Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Tamana

“If placed within its international context, the Sv. Nikolai’s 1808 voyage has significance for Russian expansion in North America that might be compared, for example, to the 1540 expedition of Francisco Vásquez de Coronado on the northern borderlands frontier of New Spain.”  (Preface, Wreck of the Sv Nikolai)

The Sv. Nikolai (a 45-50-foot schooner,) owned by the Russian American Company, set sail from New Arkhangel (modern-day Sitka, Alaska) to explore and identify a site for a permanent Russian fur trading post on the mainland south of Vancouver Island in the Oregon Country.

Heavy seas drove the ship aground on the Washington coast just north of the mouth of the Quileute River, forcing twenty-two crew members ashore.

Over the next several months the shipwrecked crew clashed with Hohs, Quileutes and Makahs; they lived in hand-built shelters roughly 9-miles up the Hoh River.

The tribes captured and enslaved several of the crew members. In 1810, an American captain sailing for the Russian American Company ransomed the survivors.  (Owens)

OK, but what about Hawaiʻi? … Let’s look back.

Throughout the years of late-prehistory, AD 1400s – 1700s, and through much of the 1800s, the canoe was a principal means of travel in ancient Hawaiʻi.  Canoes were used for interisland and inter-village coastal travel.

Most permanent villages initially were near the ocean and sheltered beaches, which provided access to good fishing grounds, as well as facilitating canoe travel between villages.

With “contact” (arrival of Captain James Cook in 1778,) a new style of boat was in the islands and Kamehameha 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 his cargo of trade to the missions along the coast of California.  (Couper & Thrum, 1886)

Then, on June 21, 1803, the Lelia Byrd, an American ship under Captain William Shaler, arrived at Kealakekua Bay with two mares and a stallion on board – they were gifts for King Kamehameha.

The captain left one of the mares with John Young (a trusted advisor of the King, who begged for one of the animals) then left for Lāhainā, Maui to give the mare and stallion to Kamehameha.

During his stay, Shaler asked Kamehameha for one of the chief’s small schooners. Wanting bigger and better, in 1805, Kamehameha traded the 45-ton Tamana and a cargo of sandalwood for the Lelia Byrd,) a “fast, Virginia-built brig of 175-tons.” It became the flagship of Kamehameha’s Navy.

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)

That, then, takes us to the Tamana and her fate.

Shaler’s agent, John Hudson, sailed the Tamana east to Baja California.  Within a year, Hudson sold the Tamana to Russian Captain Pavl Slobodchikov for 150 sea otter skins.

Slobodchikov renamed the Tamana to Sv. Nikolai.

With a makeshift crew of three Hawaiians and three Americans, Slobodchikov sailed the newly-named Sv Nikolai back to Hawaiʻi, and later returned to New Arkhangel (Sitka, Alaska) in August 1807 where the boat served the Russian fur traders along the Northwest Coast of North America.

At the time, the Northwest was unsettled territory.  To bypass hostile Native Americans in the Northwest, the Russian American Company contracted with American ships to carry Russian fur traders to California.

Then, the Sv. Nikolai took the fateful trip in 1808 (as noted in the introductory paragraphs, above.)

Under Nikolai Isaakovich Bulygin, the Sv. Nikolai sailed to explore the coast of Vancouver Island and select a site for a settlement on what is today the Oregon coast.

The expedition did not succeed.  Near Destruction Island the ship was becalmed and they aimlessly drifted.  Then, on November 1, 1808, Sv. Nikolai was pushed onto a rocky reef by a heavy squall.

The ship did not sink immediately, and everyone on board reached shore safely. At low tide the crew returned to the vessel to salvage sail canvas, food, munitions and other supplies.  (NOAA)

The survivors (including Anna Petrovana Bulygin (Captain Bulygin’s wife) – reportedly the first western woman to set foot in Washington state (Cook & Black) were crossing the Hoh River and three of the group, including the captain’s wife, were captured.

The rest of the crew then followed the Hoh River inland. They spent the winter in the valley, foraging for food and constructing a boat which they hoped would take them down the river and out to the freedom of the ocean.

In February 1809, they attempted to leave in their new boat, but at the mouth of the river it capsized. All the rest of the crew was taken captive. They lived in captivity for about 18 months.

In May 1810, an American vessel arriving in Neah Bay learned of their plight and attempted to arrange their release. All but seven members of the expedition were eventually freed. However both the captain and his wife died in captivity.  (NOAA)

A monument was constructed on Upper Hoh Road to commemorate the 1808 shipwreck of a Russian sailing vessel near Rialto Beach.  It was created to remember the lives lost when the Russian brig Sv. Nikolai (formerly owned by King Kamehameha and known as the schooner ‘Tamana’) beached in heavy squalls along the Pacific coast of the North Olympic Peninsula.

