Hale said her version, titled “Mary’s Lamb,” wasn’t about a real incident, but rather something she’d just made up.

Soon the residents of Sterling and those of Newport, New Hampshire, where Hale hailed from, were arguing about the poem’s provenance – something they continued to do for years.  Later, Henry Ford sided with Mary’s claim that Roulstone wrote the first three verses.

There’s a third version of how the Mary and her lamb story came to be. Mary Hughes, of Llangollen, Denbighshire, Wales, was credited with being the subject of the nursery rhyme supposedly penned by a woman from London by the name of Miss Burls.

The only problem with the UK version of events is that Mary Hughes wasn’t born until 1842, twelve years after Hale’s poem was published.  (Andrew Amelinckx)

Some Interesting Side Stories

Some say Mary and her lamb helped save Boston’s Old South Meeting House (Church).  The Congregationalists built Old South Meeting House in Boston in 1729. Judge Samuel Sewall publicly apologized for taking part in the Salem Witch Trials there. Benjamin Franklin was baptized on the site. Phyllis Wheatley thought about freedom while attending services at Old South.

It is just down the street from Park Street Church where the first American Protestant missionaries to Hawai‘i gathered in 1819 to receive their instructions before departing on their mission.

In 1876, the building was to be sold for scrap (for $1,350, the value of its parts).  The people of Boston organized to save it and, on July 13, 1876, the congregation’s leaders agreed to postpone the sale of Old South for two months, but the buyers had to come up with $420,000 and ask for no further delay.

Mary Sawyer Tyler, then living in Somerville, helped with the cause.  As she noted, “From the fleece sheared from my lamb, mother knit two pairs of very nice stockings, which for years I kept in memory of my pet.”

“But when the ladies were raising money for the preservation of the Old South Church in Boston, I was asked to contribute one pair of these stockings for the benefit of the fund. This I did.”

“The stockings were raveled out, pieces of the yarn being fastened to cards bearing my autograph, and these cards were sold;” cards were attached the wool that said, “Knitted wool from the first fleece of Mary’s Little Lamb.” (New England Historical Society)

First Phonograph Recording

The poem was one of the oldest audio recordings of a musical performance — and possibly the oldest ever of an American voice.  The audio, recorded on tin foil by Thomas Edison using one of his early phonographs, was made during a 1878 museum demonstration in St Louis.

Edison recalled the first words he spoke into the phonograph, a recital of the “Mary Had a Little Lamb” nursery rhyme. In his writings, Edison recounts further the 1878 recording:

“I designed a little machine using a cylinder provided with grooves around the surface. Over this was to be placed tinfoil, which easily received and recorded the movements of the diaphragm … Kruesi (the machinist), when he had nearly finished it, asked what it was for.”

“I told him I was going to record talking, and then have the machine talk back. He thought it absurd. However, it was finished, the foil was put on; I then shouted ‘Mary had a little lamb,’ etc. I adjusted the reproducer, and the machine reproduced it perfectly.”

“I was never so taken aback in my life. Everybody was astonished. I was always afraid of things that worked the first time.”  (Edison)

This original recording was thought lost until scientists at the University of California Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in collaboration with the Library of Congress had a go at recreating it using “optical imaging”.

Despite Edison’s account of shouting a nursery rhyme on a recording, it’s somewhat unclear if it’s his voice on this recording. (Some experts believe the voice is actually that of political writer Thomas Mason.”

The Old Redstone Schoolhouse

Built sometime in the late 1700s, the tiny, one-room schoolhouse was in use from 1798 up until 1927, when it was finally closed (for the first time). The little schoolhouse takes its name from its original location, as opposed to its color, having been located on Redstone Hill in Sterling, Massachusetts.

Henry Ford acquired the old schoolhouse to be a part of his Wayside Inn historic district.  Ford moved the schoolhouse around 20 miles to nearby Sudbury.  The school reopened again in 1927, at its new location, teaching grades 1-4 to the local children.

