Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Alexander & Baldwin

In 1843, Samuel Thomas Alexander and Henry Perrine Baldwin, sons of early missionaries to Hawaiʻi, met in Lāhainā, Maui. They grew up together, became close friends and went on to develop a sugar-growing partnership.

Alexander was the idea man, more outgoing and adventurous of the two. He had a gift for raising money to support his business projects.

Baldwin was more reserved and considered the “doer” of the partners; he completed the projects conceived by Alexander.

After studying on the Mainland, Alexander returned to Maui and began teaching at Lahainaluna, where he and his students successfully grew sugar cane and bananas.

Word of the venture spread to the owner of Waiheʻe sugar plantation near Wailuku, and Alexander was offered the manager’s position.

Alexander hired Baldwin as his assistant, who at the time was helping his brother raise sugar cane in Lāhainā. This was the beginning of a lifelong working partnership.

In 1869, the young men – Alexander was 33, Baldwin, 27 – purchased 12-acres of land in Makawao and the following year an additional 559-acres.  That same year, the partners planted sugar cane on their land marking the birth of what would become Alexander & Baldwin (A&B.)

In 1871, they saw the need for a reliable source of water, and to this end undertook the construction of the Hāmākua ditch in 1876.

Although not an engineer, Alexander devised an irrigation system that would bring water from the windward slopes of Haleakala to Central Maui to irrigate 3,000 acres of cane – their own and neighboring plantations.

Baldwin oversaw the Hāmākua Ditch project, known today as East Maui Irrigation Company (the oldest subsidiary of A&B,) and within two years the ditch was complete.

The completed Old Hāmākua Ditch was 17-miles long and had a capacity of 60-million gallons per day.  A second ditch was added, the Spreckels Ditch; when completed, it was 30-miles long with a capacity of 60-million gallons per day.

Before World War I, the New Hāmākua, Koʻolau, New Haiku and Kauhikoa ditches were built. A total of ten ditches were constructed between 1879 and 1923.

Over the next thirty years, the two men became agents for nearly a dozen plantations and expanded their plantation interests by acquiring Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company and Kahului Railroad.

In 1883, Alexander and Baldwin formalized their partnership by incorporating their sugar business as the Paia Plantation also known at various times as Samuel T Alexander & Co, Haleakala Sugar Co and Alexander & Baldwin Plantation.

By spring of 1900, A&B had outgrown its partnership organization and plans were made to incorporate the company, allowing the company to increase capitalization and facilitate expansion.

The Articles of Association and affidavit of the president, secretary and treasurer were filed June 30, 1900 with the treasurer of the Territory of Hawaiʻi. Alexander & Baldwin, Limited became a Hawaiʻi corporation, with its principal office in Honolulu and with a branch office in San Francisco.

Shortly after, in 1904, Samuel Alexander passed away on one of his adventures. While hiking with his daughter to the edge of Victoria Falls, Africa, he was struck by a boulder. Seven years later, Baldwin passed away at the age of 68 from failing health.

After the passing of the founders, Alexander & Baldwin continued to expand their sugar operations by acquiring additional land, developing essential water resources and investing in shipping (Matson) to bring supplies to Hawaii and transport sugar to the US Mainland markets.

A&B was one of Hawaiʻi’s five major companies (that emerged to providing operations, marketing, supplies and other services for the plantations and eventually came to own and manage most of them.)  They became known as the Big Five.

Hawaiʻi’s Big Five were: C Brewer (1826;) A Theo H Davies (1845;) Amfac – starting as Hackfeld & Company (1849;) Castle & Cooke (1851) and Alexander & Baldwin (1870.)

What started off as partnership between two young men, with the purchase of 12 acres in Maui, has grown into a corporation with $2.3 billion in assets, including over 88,000 acres of land.

(In 2012, A&B separated into two stand-alone, publicly traded companies – A&B, focusing on land and agribusiness and Matson, on transportation.)

A&B is the State’s fourth largest private landowner, and is one of the State’s most active real estate investors.  It’s portfolio includes a diversity of projects throughout Hawaiʻi, and a significant commercial property portfolio in Hawaiʻi and on the US Mainland. (Information here is from Alexander & Baldwin.)

