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June 23, 2025 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

The Macfarlanes

This summary is a little bit about some places and events that the Macfarlane family was involved with – some generally known and with us today, some long gone, but the history helps give us some added perspectives.

Henry (Harry) and Eliza Macfarlane settled in Hawaii at Waikiki in 1846, coming from Scotland by way of New Zealand. They purchased/leased the ‘ili of Kaluaokau sometime in the mid-nineteenth century, eventually raising six children there (George Walter, Frederick W, Richard H, Edward Creamer, Helen B (later Cornwell) and Clarence William.)

One lasting legacy at their Kaluaokau home is the banyan tree Henry and Eliza planted – we now more commonly refer to the former home site as the International Market Place.

Among other things, the Macfarlanes owned and operated hotels. One, the Commercial Hotel in downtown Honolulu, has a notable claim to fame – Macfarlane brought gas lighting to Hawaiʻi, hanging the first gas lamps over the billiard tables in his Honolulu saloon.

“On Tuesday evening last Mr. E. Burgess opened his spacious billiard saloon at the Commercial Hotel, which was well attended, no doubt the novelty of the room being lit up with gas proving a great attraction. There are four burners … and they filled the large room with a most brilliant light.”

“Mr. Macfarlane is deserving of great credit for his indefatigable exertions in being the first to introduce gas on this Island”. (Polynesian, November 6, 1858) (The next year, Honolulu Gas Company formed and lit-up more of Honolulu.)

The Commercial Hotel was one of Honolulu’s earliest hotels to advertise hot and cold water for baths and showers. It operated as a hotel and saloon until 1903, when the building was torn down. (Hibbard)

They had other property, in Waikīkī. Son, George is credited with building one of the first hotels in Waikīkī (his home turned to hotel) – the Park Beach Hotel near Kapiʻolani Park. CN Arnold later leased the Macfarlane property in 1888.

By 1899, the hotel failed and Macfarlane sold the lease to James Castle, who built Waikīkī’s most impressive mansion, a lavishly furnished four-story home with extensive grounds, an ocean pier and other amenities. He called it Kainalu.

When Castle died, his widow found the beachfront property more than she wished to keep up. Impressed by the charitable work being done by the Elks (the Honolulu Elks Lodge 616 was established on April 15, 1901,) in 1920 she sold them 155,000-square feet on the beach at Waikīkī complete with lavish home, for $1 a square foot.

Between 1954 and 1956, Outrigger Canoe Club made several offers to purchase about half of the Elk’s property. All were refused. Eventually, in 1955, the Elks agreed to lease property to Outrigger. Negotiations continued, and a lease was signed effective November 17, 1956. (In 1958, the Elks razed Kainalu and built a new lodge.)

In 2007, a rent dispute between the Elks and Outrigger Canoe Club was settled by a three-member arbitration panel. Terms of the new rent between the next-door neighbors were not disclosed because of a confidentiality agreement (the Elks, the landowner, were seeking up to $1-million or more a year in rent from the canoe club for a 99-year lease that was renegotiated midway through the term.)

The Macfarlanes had other Waikīkī property. Nearby in Helumoa, the Macfarlanes had other hotel property – the Seaside Hotel. (There is now another “Seaside Hotel” in Waikīkī, but that’s different from the hotel we are discussing here. That other “Seaside” was built in 1970 and has been used by United Airlines as a perk for employees and company retirees.)

Likewise, the Seaside was the annex for the “Royal Hawaiian Hotel;” not the one in Waikiki, the original Royal Hawaiian was in downtown Honolulu located at Richards and Hotel streets. In the 1890s, son, George, ran the Royal Hawaiian and the Seaside Hotels.

It was later acquired by Alexander Young’s Territorial Hotel Company, which operated the Alexander Young hotel in downtown Honolulu. After the lease expired, Matson Navigation received a new lease from landowner Bishop Estate and built what we refer today as the Royal Hawaiian Hotel.

One more thing about George Macfarlane, he was Chamberlain (an officer whose function is in general to attend to the personal needs of the King and regulate the etiquette of the Palace) and Private Secretary to King Kalākaua (and served as the medium of communication between the King and his Ministers.)

