James Robinson

August 28, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

James Robinson came to the islands from London, his birthplace, arriving here in 1820, before the first missionaries (while rounding Cape Horn his ship passed the “Thaddeus,” which was bringing the first missionaries from New England.)

He was carpenter on the whaling ship “Hermes.” In 1822, sailing from Honolulu for Japan the Hermes was wrecked on the reef of Holoikauaua (what is now referred to as Pearl and Hermes.)

This seeming disaster turned into a new industry for Honolulu and proved to be the foundation of his subsequent business and of his fortune.

The combined crews (totaling 57) made it safely to one of the small islands and were castaway for months with what meager provisions they could salvage.

He and the crew built a small schooner (the Deliverance) from the wreckage and the survivors of the wreck sailed back to Honolulu to remain permanently.

After his arrival, Robinson was befriended by Kamehameha II and John Young. He and a ship-mate, Robert Lawrence (a cooper (barrel maker,)) sold the Deliverance for $2,000 and found employment in repairing schooners owned by the king and chiefs.

They received the assistance of Kamehameha II and, in 1827, established their shipyard in Honolulu harbor at Pākākā, or “the Point,” on land obtained from Kalanimoku. They were later joined as a full partner by James Holt, “a very respectable man from Boston.”

In 1840, the Polynesian commended the partners and their shipyard: “Honest, industrious, economical, temperate, and intelligent, they are living illustrations of what these virtues can secure to men. …”

“Their yard is situated in the most convenient part of the harbor has a stone butment and where two vessels of six hundred tons burthen can be berthed, hove out, and undergo repairs at one and the same time. There is fourteen feet of water along side of the butment.”

“The proprietors generally keep on hand all kinds of material for repairing vessels. Also those things requisite for heaving out, such as blocks, falls, etc. On the establishment are fourteen excellent workmen, among whom are Ship Carpenters, Caulkers and Gravers, Ship Joiners, Block-makers, Spar-makers, Boatbuilders, etc.”

In mid-September 1830, Joseph Elliott moved to The Point to open a hotel with Robinson. Lawrence and Holt, Robinson’s partners, appear to have specialized in the hotel and liquor business, which also featured a boarding house. The Shipyard Hotel had the advantage of being a “first chance – last chance” operation.

Years rolled on, and the firm of James Robinson & Co. (including Robert Lawrence and Mr. Holt) was a significant success and carried on a business that employed a large number of ship-carpenters and caulkers. More whaling ships were repaired at their establishment than at any other in the Pacific.

This partnership lasted until 1868, when Mr. Lawrence died. For many years their building was one of the sights of the town, being decorated with the figurehead from an old vessel.

Robinson became so wealthy; reportedly, he lent substantial funds to the Hawaiian government during the 1850s and maintained a close relationship with the kingdom’s leaders until his death in 1876.

Hawaiians called him Kimo (James) Pakaka as Honolulu Harbor grew up around his shipyard.

In 1843, James Robinson married Rebecca Prever; they had eight children: Mark, Mary, Victoria, Bathsheba, Matilda, Annie, Lucy and John.

Mr. Robinson died at his residence in Nuʻuanu valley August 8, 1876. However, his legacy lived on through his children.

His descendants became a well-known island family and his fortune founded the Robinson Estate. His son, Mark, was a member of Queen Liliʻuokalani’s cabinet (Minister of Foreign Affairs) during the chaotic last months of the monarchy as factional battles separated the royal government. He was a founder of First National Bank of Hawai’i and First American Savings.

His daughter Lucy married a McWayne (apparently, Robinson’s ship facility eventually became McWayne Marine Supply at Kewalo Basin – some old-timers may remember that later name.)

Daughter Victoria married a Ward. Their residence was known as Old Plantation, and included the current site of the Neil F. Blaisdell Center. Her estate, Victoria Ward Ltd, had other significant holdings in Kakaʻako.

Daughter Mary married a Foster. Her husband Thomas Foster was an initial organizer of the Inter-Island Steam Navigation Company. That company founded a subsidiary, Inter-Island Airways, that later changed its name to Hawaiian Airlines.

Foster had also purchased the estate of the renowned botanist William Hillebrand, which was bequeathed to the city as Foster Botanical Garden at the death of his wife Mary.

The image shows Honolulu Harbor in 1854. The Robinson facilities are on the right hand side – to the left of the Fort wall (you can see a ship being repaired at the shore.)

June 8, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Mākaha

The ahupuaʻa of Mākaha, between Waiʻanae Ahupuaʻa to the southeast and Keaʻau Ahupua‘a to the northwest, extends from the coastline to the Waiʻanae Range.

