Hawaii | Page 242 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

February 19, 2020 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Number, Please

“Mr. Watson – come here – I want to see you.” Soon after that fateful day of March 10, 1876, with the message from Alexander Graham Bell to his assistant Thomas A. Watson, the telephone grew in popularity.

In July of 1877, the Bell Telephone Company was formed and by the end of 1877 there were three-thousand telephones in service.

Some suggest ʻIolani Palace had telephones before the White House. However, the White House had a phone in 1879 (President Rutherford B. Hayes telephone number was “1”.) “By the fall of 1881 telephone instruments and electric bells were in place in the Palace.” (The Pacific Commercial, September 24, 1881)

“The first telephone ever used in Honolulu belonged to King Kalākaua. Having been presented to him by the American Bell Telephone Company.” (Daily Bulletin, December 4, 1894)

The earliest telephone in Hawaiʻi followed the first commercial telegraph, and like the earlier device stemmed from the efforts of Charles H. Dickey on Maui.

In early-1878, Maui’s Charles H. Dickey installed Hawaiʻi’s first two telephones between his home and his store. The phones were rented from a Mainland firm and ran on wet cell batteries.

Years later, Dickey wrote: “In 1878 I received a letter from my brother, JJ Dickey, superintendent of the Western Union Telegraph at Omaha, describing the new invention. … Before the year was out … I sent for instruments and converted my telegraph line into a telephone line.” (Schmitt, HJH)

In a letter to the Hawaiian Gazette, CH Dickey noted, “Sir, the greatest discovery of the age is the Bell Telephone. By its use, persons many miles apart can converse with ease. Every sound is distinctly transmitted.”

“The tones of the voice, musical notes, articulation, in fact any and every sound that can be made is reproduced instantaneously in a miniature form, by all the telephones on the wire.” (CH Dickey, Hawaiian Gazette, March 13, 1878)

“I have made arrangements to have a few sent me, to be used by the Hawaiian Telephone Company, and hope soon to be prepared to furnish telephones to all who wish them in the Islands, as agent for the manufacturers. …”

“A number of instruments can be attached to the same wire, although but one person can talk at a time, as is usual in polite conversation.” (CH Dickey, Hawaiian Gazette, March 13, 1878)

“Let a good line be put up, beginning at the upper end of Nuuanu, running down the Valley, connecting with the residences and business houses; then out on King street, connecting with the Palace and Government Building; then up through the residences to Punahou, and ending say at Waikiki.” (CH Dickey, Hawaiian Gazette, March 13, 1878)

Shortly after this, the newspaper commented, “it is plain that this new invention is destined to come into general use at no distant date.” (Hawaiian Gazette, March 30, 1878)

On April 11, 1878, Dickey submitted his application for a caveat (a kind of provisional patent), asserting his “intention to introduce into the Hawaiian Islands the Invention known as The Bell Telephone,” but the Privy Council apparently failed to act on his request.

Less than two weeks later, on April 24, 1878, a letter was sent to the Advertiser from Wailuku stating that “the East Maui Telegraph Company are about to introduce that new wonder of the age, the telephone.”

The Maui telephone system was apparently put into operation in May or June, 1878; a letter from Makawao, dated June 27, 1878, and printed in the Advertiser, boasted that “the telegraph and telephone are old here, ‘everybody has ’em’ ” and went on to tell how “comes the word by telephone that Mr. Spencer (E. Maui Plantation) has met with an accident.” (Schmitt, HJH)

In 1878, S. G. Wilder, Minister of the Interior, had a line installed between his government office and his lumber yard, and other private lines quickly followed. Organized service in Honolulu began during the late fall of 1880, and on December 30 the Hawaiian Bell Telephone Company was incorporated.

On December 23, 1880, a charter was granted to the Hawaiian Bell Telephone Company (Bell had nothing to do with the company; the name “Bell” was added to honor Alexander Graham Bell.)

There were 119 subscribers by the end of 1881; the next year there were 179. (On August 16, 1883, a competitive group was granted a charter, it was called the Mutual Telephone Company. Competition brought the rates down.)