When times were tough, George was entrusted with the responsible task of negotiating and floating the first Hawaiian loan in England. The $2,000,000 loan bore interest at 6 per cent per annum; within six months, the bonds commanded 15-per cent premium. (The Morning Call, December 25, 1890)

Son Clarence (in addition to supporting the family operations) also has a notable and lasting claim to fame. A competitive sailor, Clarence invited West Coast sailors to race to the Hawaiian Islands from San Francisco.

The race start was set for summer of 1906; he took his yacht, “La Paloma,” from Honolulu to San Francisco Bay and found the city lying in ruins following the great earthquake 27-days earlier. He changed the starting point to Los Angeles. The starting line is now off the bluffs of Point Fermin in San Pedro and the finish is off the Diamond Head Lighthouse, about 2,560 miles.

The race, the longer of the two oldest ocean races in the world, continues today – we now call it the Transpacific Yacht Race (TransPac.)

Others in the family participated in the family business activities. Likewise, they had property on the Island of Hawaiʻi and operated the Puʻuloa Sheep and Stock Ranch Company (partnership of the Macfarlane family.)

7,000-sheep ran over fee and leased land, including 4,000-acres of the ahupuaʻa of ʻŌuli, extending from the sea, near Kawaihae, to the top of the Kohala range of mountains, as well as other land nearby.

The family left several lasting legacies in the Islands.

© 2025 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Colonel G. W. Macfarlane, King Kalakaua, Major R. H. Baker-Schweizer
Colonel G. W. Macfarlane, King Kalakaua, Major R. H. Baker-Schweizer
Edward_Creamor_Macfarlane
Edward_Creamor_Macfarlane
MacFarlane_Clarence-HawaiiSportsHallOfFame
MacFarlane_Clarence-HawaiiSportsHallOfFame
Macfarlane-LaPaloma-Examiner
Macfarlane-LaPaloma-Examiner
International_Market_Place-early_entrance-1957
International_Market_Place-early_entrance-1957
Macfarlane-Commercial_Hotel-Saloon-Hibbard
Macfarlane-Commercial_Hotel-Saloon-Hibbard
Downtown and Vicinity-Dakin-Fire Insurance- 10-Map-1891-Commercial Hotel-noted
Downtown and Vicinity-Dakin-Fire Insurance- 10-Map-1891-Commercial Hotel-noted
Macfarlane-Commercial_Hotel-Burgess_No_3-1854
Macfarlane-Commercial_Hotel-Burgess_No_3-1854
billiards_baldwin_hotel_sf_1870s
billiards_baldwin_hotel_sf_1870s
Seaside_Hotel-(SagaOfSandwichIslands)-1903
Seaside_Hotel-(SagaOfSandwichIslands)-1903
Guests walking toward Seaside office and entry-(SagaOfSandwichIslands)-1913
Guests walking toward Seaside office and entry-(SagaOfSandwichIslands)-1913
Advertisement_for_Seaside_Hotel-1908
Advertisement_for_Seaside_Hotel-1908
Royal_Hawaiian_Hotel-original_wooden_structure-1900
Royal_Hawaiian_Hotel-original_wooden_structure-1900
Royal_Hawaiian_Hotel-HSA-S00048-1890
Royal_Hawaiian_Hotel-HSA-S00048-1890
Park Beach Hotel, Diamond Head
Park Beach Hotel, Diamond Head
Diamond_Head_Lighthouse-Transpac_Finish
Diamond_Head_Lighthouse-Transpac_Finish
Col_George_Macfarlane-headstone-Oahu_Cemetery
Col_George_Macfarlane-headstone-Oahu_Cemetery

Filed Under: Prominent People, Economy Tagged With: Hawaii, King Kalakaua, MacFarlane, Royal Hawaiian Hotel, Kaluaokau, Seaside Hotel, TransPac, Commercial Hotel

June 22, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Missionary Travel to the Islands

“What wonder that we so long for release from this little prison-house!” (Laura Fish Judd – 1828)

From 1820 to 1847, there were 12-Companies of missionaries sent under the auspices of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) to the Islands. Every group of missionaries arrived by ship, sailing from New England, around Cape Horn and finally reaching the Hawaiian Islands usually after a five-month sea voyage. (Miller)

The Prudential Committee of the ABCFM in giving instructions 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)

The Pioneer Company, led by Hiram Bingham, left New England on the “Thaddeus” and arrived in the Islands on April 4, 1820, two centuries after their forebears, the pilgrims, landed from the “Mayflower” in New England.

