Hawaii | Page 116 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

June 8, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Marston Mats

Before and during WWII, logistics and flexibility of options to deal with men and equipment guided technology. With the expanded use of air power, addressing the logistical needs of aircraft became imperative.

“The most recent information from operations now in progress abroad indicates that permanent runways are out of the question in modern warfare (causing) the development of landing and take-off mats to assume the highest possible priority.” (Maj. Gen. Henry H. Arnold, Chief of the Air Corps)

Runways for bombers based in rear areas could be built like standard highways. These plans for simple construction were almost obsolete as soon as made, for the Air Corps was even then designing heavier planes which called for runways of greater bearing capacity.

Constructing runways at the front and more elaborate ones farther back, as the planes being contemplated in 1939 dictated, would take a long time—long enough to interfere seriously with the striking power of the air arm.

The Air Corps expressed immediate interest in news that the British and French were laying down portable steel mats as a substitute for hard-surfaced runways.

In December 1939, the Air Corps asked the Engineers to develop a similar landing mat. Since practically nothing was known about the subject, the two services agreed that the Engineers would attempt to get more information from abroad, would canvass the American market for likely materials, and, after conducting field tests with loaded trucks, choose the most promising types for service tests with planes.

The military command noted, “The requirements may be divided into two separate categories: First, pursuit and observation, ie, light weight types; Second, bombardment, ie, heavy load types.” It seemed possible that “if no delays are incurred and if this project is pushed that some concrete decision can be arrived at by the first of the Fiscal Year 1941.”

A pierced steel plank was developed at Waterways Experiment Station, an Army Corps of Engineers research facility in Mississippi. The 21st Engineers, under the command of Col Dwight Frederick Johns, was assigned the task of investigating techniques for the rapid construction of air bases.

In November 1941, the first major aerial operation experiments took place at Marston, North Carolina. The 21st Engineering Regiment (Aviation) constructed a 3,000-foot runway on virgin ground for use by the 1st Air Support Command. The job took 11-days and used 18-railroad carloads of a new product known as pierced steel planking. (Gabel)

It met expectations; and early in February 1942, the Engineers and Aviation groups agreed on a minimum of 15,000,000 square feet of mats. Thereafter demands increased rapidly.

By midsummer, the total required production of pierced plank mat was at 180,000,000 square feet—an amount that would consume from 70,000 to 100,000 tons of steel per month (about one third of the nation’s sheet capacity.)

While the Corps called it ”pierced (or perforated) steel planks (PSP,)” it adopted a name associated where it was initially tested – Marston Mats (named for the North Carolina City.)

The standardized, perforated steel matting was pierced with 87 holes to allow drainage; it was 10-feet long by 15-inches wide and weighed 66-pounds; a later aluminum version came in at 32 pounds.

The mats were often laid over the local vegetation, which varied depending on the location from loose straw to palm fronds. The sandwich of steel and vegetation absorbed moisture and cut the dust kicked up by heavy aircraft.

While the first planked airstrip took 11-days to install, by the end of World War II an airfield could be carried across the Pacific within a single cargo hold of a Liberty ship, and could be ready for aircraft to land 72 hours after unloading. (AirSpaceMag)

During raids, sometimes the mats were hit/damaged. The Seabees constructed “repair stations” along the runway, each with foxholes for the repair crews and packages of 1600 square feet of Marston mat, the amount that experience showed was necessary to repair the damage from a 500-pound bomb.

Trucks were preloaded with sand and gravel and concealed around the runway. Following a hit on the runway, the repair crews would clear away the damaged Marston mat as the trucks were brought out to dump their loads in the crater.

100 Seabees could repair the damage of a 500-pound bomb hit on an airstrip in forty minutes. In other words, forty minutes after that bomb exploded, you couldn’t tell that the airstrip had ever been hit. (Budge)

At first the US had Marston Mats to itself, but eventually the invention was shared with its Allies, including Russia under the Lend-Lease program.

