Butterworth | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

August 25, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Butterworth Squadron

In 1791, there was active debate for opening the trade opportunities to Pacific Ocean trade held by the South Sea Company and the East India Company, particularly considering the recent Nootka Convention with Spain which opened the Pacific Northwest Coast to British traders.

The Butterworth Squadron was a British commercial fleet of three vessels, the Butterworth, the Jackal and the Prince Lee Boo, that sailed for the Pacific Ocean from London via Cape Horn in late-1791.

The Butterworth was a whaling ship with a typical crew of forty-eight men. She is said to have originally been a French frigate of 30 guns, captured by the British.

Her master was Captain William Brown, “an able and expert seaman, regularly brought up in the whale fishery.” Before entering the Pacific, Brown and his ship Butterworth were Greenland whalers.

The Jackal (sometimes spelled “Jackall” or “Jack Hall”) was a small sloop that served as a tender to Butterworth. She “showed a tier of ports fore and aft. The greatest part of them were false or only painted, yet they made such a good appearance that for some time we concluded she was a King’s cutter or a tender to some man-of-war”.

The Prince Lee Boo was a small sloop; by several accounts somewhat lesser than the Jackal. The vessel was named for Prince Lee Boo, a young Palau Islander who traveled to London in 1784.

Prince Lee Boo and Jackal together are said to have carried a total of 9 boat guns ranging in size from 2 pounds to 6 pounds.

Prince Lee Boo was often used to take soundings ahead of the larger ship. She was loaned to Captain George Vancouver for this purpose in Queen Charlotte Sound in 1793.

The principals financing the expedition were Alderman William Curtis, London ship-owner Theophilus Pritzler and probably John Perry, a Blackwall shipbuilder.

The leader of the expedition was Captain William Brown. Sigismund Bacstrom, a naturalist who had previously sailed as a secretary to Sir Joseph Banks, was the surgeon for the expedition.

The Butterworth squadron first wintered at the Hawaiian Islands in February 1793, when control of the Islands was divided between Kamehameha who controlled Hawai’i and much of Maui, and Kahekili who controlled the islands west of Maui including Oahu and Kauai.

Brown traded in weapons with both Kamehameha and Kahekili, but strongly favored the latter. In particular, he entered into a contract with Kahekili giving Brown the title to the island of O‘ahu together with four islands to windward in return for weapons and military assistance suppressing a revolt on Kauai.

It was during this time that the Butterworth squadron became the first European vessels to enter the inner Honolulu Harbor.

At the death of Kahekili in 1793, Kaʻeo became ruling chief of Maui, Molokai and Lānaʻi. Kalanikūpule was ruler of Oʻahu. Homesick for his friends, Kaʻeo set out to return to Kauai by way of Waialua and then to Waimea; he learned of a conspiracy to kill him. (Kamakau)

Then, Kaʻeo invaded O‘ahu. This war became known as Kuki‘iahu and was fought from November 16 until December 12, 1794.

The Jackal and Prince Lee Boo returned to Oahu on November 21, 1794 to find a very different situation from the one they had left.

When Jackal and Prince Lee Boo arrived at Honolulu, Kalanikūpule requested their assistance in the battle. Eight men under the command of George Lamport, mate of the Jackal, joined Kalanikūpule’s forces in a series battles ashore while Captain Brown and the remaining crew defended the shoreline from the Jackal and Prince Lee Boo.

As war was waging, on December 3, 1794, Captain John Kendrick arrived in Fair Haven (Honolulu) aboard the Lady Washington.

While Kaʻeo was successful after some initial skirmishes. A great battle was fought in the area between Kalauao and ‘Aiea in ‘Ewa. Kalanikūpule’s forces surrounded Kaʻeo. (Cultural Surveys) The ship’s men successfully aided in the defense and Kaʻeo was defeated.

To celebrate the victory, on December 12, 1794, Kendrick’s brig fired a thirteen-gun salute in celebration the British ship of Captain Brown.

The tradition of rendering a salute by cannon originated in the 14th century as firearms and cannons came into use. Since these early devices contained only one projectile, discharging them rendered them harmless.