This second life lasted until 1951, when the school was closed a second time and converted into a solely historical site.  (Wayside Inn)

Death of Mary’s Lamb

Mary said, “I have not told you about the death of my little playmate. It occurred on a Thanksgiving morning. We were all out in the barn, where the lamb had followed me. It ran right in front of the cows fastened to the stanchions, built along the feed box.”

“One of the creatures gave its head a toss, then lowered its horns and gored my lamb, which gave an agonizing bleat and came toward me with the blood streaming from its side. I took it in my arms, placed its head in my lap, and there it bled to death.”

“During its dying moments it would turn its little head and look up into my face in a most appealing manner, as if it would ask if there was not something that I could do for it.”

“It was a sorrowful moment for me when the companion of many romps, my playfellow of many a long summer’s day, gave up its life; and its place could not be filled in my childish heart.’ (Mary; quoted in Dickerson and Ford)

Mary herself lived until 1889. (Ford)  There’s a statue of the famous lamb in town, and a restored version of Mary’s home (the original was destroyed by a pair of arsonists back in 2007). Her descendants continue to farm the land that gave birth to the most famous nursery rhyme of all time. (Andrew Amelinckx)

© 2022 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Filed Under: General, Prominent People Tagged With: Mary Had a Little Lamb, Henry Ford, Mary Sawyer, John Roulstone, Sarah Hale, Old South Meeting House, Old South Church, Sterling, Boston, Edison, Massachusetts

October 21, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

‘When shall we all meet again?’

On October 23, 1819, the Pioneer Company of missionaries from the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) from the northeast United States, set sail from Boston on the Thaddeus for Hawai‘i.

The Prudential Committee of the ABCFM 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)

“Oct. 23, 1819. – This day by the good providence of God, I have embarked on board the brig Thaddeus (Blanchard master) for the Sandwich Islands to spread the gospel of Christ among the heathens.” (The term ‘heathen’ (without the knowledge of Jesus Christ and God) was a term in use at the time (200-years ago.))

“At 8 oclock took breakfast with the good Mr. Homer; at 11, gave the parting hand toward our dear friends on shore, & came on board accompanied by the Prudential Com. Mr. and Mrs. Dwight and some others.” (Samuel Whitney)

“That day week (the 23d), a great crowd of friends, acquaintances, and strangers, gathered on Long Wharf, for farewell religious exercises. The assembly united in singing the hymn, ‘Blest be the tie that binds.’”

“Dr. Worcester, in fervent prayer, commended the band to the God of missions; and Thomas Hopoo made a closing address. The two ordained brethren, assisted by an intimate friend, § then with perfect composure sang the lines, ‘When shall we all meet again?’” (Thompson)

“A fervent and appropriate prayer was offered by the Secretary of the Board, and the mission was affectionately commended to the grace of God, and immediately conveyed to the brig by a barge furnished for the purpose by a US Naval officer, they being still accompanied by the Secretary and Treasurer and a few other friends.”

“When these had given the parting hand and benediction, they descended into the boat and began to move off. The tender and benignant look of Dr. Worcester, as the boat left our vessel, turning his eyes upon the little band looking over the rail, as if he would say, my love be ever with you, will not soon be forgotten.” (Hiram Bingham)

“At 1 the sails were hoisted & we soon left sight of a multitude of friends who were lifting up holy hands in their behalf. This evening we came to anchor off Boston light.” (Samuel Whitney)

As they did at their ordination at Goshen and at the Park Street Church in Boston, receiving their instructions, Asa Thurston, tenor, and Hiram Bingham, base, sang Melton Mowbray (‘Head of the Church Triumphant’). (Bingham)

“When they had reached the wharf, the brig weighed anchor and set sail, and as we dropped down the stream, they waved their handkerchiefs, till out of sight. Though leaving my friends, home and country, as I supposed for ever, and trying as was the parting scene, I regarded that day as one of the happiest of my life.”

“But loosing from our beloved country, and not expecting ever to tread its shores or look upon its like again, with what intense interest did we gaze upon its fading landscapes, its receding hills and mountains, till the objects successively disappeared In the distance, or sank below the horizon.” (Hiram Bingham)

“The trying scene is now over, the parting hand given, the Farewell past. We shall no more behold the face of that dear, ever dear Mother whom we so ardently love, and who has shed so many tears on our account.”