Pukui noted Mākaha means “fierce;” Roger C. Green suggests it relates to “fierce or savage people” once inhabiting the valley.

Green refers to “…the ʻŌlohe people, skilled wrestlers and bone-breakers, by various accounts [who] lived in Mākaha, Mākua, and Keaʻau, where they often engaged in robbery of passing travelers.” (Cultural Surveys)

Earliest accounts describe Mākaha as a good-sized inland settlement and a smaller coastal settlement. These accounts correlate well with a sketch drawn by Bingham in 1826 depicting only six houses along the Mākaha coastline.

Green describes Mākaha’s coastal settlement as “…restricted to a hamlet in a small grove of coconut trees on the Keaʻau side of the valley, some other scattered houses, a few coconut trees along the beach, and a brackish water pool that served as a fish pond, at the mouth of the Mākaha Stream.” (Cultural Surveys)

This stream supported traditional wetland agriculture – kalo (taro) – in pre-contact and early historic periods

Supporting this, Māhele documents note Mākaha’s primary settlement was inland where waters from Mākaha Stream could support lo‘i and kula plantings. Although there is evidence for settlement along the shore, for the most part, this was limited to scattered, isolated residents.

A “cluster” of habitation structures was concentrated near Mākaha Beach, near the Keaʻau side of Mākaha where there is also reference to a fishpond.

John Papa ʻĪʻī described a network of Leeward O‘ahu trails, which in early historic times crossed the Waiʻanae Range, allowing passage from Central O‘ahu through Pōhākea Pass and Kolekole Pass.

The old coastal trail probably followed the natural contours of the topography. With the introduction of horses, cattle and wagons in the 19th century, many of the coastal trails were widened and graded to accommodate these new introductions. The Pu‘u Kapolei trail gave access to the Waiʻanae district from Central O‘ahu, which evolved into the present day Farrington Highway.

Kuhoʻoheihei (Abner) Pākī, father of Bernice Pauahi, was given the entire ahupuaʻa of Mākaha by Liliha after her husband, Boki, disappeared in 1829.

In 1855, after Chief Pākī died, the administrators of his estate sold the Mākaha lands to James Robinson and Co. Later, in 1862, one of the partners, Owen Jones Holt, bought out the shares of the others.

The Holt family dominated the social, economic and land-use activities in Mākaha until the end of the 19th century. During the height of the Holt family presence, from about 1887 to 1899, the Holt Ranch raised horses, cattle, pigs, goats and peacocks.

Mākaha Coffee Company bought land for coffee cultivation in the Valley, although coffee never caught on. On Holt’s death in 1862, the lands went into trust for his children.

By 1895 the OR&L rail line reached Waiʻanae. It then rounded Kaʻena Point to Mokuleʻia, eventually extending to Kahuku. Another line was constructed through central O‘ahu to Wahiawa.

The Holt Ranch began selling off its land in the early-1900s.

In 1908, the Waiʻanae Sugar Company moved into Mākaha and by 1923, virtually all of lower Mākaha Valley was under sugar cane cultivation. The plantation utilized large tracks of Lualualei, Waiʻanae and Mākaha Valley.

In the 1930s, Waiʻanae Plantation sold out to American Factors Ltd (Amfac.) They started looking for a water source to increase production of the thirsty crop. They tunneled for water; Glover Tunnel, named for the contractor, was 4,200-feet long and had a daily water capacity of 700,000-gallons. The water made available was mainly used for the irrigation of sugar.

For a half century, Mākaha was predominantly sugarcane fields. However, by the middle of the century, the operations were no longer profitable and the plantation started to liquidate.

In 1946, the Dillinghams announced that they were discontinuing rail service, citing decline in tonnage, rising labor costs and tsunami damage in the system. On October 17, 1946 the stockholders of American Factors (owners of the Waiʻanae Sugar Company) voted to liquidate.

Chinn Ho’s Capital Investment Corporation bought the Mākaha lands and looked to resort development in the Valley. He envisioned a travel destination that would be the next Kaʻānapali or even Waikiki, with golf courses, condominiums and hotels.

When the Mākaha big surf break was discovered and the eventual Mākaha International Surfing Championship was underway, tourists starting coming to Waiʻanae in the 1950s, as pioneer surfers made Mākaha Beach famous.

In 1969, the Mākaha Resort was built, including Mākaha Inn and Country Club, with an 18-hole course with tennis courts, restaurant and other golf facilities was opened for local and tourist use.

Over the decades, the resort has had several starts and stops, as well as a number of transfers of ownership.