For the most part, the missionaries were married – typically ‘just married’ a few weeks or months of their departure. In the Pioneer Company, by the middle of the trip, four of the wives were pregnant. (The following is a composite from writers from different Companies describing the trip.)

Travel wasn’t easy.

“We were hardly able to stand even by holding on with both hands and every now and then we were called to belch up the contents of our stomachs without discrimination.” Sea sickness was a constant issue for these non-sailors. (Judd; Miller)

Things were stored everywhere. Stephen Shepard observed that “the way to our room is blocked up with potato bags and other provisions, so as to render it almost impassable; having to scramble over a large quantity of luggage to get in or out.” (Miller)

Sleeping quarters were tight. A journal entry by Maria Patton noted, “It (the stateroom – serving 4 people) is 7 feet wide and 5½-feet long, and has a window about the size of a tea cup directly over my berth. … it contains a bureau, 8 trunks, 4 bandboxes, each of us a writing desk, 8 bags, 4 baskets …” (Maria Patton; Miller)

“Last evening, found myself much exhausted in consequence of fatigue through the day in putting order in our little room. To accomplish a little, costs much labor on board a vessel. I am grieved to find it too much the case, that with my bodily strength, my spirits sink. Several such seasons have arisen in my new situation.” (Sybil Bingham)

“… those who occupy the higher berths have to climb before we can get into them. And what is still worse, not a breath of fresh air can get in, and the cockroaches are so thick, they crawl over us and the smell is intolerable. My berth is the highest in the place, so high that there is only 12 inches between my head and the deck.” (Patton; Miller)

The “day commenced (with) the study of the Owhyhee language. … This evening held our first singing school. It is greatly to be wished that we could all join with our hearts and voices too …” (Sybil Bingham)

“After having been out ninety-four days, and witnessing nothing but floating barques like our own, some monsters of the deep, the expansive ocean and the wide-spread heavens, I can not describe to you the joyful emotions which the sight of land has this day produced. We have a fair view of Terra del Fuego on the right, and Staten Land on the left.” (Lucy Thurston)

Then, after many more days at sea, “Memorable day – a day which brings us in full view of that … land so long the object of our most interested thoughts. Between twelve and one this morning, the word was … ‘land appears’ … ‘Owhyhee sight!’”

“There was but little sleep. When the day afforded more light than the moon we were all out, and judge you, if possible, what sensation filled our breasts as we fixed our eyes upon the lofty mountains of Owhyhee!”

“O! It would be in vain to paint them. I attempt it not.”

“A fair wind carried us by different parts of the island near enough to discern its verdure, here and there a cataract rushing down the bold precipice.” (Sybil Bingham)

Upon landing, an observer ashore noted, “They look careworn and feeble; Mr. W- said ‘hungry.’” (Laura Fish Judd)

Intelligence of the arrival of our mission at the Islands, reached the United States seventeen months after we left Boston. (Lucy Thurston)

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

By the time the Pioneer Company arrived, Kamehameha I had died and the centuries-old kapu system had been abolished; through the actions of King Kamehameha II (Liholiho,) with encouragement by former Queens Kaʻahumanu and Keōpūolani (Liholiho’s mother,) the Hawaiian people had already dismantled their heiau and had rejected their religious beliefs.

Today, the Hawaiian Mission Children’s Society, a nonprofit educational institution and genealogical society, exists to promote an understanding of the social history of nineteenth-century Hawai‘i and its critical role in the formation of modern Hawai‘i.

The Society operates the Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site and Archives, comprised of three historic houses and a research archives with reading room. The Society also compiles the genealogical records of the American Protestant missionaries in Hawai‘i and promotes the participation of missionary descendants in the Society’s activities.