“We shall not again in the flesh greet those beloved brethren & sisters and our dear friends with whom we have often had such sweet counsel and walked to the house of God in company.”

“Ye ever memorable and dear native town; must we say farewell to you? shall we never again walk your streets, no more visit those devoted sanctuaries, and there renew our covenant engagements with our God and commemorate the dying love of Jesus?”

“Dear Heathen seminary at Cornwall, you are doubly dear to our hearts. We have prayed for you, we shall pray for you still. May the great head of the church, ever preside over you.”

“We hope to hear from time to time of your abundant prosperity, and. we hope that in due time many of your children may come to the S. Islands and. help us. Farewell, dear youth, we shall never forget you.-”

“And. now America; for the last time we fix our eyes upon your dear shores. Your places which have known us will know us no more forever. We look upon you with hearts full of emotion as you recede from our view; we shed a tear or two, and cheerfully bid you a long, long farewell.” (Samuel & Nancy Ruggles, on board the Brig Thaddeus Oct. 23, 1819)

“While receding from my sight I could not but exclaim, farewell beloved country, and thrice beloved friends, I bid you all adieu! ‘Home, that dearest sweetest spot,’ where I have spent so many happy hours, the remembrance of which will ever afford me much pleasure; I cheerfully bid you adieu.”

“Yes, dear as is that humble mansion and those beloved friends whom I shall ever love with the strangest ties of an actual affection, I can willingly part with you all, if I may but bear a humble part in promoting the glory of God, and be used as an instrument in carrying the glad tidings of salvation to the perishing heathen.”

“As many and great as are the sacrifices which I have made, I do not regret my undertaking. The souls of the heathen appear precious, infinitely more so than all the world good. O that Christians profess more of a spirit of this interested benevolence.” (Mercy Whitney, Oct 24, 1819)

After 164-days at sea, on April 4, 1820, the Thaddeus arrived and anchored at Kailua-Kona on the Island of Hawaiʻi. Hawai‘i’s “Plymouth Rock” is about where the Kailua pier is today.

Above text is a summary – Click HERE for more information on the Departure of the Missionaries.

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Filed Under: Missionaries / Churches / Religious Buildings Tagged With: Hawaii, American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions, Pioneer Company, Boston, Missionaries, Kailua-Kona, Thaddeus

June 22, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

First American Ship to Circumnavigate the Earth

“Followers of the sea more than the people of any other place in America before the Revolution, the men of Boston could not but return, in the general restoring of normal conditions, to their interest in maritime affairs. How could it be otherwise?”

“At their very feet lay the inviting bay, with its best of harbors, safe from the sea, of which it is less an arm than a shoulder. At their very doors lay all the materials for ship building. (The) Constitution, finished in 1797, was a home made vessel”.

“With the coming of peace (following the Revolutionary War) it might have been expected that the doors of commerce would be thrown immediately open. Yet it would have been hardly human for the mother country to smooth any paths for the child that had cast off all parental authority.”

“The British West India trade was of course subject to English legislation. It was not long before the merchants of Boston, as of all our ports, found themselves forbidden to bring their fish to the islands or to carry the island products to England.”

“These products, if brought first to New England, could not even be carried to England in British ships. This prohibition was followed in 1784 by that of exporting anything from the West Indies to the United States except in British vessels.”

“Here the citizens of Boston asserted themselves, and entered as of old into agreement to buy none of the wares so imported.”

“The Massachusetts legislature passed measures of retaliation; and the national laws of navigation and commerce reflected for some years the British policy of restriction.”

“If success is determined by obstacles, the commercial enterprise of Boston could not have had a more favorable beginning. Not content with the difficulties nearest home, the merchants of America, in the earliest days of peace, began turning their eyes to the distant trade of China.”

“To New York belongs the credit of sending out the first vessel in this trade, the Empress of the Seas, which set sail for Canton in February of 1784, and was back in New York in May of the next year.”