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Brother Matthias Newell

“Victoria is the county seat of Victoria County, and is situated in the southeastern part of Southwest Texas, on the right bank of the Guadalupe River, about 114 miles southwest of San Antonio, and 28 miles from the Gulf of Mexico.”

“It is one of the oldest towns in the state, having been founded in 1822 and incorporated in 1836, the first year of the independent Republic of Texas. The actual history of the school in Victoria goes back to the time of Reverend A Gardet who took over the care of St. Mary’s Parish in Victoria in 1857.”

“After building a church and a convent of the Incarnate Word Sisters he erected a building of two stories on the corner of Main and Church streets. In this building he started a day school for boys.”

“[I]n 1870 a group of three Brothers, on their way from New Orleans to San Antonio, went through Victoria. One of these Brothers [was] Matthias Newell …. The Brothers spent several days with the pastor whom Brother Matthias described as a ‘very friendly old man.’”  (Pariseau)

Matthias Newell ( 1854-1939) was born in Zerf, Bavaria, where his father was a forest warden. The Newell family immigrated to the US while Matthias was still a child. In 1868 he joined the Society of Mary at Dayton, Ohio. (Texas Ornithology Society)

“Brother Matthias, as Mr. Newell is familiarly known to the Catholic brotherhood, came to the [Hawaiian] Islands some seventeen years ago [1885] from San Antonio, Texas, where he had already gained the local title of ‘Rattlesnake-catcher,’ owing to his zeal in the various branches of natural history.”

“From the Brothers at the college I learn that after a year’s residence in Honolulu he moved, to Wailuku on Maui, where he spent fourteen years in the Catholic mission in Iao valley. … From Wailuku Mr. Newell was removed to Hilo on Hawaii”. (Bryan)

“When the Sacred Hearts sisters discussed hiring lay teachers, math and science were the fields they most willingly abandoned. Even when a competent science teacher found his way onto a faculty roster, he was unlikely to transform his class with innovative methods.”

“Brother Matthias Newell, who taught at St. Mary’s School from 1896 to 1924, supplemented the brothers’ income by practicing applied science. He was the agricultural inspector at Hilo’s wharf, cared for the Territorial Nursery there, and monitored the seismograph machine.” (Alvarez)

“In August 1909, Brother Mathias Newell was appointed to establish a tree nursery in Hilo by the Territorial Board of Agriculture and Forestry. He was given a small stipend for supplies and compensation for his time.”

“Brother Mathias was an avid cataloger of species, having recorded specimens of birds and moths endemic to the islands in the 38 years he spent in Hawai‘i.  …”

“The nursery proved successful as in the first year Brother Mathias distributed 3,500 trees to residents in Hilo and Hāmākua. Around this time, homesteading was booming across the island – there was a great demand for fruit and timber trees – while there was also a curiosity about what could grow in the range of Hawai‘i Island’s climates.”

“Charles S. Judd’s interest in testing exotic trees on Hawai‘i Island led him to Brother Mathias. Charles was the Territory of Hawai‘i superintendent of forestry from 1915 until his death in 1939. He was born and raised in Hawai‘i, and after graduating from the Yale School of Forestry, returned to direct the administration of the forest reserve program.” (Anderson, Ke Ola)

But it was the ‘A‘o that is more memorably linked to Brother Newell.  “The ‘A‘o went unnoticed by foreign naturalists for a long time, given the fervor by outsiders in the last decade of the nineteenth century to document bird life in the islands.”

“‘I have described a new Puffinus from Maui,’ mainland transplant Henry Henshaw wrote in 1900 to Ernst Hartert, the ornithology curator at Walter Rothschild’s private museum in Tring, England, referring to the bird’s first published description.”

“‘It ought to be common but if so how did [collectors Henry] Palmer, [Scott] Wilson and [RCL] Perkins overlook it?’ … Henshaw named the bird after its discoverer, Brother Matthias Newell, a missionary in Wailuku, in 1894.”

“One of the sugar plantation workers employed by Werner von Graevemeyer, a manager, caught one of the birds, skinned it, and had it sent immediately to Newell to be stuffed.”

“Henshaw noted at the time that the species was ‘numerous enough’ but that the mongoose was rapidly exterminating the birds.”

“The ‘A‘o had been first discovered by nonnatives in 1893 when one blew ashore on Maui after strong southerly winds and heavy rain,  but nothing came of it until the following year. It had apparently been long known to the natives.”