February 18, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Lord Mayor of London

“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. It was said to be carrying a “cargo of liquors” and “became a total wreck.” (PCA, Nov. 16. 1905)

Well, maybe the liquor was lost, but the ship’s figurehead was saved …

“At first glance the figure-head presents a ludicrous picture, for upon the head has been nailed an old derby hat, entirely out of joint and time with the figure-head, which wears carved clothing of the kind prevailing in the latter part of the eighteenth century.”

“From between the wooden lips of this odd statue, once the proud monument of a time British ship’s prow, projects a cheap corn-cob pipe, placed there by a waterfront wag.”

“But a closer view shows that the figure-head must possess a history. No figure-head of this type has adorned a ship in the nineteenth century.”

“It belonged to century when the United States was young, when George Washington was the President, and the Hawaiian Islands little known, except that some years before Captain Cook had been slain on one of them.”

“The figurehead wears a long cape, caught over the breast with a buckle. Around the neck is a chain, hanging from this against the breast is what appears to be a large medal, but which really was the symbol of one of the highest offices in England – that of Lord Mayor of London.”

“Some time in the 20’s the British ship Alderman Wood was wrecked on the island of [Lanai]. The news was brought to Honolulu and James Robinson, father of Mark P Robinson, then head of the firm of James Robinson & Co, ship chandlers and carpenters went to Molokai to save what he could of the ship.”

“She was filled with beautiful mirrors, and was in those days reckoned a magnificent type of the merchant ships built by the British. The captain made a present of the figure-head to Mr. Robinson and he brought it to Honolulu.”

“When the new warehouse was built in the beginning of the ‘30’s, below what is now Queen street, Mr Robinson raised the figure-head up and placed it on the pulley beam as a pedestal, and there it has remained through all the vicissitudes of the elements for nearly three quarters of a century.”

“Often a workman is sent up on the building with putty, nails and pieces of wood to repair the figure-head.”

“The ship Alderman Wood was named after its owner, who was a London alderman in the latter part of the eighteenth century and Mark Robinson is of the opinion that he also became Lord Mayor of London.”

“The wooden statue evidently shows the owner in his mantle of office, either as alderman or Lord Mayor The old warehouse, too, has a history.”

“It is one of the oldest in Honolulu, and the loft was considered very large in the days when it was built and Honolulu was in its Infancy. It was a sail loft and used for general ship chandler work.”

“When Admiral Thomas, the British naval officer, restored the Hawaiian Kingdom its independence and flag in July, 1843, having been unlawfully deprived of both by the British some time previous …”

“… a grand ball was given to celebrate the event, and the sail loft of the Robinson warehouse was the place where the ball was given. It was grand affair, attended by the elite of the city, including royal personages.”

“The old figure-head was then in position. The doors immediately below the beam and figure-head … open out from this old time ball room, now used as a storage loft.” (PCA, Feb 8, 1903)

Thrum noted that in 1911 as a “Disappearing Landmark”, “The old Robinson warehouse with its seaward-end adornment of the figure-head of Alderman Wood, from an English ship of that name which was wrecked on the Island of Lanai in 1824 …”

“… and has, as it were, welcomed the incoming and sped the outgoing shipping of Honolulu ever since the erection of the building a few years later, has fallen in decay.”

“The appearance of our waterfront will seem unnatural to many frequenters of the port who will miss the old familiar figure and once prominent building.” (Thrum, 1912) It is not known where the figurehead is now.

October 28, 2021 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Holoikauaua

Holoikauaua (literally, Hawaiian monk seal that swims in the rough) is a large oval coral reef with several internal reefs and seven sandbar/islets above sea level along the southern half of the atoll. The land area is just under 100-acres (surrounded by more that 300,000-acres of coral reef) and is 20-miles across and 12-miles wide.

The highest point above sea level is about 10-feet; the islets are periodically washed over when winter storms pass through the area.

Holoikauaua (estimated age is 26.8-million years) is a true atoll, fringed with shoals, permanent emergent islands and sandy islets. These features provide vital dry land for monk seals, green turtles and a multitude of seabirds, with 16-species breeding here.

Seal Island lies just inside the reef, in the southwestern section of the lagoon. It is 1,400-feet from east to west, and 300-feet wide at its broadest point, with an area of 10.6-acres. An area of the western half has almost all of the island’s vegetation.

Kittery Island is a low sand and coral rubble triangle and has no vegetation. Troughs eroded in the sand of the island’s interior suggest that it is periodically inundated during severe weather. The island covers 11.9-acres; the northwestern side is highest, about 5-feet above sea level – the rest is just barely above normal high-water level.