“Her supercargo was a Boston youth of twenty, Samuel Shaw by name, whose service on General Knox’s staff in the Revolution had already won him the rank of major.”

“In his journal of the outward voyage he tells of landing at St. Jago, an island of the Cape de Verde group. The officer of the port was a Portuguese.”

“‘On telling him,’ says Shaw, ‘by the interpreter, a negro, that we were Americans, he discovered great satisfaction, and exclaimed, with an air of pleasure and surprise, “Bostonian! Bostonian!”’”

“With this – and the Boston supercargo – to remember, the New England town may comfortably orient herself with the first of the Chinese traders.”

“It was not long, however, before the town could claim as her own a commercial venture of the first importance and magnitude. The journals of Captain Cook, the navigator, were published in 1784. Through them the great possibilities of the fur trade on the northwest coast of America were made known.”

“Five Boston merchants, including the Bulfinch whose architecture still dominates the local landscape, and one merchant of New York, joined themselves to enter this new field.”

“The vessels they secured for the expedition were two: the Columbia, a full rigged ship of two hundred and twelve tons, eighty-three feet in length; and the Washington, a sloop of ninety tons.”

“Let those who dread six days of the Atlantic on liners of fifteen thousand tons’ burden stop a moment and picture these cockleshells – as they must appear to-day – and the spirit of the men who embarked in them for the North Pacific, and – in the Columbia – for the complete circling of the globe.”

“Before they set sail, September 30, 1787, they provided themselves plentifully with silver, bronze, and pewter medals commemorating the expedition, and with useful tools and useless trinkets, jews’-harps, snuff-boxes, and the like. Rounding the Horn, and sailing northward, it was the little Washington which first reached the northwest coast.”

“While waiting for the Columbia, the sloop’s crew had an encounter with natives who gave them good reason to call their anchorage ‘Murderers’ Harbor.’”

“Then the Columbia came, with scurvy on board. But the cargo of furs was secured, and, in pursuance of the owners’ plan, was carried to Canton for sale.”

“Stopping on the way at Hawaii, Captain Gray took on board the Columbia a young chief, Attoo, promising to send him back from Boston as soon as might be.”

“From China the ship, loaded with teas, sailed for home by way of the Cape of Good Hope. In August of 1790 she dropped anchor in Boston harbor, the first American vessel to circumnavigate the earth.” (Howe; The Atlantic Monthly, 1903)

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George Davidson sketch, "Columbia in a Squall"
George Davidson sketch, “Columbia in a Squall”
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Filed Under: Sailing, Shipping & Shipwrecks, Economy, General Tagged With: Hawaii, Boston, Boston Traders, Columbia

July 19, 2017 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Gilbert Conwall Wiltse

“In view of the existing critical circumstances in Honolulu, including an inadequate legal force, I request you to land marines and sailors from the ship under your command for the protection of the United States legation and United States consulate, and to secure the safety of American life and property.” (Stevens to Wiltse, January 16, 1893)

“You will take command of the battalion, and land in Honolulu for the purpose of protecting our legation and the lives and property of American citizens, and to assist in the preservation of public order.”

“Great prudence must be exercised by both officers and men, and no action taken that is not fully warranted by the condition of affairs and by the conduct of those who may be inimical to the treaty right of American citizens. You will inform me at the earliest practicable moment of any change in the situation.” (Wiltse to Lt-Commander Swinburne, January 16, 1893)

“Promptly the men from the Boston were landed. Detachments were placed around the legation and the consulate, the principal members having marched to a central hall for shelter and headquarters …”

“… the night being at hand, the public anxiety being especially strong as to what might be done by irresponsible persons in the night, the landing of the men of the Boston so promptly gave immediate relief to the public anxiety.”

“The committee of public safety forthwith took possession of the Government buildings, archives, and treasury, and installed the Provisional Government at the heads of the respective departments. This being an accomplished fact, I promptly recognized the Provisional Government as the de facto Government of the Hawaiian Islands.”

“The English minister, the Portuguese charge d’affaires, the French and the Japanese commissioners promptly did the same; these, with myself, being the only members of the diplomatic corps residing here.”