The 1880-1881 directory, published in 1880, noted that the Hawaiian Telegraph Company “was established in 1877, and was the pioneer line of the Kingdom, and is up to the present time the only public line.”

“It was originally worked with what are known as Morse Sounders, but, the business of the line not being sufficient to pay for experienced operators, telephones have been substituted.” (Schmitt, HJH)

The first calls were operator assisted – the first operators were men.

They knew each subscriber by voice and did more than just connect calls – they made appointments, conveyed messages and even announced the current attraction at the Opera House. Throwing a master switch, they could inform all subscribers on matters of general concern, with a “Now hear this!”

On November 2, 1931, the Mutual Telephone Company inaugurated interisland radio telephone service. Mutual introduced radio telephone service with the Mainland a few weeks later. (Schmitt, HJH)

Annoyed by the growing numbers of free-loaders who used merchants’ phones for their private calls, the company (with the approval of the Public Utilities Commission) forbade free calls from stores and other public places, and in 1935 installed the first pay phones in Honolulu. (Schmitt, HJH)

Shortly after the turn of the century, women replaced men as telephone operators. On August 28, 1910, Honolulu telephones were converted to dial operation, but the last manual phones in Hawaiʻi (at Kamuela and Kapoho) were not phased out until 1957.

That same year (1957,) the first submarine telephone cable laid between Hawaiʻi and the mainland United States (actually two cables, (one transmitting in each direction.)) This provided the first direct dialing between Hawaiʻi and the mainland. It was replaced in 1989 with more advanced Fiber Optic cable technology.

Direct Distance Dialing was made available for calls from Oahu to the Neighbor Islands and Mainland beginning at 12:01 a.m., January 16, 1972. This permitted callers to bypass long-distance operators and reduce charges appreciably.

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Alexander Graham Bell at the opening of the long-distance line from New York to Chicago-(LOC)-1892

Dickey-advertisement-Hawaiian_Gazette-06-19-1878

Historic company document-A stock certificate from 1892

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Kalakaua, King of Hawaii, 1836-1891, in his library in Iolani Palace-telephone_on_wall-(HSA)-PP-96-15-007

February 18, 2020 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

McGregor Point

An ancient name for Maui is ʻIhikapalaumaēwa which is alluded to in the genealogical chant of “Mele a Pakuʻi”. The name infers sacred reverence and respect and the chant recounts how Wākea and Papa gave birth to the Hawaiian Islands.

Maui was the second child born to Wākea and Papa and is the second largest island in the Hawaiian archipelago. (Cultural Surveys)

In former times, Maui was also known as Kūlua, a probable reference to the East and West Maui districts, which were separate polities by A.D. 1400-1500. The name Maui itself is said to come from the chief Mauiloa. (Cultural Surveys)

Ukumehame Ahupua‘a, between the Lāhainā and Wailuku Districts was a fertile ahupua‘a that supported a large population with concentrations of people along the coastal area.

The fisheries and the ocean surrounding the area Ukumehame were so important that it also became a prominent canoe landing. Ukumehame and Olowalu were the favored residencies of royalty (Nūpepa Kūʻokoʻa, 1865 – Rechtman)

Kealaloloa “long pathway” Ridge, as it name suggests, may have been the main travel route used during the prehistoric and early historic times to cross to the West Maui Mountain, with auxiliary trails once serving to connect the main travel route.

This prominent landform ascends above the point below, which apparently represents the western extent of the coastal settlement. (Rechtman)

“A new road had been made around the foot of the mountain, the crookedest, rockiest, ever traveled by mortals. Our party consisted of five adults and five children. We had but two horses. One of these was in a decline on starting; it gave out in a few miles. …”

“The wind from the other shore swept across it and was cooling us a little too rapidly after the intense heat of the day. To go farther without rest or aid was impossible.” (Laura Fish Judd, 1841)

The trail was hand-built before 1825 for horseback and foot travel between Wailuku and Lāhainā; it served as the most direct route across the steep southern slopes of West Maui Mountain.