© 2024 Hoʻokuleana LLC

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Pālolo Hill

“And they gathered their friends together and journeyed up into the hill country, and when they did not return others followed, saying unto them – ‘Why, therefore, do ye choose to dwell in the hill country?’“

“And they answered, ‘For it is here we obtain the freedom of the air, with all its freshness and purity; it is here we get strength for the mind and body, and it is here we enjoy the breath of life.’“  (Evening Bulletin, October 21, 1911)

So went the marketing for the Pālolo Hill development – the Homeland of Health – above Kaimuki.

The announcement of the project a year before carried the same positive enthusiasm, “Pālolo Hill may not only be destined to blossom as the rose, but it will be dotted with a thousand homes, the place of residence of delighted sojourners who seek the many incomparable advantages offered by climatic conditions only to be found in the Paradise of the Pacific, but Honolulu in particular.”

“The Kaimuki Land Company has completed all arrangements for setting a large force of men at work in the grading of fifty foot streets and plotting some twelve hundred lots in this sightly tract of land located at the terminus of the Hotel street and Waiʻalae car-line.”

“Pālolo Hill, commanding a magnificent view of the Pacific Ocean, the frowning slopes of Diamond Head, and the bald prominence of Koko Head, will be transformed into a place of much activity before the close of the old year.”

“The plans as outlined by the land company are elaborate in the extreme. The first of the week will find teams and graders at work on the roads. … (The central) avenue will serve as a feeder for the curved and winding highways that weave their way in and around the brow of this eminence.”

“It is claimed, that there is not a lot in the entire twelve hundred that is of lower elevation than three hundred feet. The highest elevation recorded in the tract is eleven hundred feet. A visit to the tract, where grading operations have already begun, would show that there is no portion of the district that has an unobstructed marine view. (Evening Bulletin, December 9, 1910)

Some background … William Lunalilo ended up with most of the area known as Kaimuki through the Great Māhele (1848.)  Lunalilo was born on January 31, 1835 to High Chiefess Miriam ‘Auhea Kekauluohi (Kuhina Nui, or Premier of the Hawaiian Kingdom and niece of Kamehameha I) and High Chief Charles Kanaʻina.

When Kamehameha V died on December 11, 1872 he had not named a successor to the throne.   The Islands’ first election to determine who would be King was held – Lunalilo defeated Prince David Kalākaua (the Legislature met, as required by law, in the Courthouse to cast their official ballots of election of the next King.  Lunalilo received all thirty-seven votes.)

Lunalilo was the first of the large landholding aliʻi to create a charitable trust for the benefit of his people.  He was to reign for one year and twenty-five days, succumbing to pulmonary tuberculosis on February 3, 1874.

His estate included large landholdings on the five major islands, consisting of 33-ahupuaʻa, nine ʻili and more than a dozen home lots. His will, written in 1871, established a perpetual trust under the administration of three trustees to be appointed by the justices of the Hawaiian Supreme Court.

His will instructed his trustees to build a home to accommodate the poor, destitute and infirm people of Hawaiian (aboriginal) blood or extraction, with preference given to older people. The will instructed the Trustees to sell all of the estate’s land to build and maintain the home.    (Supreme Court Records)

In 1884, the Kaimuki land was auctioned off. The rocky terrain held little value to its new owner, Dr. Trousseau, who was a “physician to the court of King Kalākaua”.  Trousseau ended up giving his land to Senator Paul Isenberg.  Theodore Lansing and AV Gear later bought the Kaimuki land (in 1898.) (Lee)

Gear, Lansing & Co, one of Honolulu’s first real estate firms, envisioned Kaimuki becoming a high-class residential area, but was stymied by buyers’ lack of interest.

Later Charlie Stanton, FE Steere and Frank E Thompson formed the Kaimuki Land Company and took over the Kaimuki tracts. Eventually, they turned it over to Waterhouse Trust Company who sold the land for eight cents a square foot and nine cents for corner lots. (Takasaki)

(There appear to be some interchangeable names of the development  entity: Kaimuki Land Company, Pālolo Land Company and Pālolo Land and Improvement Co.)

The Pālolo Land Company is an organization composed of several gentlemen who own upper Pālolo Valley and the scenic portion of Pālolo Hill it overlooks Kaimuki, and from Upper Pālolo Hill half of Oʻahu Island may be seen. Splendid roads have recently been constructed.  (Mid-Pacific Magazine)

Not familiar with the Pālolo Hill subdivision name?