“It is proper that I should add, that the presence of the Boston here has been of the highest importance, and the behavior of officers and men has been admirable.”

“Capt. Wiltse has exercised prudence and great firmness, while he and the undersigned have recognized only accomplished facts and have not allowed the use of the United States force for any but the most conservative reasons, I am, sir, John L. Stevens.” (Blount Report)

Let’s look back …

Gilbert Conwall Wiltse was appointed to the Naval Academy from New York, and graduated on September 20, 1855. He became a midshipman on June 9, 1859, and was ordered to the frigate, Congress, the flagship of Admiral JS Sands, cruising on the Brazilian Station from 1859 to 1861. He was made Lieutenant on Aug. 31, 1861.

The Congress was recalled from the station upon the breaking out of the civil war, and Wiltse was detached from that vessel and ordered to the St. Lawrence of the home squadron, in which ship he was present at the engagement of the Confederate ram, Merimac, with the Congress and the Cumberland, in Hampton Roads, on March 8 and 9, 1862.

He was also in the engagement with the Sewel Point batteries in May, 1862. He served on the steam sloop, Dacotah, of the West India squadron in 1862-63, and in the Atlantic blockading squadron in 1863-64.

He had a taste of hot work in the engagement of monitors with Forts Sumter and Moultrie in Nov. 1863. He was commissioned Lieutenant Commander on March 3rd, 1865. He served with distinction all through the civil war.

He served successfully on the steamer Agawam, Atlantic squadron, 1866-67; apprentice ship. Saline, 1867-68; navy yard, New York, 1868-69; on monitor, Saugus, North Atlantic fleet, 1869-70; navy yard, Pensacola, 1870-72.

On November, 8, 1873, he was made commander and put in charge of the Sawmut, North Atlantic squadron, 1875-76. He was on shore duty at the New York Navy yard, 1878-81, and assigned to the command of the Swatara, North Atlantic squadron, 1884-85.

When in command of the Swartara, he was the conveyor of several millions of dollars in silver coin from New Orleans to New York, and it was when in command of that vessel in the harbor of Aspinwall that he protected the three political refugees.

He was promoted to Captain on Jan. 20, 1887, and placed in command of the receiving ship, Franklin; and then the U. S. steamship, Minnesota. He was assigned to the command of the Boston in 1891. The Boston was under his command with the Baltimore and the Yorktown, in the harbor of’ Valparaiso, when the men of the Baltimore were attacked in the streets of that city.

His last service with the Boston. Captain Wiltse of the US Navy was in command of the USS Boston when the Hawaiian revolution occurred; and, at the request of United States Minister Stevens, landed a detachment of marines.

Following that, Captain Wiltse returned to New York City and died at his home, No. 42 East Fifty-third St., New York City, on April 26, 1893. “He was taken ill on Thursday night of last week with congestion of the brain. His condition was not considered serious until Monday night when he became unconscious. He remained so until his death. He was 54 years old.” (Wiltse)

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Gilbert_C._Wiltse-WC
Gilbert_C._Wiltse-WC
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Capt._G._C._Wiltse-WC
USS_Boston_landing_force,_Arlington_Hotel-1893_(PP-36-3-002)
USS_Boston_landing_force,_Arlington_Hotel-1893_(PP-36-3-002)
Dole,_Capt._Wiltse,_and_others_watching_a_parade_near_Iolani_Palace_following_overthrow_(PP-36-3-006)-WC
Dole,_Capt._Wiltse,_and_others_watching_a_parade_near_Iolani_Palace_following_overthrow_(PP-36-3-006)-WC
Arlington_Hotel-(formerly_Haleakala)-Officers of the USS Boston at Camp Boston-1893
Arlington_Hotel-(formerly_Haleakala)-Officers of the USS Boston at Camp Boston-1893
USS Boston - 1891
USS Boston – 1891
Capt._G._C._Wiltse-gravestone
Capt._G._C._Wiltse-gravestone

Filed Under: Ali'i / Chiefs / Governance, Military, Prominent People Tagged With: Overthrow, John L Stevens, Hawaii, Boston, Wiltse

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