Initially, the tradition began as a custom among ships, whose captains had volleys fired upon entering a friendly port to release its arsenal, which demonstrated their peaceful intentions (by placing their weapons in a position that rendered them ineffective.)

Following Kendrick’s salute, Brown answered with a round of fire. Unfortunately, through an oversight, one of the saluting guns on the Jackal was loaded with round and grape shot, and this shot passed through the side of the Lady Washington, killing Captain Kendrick and several of his crew. (Kuykendall)

Soon after, a dispute arose between Capt. Brown and Kalanikūpule, however the exact nature of it is not clear. It may have related to Brown’s claims to O‘ahu, but it has been suggested that Kalanikūpule may have requested that Brown and his men assist Kalanikūpule in an attack against Kamehameha on Hawai’i, and Brown may have refused.

Kalanikūpule then decided to kill Captain Brown and capture the Jackal and Prince Lee Boo. At his chief’s advice, he agreed to pay the 400 hogs. On January 1, 1795, the hogs were herded down to the beach to be slaughtered and salted down in barrels.

“When the greatest part of the crew of the Jackall being on shore salting pork and the remainder part away with their boat collecting salt, except and one man, and part of the crew of the Prince Le Boo likewise on shore on duty …”

“… that the natives of the said island about ten am on the 1st of January attacked the said vessel with several canoes, killed the commander William Brown and Robert Gordon and wounded several others and got possession of the vessel.” (Bloxam; Payne)

Kalanikūpule and his chiefs then determined to attack Kamehameha’s forces on Hawai’i. On January 3, the captured crew was put to work preparing the vessels for sea, and on January 11 they were ready to sail for Hawai’i.

Kalanikūpule ordered all the arms and ammunition to be loaded into the two captured vessels, along with all the captured crew, although he was advised by his chiefs to divide them among the canoes.

On “the 12th of January … about three pm the chiefs ordered the vessels out of the harbor to go to the bay of Waikiki where about 4 pm, (some of the Jackal and Prince Lee Boo crew) brought up and lay till ten pm, and having all the people on board we both attacked the natives, wounded and drove them overboard and got possession of both vessels”. (Bloxam; Payne)

They released Kalanikūpule, his wife and one attendant in a canoe as they passed Diamond Head, then headed to Hawai‘i where they informed John Young and Kamehameha of Kalanikūpule’s invasion plans.

The Jackal and Prince Lee Boo sailed to China where the vessels were sold. Butterworth successfully returned to England at around 1794. (Lots of information here is from Payne)

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Dessin_du_Machault_(1791)-Frigate comparable to Butterworth

Sloop_-Jackal-_c.1792

Prince_Lee_Boo-_c.1792

January 25, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Reading, ‘Riting & ‘Rithmetic

Sir William Curtis (born January 25, 1752,) son of a British baker, became Member of Parliament for the City of London in 1790, holding the seat for 28 years. He was also Lord Mayor of London 1795-6.

Among many other products, the family made ships’ biscuits. After inheriting the business, expanding it and making a whole pile of money, satirists came to call him Sir Billy Biscuit. Sir Billy was nearly illiterate. (BBC)

The famous expression – “the three Rs—reading, ‘riting, and ‘rithmetic”- is credited to Curtis.

He proposed it as a toast at a dinner given by the Board of Education in the days when folks were pleading for increased educational advantages for the poor. It was received with great applause and drunk amid much merriment.

But, though recognized as a jest at the time, it was afterwards taken up in earnest by Curtis’s detractors, who have handed his name down to posterity as a blundering ignoramus. (Walsh, 1893)

He chose the phrase simply as a joke. (Walsh, 1893) However, for decades, the definition of literacy was limited to the acquisition of reading, writing and arithmetic, usually referred to as the 3Rs. (UNESCO)

“(T)he three R’s,’reading, ’riting, ’rithmetic,’… belong to universal culture. They are the foundation of all education. We are speaking of the superstructure.” (Christian Union, September 4, 1878)

Curtis was not just an unexpected forward thinking, yet jokester, toaster; part of his wealth came from operations linked to the quip about his sea biscuit name …

Curtis was one of the principal financiers for the ‘Butterworth Squadron,’ a British commercial fleet of three vessels, the Butterworth, the Jackal, and the Prince Lee Boo.