(By 1900, the Lāhainā Pali Trail fell out of use when prison laborers built a one-way dirt road along the base of the pali. In 1911, a three-ton truck was the first vehicle to negotiate this road, having a difficult time making some of the sharp, narrow turns.)

Ukumehame is noted for the strong winds that come from the uplands and blow to the sea. One kamaʻāina of Olowalu wrote this of the winds of Ukumehame and the surrounding wahi pana …

Hoomanu‘a i ke one o Awalua, konohikilua ka lā iā Olowalu, i ka lā‘i ka makani kahi ‘ao‘ao, Na Ukumehame ka nau o ka makani.
Pile the sands of Awalua, the sun is measured in Olowalu, during the day the wind is on one side, but to Ukumehame the wind escapes. (Rectman)

The wind was so strong at times, that it would shred the sails of vessels trying to traverse the coastline by sea (as noted in Nūpepa Kūʻokoʻa, 1868:) Ke holo nei ka moku a kūpono i Ukumehame, nānā aku i ka makani wili ko‘okai i ka moana, kahea mai ‘ia ke Kāpena i nā sela a pū‘ā i nā pe‘a, e hao mai ana ka makani pau nā pe‘a i ka nahaehae.

The ship sailed on until reaching just outside of Ukumehame, watching the strong whirling winds whipping the seas, the captain called out to the sailors to furl the sails, the wind was gusting and the sails were torn. (Rechtman)

It is in this setting in the 1870s that Daniel McGregor, an interisland trader delivering supplies and bound for Māʻalaea on a stormy night, was determined to find an alternative landing for the night.

McGregor sent sailors forward with lead lines to sound the water, while he scanned the shoreline for an adequate anchorage. In the wee hours of the morning, when the winds diminished and the water became significantly shallower, McGregor ordered the anchor dropped for the night.

With the light of the morning, McGregor awoke to find that he had discovered an excellent cove with a protecting point. The point, just over a mile southwest of Māʻalaea Bay, continues to bear his name.

In 1877, Wilder Steamship Company initiated passenger and freight service between the Hawaiian Islands. At that time, there were few navigational aids, so the steamship company was forced to erect lighted beacons for the safety of its own vessels.

One of these private aids was placed at Māʻalaea Bay in the 1880s and was an ordinary lantern, fitted with red glass and displayed from a post. In 1903, land was acquired on McGregor Point and a light was placed on the point to replace the one at Māʻalaea. This was later upgraded in 1915.

The area is known for another famous landing … on February 18, 1881, the “Beta” arrived under the command of Captain Christian L’Orange, an early plantation owner who was commissioned by King Kalākaua to bring 600-Scandinavian immigrants who had signed on to work in the booming sugar plantations.

McGregor Point Lookout is a popular vantage point for seeing humpback whales from land. From here, you have a sweeping view of the ocean. Humpback whales arrive in Hawaiʻi over a six-month period, with the best viewing months from mid-December through mid-April.

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February 17, 2020 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Dunnottar Castle

This story is not about a castle, it’s about a sailing vessel named after a castle – Dunnottar Castle. First, a little about its name.

In the 5th Century, St Ninian brought Christianity to Scotland, and chose Dunnottar as a site for one of his chain of Churches. In the 12th Century Dunnottar Castle became a Catholic settlement with the first stone chapel being consecrated in 1276.

William Wallace (“Braveheart,”) Mary Queen of Scots, the Marquis of Montrose and the future King Charles II, all called the Castle home. Here a Scottish garrison once saved the Scottish Crown Jewels from destruction by Cromwell’s invading army.

In 1874, ‘Dunnottar Castle,’ a three-masted 258-foot British iron-hulled ship, was launched in Glasgow, Scotland.

She rests in the Pacific, lost at Kure Atoll on July 15th, 1886 while bound for Wilmington, California from Sydney, Australia with a cargo of coal.