“William Bryan and Alvin Seale noted in their report on a 1900 collecting trip on Kauai.  ‘The fact that the native name of this bird has come down to us through all these years …”

“… but that the species to which it had been applied by the kanaka naturalists should but so recently come to the light of science speaks much in the favor of those skilled old bird-catchers who had worked out the ornithology of their land with such exactness.’”

“Very little was known about the ‘A‘o, and Henshaw noted in 1900 that ’as to nests and notes upon the breeding habits of Hawaiian birds I assure you the gaps will be long in filling.’ By 1908 it was thought to be extinct.”

“However, a trio of the birds was sighted offshore in the summer of 1947 between Kauai and Ni‘ihau.  Eight years later the bird was confirmed to exist, and in 1967 it was discovered by none other than John Sincock to be breeding on Kauai.” (Unitt)

“The field biologist located the bird’s long-lost breeding grounds and would go on to fill in just the kinds of gaps Henshaw had lamented decades earlier.”

“As a result, more than sixty years after Henshaw’s initial description of the bird (the 1947 sighting) buried in a report on Alaskan birds, went almost entirely unnoticed), the shearwater received some renewed attention.”

“The nesting locations of the Newell’s shearwater on Kauai and other islands had been known to both natives and foreigners in the early twentieth century, but were forgotten. It was later discovered that colonies existed on other islands, but mongoose predation, feral cats, and Barn Owls had dramatically reduced their numbers there.”

“Henry Henshaw noted that natives had found the birds in the burrows on Maui and brought them to Matthias Newell alive. Ornithologist William Bryan, writing to Richard Sharpe at the British Museum, observed in 1908 that …”

“…‘P newelli … nest[s] in the high cliffs 2000-4000 [feet elevation, on Molokai in holes under the roots of etc in the tangle trees – undergrowth and vines and are very hard to locate.’”  (Lewis)

“Newell’s Shearwater nests only in the Hawaiian Islands, primarily on Kauai. Its pelagic range lies primarily in the Equatorial Countercurrent, between 4° and 10° N. It occurs mainly between 160° and 120° W, but small numbers range east to 106° W, well to the east of the longitude of California.” (Unitt)

“It breeds in at least 20 colonies on mountain slopes in the Hawaiian Islands. The main colonies are on Kauai, on slopes around the Alaka‘i Plateau and probably in the Mokolea Mountains. Its distribution on the other islands is uncertain but it is known to breed on Molokai and the island of Hawai‘i and may breed on O‘ahu, Maui and Lānai. “

“From April to November it can be seen in the waters around the Hawaiian Islands, particularly around Kauai. Outside the breeding season, it disperses into the tropical Pacific Ocean. Its distribution at sea is little known but many move south and east into the waters of the Equatorial Counter Current.”  (Ramel)

“The species has been collected or photographed as far west as Guam and Saipan in the Mariana Islands. It has been collected as far south as Tutuila, American Samoa, and Dargaville Beach, New Zealand. There are no previous records of Newell’s Shearwater for the coast of North America or as far north as the latitude of Del Mar (32.95° N).”

“A Newell’s Shearwater (Puffinus [auricularis] newelli) captured alive on land at Del Mar, California, on 1 August 2007 was the first of its species to reach the continent of North America or a latitude so far north.” (Unitt)

The Newell’s Shearwater has been declining at an accelerating pace on its breeding islands, principally as a result of depredation by introduced predators, habitat deterioration and hurricanes. Therefore, it is listed as Critically Endangered.  (BirdLife)

“In 1924, Newell returned to the University of Dayton where he taught until his retirement. His collection of plants, birds and insects went to the Bishop Museum in Honolulu.” Newell died in Dayton, Ohio, on October 12, 1939. (Texas Ornithological Society)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Memorial Day

On May 5, 1866, the village of Waterloo, New York was decorated with flags at half mast, draped with evergreens and mourning black, and flowers were placed on the graves of those killed in the Civil War. In the following years, the ceremonies were repeated.

Later, Maj. Gen. John A. Logan, Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, declared that “Decoration Day” should be observed on May 30. It is believed that date was chosen because flowers would be in bloom all over the country.

“The 30th day of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet churchyard in the land.” (General Order 11)

The first large observance was held that year at Arlington National Cemetery, across the Potomac River from Washington, DC.

By the end of the 19th century, Decoration Day ceremonies were being held on May 30 throughout the nation. State legislatures passed proclamations designating the day, and the Army and Navy adopted regulations for proper observance at their facilities.