Through the Site and Archives, the Society collects and preserves the documents, artifacts and other records of the missionaries in Hawai‘i’s history; makes these collections available for research and educational purposes; and interprets the historic site and collections to reflect the social history of nineteenth century Hawai‘i and America.

© 2025 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Brig_Thaddeus-Friend19341101
Brig_Thaddeus-Friend19341101
Thaddeus
Thaddeus
Portraits_of_Hiram_and_Sybil_Moseley_Bingham,_1819,_by_Samuel_F.B._Morse
Portraits_of_Hiram_and_Sybil_Moseley_Bingham,_1819,_by_Samuel_F.B._Morse
Asa Thurston and Lucy Goodale Thurston
Asa Thurston and Lucy Goodale Thurston
Rocks where Thaddeus landed-Ahuena ruins in background-1928
Rocks where Thaddeus landed-Ahuena ruins in background-1928
A_Missionary_Preaching_to_the_Natives,_under_a_Skreen_of_platted_Cocoa-nut_leaves_at_Kairua_by_William_Ellis-1823
A_Missionary_Preaching_to_the_Natives,_under_a_Skreen_of_platted_Cocoa-nut_leaves_at_Kairua_by_William_Ellis-1823
Map of Kailua Bay
Map of Kailua Bay
Terra del Ffuego-Strait of Magellan
Terra del Ffuego-Strait of Magellan
Tierra-del-Fuego-Map
Tierra-del-Fuego-Map

Filed Under: Missionaries / Churches / Religious Buildings Tagged With: Hawaii, Hiram Bingham, American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions, Missionaries, Asa Thurston, Thaddeus

June 21, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Lelia Byrd

Within ten years after Captain Cook’s contact with Hawai‘i in 1778, the Islands became a favorite port of call in the trade with China.  The fur traders and merchant ships crossing the Pacific needed to replenish food supplies and water.

The maritime fur trade focused on acquiring furs of sea otters, seals and other animals from the Pacific Northwest Coast and Alaska.  The furs were mostly sold in China in exchange for tea, silks, porcelain and other Chinese goods, which were then sold in Europe and the US.

A triangular trade network emerged linking the Pacific Northwest coast, China and the Hawaiian Islands to Britain and the United States (especially New England).

One such boat was the Lelia Byrd.  Between 1803 and 1805, she crossed the Pacific three times (over 20,000-miles of open ocean,) including numerous journeys up and down the American coastline from the Columbia River to Guatemala.

The Lelia Byrd was fitted out at Hamburg by Captain Richard J Cleveland of Salem, Massachusetts – he liked the boat: “Having … purchased a new boat, we took the first favorable opportunity to proceed down the river, and … put to sea on the 8th of November, 1801, in company with a dozen sail of ships and brigs … The superiority of sailing of the Lelia Byrd was soon manifest, as, at the expiration of four hours, but two of the number that sailed with us were discernible from the deck, having been left far astern.”  (Cleveland)

June 21, 1803 marked an important day in the history of Hawaiʻi land transportation and other uses when the Lelia Byrd, an American ship under Captain William Shaler (with commercial officer Richard Cleveland,) arrived at Kealakekua Bay with two mares (one with foal) and a stallion on board.

Before departing to give these gifts to Kamehameha (who was not on the island to accept them,) the captain left one of the mares with John Young (a trusted advisor of the King, who begged for one of the animals.)  “This was the first horse that ever trod the soil of Owhyhee (Hawaiʻi,) and caused, amongst the natives, incessant exclamations of astonishment.”  (Cleveland)

Shaler and Cleveland then departed for Lāhainā, Maui to give the mare and stallion to King Kamehameha I.  “When the breeze sprang up, though at a long distance from the village of Lahina (Lāhainā,) we were boarded by Isaac Davis … Soon after, a double canoe was seen coming towards us; and, on arrival alongside, a large, athletic man, nearly naked, jumped on board, who was introduced, by Davis, as Tamaahmaah (Kamehameha,) the great King.”