A malfunctioning chronometer put the Dunnottar Castle off course and onto the reef. Though efforts were made to jettison the cargo and repair the damaged hull, the stricken vessel could not be refloated, and the crew abandoned ship for the nearby deserted island. The castaways would have to take charge of their own rescue. (PMNM)

Seven of the crew members, including its Chief Officer, took one of the surviving tender boats and sailed, for 52 days, to Kauaʻi. Upon being informed of the tragedy, the British Commissioner in Honolulu organized a rescue mission. (HawaiianAtolls)

Under the reign of King David Kalākaua, the Hawaiian Kingdom, suspecting that the British might use the occasion to annex the island, shared the expedition expenses and instructed Commissioner James Boyd to take formal possession of Kure. On September 20, 1886 he took possession of the island, then-called Moku Papapa, for the Hawaiian government. (PMNM)

The rescue mission came back to Honolulu with the same amount of people it had sailed out with. No survivors were found on the atoll, except for two fox terriers and a retriever. All of the survivors had been picked up earlier by a passing vessel and were on route to Chile. (HawaiianAtolls)

Before the mid-19th century, Kure Atoll was visited by several ships and given new names each time. Many crews were stranded on Kure Atoll after being shipwrecked on the surrounding reefs and had to survive on the local seals, turtles and birds.

The King ordered that a crude house be built on the island, with tanks for holding water and provisions for any other unfortunates who might be cast away there. But the provisions were stolen within a year, and the house soon fell into ruins.

Thus, the wreck of the Dunnottar Castle precipitated the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi’s official presence at Kure Atoll, Hawaiʻi’s most remote coral atoll at the northwestern extreme end of the entire archipelago. (PMNM)

The Kure Atoll refuge staff (State of Hawaiʻi DLNR-Division of Forestry and Wildlife) came across the wreckage by accident while transiting through the lagoon. Atoll staff radioed the NOAA archaeologists who were surveying two other locations at Kure (The New Bedford whaler Parker and the USS Saginaw), and a preliminary survey was initiated. (PMNM)

The Dunnottar Castle lies adjacent to a shoal area in the vicinity of the atoll reef, accessible only in calm weather. Many of the wooden components, loose materials, and organic fabrics have been swept away, but the heavier elements remain. No small or movable artifacts were encountered. (PMNM)

Large sections of iron hull plate, iron frames, rigging, masts, auxiliary steam boiler, keelson, anchors, windlasses, winches, capstans, davits, rudder and steering gear, cargo hatches, bow sprit, hawse pipes, chain locker, ballast stone, deadeyes, chains, stringers, bitts, ladders etc. are fixed in place on the sea bottom. (PMNM)

The site is approximately 250 feet in length, corresponding to the ship’s original size. The industrial nature of the artifacts and the general lack of coral cover makes the location well-suited for standing up to the power of the winter storms and seas which pound the atoll. (PMNM)

The wreck of the Dunnottar Castle is a nearly complete assemblage of a late-19th century commercial carrier, an incredible heritage resource from the days of the sailing ships like the Falls of Clyde (Honolulu,) Balcalutha (San Francisco Maritime Park) and Star of India (San Diego Maritime Museum) when our maritime commerce was driven by steel masts and canvas, wind power, and human hands. (PMNM)

Kure Atoll is the most northwestern island in the Hawaiian chain and occupies a singular position at the “Darwin Point:” the northern extent of coral reef development, beyond which coral growth cannot keep pace with the rate of geological subsidence. Kure’s coral is still growing slightly faster than the island is subsiding.

North of Kure, where reef growth rates are even slower, the drowned Emperor Seamounts foretell the future of Kure and all of the Hawaiian Archipelago. As Kure Atoll continues its slow migration atop the Pacific Plate, it too will eventually slip below the surface.

Kure is the northern-most coral atoll in the world. It consists of a 6-mile wide nearly circular barrier reef surrounding a shallow lagoon and several sand islets. The only land of significant size is called Green Island and is habitat for hundreds of thousands of seabirds.