In May 1966, Congress unanimously passed a resolution and President Lyndon B Johnson signed a Presidential Proclamation recognizing Waterloo as the Birthplace of Decoration Day / Memorial Day.

It was not until after World War I, however, that the day was expanded to honor those who have died in all American wars.

In 1971, Memorial Day was declared a national holiday by an act of Congress, though it is still often called Decoration Day. It was then also placed on the last Monday in May.

The story of America’s quest for freedom is inscribed on her history in the blood of her patriots. (Randy Vader)

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty. (John F. Kennedy)

On thy grave the rain shall fall from the eyes of a mighty nation! (Thomas William Parsons)

Let us not forget.

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Memorial_Day-2015

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Local Land Use Planning

I’ve been in the private sector for about 45-years, 2-years in County Administration and 4½-years in State Administration.  I firmly believe that issues are best dealt with at the level closest to the people affected – I am a ‘home rule’ kind of guy.

And, with respect to land use planning – let’s face it, the State doesn’t plan, it regulates.

Almost 120 years ago – 1905 – the State legislature passed “The County Act” (Act 39.) Contrary to the suggestion in the name, State government retained many traditional county government functions and over the next many decades took on even more, making Hawai‘i the most centralized state government.

This included Act 187, the Land Use Law, enacted in 1961 and Act 100, the Hawaii State Plan in 1978.

The 1961 Land Use Law created the Land Use Commission (LUC) and gave over-arching land use control to the State – in part, because the Counties did not have the resources or authority to deal with controlling the post-statehood building boom.

However, we need to remember; in 1961, Counties were under the heavy hand of the state and were not authorized self-governance.  Essentially, with the strong, centralized state government, Counties weren’t allowed to do much of anything.

It wasn’t until 1968 – when the State Constitution was amended – when the Counties were given the power to adopt charters of self-governance.

The Counties have grown up over the past 50+years – it’s time the State backs-off and gives the Counties the opportunity for true self-governance.

Sure, we tried planning at the State level, but we have obviously moved from the context of “planning” (as a policy function) to permitting (a move strictly toward regulatory activity.)

Even the LUC website notes: “The Commission acts on petitions for boundary changes submitted by private landowners, developers and State and county agencies.”

In addition, even though the law requires the state to review classifications and districting of all lands every five years, it hasn’t done so since 1992 (over 30-years ago.)

The Land Use Commission process is a reactionary, regulatory process, not a visionary (i.e. planning) process.

And, the Land Use Commission is quasi-judicial – it’s like a courtroom with lawyers and witnesses that are subject to cross-examination – making it legalistic and confrontational.

Most agree that Planning requires community involvement and input.

Given this, who is in the better position to engage the public in genuine and meaningful land use planning discussions?  I think it is the Counties and evidence confirms this.

Think back … when was the last time the State asked you what you thought about land use or planning matters? 

On the other hand, Counties are constantly including the community in their planning functions.  Simply recall the numerous island-wide public forums on creation and updates to General Plans, Sustainable Community Plans, Community Development Plans and other localized plans across each of the Counties.

How could (does) the State possibly match this level of community participation?  What more could a few Honolulu bureaucrats and consultants possibly add by holding a couple more meetings per island to discuss that Island’s or community’s land use concerns?

And, why should we impose Honolulu bias on the neighbor islands?  Let’s leave land use matters at the on-the-ground level – in each respective County, by each County.

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Provincias Unidas del Río de la Plata (United Provinces of the River Plate)

Starting May 25, 1810, it is called the War of Independence Argentina (known as Provincias Unidas del Río de la Plata (United Provinces of the River Plate)) through a number of battles and military campaigns that took place in the framework of the Spanish American wars of independence in several countries in South America.

There are three main military fronts: the eastern front or the coast (Paraguay, the Banda Oriental, the Mesopotamia Argentina and the naval battles in the Rio de la Plata and its tributaries;) the northern front (upper Peru and the Municipality of Salta del Tucumán;) and the front of the Andes (Chile, Peru and Ecuador.)

There were also conflicts at sea.  Corsairs, sometimes called ‘pirates,’ would harass Spanish merchant ships wherever they found them.  From 1815 and 1816 corsair action caused great damage to the trade Spanish.

The war lasted fifteen years and ended in victory for the separatists, who managed to consolidate the independence of Argentina and collaborated in other South American countries.

On July 9, 1816, the independence of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata was declared (which included modern-day Argentina, Uruguay and part of Bolivia) in a meeting of congress in Tucumán. Independence was put into effect in 1817, when General San Martín’s troops won definitive victory over the Spanish army.

Viceroyalties continued to exist in Paraguay and in Upper Peru, causing constant confrontations between royalists (loyalists to the Spanish King) and revolutionaries.