“Desirous of conciliating the good opinion of a person whose power was so great, we omitted no attention which we supposed would be agreeable to him. … after walking round the deck of the vessel, and taking only a very careless look of the horses, he got into his canoe, and went on shore.”  (Cleveland)

“Davis remained on board all night, to pilot us to the best anchorage, which we gained early the following morning, and, soon after, had our decks crowded with visiters to see the horses. The people … expressed such wonder and admiration, as were very natural on beholding, for the first time, this noble animal.”

“The horses were landed safely, and in perfect health, the same day, and gave evidence, by their gambols, of their satisfaction at being again on terra firma. They were then presented to the King, who was told, that one had been also left at Owhyhee for him. He expressed his thanks, but did not seem to comprehend their value.”  (Cleveland)

While Kamehameha “remarked that he could not perceive that the ability to transport a person from one place to another, in less time than he could run, would be adequate compensation for the food he would consume and the care he would require,” Hawaiʻi had a new means of transportation (as well as a work-animal to help control the growing cattle population (gifts from Captain Vancouver in 1793.))  (Cleveland)

Cleveland and Shaler left and continued trading between China and America.  “A few days after my departure for Canton, Mr. Shaler sailed from thence, bound to the coast of California, where he arrived without accident. He had been on that coast but a few weeks, and had disposed of but a small amount of cargo, when, unfortunately, the ship struck on a shoal, and beat so heavily, before getting off, as to cause her to leak alarmingly.  (Cleveland)

(T)o have attempted to reach the Sandwich Islands, while they could hardly keep the ship afloat in smooth water, would have been highly imprudent. There seemed, then, to be no other alternative, than to go to one of the desert islands in the neighbourhood, land the cargo, and heave the ship out, or lay her on shore.  (Cleveland)

The tide did not ebb sufficiently to enable them to come to the leaks by laying her on shore; and in attempting to heave her keel out, she filled and sank. Fortunately, the water was so shoal as not to cover the deck; and she was again pumped dry. It was now evident, that they could not make such repairs as would allow them to prosecute the voyage; and to stop the leaks sufficiently, to enable them to reach the Sandwich Islands, seemed to be the only way to avoid the total loss of the property.    (Cleveland)

The repairs they were able to make, were done in so imperfect a manner, as would have made it unjustifiable to attempt any other passage, than one, where they might presume on good weather and a fair wind all the way, like the one contemplated. With these advantages, however, it was not without incessant labor at the pumps, that they were able to reach the Sandwich Islands in 1804.  (Cleveland)

An attempt to repair the ship, with the very inadequate means which were available here, was discouraging, from the great length of time it would require.  No foreign vessel was procurable, to return to the coast with the cargo. To freight a ship with it to China, would have been easy; but then it would be transporting it to where the loss on a resale would be very heavy.  (Cleveland)

In this dilemma, it was decided, as a choice of difficulties, to barter with Tamaahmaah the Lelia Byrd for a little vessel of thirty or forty tons, which had been built on the island.  (Cleveland)

This was a negotiation of greater magnitude than the King had ever before participated in; and the importance of which was sensibly felt by him.  (Cleveland)

Kamehameha was open to negotiation; he saw the benefit of the new style of boat coming to the islands and started to acquire and build them.  The first Western-style vessel built in the Islands was the Beretane (1793.)  Through the aid of Captain George Vancouver’s mechanics, after launching, it was used in the naval combat with Kahekili’s war canoes off the Kohala coast.  (Thrum)

Encouraged by the success of this new type of vessel, others were built.  The second ship built in the Islands, a schooner called Tamana (named after Kamehameha’s favorite wife, Kaʻahumanu,) was used to carry of his cargo of trade along the coast of California.  (Couper & Thrum, 1886)

According to Cleveland’s account, Kamehameha possessed at that time twenty small vessels of from twenty to forty tons burden, some even copper-bottomed.  (Alexander)

The king’s fleet of small vessels was hauled up on shore around Waikiki Bay, with sheds built over them. One small sloop was employed as a packet between Oahu and Hawaii. Captain Harbottle, an old resident, generally acted as pilot.  (Alexander)