Two-million tons of temporary runway were produced in WWII to bring American airfields to each island captured from the Japanese. Marston Mats have been used in every war since. (AirSpaceMag)

The pierced plank mat continued to be the type requested by theater commanders. The Engineers admitted that the pierced plank mat “turned in a creditable performance through-out the world.” (The Corps of Engineers)

Among other places, Marston Mats formed the 6,000-foot temporary runway at Morse Field – South Point, Hawaiʻi. Likewise, the Kualoa Airfield at Kāneʻohe Bay had a Marston Mat ramp. Kahuku Army Air Base started as a Marston Mat runway that was later paved.

In the later ‘reuse’ category, my mother found that aluminum Marston mats made great benches and re-potting surfaces for her orchids.

June 7, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Buried at Sea

“Directly in front of the Archives building in Palace square, Honolulu, is a circular, grassy mound hedged with hibiscus. At or near that mound was situated the royal tomb of the Kamehamehas from about 1825 to 1865.”

“… in that tomb were placed the remains of many famous persons. Here it was that Dr GP Judd concealed the national archives from Lord George Paulet in 1843. It is an historic spot and the visitor to our fair city should be helped in some way to recognize it and know its story.” (McClellan, Advertiser January 26, 1927)

Reportedly, in 1858, Kamehameha IV brought over the ancestral remains of other Aliʻi – coffins and even earlier grave material – out of their original burial caves, and they are buried in Pohukaina.

During the reign of Kamehameha IV, there was talk of building a new royal mausoleum (at the time, Hawaiʻi’s ruling chiefs were buried in the crypt enclosure on the ʻIolani Palace grounds, known as Pohukaina, sometimes called ‘the mound’.)

“When the new Royal Mausoleum at Nuʻuanu Valley was completed in 1865 the remains of all the Kings, Princes and Princesses were removed there ….” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, March 22, 1892)

In 1865, the remains of 21-Ali‘i were removed from Pohukaina and transferred in a torchlight procession at night to Mauna ‘Ala, a new Royal Mausoleum in Nuʻuanu Valley.

“Doubtless the memory is yet green of that never-to-be-forgotten night when the remains of the departed chiefs were removed to the Royal Mausoleum in the valley.”

“Perhaps the world had never witnessed a procession more weird and solemn than that which conveyed the bodies of the chiefs through our streets, accompanied on each side by thousands of people until the mausoleum was reached …”

“… the entire scene and procession being lighted by large kukui torches, while the midnight darkness brought in striking relief the coffins on their biers.” (Kapena, Pacific Commercial Advertiser, January 3, 1880)

“Earth has not seen a more solemn procession what when, in the darkness of the night, the bodies of these chieftains were carried through the streets, which were lined with thousands of people on either side along the whole march ….”

“Not a sound was heard. The flaming torches, made of kukui nuts and of gigantic size, on either side of the procession, made the darkness beyond impenetrable and centred all light upon the procession”. (Harris, Hawaiian Gazette, January 14, 1880)

“(T)he remains of all the kings, princes and princesses were removed there excepting that of Princess Kekāuluohi, mother of Lunalilo.”

“This act of disrespect of Kamehameha V to the remains of his mother made Lunalilo sorely indignant, and he swore that he would not have his remains buried at the Royal Mausoleum.”

“He kept his word. As there was no proper place for the burial of his mother (she died June 7, 1845, at the age of 50,) he ordered his native servants to take the bones of his mother and bury them in the bosom of the deep, where no mortal could disturb them.”

“At the dead of night, the canoe bearing the remains of Kekāuluohi, manned by a crew of native kahu (attendants) left Waikiki. They went to a point many miles off Diamond Head. When they reached the place, prayers (kanaenae) were offered according to the ancient rites of burial.”