It’s not clear if any official name change took place, but we now typically refer to this area as “Wilhelmina Rise” and Maunalani Heights.  (Some incorrectly say it was developed by Matson in the 1930s; the above notes it was built 20-years before and by local real estate developers.)

However, “The streets are … named after the steamers that make regular calls at the port of Honolulu.  Wilhelmina Rise is a broad and absolutely straight thoroughfare extending for a mile and a half up the slope of Pālolo Hill.”  (Evening Bulletin, December 9, 1910)

Up Pālolo Hill (Wilhelmina Rise,) you’ll find Lurline, Matsonia, Maunalani, Mana, Sierra, Wilhelmina, and Claudine, Matson liners and freighters.

© 2024 Hoʻokuleana LLC

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Falls Of Clyde

News on Falls of Clyde prompts me to bring her story back …

She was launched December 12, 1878 by shipbuilders Russell & Co at Port Glasgow, Scotland; the four-masted, full-rigged ship Falls of Clyde became part of the Falls Line fleet – all of which were named after Scottish waterfalls.

Falls of Clyde has a wrought-iron hull with a net tonnage of 1,748 tons and has a registered length of 266-feet, with a 40-foot beam and a 23.5-foot depth of hold.

She was rated the highest rating the maritime insurance firm could provide (Lloyd’s of London.)

Used for trade between Britain and India, the ship was under the British flag and journeyed into the Pacific, stopping at Australia, New Zealand, Bangkok, Hong Kong and Shanghai.

Falls of Clyde made 10 voyages to American ports while under the British flag.  Sailing to San Francisco and Portland for wheat, she also made one voyage to New York. The voyages to San Francisco were particularly important, for they involved the ship in one of the United States and Britain’s most significant maritime trades, the California grain trade.

She was later sold to Captain William Matson in 1898 with plans to be used for the lucrative sugar trade between Hawaiʻi and the continent.  However, according to US law, Falls of Clyde needed American registry to trade between American ports, a right denied to foreign-built and registered vessels.

“The four masted iron ship Falls of Clyde (under the command of Captain Matson,) floating the Hawaiian flag, the Oceanic Steamship Company’s pennant and her own signal letters, came into the harbor at 10 o’clock this morning.  … “

“The Falls of Clyde brings about 1,000 tons or general merchandise, a large part of which is machinery for the Honolulu plantation.  She also brings 40 mules and 8 horses for the plantation and a stallion for W. G. Irwin & Co.”  (Hawaiian Star, January 20, 1899)

“She is the first four masted Iron ship with yards on each mast that ever came into this harbor flying the Hawaiian flag. Her authority for flying this flag is a temporary register Issued to her by Hawaiian Consul General Wilder at San Francisco.”  (Hawaiian Star, January 20, 1899)

A special provision was added to the 1900 ‘Organic Act;’ Section 98 of the Act states: “That all vessels carrying Hawaiian registers on the twelfth day of August, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, and which were owned bona fide by citizens of the United States, or the citizens of Hawaii …”

“… together with the following-named vessels claiming Hawaiian register, Star of France, Euterpe, Star of Russia, Falls of Clyde, and Wilscott, shall be entitled to be registered as American vessels, with the benefits and privileges appertaining thereto, and …”

“…the coasting trade between the islands aforesaid and any other portion of the United States, shall be regulated in accordance with the provisions of law applicable to such trade between any two great coasting districts.”

Converted to US registry, Falls of Clyde then was involved in the Hawaiian transpacific sugar trade for Matson Navigation Co.  She carried people, too.

Her cargo hold was not limited to the sugar plantation business; just as modern Matson ships bring in assorted cargo that fill a variety of shelves across the islands, the Falls of Clyde supplied the Islands with various goods that filled the needs of the past.

Here’s a brief summary of an early manifest: “The ship Falls of Clyde sailed yesterday for Hilo with an assorted cargo valued at $23,599 and including the following: 95 bbls flour, 41 ctls wheat, 914 ctls barley, 231 bales hay, 18,521 lbs bran, 12 ctls corn, 75,000 lbs rice, 12 tons salt, 6492 gals wine, 900 lbs lard, 25 cs canned goods, 189,947 lbs fertilizer, 114,174 ft lumber, 38,000 lbs cement, 4200 lbs tobacco, 550 gals distillate, 65 cs gasoline, 150 cs coal oil, 101 cs assorted oils, 100 bxs soap, 1 cs arms and ammunition, 15 pkgs agricultural implements, 3 pkgs machinery, 3 rolls leather, 50 sks coal, 75 pkgs wagon material, 10 pkgs millwork, 6 cs matches, 25 bales paper, 85 kegs white lead, 20 cs paints, 6 pkgs dry goods, 4 pkgs bicycles and parts, 3 bales twine, 1 cs shoes, 30 mules.” (San Francisco Call, February 19, 1905)

The four-masted vessel, originally rigged as a ship, was down-rigged to a bark; in addition, Matson modified and built a large wooden deckhouse forward and a charthouse on the poop deck.