These ships sailed for the Pacific Ocean from London via Cape Horn in late 1791 on a sealing and whaling expedition, following the Nootka Sound Convention, opening the Pacific Northwest Coast to British traders.

The Butterworth squadron first wintered at the Hawaiian Islands in February 1793, when control of the Islands was divided between Kamehameha who controlled Hawai‘i and much of Maui, and Kahekili who controlled the islands west of Maui including O‘ahu and Kauai.

They traded in weapons with both Kamehameha and Kahekili, but strongly favored the latter. The ship’s captain entered into a contract with Kahekili giving him title to the island of O‘ahu together with four islands to windward in return for weapons and military assistance, suppressing a revolt on Kauai.

It was during this period of alliance with Kahekili that the Butterworth squadron became the first European vessels that entered the inner Honolulu Harbor. (The contract to title to the Islands would have ended upon Kahekili’s death in 1794.) (Payne)

The first European entry of Honolulu Harbor is credited to Captain Brown of the British schooner Jackal, accompanied by Captain Gordon in the sloop tender Prince Lee Boo.

They called the harbor “Fair Haven” which may be a rough translation of the Hawaiian name Honolulu (it was also sometimes called Brown’s Harbor.)

Sir Billy Biscuit was a generous and hospitable man and in later years he became known as the “Father of the City”. When he died on January 18, 1829 every shop in Ramsgate closed in his honour and an immense crowd followed his funeral cortege. He’d had quite an effect on the place. (BBC)

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Sir William Curtis

by Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey, pencil, 1827

by George Cruikshank, published by Edward Knight, hand-coloured etching, published 12 August 1822

Sir William Curtis

Sloop_-Jackal-_c.1792

Prince_Lee_Boo-_c.1792

French Frigate comparable to Butterworth

December 12, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

400 hogs or O‘ahu and Kauai

It’s not clear if the deal was 400-hogs or “the whole right & property of the Islands Woahoo (O‘ahu) & Atooi (Kauai.)”

Whatever the agreement, Kalanikūpule was able to overcome attacks by Kā’eo and held O‘ahu (which he later lost to Kamehameha.)

Let’s look back …

In 1791, Kahekili, King of Oahu, Molokai and Maui, was on Maui with his brother Kāʻeokūlani (Kā‘eo,) King of Kauai, preparing to resist the threatened invasion of Maui by Kamehameha of Hawai‘i. (Cartwright)

Kahekili agreed with Kā’eo that after his death Kā’eo was to be regent of Maui and Molokai while Kalanikūpule, the son and heir of Kahekili, was to be King of Maui, Molokai, and Oahu, but was to reside on O‘ahu and allow Kā’eo to govern Maui and Molokai for him.

Fast forward to 1793 and Captain Brown … he was a British trader, “one of that numerous group of commercial adventurers who flocked into the north Pacific Ocean in the wake of Cook, drawn thither by the chance discovery, as one result of the last expedition led by that great navigator, of the possibilities of wealth in the fur trade between China and the coast of America.” (Kuykendall)

Brown’s three-vessel trading squadron included the ‘Butterworth’ (under Captain Brown,) ‘Prince Lee Boo’ (under Captain Sharp) and the ‘Jackal’ (under the command of Captain Alexander Stewart.)

At Maui Captain Brown seems to have entered into some sort of a politico-commercial agreement with Kahekili. Brown “had left the Isld, only a fortnight before we arrived had given them a number of Muskets, a very large quantity of Powder, and two pieces of Cannon (4 pounders)”. (Boit)

However, for these weapons, Boit says that Kahekili had “given to him the whole right & property of the Islands Woahoo (O‘ahu) & Atooi (Kauai)”. Later, Kamakau notes Kalanikūpule bargained for Brown’s assistance for “four hundred hogs”.

In July 1794, Kahekili died and, according to the prior arrangement, Kalanikūpule took control of O‘ahu and Kā‘eo ruled over Maui and Kauai.

Kā‘eo, who was residing on Maui, decided to return to Kauai. On the way he stopped with a considerable force on the northeast coast of O‘ahu, across the mountains from Waikiki, the capitol of the island.