“When the ceremony was over, the bones of Kekāuluohi, carefully wrapped up in white clothes, were consigned to the deep. One of the crew … testified that when they threw the royal remains into the ocean, phosphorescent light illuminated the spot, and they could distinctly see the remains descending slowly towards the bottom. …”

“The crew returned from their solemn mission, but they were in honor bound not to reveal the exact position where they buried Kekāuluohi.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, March 22, 1892)

“Before he died … (Lunalilo) willed … that he be buried in the Cemetery (Kawaiahaʻo) with the People who elected him … rather than in the Royal Mausoleum.” (Lunalilo died February 3, 1874 at the age of 39.)

“His Tomb in Kawaiahaʻo Church Yard, not being ready, his remains were temporarily deposited in the Royal Mausoleum … So, Lunalilo had two funerals.”

“The first when he was interred in the Royal Mausoleum (in 1874) and the second on November 23, 1875, when he was removed from there to where his earthly remains rest today.” (Webb; McClellan)

“When the casket of Lunalilo was being carried out of the Royal Mausoleum on November 23, 1875 … a glaring flash of lightning and an earsplitting peal of thunder welcomed it.”

“Volley after volley resounded through the Heavens, and continued until the Royal Burden was safely and reverently placed within the final tomb”.

“When the procession arrived at Kawaiahaʻo Church and just as the casket was entering the tomb, a most terrific clap of thunder burst from a heavy cloud. “

“According to the count of many Hawaiians this was the twenty-first of these thunder-peals and the last was the most thunderous. It sounded as if the whole city of Honolulu had been dashed to ruins and it startled the whole population.”

“We all believed that it was a heavenly recognition of the high rank of our Ali‘i – a discharge from the artillery-of-the-clouds, a royal salute sent from Heaven to honor our beloved sovereign.” (Webb; Galuteria)

Kawaiahao_Church-Lunalilo_Tomb-PP-15-12-023-00001

Kekauluohi-WC

The young Prince William Charles Lunalilo in his teens

Lunalilo Mausoleum-PP-50-11-004-00001

King_Lunalilo

Lunalilo’s_Tomb-(DMYoung)

Mauna Ala Entrance

The_chapel_at_Mauna_‘Ala,_the_Royal_Mausoleum

Mauna_Ala-(DMYoung)

Illustrated_London_News_on_the_Funeral_of_the_King_Lunalilo-1874

Chapel_at_Mauna_‘Ala-interior

June 4, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Battle of Midway

Kuaiheilani, suggested as a mythical place, is the traditional name for what we refer to as Midway Atoll. Described in the legend of Aukelenuiaiku, the origin of this name can be traced to an ancient homeland of the Hawaiian people, located somewhere in central Polynesia. (Kikiloi)

According to historical sources, this island was used by Native Hawaiians even in the late-1800s as a sailing point for seasonal trips to this area of the archipelago.

Theodore Kelsey writes, “Back in 1879 and 1880 these old men used navigation gourds for trips to Kuaihelani, which they told me included Nihoa, Necker, and the islets beyond…the old men might be gone on their trips for six months at a time through May to August was the special sailing season.” (Papahānaumokuākea MP, Cultural Impact Assessment)

Look at a map and you understand the reasoning for the “Midway” reference (actually, it’s a little closer to Asia than it is to the North American continent.)

The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, and in particular Midway Atoll, became a potential commodity in the mid-19th century. The United States took formal possession of Midway Atoll in August of 1867 by Captain William Reynolds of the USS Lackawanna.

Shortly afterwards, the USS Saginaw, a Civil War-era side wheel gunboat, was assigned to support improvement efforts at Midway where a coal depot in support of transpacific commerce was to be built.

For six months, she served as a support vessel for divers as they labored to clear a channel into the lagoon. In October 1870, the unsuccessful operation was terminated. Saginaw set course for nearby Kure Atoll to check for castaways before returning to San Francisco. The ship would meet a tragic end on the reef at Kure Atoll where she wrecked in the middle of the night.