She carried sugar from Hilo to San Francisco until 1906 when the Associated Oil Company (a group of 45 independent oil producers in which Matson had an interest) bought the ship and in 1907 Falls of Clyde was once again modified when she was converted into a sailing oil tanker.

Associated Oil added 10-tanks within the hull, a boiler room and a pump room with a carrying capacity close to 750,000-gallons.  She also carried molasses from Hilo to San Francisco over the next 13 years.

In 1921, she was sold to the General Petroleum Corporation who, after dismasting, then used her as a floating petroleum barge in Ketchikan, Alaska.

General Petroleum reorganized as Socony-Vacuum (now Mobil Oil) in 1959 and developed new shore facilities at Ketchikan. No longer needed, Falls of Clyde was again sold and towed to Seattle, and laid up.

After several attempts to save the ship of the fate of being scuttled as a breakwater, a group of civic and historic-minded folks in Hawaiʻi, aided by funds from the Matson Navigation Co. and other donations (spearheaded by the Friends of Falls of Clyde,) purchased and returned the ship to Honolulu in 1963.

With lots of voluntary help she was restored, remasted and rerigged and, under management of Bishop Museum, in 1970 she was opened to the public at Pier 5.

Damaged by Hurricane Iwa in 1982, she was moved to Pier 7, and over the course of a few years she was restored and became the centerpiece of the Hawaiʻi Maritime Center, moored at Pier 7 in Honolulu Harbor.

Maintaining any boat is expensive, particularly one that dates to the late-1800s.

The Friends of Falls of Clyde mobilized and rallied, again, and on September 25, the Museum’s Board of Directors approved the sale to the Friends, a non-profit 501(c)3 organization dedicated to the preservation and restoration of the Falls of Clyde.  (The Friends took ownership of the Falls of Clyde from Bishop Museum on September 30, 2008.)

“The ship Falls of Clyde (FOC) was placed on the Hawai‘i Register of Historic Places (HRHP) and the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1973. It was designated a National Historic Landmark (NHL) in 1989 because of its exceptional national significance as the oldest surviving American tanker and the only surviving sailing oil tanker left afloat in the world.” (HHF)

On June 28, 2023 the State of Hawai‘i Department of Transportation announced that it will seek to remove the Falls of Clyde from the Hawai‘i Register of Historic Places. The Hawai‘i Historic Places Review Board recently met to address an application to delist the Falls of Clyde.

Historic Hawai‘i Foundation testified, “If the Hawai‘i Historic Places Review Board concurs with HDOT’s finding and subsequently takes action to remove the ship from the state register of historic places, only one of its five designations would be affected.”

“Removing the listing from the Hawai‘i Register would have no effect on the national designations, which are governed by the U.S. Department of the Interior. FOC would still be listed on the National Register and as a National Historic Landmark.” (HHF)

Let’s remember the bottom line … Falls of Clyde is the world’s only surviving four-masted, full-rigged ship and is the oldest surviving American tanker and the only surviving sailing oil tanker left afloat.  (Lots of information and images from NPS, Historic Hawaiʻi and Friends of Falls of Clyde.)

Physical things help us see things. Losing the last means we no longer ‘see’ her to remember her.

© 2023 Hoʻokuleana LLC

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Royal Hawaiian Hotel

The first Royal Hawaiian Hotel was not in Waikīkī.  It was in downtown Honolulu where the “One Capitol District” building now stands.  By the 1900s, the Royal Hawaiian lost its guests to the newer Alexander Young hotel a few blocks away.

The downtown Royal Hawaiian was converted to a YMCA building in 1917.  The building was demolished in 1926, and a new YMCA in a similar style was built in its place.

For centuries, Helumoa in Waikīkī was the home to Hawaiʻi’s royalty.  Portions of this area would eventually become the home to the new Royal Hawaiian Hotel.