Grass Island is just inside the reef – it is 1,800-feet east to west, and only 400-feet wide at its broadest (near the western end;) it has an area of 11-acres. In 1923, Wetmore, who named this island, noted that the crest of the island was covered with grass and a few of the shrubs.

Bird Island and Planetree Island are continually changing sandspits along the inner margin of the southern reef between Southeast and Grass Islands. They have been described as “merely part of a three-mile chain of shifting sandspits just inside the south reef.” A small-boat channel runs between Bird and Planetree Islands.

Southeast Island, the largest of the group, lies in the eastern corner of the atoll; it is nearly cut into two unequal portions by a seaward extension of the lagoon. The entire island is 2,600-feet long east to west with a maximum width of 1,100-feet. It has a land area of 34 acres.

Little North Island was officially named on February 11, 1969 – it was sometimes referred to as Humphrey Island. At low tide, it is less than 200 feet wide and is about 1,100 feet long in a north-south direction. The central portion of the main island, 400 feet long and 1.4 acres in area, is 6 to 10 feet above sea level, and has a meager flora of 4 species of grass and herbs.

North Island lies in the northeastern corner of the lagoon; it has an area of 15.9-acres. The body is about 1,000-feet long north to south, and 800 feet wide; it is 10-feet above sea level.

An early visitor to the atoll, Captain Benjamin Morrell (from July 8 to 10, 1825) wrote of seeing “earl-oysters and biuche de
mer (sea cucumber,)” as well as green turtles, seal elephants and sea leopards.

Captain John Paty of the Hawaiian schooner Manokawai stopped at the atoll in May 1857 to determine its position and map the islands. In 1859, Captain NC Brooks sailed the Hawaiian bark Gambia there and on July 5 of that year took possession in the name of Hawaiʻi.

When Westerners first arrived, the atoll abounded with birds. Presently, thousands of birds from 22 species are seen. They include Black-footed albatrosses, Tristram’s storm petrels, and one of two recorded Hawaiian nest sites of Little terns.

Since 1891, the North Pacific Phosphate and Fertilizer Company was harvesting guano from Laysan. On February 15, 1894, the agreement was expanded to cover other nearby islands and atolls, including Holoikauaua. The 25-year lease, at $1 per year, also royalties of 50 cents for each ton taken.

Interest in birds expanded; beginning in 1902, Japanese feather poachers visited the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and killed thousands of albatrosses but the extent of their poaching here is not clear.

On February 3, 1909, President Roosevelt signed an executive order creating the largest and most important Bird Reservation, known as the Hawaiian Islands Reservation and consists “of a dozen or more islands, reefs, and shoals that stretch westward from the Hawaiian Islands proper for a distance of upwards of 1,500 miles toward Japan (including Holoikauaua.”)

“The Hawaiian Islands Reservation was established by Executive order in 1909 to serve as a refuge and breeding-place for the millions of sea birds and waders that from time immemorial have resorted there yearly to raise their young or to rest while migrating.” It’s also part of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.

From 1926 to 1930, fishing operations became important in the history of the atoll. Pearl oysters, which yield mother-of-pearl shell, had been discovered in May 1928 by Captain William B Anderson who commanded the schooner Lanikai for the Lanikai Fishing Company; Hawaiian Tuna Packers, Ltd, partnered with them.

A third, Hawaiian Sea Products Company, quickly organized and established a fishing station (with buildings) on the atoll. They sought a license to develop the pearl beds. (Smithsonian)

Because of the increased interest in the fishing station and cold storage plant and in the development of the pearl oyster beds, “the Territorial Government requested the US Bureau of Fisheries to outline methods for conservation and development” of the pearl oyster bottoms of the atoll.

Over the next few years they conducted surveys and studies; some fishing activity continued there from the schooner Lanikai, but by October 1931 the fishing base operated by Hawaiian Sea Products was abandoned and the Lanikai was to be laid off.

The modern name of the atoll is “Pearl and Hermes.” But it’s not named because of the oyster discovery. Rather, it reflects and memorializes the twin wrecks of British whalers, the ‘Pearl’ and the ‘Hermes,’ lost 100-years before.

During the night of April 26, 1822, these British whaling ships ran aground almost simultaneously. The 327-ton Pearl (with Captain E Clark) grounded into a sandy coral groove, pressing its wooden keel into the sediment, while the smaller 258-ton Hermes (with Captain J Taylor) hit the hard sea bed.