Midway’s importance grew for commercial and military planners. The first transpacific cable and station were in operation by 1903. In the 1930s, Midway became a stopover for the Pan American Airways’ flying “clippers” (seaplanes) crossing the ocean on their five-day transpacific passage.

The United States was inspired to invest in the improvement of Midway in the mid-1930s with the rise of imperial Japan. In 1938 the Army Corps of Engineers dredged the lagoon during this period and, in 1938, Midway was declared second to Pearl Harbor in terms of naval base development in the Pacific.

The construction of the naval air facility at Midway began in 1940. At that time, French Frigate Shoals was also a US naval air facility. Midway also became an important submarine advance base.

The reef was dredged to form a channel and harbor to accommodate submarine refit and repair. Patrol vessels of the Hawaiian Sea Frontier forces stationed patrol vessels at most of the islands and atolls

The Japanese planned to assault and occupy the atoll in order to threaten an invasion of Hawaiʻi and draw the American naval forces that had survived the attack on Pearl Harbor out into an ambush against the brunt of the Imperial Japanese Navy.

Midway was of vital importance to both Japanese and American war strategies in World War II, and the raid on the atoll was one of the most significant battles of the war, marking a major shift in the balance of power between the United States and Japan.

As dawn approached at around 0430, June 4, 1942, the American carriers (Enterprise, Hornet, and Yorktown) were about 300 miles north north-east of Midway. Their Japanese counterparts (Akagi, Kaga, Sōryū and Hiryū) were 250 miles northwest of the atoll.

In their attack, the Imperial Japanese Navy lost two thirds of its fleet aircraft carriers (four Japanese aircraft carriers and their accompanying aircraft and crews.) The loss of USS Yorktown was a major blow to the US, but the American wartime production of men and materiel would soon make up the difference and outpace that of the Japanese.

While the primary carrier fleet engagement occurred well to the north of Midway Atoll, much of the “secondary” action occurred within or originated from the atoll.

The Battle of Midway (June 4-7, 1942) is considered the most decisive US victory and is referred to as the “turning point” of World War II in the Pacific. The victory allowed the United States and its allies to move into an offensive position.

In 2000, Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt designated Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge as the Battle of Midway National Memorial, making it the first National Memorial designated on a National Wildlife Refuge.

Of all the Islands and atolls in the Hawaiian archipelago, while Midway is part of the US, it the only one that is not part of the State of Hawaiʻi.

Today, Midway is administered by the US Fish and Wildlife Service as Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge within Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, a marine protected area encompassing all of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

June 3, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Fairy

Victoria (named after Queen Victoria) Kaʻiulani Kawekiu I Lunalilo Kalaninuiahilapalapa Cleghorn was the only child of Princess Miriam Likelike (the sister to King Kalākaua and Queen Liliʻuokalani) and Archibald Scott Cleghorn, a Scottish businessman.

At the age of 15, Kaʻiulani was proclaimed Crown Princess of Hawaiʻi by Queen Liliʻuokalani and was a future ruler of Hawaiʻi. (KSBE)

One of her godmothers, Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani, gave her the famed 10-acre Waikīkī estate, ‘Āinahau, as a birthday. Originally called Auaukai, Princess Likelike (Kaʻiulani’s mother) named it ʻĀinahau; Princess Kaʻiulani spent most of her life there.

The family built a two-story home on the estate. At first the home was used only as a country estate, but Princess Kaʻiulani’s family loved it so much, it soon became their full-time residence. They built a stable for their horses.

“Princess Kaiulani was a thoughtful young lady, but always frank and candid. She was intensely devoted to the out of doors. It was the same from the time she was a little girl up to a few days before her death.”

“She was a skillful horsewoman. She liked both riding and driving. For driving she had a double rig and a single rig and generally handled the lines herself.”