In the 1890s, the property was leased as a seaside annex to the downtown Royal Hawaiian Hotel located at Richards and Hotel streets.

In 1907, the Seaside Hotel opened on the property, and was later acquired by Alexander Young’s Territorial Hotel Company, which operated the Alexander Young hotel in downtown Honolulu.

In 1924, the Seaside Hotel’s lease of the land at Helumoa was soon to expire and the land’s owners (Bishop Estate) put out a request for proposals to build a hotel.

This was the time before flight; Matson Navigation Co. had luxury ocean liners bringing wealthy tourists to Hawaii – but, they needed a hotel equally lavish to accommodate their passengers at Waikīkī (at that time, the 650 passengers arriving in Honolulu every two weeks were typically staying at Hawaiʻi’s two largest hotels, the Alexander Hotel and the Moana.)

The availability of the Waikīkī land began putting wheels into motion.  A new hotel was planned and conceived as a luxurious resort for Matson passengers, the brainchild of Ed Tenney (who headed the “big five” firm of Castle and Cooke and Matson Navigation) and Matson manager William Roth (son-in-law to William Matson founder of Matson Navigation.)

Castle & Cooke, Matson Navigation and the Territorial Hotel Company successfully proposed a plan to build a luxury hotel, The Royal Hawaiian, with 400 rooms on the 15-acre parcel of Waikiki beach to be leased from Bishop Estate.

The ground-breaking ceremony took place on July 26, 1925.  However, the official building permits were delayed while city officials changed the building code to allow increased building heights.  After $4 million and 18 months, the resort was completed.

On February 1, 1927, the Royal Hawaiian (nicknamed The Pink Palace) was officially opened with the gala event of the decade.  At the same time, and associated with the hotel, the Territorial Hotel Co opened the Waiʻalae Golf Course.

Duke Kahanamoku, the legendary Olympic swimmer and surfer, frequented the Royal Hawaiian Hotel restaurants and private beachfront. The Royal Hawaiian Hotel became a favorite stomping ground for Kahanamoku’s famed group, dubbed the “Waikiki Beach Boys”.

Over the following decades, the Royal Hawaiian was THE place to stay and the Pink Palace hosted world celebrities, financiers, heads of state and the elite from around the world.

World War II, with its associated martial law and blackout measures, meant significant changes at the Royal Hawaiian.  In January of 1942, the U.S. Navy signed a lease with the Royal Hawaiian to use the facilities as a rest and relaxation center for officers and enlisted personnel serving in the Pacific.

During the war, over 200,000 men stayed at the Royal Hawaiian. Each day as many as 5,500 service-related visitors (most of who were not staying at the hotel) passed through the front gates to enjoy the beach or social activities.

At the conclusion of World War II, the hotel was given a makeover to restore her to the level of luxury her guests would expect.

ITT Sheraton purchased The Royal Hawaiian from Matson in June 1959.  The Royal Tower Wing was added to the existing structure in 1969.  The resort was sold in 1974 to Kyo-ya Company, Ltd., with Starwood Hotels & Resorts operating it under a long-term management contract.

In 2008, the Royal Hawaiian again underwent significant renovation (to the tune of $85-million) and held its official grand reopening on March 7, 2009.  The Tower section was renovated yet again in November 2010 and reopened as The Royal Beach Tower with upgraded rooms.

Why the color pink?  Bob Krauss once reported that the Royal Hawaiian’s pink color is due to the typically pink-painted homes in Lisbon, Portugal.

Friends of William Roth (Kimo and Sarah Wilder) had visited Lisbon and upon returning repainted their home pink with blue-green shutters.  Roth commented, “I love what you’ve done to your house. Can I paint my hotel the same color?”

© 2023 Hoʻokuleana LLC

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Matson Navigation Company

Born in Sweden, Captain William Matson (1849–1917) arrived in San Francisco in 1867, at the age of 16.  There, he began sailing in San Francisco Bay and northern California rivers.
 
Captain Matson became acquainted with the JD Spreckels family and was asked to serve as skipper on the Spreckels yacht, Lurline.  The Spreckels family later assisted Captain Matson in obtaining his first ship, the Emma Claudina.
 
In 1882, when Matson sailed his three-masted schooner Emma Claudina from San Francisco to Hilo, carrying 300 tons of food, plantation supplies and general merchandise, Matson Navigation Company started its long association with Hawai‘i.
 