Some fighting took place between his followers and those of Kalanikūpule, but this trouble was settled by a personal conference between the two chiefs, and Kaeo continued on around the island to Waianae, the usual point of departure for Kauai.

While resting here Kā‘eo learned of a plot among his warriors directed against himself. In this emergency he resorted to a measure not infrequently used by more civilized generals. He proposed an immediate attack on Kalanikūpule and the conquest of O‘ahu.

The plot collapsed and his followers rallied about him with enthusiasm, augmented in numbers by several bands of disaffected Oahuans. The advance toward Waikiki was begun at once and within a few days the two armies were in contact west of Honolulu. (Kuykendall)

Kalanikūpule at once engaged Captain Brown to aid him in this war (in return for four hundred hogs.) A battle was fought on the plains of Puʻunahawele in which some foreigners were killed by Mare Amara. Kalanikūpule was forced to retreat. Six days later, another battle was fought in which Kāʻeo was again victorious.

On December 12, 1794, a great battle was fought; Kalanikūpule himself with the main army held the middle ground between ʻAiea and the taro patches; Captain Brown’s men were in boats guarding the shoreline.

Thus surrounded, Kāʻeo with six of his men escaped into a ravine below ʻAiea and might have disappeared there had not the red of his feather cloak been seen from the boats at sea and their shots drawn the attention of those on land. Hemmed in from above, Kāʻeo was killed. (Kamakau)

After the victory of Kalanikūpule, a victory won by the aid of Captain Brown (and possibly also by the aid of Captain Kendrick (who was also at Honolulu on the Lady Washington,)) a salute was fired from the ships in the harbor.

One of the saluting guns on the Jackal was, through an oversight, loaded with round and grape shot, and this shot passed through the Lady Washington, killing Captain Kendrick and several of his crew.

The body of Kendrick was taken on shore for burial and the natives, who had never seen anything of the kind before, thought the prayer and burial service were “an act of sorcery to procure the death of Captain Brown.” (Kuykendall)

Toward the end of December a plot was formed among the natives for the seizure of the two vessels (Jackal and Prince Lee Boo.) On the first day of January, 1795, the plan was put into execution.

A large number of hogs having been brought to the shore for the ships, the English sailors were employed on the beach salting the pork and preparing it for shipment. Several of the crew with an officer had been sent for salt to a place some distance away.

The Englishmen being thus scattered and the vessels almost deserted, except for the two captains, who remained on board.

“Capt. Brown was walking the poop, by himself, when one of ye Savages gets up on the poop, & made a pass at the Good old Captain with an Iron dagger, which he fend’d of, & seizd a Swivell worm & drove the fellow of, he was soon followed by a number more which the captain likewise beat of …”

“… but at last he was overpower’d by numbers, & receiv’d a fatal stab in the back of the neck and was pitch’d from the poop on to the main deck where he soon expir’d, & so by there savage artfulness they got possession of both Vessells without the loss of a man on there side, in the mean time they had seiz’d the Boats & People that where on shore”. (Boit; Kuykendall)

Being in possession of the two ships, with a large quantity of arms and ammunition, Kalanikupule and his advisers conceived this to be an opportune moment for striking a decisive blow at Kamehameha.

The surviving members of the crews were compelled, under guard, to fit the vessels for sea, and when all was ready the king and his chiefs went on board and the ships were warped out of Fairhaven harbor and anchored in Waikiki bay.

The next day Mr. Bonallack, mate of the Prince Lee Boo, and Mr. Lamport, mate of the Jackal, agreed upon a plan for retaking the vessels that night. It was a desperate venture but the attempt was entirely successful, the natives on board being killed or driven off, with the exception of the king, queen, and three or four of their personal attendants.

The ships immediately put to sea, but at daybreak they again came near the shore and, after placing the king and queen in a canoe with one attendant, made all sail for the island of Hawaii, and from there, after procuring supplies, took their departure for Canton.

Within less than five months after the death of Captain Brown, Kamehameha over-ran Maui and Molokai, defeated Kalanikūpule in the great battle of Nuʻuanu, and became ruler of all the islands except Kauai. (Kuykendall)

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