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Dunnottar-Castle-Tilburg-(NOAA)-07-2006b

Large metal structures o the hull-(hawaiianatolls)

Dunnottar_Wreck-Preliminary_site_Sketch-(NOAA)

Dunnottar Castle in the 17th century - From Slezer's Theatrum Scotia (1693)

February 16, 2020 by Peter T Young 3 Comments

Deaths in Wars

Estimates indicate that at least 618,000 men died in the American Civil War – 360,000 from the North and 258,000 from the South – the greatest loss of American lives in a war. (The 3-day Battle of Gettysburg was the bloodiest, approximately 50,000 Americans died.)

In the Islands, over the centuries, the islands weren’t unified under single rule. Leadership sometimes covered portions of an island, sometimes covered a whole island or groups of islands.

Island rulers, Aliʻi or Mōʻī, typically ascended to power through familial succession and warfare. In those wars, Hawaiians were killing Hawaiians; sometimes the rivalries pitted members of the same family against each other.

At the period of Captain Cook’s arrival (1778-1779), the Hawaiian Islands were divided into four kingdoms: (1) the island of Hawaiʻi under the rule of Kalaniʻōpuʻu, who also had possession of the Hāna district of east Maui; (2) Maui (except the Hāna district,) Molokai, Lānaʻi and Kahoʻolawe, ruled by Kahekili; (3) Oʻahu, under the rule of Kahahana; and (4) Kauai and Niʻihau, Kamakahelei was ruler.

“At that time Kahekili was plotting for the downfall of Kahahana and the seizure of Oahu and Molokai, and the queen of Kauai was disposed to assist him in these enterprises.”

“The occupation of the Hana district of Maui by the kings of Hawaii had been the cause of many stubborn conflicts between the chivalry of the two islands, and when Captain Cook first landed on Hawaii …”

“… he found the king of that island absent on another warlike expedition to Maui, intent upon avenging his defeat of two years before, when his famous brigade of eight hundred nobles was hewn in pieces.” (Kalākaua)

Kamakahelei was the “queen of Kauai and Niihau, and her husband was a younger brother to Kahekili, while she was related to the royal family of Hawaii. Thus, it will be seen, the reigning families of the several islands of the group were all related to each other, as well by marriage as by blood.”

“So had it been for many generations. But their wars with each other were none the less vindictive because of their kinship, or attended with less of barbarity in their hours of triumph.” (Kalākaua)

“By this time nearly a generation of the race had passed away, subsequently to their discovery by Cook. How much of their strength had been exhausted by wars and the support of armies, and how much by new and terrible diseases, it is not easy to estimate. The population was greatly diminished, and the residue unimproved in morals.” (Bingham)

“Whether we contemplate the horrors or the glories of the rude warfare which wasted the nation, we are not to confine our views to the struggles of armed combatants – the wounds, the reproaches, and various evils inflicted on one another…”

“… but the burden of sustaining such armies deserves attention, and the indescribable misery of the unarmed and unresisting of the vanquished party or tribe, pursued and crushed, till all danger of further resistance disappeared, must not be forgotten.” (Bingham)

Fornander states that “It had been the custom since the days of Keawenui-a-Umi on the death of a Moi (King) and the accession of a new one, to redivide and distribute the land of the island between the chiefs and favorites of the new monarch.” This custom was repeatedly the occasion of a civil war. (Thrum)

Human and organic nature were, however, probably the same then as now, and wars and contentions may occasionally have disturbed the peace of the people, as eruptions and earthquakes may have destroyed and altered the face of the country. (Fornander)

“Before the conquest of Kamehameha, the several islands were ruled by independent kings, who were frequently at war with each other, but more often with their own subjects. As one chief acquired sufficient strength, he disputed the title of the reigning prince.”

“If successful, his chance of permanent power was quite as precarious as that of his predecessor. In some instances the title established by force of arms remained in the same family for several generations, disturbed, however, by frequent rebellions … war being a chief occupation …” (Jarves)

“It is supposed that some six thousand of the followers of this chieftain (Kamehameha,) and twice that number of his opposers, fell in battle during his career, and by famine and distress occasioned by his wars and devastations from 1780 to 1796.” (Bingham)

“However the greatest loss of life according to early writers was not from the battles, but from the starvation of the vanquished and consequential sickness due to destruction of food sources and supplies – a recognized part of Hawaiian warfare.” (Bingham)

Following Kalaniʻōpuʻu’s death in 1782, the kingship was inherited by his son Kīwalaʻō; Kamehameha (Kīwalaʻō’s cousin) was given guardianship of the Hawaiian god of war, Kūkaʻilimoku.