Shaler exchanged “Lelia Byrd,” with Kamehameha for the Tamana and a sum of money to boot.  (Alexander)  The cargo was received into his store, and when the schooner was ready it was all faithfully and honorably delivered to the person appointed to receive it.   (Cleveland)

Mr. George McClay, the king’s carpenter, put in a new keel, and nearly replanked the Lelia Byrd in Honolulu Harbor. She afterwards made two or three voyages to China with sandalwood.  (Alexander)

In 1809, the village of Honolulu, which consisted of several hundred huts, was then well shaded with cocoanut-trees. The king’s house, built close to the shore and surrounded by a palisade, was distinguished by the British colors and a battery of sixteen carriage guns belonging to his ship, the “Lily Bird” (Lelia Byrd), which lay unrigged in the harbor.  (Campbell; Alexander)

Kamehameha kept his shipbuilders busy; by 1810 he had more than thirty small sloops and schooners hauled up on the shore at Waikīkī and about a dozen more in Honolulu harbor, besides the Lelia Byrd.  (Kuykendall)  Later, the Lelia Byrd finally sank near Canton.  (Alexander)

The image shows the Lelia Byrd.

© 2025 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Filed Under: Economy, Ali'i / Chiefs / Governance, Sailing, Shipping & Shipwrecks Tagged With: Lelia Byrd, Kamehameha, Horse, William Shaler, John Young, Richard Cleveland, Hawaii

June 20, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Concrete No. 5

“Ship traps” describes a phenomenon where northern and southern swells, strong channel currents, strong consistent trade winds and fringing reefs force unsuspecting vessels into areas of harm – resulting in concentrated shipwrecks.

The north shore of the Island of Lānaʻi, locally referred to as “Shipwreck Beach,” is the best example of this phenomenon. Here, the channel acts as a funnel, depositing material directly onto Shipwreck Beach.

Any vessel that broke its moorings at Lāhainā would end up there; sometimes ship owners intentionally abandoned worn-out vessels there by simply casting them adrift upwind from the treacherous shore. (Naval Historical Center)

The first reported wreck occurred in 1824 when a British vessel named the Alderman Wood ran into the reef there. Two years later, an American ship, the London, sunk there with its cargo of gold and silver bullion. No one knows how much – if any – of the gold and silver was recovered. (Brost)

Known wrecks include: British ship Alderman Wood (lost 1824); American ship London (lost 1826;) Hawaiian schooner Onward (lost 1875;) Hawaiian schooner Mary Alice (lost 1884;) Hawaiian schooner Malolo (lost 1887;) Hawaiian schooner Golden Gate (lost 1901;) Hawaiian steamship Hornet (disposed 1927.)

In addition, other victims include, Hawaiian schooner Helene (disposed 1929;) Hawaiian vessel Manukiiwai (abandoned 1929;) private yawl Charlotte C (lost 1931;) private auxiliary Tradewind (lost 1934;) three US Navy steel LCM landing craft (lost 1940s;) Hawaiian barge Oregon Reefer (disposed 1954; US Navy oiler YO-21 (disposed 1957?) and US Navy barge YOGN-42 (disposed 1950s?.) (NOAA)

A constant reminder of Shipwreck Beach is the last one – from the US Navy, YOGN-42 – a number, not otherwise named. It is 375-feet long, with a beam of 56-feet and draft of 26-and-a-half feet.

Contrary to some of the reports on this vessel, it is neither a WWII Liberty ship nor was it even a motorized vessel. The ship sitting on the reef at Shipwreck Beach is actually a non-self-propelled Navy gasoline barge.

On September 28, 1942, Commander Service Force, Pacific Fleet requested that fuel carrying barges be acquired without delay to meet the serious fuel storage problem of the naval forces in the South Pacific.

The construction of these barges was such that they could be towed to the required locations and used for fuel storage, thus providing the needed fuel storage and expediting the turnaround of tankers serving those areas. (Roberts)

On October 24, 1942, the Auxiliary Vessels Board estimated that a minimum of six barges were needed and recommended that the Navy acquire the first six to be completed.