OK, so where does Hawaiʻi fit into this story?

One Argentine corsair was Hipólito (Hypolite) Bouchard (1783–1843,) born in St. Tropéz, France, who by 1811 was sailing for the revolutionaries of the La Plata River region of Argentina. He was granted Argentine citizenship in 1813.

In 1817, Bouchard took his vessel, La Argentina, on a two-year trip, the first circumnavigation of the globe by a ship under the Argentine flag, and which included raids against ships and territories of the Spanish Empire.

One trip took him to Hawaiʻi.

On August 17, 1818, Bouchard arrived on ‘La Argentina’ at Kealakekua Bay.  He found the Argentine corvette ‘Chacabuco’ (‘Santa Rosa’) in the Bay and learned that the crew of the Santa Rosa had mutinied near Chile’s coast and headed to Hawaiʻi, where the crew had attempted to sell the vessel to the Hawaiian king.

King Kamehameha bought the ship (for “6000 piculs of sandal-wood and a number of casks of rum.”) Bouchard found things to trade (reportedly Bouchard gave Kamehameha the honorary title of colonel together with his own uniform, hat and saber (nava-org)) and he took charge of the Santa Rosa, which he had to partially rebuild.

During negotiations with King Kamehameha, he also signed and Kamehameha placed his mark on an agreement.

In part, the agreement set to “consign to Senor Don Eduardo Butler, resident of the Sandwich Islands, the offices of agent of my nation with full authority in national matters, political affairs, national commerce and in mailers of the Cabinets”.

It also noted, “… when ships from the United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata arrive in that dominion that this gentleman (Butler) have authority, in company with Your Majesty Kamehameha, over all matters pertaining to the Government of the United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata … I beg Your Majesty to recognize Senor Don Eduardo as agent of the Government of the United Provinces”.

Reportedly, in the memoirs of Captain José María Piris Montevideo (member of the expedition) Bouchard asserts that Kamehameha signed a Treaty of Commerce, Peace and Friendship with Hipólito Bouchard, which recognized the independence of the United Provinces of Rio de la Plata.  (Some suggest this was that document.)

Under this claim, Hawaiʻi was the first country to recognize Argentina as an independent state, followed by Portugal in 1821 and then in 1822, Brazil and the United States of America in 1822.

The ‘Argentina’ (captained by Bouchard) and ‘Santa Rosa’ (captained by Peter Corney) left Hawaiʻi and headed to California.  They first visited California’s Fort Ross, a Russian settlement north of Monterey, to obtain needed supplies.

On November 20, 1818, the watchman of Punta de Pinos, located in a tip of Monterey Bay, sighted the two Argentine ships. The governor was informed; the Spanish prepared the cannons along the coastline, the garrison manned their battle stations, and the women, children, and men unfit to fight were sent to Soledad.  (MilitaryMuseum)

Before dawn, November 24, Bouchard ordered his men to board the boats. They were 200 of them: 130 had rifles and 70 had spears. They landed and the fort resisted ineffectively; after an hour of combat the Argentine flag flew over it.

He moved on; on December 14, 1818 Bouchard brought the La Argentina and the Santa Rosa to within sight of Mission San Juan Capistrano and sent some of his crew ashore with a demand for provisions.

There he requested food and ammunition; a Spanish officer said “he had enough gunpowder and cannonballs for me”. Threats annoyed Bouchard; he sent one hundred men to take the town. After a short fight the corsairs took some valuables and burned the Spanish houses.

The Argentines held the city for six days, during which time they stole the cattle and burned the fort, the artillery headquarters, the governor’s residence and the Spanish houses. The creole population was unharmed.

On April 3, 1819 Hipollyte de Bouchard’s long expedition ended. He went to Valparaíso, in Chile in order to collaborate with José de San Martín’s campaign to liberate Perú.

While Bouchard was authorized to seize the Santa Rosa, the reference of the ‘treaty’ and recognition of Argentina as an independent state were made by others. Bouchard does not make that claim and he apparently did not have the authority to do so, anyway.

In Argentina, Bouchard is honored as a patriot and several places are named after him (among these a major avenue in Buenos Aires.)  In addition, in recognition of the reported ‘treaty’ and recognition of Argentina as an independent state by the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi, there is a street in Buenos Aires, Argentina named Hawai (a bit misspelled, but the point was made.)

(Lots of information here from Alexander (Hawaiian Historical Society) and Military Museum.  A special thanks to the Hawaiʻi State Archives for allowing me to see and photograph the agreement between Bouchard and Kamehameha.)

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