Dissatisfied with subsequent redistricting of the lands by district chiefs, civil war ensued between Kīwalaʻō’s forces and the various chiefs under the leadership of Kamehameha. At the Battle of Mokuʻōhai (just south of Kealakekua) Kīwalaʻō was killed and Kamehameha attained control of half the Island of Hawaiʻi.

The result of the battle of Mokuʻōhai was virtually to rend the island of Hawaii into three independent and hostile factions. The district of Kona, Kohala, and portions of Hāmākua acknowledged Kamehameha as their sovereign. (Fornander)

The remaining portion of Hāmākua, the district of Hilo, and a part of Puna, remained true to and acknowledged Keawemauhili as their Moi; while the lower part of Puna and the district of Kaʻū, the patrimonial estate of Kīwalaʻō, ungrudgingly and cheerfully supported Keōua Kuahuula against the mounting ambition of Kamehameha. (Fornander)

A later battle at ʻIao is described as, “They speak of the carnage as frightful, the din and uproar, the shouts of defiance among the fighters, the wailing of the women on the crests of the valley, as something to curdle the blood or madden the brain of the beholder. (Fornander)

The Maui troops were completely annihilated, and it is said that the corpses of the slain were so many as to choke up the waters of the stream of lao, and that hence one of the names of this battle was “Kepaniwai” (the damming of the waters). (Fornander)

Vancouver was appalled by the impoverished circumstances of the people and the barren and uncultivated appearance of their lands.

“The deplorable condition to which they had been reduced by an eleven years war” and the advent of “the half famished trading vessels” convinced him that he should pursue his peace negotiations for “the general happiness, of the inhabitants of all the islands.” (Vancouver, Voyage 2)

Then, a final battle of conquest took place on Oʻahu. Kamehameha landed his fleet and disembarked his army on Oʻahu, extending from Waialae to Waikiki. … he marched up the Nuʻuanu valley, where Kalanikūpule had posted his forces. (Fornander)

At Puiwa the hostile forces met, and for a while the victory was hotly contested; but the superiority of Kamehameha’s artillery, the number of his guns, and the better practice of his soldiers …

… soon turned the day in his favour, and the defeat of the Oahu forces became an accelerated rout and a promiscuous slaughter. (Fornander) Estimates for losses in the battle of Nuʻuanu (1795) ranged up to 10,000. (Schmitt)

In addition to deaths in wars, epidemics of infections added to the decline in Hawaiʻi’s population from approximately 300,000 at the time of Captain Cook’s arrival in 1778 to 135,000 in 1820 and 53,900 in 1876. (Images from Herb Kane.)

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Kauhi's_last_Stand_at_Kaanapali-(HerbKane)

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Incident_of_the_Splintered_Paddle-(HerbKane)

Kamehameha landing at Waikiki

Kamehameha_Aboard_Fair_American-(HerbKane)

February 15, 2020 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kaʻula

Kaʻula Island lies about 23-miles west-southwest of the south end of Niʻihau.

Geographically and biologically, Kaʻula could be considered to be part of the Northwest Hawaiian Islands. However, it is the westernmost of the Main Hawaiian Islands and is not included in the Northwestern Hawaiian Island section – it is part of Kauaʻi County.

It is Hawaiʻi’s second largest offshore islet (after Lehua,) making it the tenth largest island in the Main Hawaiian Island chain. Due to its size, a lot of people call it Kaʻula Rock.

Kaʻula was one of the first five islands sighted by Captain James Cook in 1778, which he referred to as “Tahoora”.

Cook first sighted Oʻahu on January 18, 1778. On February 2, 1778 his journal entry named the island group after his patron: “Of what number this newly-discovered Archipelago consists, must be left for future investigation.”