“Concrete No. 5” was put into service in June 1943 as “YOGN-42.”

On November 11, 1942 they asked for six more of these barges to meet the expanding fuel storage requirements in the South Pacific.

Most the vessels built by the Concrete Ship Constructors at National City, California eventually ended up as floating oil barges; two were sunk as blockships during the Allied invasion of Normandy (scuttled to create sheltered water at the landing beaches.) (Naval Historical Center)

Some saw life following the war; one became a restaurant and later a fishing pier. One became a ten-room hotel. Nine were sunk as breakwaters for a ferry landing at Kiptopeke, Virginia. Two more are made into wharves in Yaquina Bay, Newport Oregon. Seven are part of a giant floating breakwater on the Powell River, Canada.

During the war, YOGN-42 was sent to Espiritu Santo, as part of a forward staging area for US forces in Vanuatu in Oceania. While there, its tug, Tug USS Navajo (AT-64,) was sunk by Japanese submarine I-39, 150-miles east of Espiritu Santo.

YOGN-42 survived the war, but was stricken from the active register in 1949 and abandoned on Shipwreck Beach sometime after that. (Maly)

© 2025 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Shiprwreck-Beach
Shiprwreck-Beach
YOGN-42-Shipwreck Beach-Lanai
YOGN-42-Shipwreck Beach-Lanai
YOGN-42-Shipwreck Beach-HTJ
YOGN-42-Shipwreck Beach-HTJ
YOGN-42-Shipwreck Beach_HTJ
YOGN-42-Shipwreck Beach_HTJ
YOGN-42-Shipwreck Beach
YOGN-42-Shipwreck Beach
YOGN-42_Shipwreck Beach
YOGN-42_Shipwreck Beach
Shipwrecks-map-NOAA
Shipwrecks-map-NOAA
Shiprwreck-Beach-Sign
Shiprwreck-Beach-Sign
Concrete Floating Breakwater-Powell River in British Columbia, Canada-Campbell
Concrete Floating Breakwater-Powell River in British Columbia, Canada-Campbell
Walkway_at_Kiptopeke_State_Park, Virginia
Walkway_at_Kiptopeke_State_Park, Virginia
Powell_River_Aerial, BC Canada
Powell_River_Aerial, BC Canada
Concrete Fuel Barges as Floating Breakwater on the Powell River, Canada
Concrete Fuel Barges as Floating Breakwater on the Powell River, Canada
Nine-Concrete Fuel Barges as Breakwater-Kiptopeke, Virginia
Nine-Concrete Fuel Barges as Breakwater-Kiptopeke, Virginia
Concrete Fuel Barges as Breakwater-Kiptopeke, Virginia
Concrete Fuel Barges as Breakwater-Kiptopeke, Virginia
Concrete Fuel Barges as Breakwater-Kiptopeke, Virginia-Rooney
Concrete Fuel Barges as Breakwater-Kiptopeke, Virginia-Rooney
Concrete Fuel Barges as Breakwater-Kiptopeke Virginia
Concrete Fuel Barges as Breakwater-Kiptopeke Virginia
Concrete Fuel Barge as Wharf Yaquina Bay, Newport, Oregon-2005
Concrete Fuel Barge as Wharf Yaquina Bay, Newport, Oregon-2005
Concrete Floating Breakwater-Powell River in British Columbia, Canada-YOGN-82
Concrete Floating Breakwater-Powell River in British Columbia, Canada-YOGN-82

Filed Under: Military, Place Names Tagged With: Shipwreck, Hawaii, Lanai

June 19, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Slavery

Slavery is a terrible thing …

“Slavery has existed for millennia in varying forms in all parts of the world. Affecting all races, gender and age groups.”

“The oldest known slave society was the Mesopotamian and Sumerian civilisations located in the Iran/Iraq region between 6000-2000BCE.”

“Egypt was also another civilisation whose economy also depended on slavery.” (History Press, UK)  “There were no slave markets and any transaction of buying or selling slaves had to be overseen by government officials.”