“As a little girl she was a splendid swimmer and the old natives along the Waikiki beach will willingly tell you how the young alii would always go further out into the breakers than any one else. …”

“The Princess had at Ainahau a tribe of peafowls and everyone of the birds would eat from her hands. She admired them very much, made a study of them.” (PCA, March 13, 1899)

“But if Ka’iulani truly loved anything nonhuman at ‘Ainahau, it was her snow-white riding pony, Fairy. By age seven she was an accomplished equestrian.”

“She was often seen riding, accompanied by a groom, to visit Diamond Head Charlie at the lookout (from which he alerted O’ahu of arriving ships), or into town, where she would visit ‘Uncle John’ Cummins, one of Honolulu’s leading citizens, who she was certain had the best cows on the island.” (Sharon Linnea)

First Miss Barnes, then Miss Gertrude Gardinier, and later Miss de Alcald served as governesses to Kaʻiulani. Kaʻiulani’s governess, Miss Barnes, of whom the family was very fond, died unexpectedly in 1883.

Replacements were tired, but the arrival of Gertrude Gardinier from New York changed that. Kaʻiulani’s mother, Likelike, approved immediately and the young Kaʻiulani and Miss Gardinier took to each other immediately.

The earliest hand written letter written by the hand of Princess Ka‘iulani was a May 13, 1885 letter to her new governess’s mother. In part, Ka‘iulani wrote, “Miss Gardinier and I are going to ride horseback some day when she learns to.”

“I have a pretty little pony of my own and I am not afraid to ride it. My pony is only four years old, and I am nine years old. Goodbye, from Ka’iulani Cleghorn.”

At the age of 13, Princess Kaʻiulani sailed to Europe to begin her education abroad; she spent the next eight years studying and traveling in Europe.

“When Kaiulani left for England her saddle pony ‘Fairy’ was turned out to pasture. It remained resting till she returned and she mounted its back the first day she was in the Islands again. ‘Fairy’ she called the beast to the last.” (PCA, March 13, 1899)

Later, Ka‘iulani had gone to the Waimea on the Big Island to visit Helen and Eva Parker, daughters of Samuel “Kamuela” Parker (1853–1920,) grandson of John Parker (founder of the Parker Ranch.)

While attending a wedding at the ranch, she and the girls had gone out riding horseback on Parker Ranch; they encountered a rainstorm. She became ill; she and her family returned to O‘ahu.

Tragically, after a two-month illness, Princess Kaʻiulani died on March 6, 1899 at her home, ʻĀinahau, at age 23. It is said that the night she died, her peacocks screamed so loud that people could hear them miles away and knew that she had died.

“The birds have been acting as if they were wondering why she was neglecting them and so have the horses. Old, faithful ‘Fairy’ deserted for the second and last time by his mistress simply mopes around.” (PCA, March 13, 1899)

June 2, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Feathers

“Feathers were important symbols of power for Polynesians; in Hawai‘i, feathers were more highly prized than other types of property.”

“Feathers used for crafts were obtained from at least 24 bird species, however, the golden feathers of ‘ō‘ō and mamo birds made them primary targets for birdhunters; both birds became extinct by the late 1800s.”

“Feathers were utilized for many items, including ‘ahu‘ula [cloaks], mahiole [war helmets], and kāhili [standards]. Most garments utilized a considerable number of feathers; a cloak for Kamehameha consumed the golden feathers of 80,000 mamo birds.” (Perez)

“The feathers of birds were the most valued possessions of the ancient Hawaiians. The feathers of the mamo were more choice than those of the oo because of their superior magnificence when wrought into cloaks (ahu). The plumage of the i‘iwi, apapane and amakihi were made into ahu-ula, cloaks and capes, and into maho-ole, helmets.”

“The ahu-ula was a possession most costly and precious (makamae), not obtainable by the common people, only by the alii. It was much worn by them as an insignia in time of war and when they went into battle. The ahu-ula was also conferred upon warriors, but only upon those who had distinguished themselves and had merit, and it was an object of plunder in every battle.”