“We saw five of them, whose names, as given by the natives, are Woahoo (Oʻahu,) Atooi (Kauai,) Oneeheow (Niʻihau,) Oreehoua (Lehua) and Tahoora (Kaʻula.) …. I named the whole group the Sandwich Islands, in honour of the Earl of Sandwich.” (Clement)

Kaʻula is 0.7-miles long, about 540-feet high and has an area of about 130-acres (about the size of Ala Moana and Magic Island Parks.)

Around 100,000-seabirds of 18-different species nest on Kaʻula, with many sooty terns, brown noddies, boobies and wedge-tailed shearwaters.

ʻŌlelo No’eau recall several stories of Kaʻula birds:
“Ahē no ka manu o Kaʻula, he lā ʻino”
When the birds of Kaʻula appear wild, it denotes a stormy day. (Pukui, #8)

“Hāika Kaʻula i ka hoʻokē a na manu”
There isn’t room enough on the island of Kaʻula, for the birds are crowding. (Pukui, #411)

Kaʻula has no beaches for landing; there are steep cliffs on all sides of the island. A large sea cave is located at the northwestern end of the island.

ʻŌlelo No’eau recall the Kaʻula sea cave and the shark god Kuhaimoana:
“Kūʻonoʻono ka lua o Kuhaimoana”
Deep indeed is the cave of Kuhaimoana. (Pukui, #1923)

As early as 1921, the Light House board decided that a navigational light was needed on Kaʻula. On December 13, 1924, per Governor’s Executive Order 173, Kaʻula was set aside for the US Lighthouse Reservation for a Lighthouse Station to be under the management and control of the Department of Commerce.

The first documented ascent of Kaʻula was made on July 10, 1925, when a party under the direction of lighthouse superintendent Fred A Edgecomb (my great uncle) succeeded in making a landing and worked until the 21st building a trail and ladder to the summit. The lighthouse was eventually put into commission in 1932. The trail (and ladders) have long since washed into the ocean. (Brown, HJH)

In a memorandum regarding Kaʻula, Edgecomb noted, “On the summit at the north end of Kaula Rock the remains of several stone enclosures were found, showing unmistakable evidence of having been built by human hands.”

“These may have been prayer shelters, heiaus, or even ruins of forts as they are located in echelon, just at the top of the bluff where a trail would come out from the north landing. Certainly these walls have not been used or repaired in this generation.” (Brown, HJH)

Hawaiians visited to fish and to harvest seabirds, feathers and eggs. Stories tell that Kaʻula was also the source of a certain type of stone highly valued for making octopus lures. (OIRC)

The US Lighthouse Service operated the automatic gas light near the summit of Kaʻula from 1932-1947. Following World War II, US Coast Guard used Kaʻula as a radar navigation target.

The US Coast Guard, successor to the Lighthouse Service, later granted a revocable permit to the Navy (September 9, 1952) to use 10-acres on the southeastern tip of the island as a live fire air-to-surface and surface-to-surface practice range; the Coast Guard later (1965) transferred the Island to the Navy.

In 1978, the State of Hawaiʻi contemplated the inclusion of Kaʻula Island into a State Seabird Sanctuary and an Attorney General memorandum took the position that the Island belonged to the State. In part, it noted that since it was no longer being used for lighthouse purposes, the set aside in Governor’s Executive Order Number 173 should be canceled by appropriate documentation.

Navy lawyers took the position that the Island is owned by the US government and that transfer of jurisdiction, control, accountability and custody of Kaʻula Island to the Department of the Navy from the US Coast Guard was proper and in conformance with US law. (Hawaii Range Complex EIS)

From 1981 through the present, the Navy uses Kaʻula for restricted training limited to air-to-ground bombing using inert ordnance (up to 500-lbs) and live gunnery training. There is a 3-nautical mile (nm) radius restricted area and a 5-nm radius warning area around the island – both extending up to 18,000-feet. (Hawaii Range Complex EIS)

Permission from the US Navy is required to be on or around the island. The matter of ownership appears to be still in question, with the Feds and State disagreeing on who owns the island.

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