“There is also the famous biblical narrative of the Exodus whereby the Israelites were led to freedom by Moses with archaeologists theorising that this may have happened in the New Kingdom period (1550-712 BC).” (History Press, UK)

On the Americas continent, “The Maya [c. 250 – c. 1697 CE] and Aztec [1300 to 1521] took captives to use as sacrificial victims.” (Resendez)

Slavery existed in North America long before the first Africans arrived at Jamestown in 1619. (Harvard University Press) “Slavery was practiced by the Native Americans before any Europeans arrived in the region.”

“People of one tribe could be taken by another for a variety of reasons but, whatever the reason, it was understood that the enslaved had done something – staked himself in a gamble and lost or allowed himself to be captured – to warrant such treatment.” (Mark)

“Native American tribes were incredibly diverse, each with their own culture, and far from the cohesive, unified civilization they are often represented as under the umbrella term ‘Native American’ or ‘American Indian’.”

“Each tribe understood itself as inherently superior to others and although they would form alliances for short periods in a common cause, or for longer periods as confederacies, they frequently warred with each other for goods, in the name of tribal honor, and for captives, among other reasons.”

“Men, women, and children taken captive were then enslaved by the victorious tribe, sometimes for life”. (Mark) “Indigenous slavery long predated the arrival of Europeans in the Americas. … In the 15th century, Portugal became the first European nation to take significant part in African slave trading.” (College of Charleston)

“By the 1480s, Portuguese ships were already transporting Africans for use as slaves on the sugar plantations in the Cape Verde and Madeira islands in the eastern Atlantic.”  (Britannica)

“By the 16th century, the Portuguese dominated the early trans-Atlantic slave trade on the African coast. … When English, Dutch or French privateers captured Portuguese ships during Atlantic maritime conflicts, they often found enslaved Africans on these ships, as well as Atlantic trade goods, and they sent these captives to work in their own colonies.” (LDHI, College of Charleston)

“There was a class of people in the Hawaiian Islands who were called kauwā, slaves. … The people who were really and in fact kauwā were those who were born to that condition and whose ancestors were such before them.”  (Handy, Handy & Pukui)

“[T]he Paramount Chief (Ali’i Nui) fulfilled the role of father to this people … At the other extreme of the social order were the despised kauwā, who were outcasts …”

“… compelled to live in a barren locality apart from the tribesmen or people “belonging to the land” (ma-ka-‘aina-na), and whose only function and destiny was to serve as human sacrifices to the Ali’i’s war god Ku when a Luakini or war temple was dedicated in anticipation of a season of fighting.”  (Handy & Pukui)

“When in need of a victim for human sacrifice at the war temple a priest would go to the boundary of the kauwā reservation and summon a victim.  The man summoned could not refuse.”  (Handy, Handy & Pukui)

Kepelino gives a description of kauwā under the title ‘The Slave Class,’ as follows: “The slaves or kauwā were people set apart from the rest and treated like filthy beasts. They could not associate with other men. They were called ‘corpses,’ that is, foul-smelling things.”

“They were not allowed to marry outside their own class. If they were married and bore children to one not a slave, then all those children would have their necks wrung lest disgrace come to the family and the blot be handed down to their descendants.”

“The slaves were considered an evil here in Hawaii. They increased rapidly, – a thousand or more there were. They continued to give birth from the time of their ancestors until the present time, they could not become extinct.”

“The slaves were so tabu that they could not bare their heads but must cover themselves with a wide piece of tapa with great humility and never look up.”

“They were so tabu that they were not permitted to enter the house-lot of other men. If they wished for anything they came outside the enclosure and spoke. But to the place of their Chief who was their master they were at liberty to go.”

“There were slave lands in every district of the islands, as, for example, Ka-lae-mamo in Kona on Hawaii, Makeanehu in Kohala, and so forth.” (Kepelino)

“When the ancient system of kapu was abandoned in Liholiho’s reign, the humiliation of the kauwā ended, and they merged with the maka‘ainana gradually over the years.” (Handy, Handy & Pukui)

© 2025 Ho‘okuleana LLC

Filed Under: Economy, General, Hawaiian Traditions Tagged With: Slavery, Kauwa, Hawaii

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