The two ships had been making a passage from Honolulu to the newly discovered Japan Grounds, a track which took them through the uncharted Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

The Pearl and the Hermes (wrecked to the west of the Pearl) are the only known British South Sea whaling wreck sites in the world.

The combined crews (totaling 57) made it safely to one of the small islands and were castaway for months with what meager provisions they could salvage. Using salvaged timbers and other parts of the lost ships, one of the carpenters on board the Hermes, James Robinson, supervised the building of a small 30-ton schooner named ‘Deliverance’ on the beach.

Before launching the beach-built rescue vessel, the castaways were rescued by a passing ship. Though most of the crew elected to board the rescue ship, Robinson and 11 others were able to recoup some of the financial losses from the wrecks by sailing the nearly finished Deliverance back to Honolulu, and eventually sold her there.

From there, Robinson went on to found the highly successful James Robinson and Company shipyard in 1827 (the first shipyard at Honolulu) and became an influential member of the island community (his descendants became a well-known island family and his fortune founded the Robinson Estate.) (This family is different than the Robinson’s associated with Niʻihau.) (Lots of information here from Smithsonian.)

Click HERE for a link to several Google ‘Street Views’ on Holoikauaua.

Fishing camp of the Hawaiian Sea Products Company at Southeast Island-1930

Holoikauaua_Pearl & Hermes-(SBOceanGirl)

Holoikauaua-Setting up camp-BishopMuseum

January 23, 2020 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Old Plantation

Curtis Ward was born in Kentucky and arrived in Hawaiʻi in 1853, when whaling in the Pacific was at its peak. Curtis worked at the Royal Custom House, which monitored commercial activity at Honolulu Harbor for the kingdom.

Victoria Robinson was born in Nu’uanu in 1846, the daughter of English shipbuilder, James Robinson and his wife Rebecca, a woman of Hawaiian ancestry whose chiefly lineage had roots in Kaʻū, Hilo and Honokowai, Maui.

Ward started a livery with headquarters on Queen Street and expanded into the business of transporting cargo on horse-pulled wagons. The size of Ward’s work force became just as big as the harbor’s other major player, James Robinson & Co. (Victoria’s father.)

When tensions began to rise between the American North and South in the late-1850s, Ward would defend his Southern heritage. As a result, Ward’s home, named “Dixie,” was often stoned by Northern sailors. (Hustace)

Curtis and Victoria married in 1865 and for many years they made their home near Honolulu Harbor on property presently occupied by the Davies Pacific Center.

Seven daughters were born during these years: Mary Elizabeth, Kulamanu, May, Einei, Lucy, Kathleen and Lani.

As was common for many young married couples of English and Hawaiian ancestry during this period, the Wards socialized comfortably with Honolulu’s expatriate British families, as well as with members of the various Royal families.

This was a period of considerable turbulence in Hawaiian political affairs, and Curtis and Victoria joined with their friends in resisting the rising power of the sugar barons and firmly opposed reciprocity with the United States. (Ward Centers)

Even in later years, Victoria Ward held to her political convictions and remained a loyal friend and supporter of Liliʻuokalani after the overthrow of the monarchy in 1893. (Ward Centers)

Then, the Wards bought land on what was then the outskirts of Honolulu, eventually acquiring over 100-acres of land running from Thomas Square on King Street down to the ocean.

They built the “Old Plantation” in 1882, a stately, Southern-style home on the mauka portion of the property. It featured an artesian well, vegetable and flower gardens, a large pond stocked with fish, and extensive pasturage for horses and cattle. Self-sufficient as a working farm, Old Plantation was surrounded by a vast coconut grove.

In 1882, Curtis Ward died at age 53, leaving Victoria to raise seven daughters and manage the estate.

The Blaisdell Center has been in operation since 1964 and in 1994 was remodeled and expanded. The Blaisdell Center complex includes a multi-purpose Arena, Exhibition Hall, Galleria, Concert Hall, meeting rooms and parking structure.

In 2002, Chicago-based General Growth Properties Inc (owner of Ala Moana Center) closed on an agreement to buy Victoria Ward Ltd., giving it control of one of the state’s largest private landowners and operator of a growing retail complex in Kakaʻako.

In 2010, General Growth spun off its development properties as the Howard Hughes Corporation and is working on plans for the creation/redevelopment of an urban master planned community in Kakaʻako. (OHA and Kamehameha Schools are other large landowners in Kakaʻako.)

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19580108 – Ward Estate (looking out driveway toward King Street. The daughters of Curtis P. Ward, gentleman from Kentucky who built Old Plantation, once romped on this lanai. SB BW by Terry Luke.
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