That voyage launched a company that has been involved in such diversified interests as oil exploration, hotels and tourism, military service during two world wars and even briefly, the airline business.  Matson’s primary interest throughout, however, has been carrying freight between the Pacific Coast and Hawai‘i.
 
In 1887, Captain Matson sold the Emma Claudina and acquired the 150-foot brigantine Lurline from his employer, JD Spreckels – this was the first of several famous Matson vessels to bear the name Lurline.
 
Matson met his future wife, Lillie Low, on a yacht voyage he captained to Hawai‘i; the couple named their daughter Lurline Berenice Matson.
 
As the Matson fleet expanded, new vessels introduced some dramatic maritime innovations. The bark ‘Rhoderick Dhu’ was the first ship to have a cold storage plant and electric lights. The first Matson steamship, the ‘Enterprise,’ was the first offshore ship in the Pacific to burn oil instead of coal.
 
Increased commerce brought a corresponding interest in Hawai‘i as a tourist attraction. The second Lurline, with accommodations for 51 passengers, joined the fleet in 1908. The 146-passenger ship SS Wilhelmina followed in 1910, rivaling the finest passenger ships serving the Atlantic routes.
 
More steamships continued to join the fleet. When Captain Matson died in 1917 at 67, the Matson fleet comprised 14 of the largest, fastest and most modern ships in the Pacific passenger-freight service.
 
When World War I broke out, most of the Matson fleet was requisitioned by the government as troopships and military cargo carriers. Other Matson vessels continued to serve Hawai‘i’s needs throughout the war.
 
After the war, Matson ships reverted to civilian duty and the steamers Manulani and Manukai were added to the fleet – the largest freighters in the Pacific at that time.
 
The decade from the mid-1920s to mid-1930s marked a significant period of Matson expansion.  In 1925, the company established Matson Terminals, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary, to perform stevedoring and terminal services for its fleet.
 
With increasing passenger traffic to Hawai‘i, Matson built a world-class luxury liner, the SS Malolo, in 1927. At the time, the Malolo was the fastest ship in the Pacific, cruising at 22 knots. Its success led to the construction of the luxury liners Mariposa, Monterey and Lurline between 1930 and 1932.
 
Matson’s famed “white ships” were instrumental in the development of tourism in Hawai‘i.  In addition, beginning in 1927, with the construction of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, Matson’s Waikīkī hotels provided tourists with luxury accommodations both ashore and afloat.
 
Immediately after the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, the passenger liners Lurline, Matsonia, Mariposa and Monterey, and 33 Matson freighters were called to military service.
 
Matson, as General Agent for the War Shipping Administration, was given the responsibility for manning, provisioning, maintaining and servicing an important part of the government’s rapidly expanding fleet of cargo vessels. Matson was soon operating a fleet of more than one hundred vessels.
 
The post-war period for Matson was somewhat difficult. The expense of restoration work proved to be very costly and necessitated the sale of the Mariposa and Monterey, still in wartime gray. In 1948, the Lurline returned to service after a $20-million reconversion.
 
Two new Matson hotels were built on Waikiki in the 1950s, the Surfrider in 1951 and the Princess Kaʻiulani in 1955.
 
In 1955, Matson undertook a $60-million shipbuilding program which produced the South Pacific liners Mariposa and Monterey, and the rebuilt wartime Monterey was renamed Matsonia and entered the Pacific Coast and Hawai‘i service.
 
On August 31, 1958, Matson’s SS Hawaiian Merchant departed San Francisco Bay carrying 20 24-foot containers on deck.
 
The historic voyage marked the beginning of an ambitious containerization program that achieved tremendous gains in productivity and efficiency from the age-old methods of break-bulk cargo handling.
 
The container freight system that Matson introduced to Hawai‘i in 1958 was a product of years of careful research and resulted in the development of a number of industry innovations that became models worldwide.
 
Containerization brought the greatest changes to water transportation since steamships replaced sailing vessels.
 
Concurrently, shore side innovations were introduced, including the world’s first A-frame gantry crane, which was erected in 1959 in Alameda, California and became the prototype for container cranes.
 
In 1959 (the year Hawai‘i entered statehood and jet airline travel was initiated to the State,) Matson sold all of its Hawaiʻi hotel properties to the Sheraton hotel chain.