“Unless one were a warrior in something more than name he would not succeed in capturing his prisoner nor in getting possession of the ahu-ula and feathered helmet of a warrior. These feathers had a notable use in the making of the royal battle-gods. They were also frequently used by the female chiefs in making or decorating a comb called huli-kua, which was used as an ornament in the hair.”

“The lands that produced feathers were heavily taxed at the Makahiki time, feathers being the most acceptable offering to the Makahiki-idol. If any land failed to furnish the full tale of feathers due for the tax, the landlord was turned off (hemo). So greedy were the alii after fathers that there was a standing order (palala) directing their collection.” (Malo)

In the first writing of Hawai‘i, Captain Cook’s Journal notes, “Amongst the articles which they brought to barter this day [Jan 21, 1778], we could not help taking notice of a particular sort of cloak and cap, which, even in countries where dress is more particularly attended to, might be reckoned elegant.”

“The first are nearly of the size and shape of the short cloaks worn by the women of England, and by the men in Spain, reaching to the middle of the back, and tied loosely before.”

“The ground of them is a network upon which the most beautiful red and yellow feathers are so closely fixed that the surface might be compared to the thickest and richest velvet, which they resemble, both as to the feel and the flossy appearance.”

“The manner of varying the mixture is very different, some having triangular spaces of red and yellow alternately; others a kind of crescent, and some that were entirely red, had a yellow border which made them appear, at some distance, exactly like a scarlet cloak edged with gold lace.”

“The brilliant colours of the feathers, in those that happened to be new, added not a little to their fine appearance, and we found that they were in high estimation with their owners, for they would not, at first part with one of them for anything we offered, asking no less a price than a musket.”

“[M]en and women … are joined together in great numbers in climbing into the forests to snare birds [kapili manu; kawili manu]. And the number of birds caught by a person in a day is from six to thirty. The bird being caught is the Oo of the forests.” (Kuokoa, Mar 17, 1866)

“Initial bird-catching or feather-gathering was probably conducted by commoners (maka‘āinana) of each community land (ahupua‘a) as part of their tribute to chiefs, rather than exclusively by a special class of chiefly retainers (bird-catchers).

“Wives of bird-catchers sometimes accompanied their husbands and plucked, sorted and fastened together feathers. Women probably wove the helmet and cloak fibre frameworks and nets (of ‘ie‘ie and ‘olonā fibers).

“Women may have attached the feathers to cloaks and helmets – manufactured the cloaks and helmets. These cloaks and helmets were probably made in chiefly households by skilled female retainers.”

“Capes (cloaks) and helmets were probably not sacred and kapu until the finished products became identified with certain wearers.” (Cordy)

Vancouver notes in his journal, “Tamaahmaah (Kamehameha) conceiving this might be his last visit, presented me with a handsome cloak formed of red and yellow feathers, with a small collection of other native curiosities; and at the same time delivered into my charge the superb cloak that he had worn on his formal visit at our arrival.”

“This cloak was very neatly made of yellow feathers; after he had displayed its beauty, and had shewn me the two holes made in different parts of it by the enemy’s spears the first day he wore it, in his last battle for the sovereignty of this island, he very carefully folded it up, and desired, that on my arrival in England, I would present it in his name to His Majesty, King George …”

“… and as it had never been worn by any person but himself, he firmly enjoined me not to permit any person whatever to throw it over their shoulders, saying, that it was the most valuable thing in the island of Owhyhee (Hawai‘i), and for that reason he had sent it to so great a monarch, and so good a friend, as he considered the King of England.”

“This donation I am well persuaded was dictated by his own grateful heart, without having received the least hint or advice from any person whatever, and was the effect of principles, highly honorable to more civilized minds. The cloak I received, and gave him the most positive assurance of acting agreeably with his directions.” (Vancouver, March 1793)