Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Battle of Midway

Kuaiheilani, suggested as a mythical place, is the traditional name for what we refer to as Midway Atoll.  Described in the legend of Aukelenuiaiku, the origin of this name can be traced to an ancient homeland of the Hawaiian people, located somewhere in central Polynesia.  (Kikiloi)

According to historical sources, this island was used by Native Hawaiians even in the late-1800s as a sailing point for seasonal trips to this area of the archipelago.

Theodore Kelsey writes, “Back in 1879 and 1880 these old men used navigation gourds for trips to Kuaihelani, which they told me included Nihoa, Necker, and the islets beyond…the old men might be gone on their trips for six months at a time through May to August was the special sailing season.”  (Papahānaumokuākea MP, Cultural Impact Assessment)

Look at a map and you understand the reasoning for the “Midway” reference (actually, it’s a little closer to Asia than it is to the North American continent.)

The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, and in particular Midway Atoll, became a potential commodity in the mid-19th century. The United States took formal possession of Midway Atoll in August of 1867 by Captain William Reynolds of the USS Lackawanna.

Shortly afterwards, the USS Saginaw, a Civil War-era side wheel gunboat, was assigned to support improvement efforts at Midway where a coal depot in support of transpacific commerce was to be built.

For six months, she served as a support vessel for divers as they labored to clear a channel into the lagoon. In October 1870, the unsuccessful operation was terminated. Saginaw set course for nearby Kure Atoll to check for castaways before returning to San Francisco. The ship would meet a tragic end on the reef at Kure Atoll where she wrecked in the middle of the night.

Midway’s importance grew for commercial and military planners. The first transpacific cable and station were in operation by 1903. In the 1930s, Midway became a stopover for the Pan American Airways’ flying “clippers” (seaplanes) crossing the ocean on their five-day transpacific passage.

The United States was inspired to invest in the improvement of Midway in the mid-1930s with the rise of imperial Japan. In 1938 the Army Corps of Engineers dredged the lagoon during this period and, in 1938, Midway was declared second to Pearl Harbor in terms of naval base development in the Pacific.

The construction of the naval air facility at Midway began in 1940. At that time, French Frigate Shoals was also a US naval air facility. Midway also became an important submarine advance base.

The reef was dredged to form a channel and harbor to accommodate submarine refit and repair. Patrol vessels of the Hawaiian Sea Frontier forces stationed patrol vessels at most of the islands and atolls

The Japanese planned to assault and occupy the atoll in order to threaten an invasion of Hawaiʻi and draw the American naval forces that had survived the attack on Pearl Harbor out into an ambush against the brunt of the Imperial Japanese Navy.

Midway was of vital importance to both Japanese and American war strategies in World War II, and the raid on the atoll was one of the most significant battles of the war, marking a major shift in the balance of power between the United States and Japan.

As dawn approached at around 0430, June 4, 1942, the American carriers (Enterprise, Hornet, and Yorktown) were about 300 miles north north-east of Midway. Their Japanese counterparts (Akagi, Kaga, Sōryū and Hiryū) were 250 miles northwest of the atoll.

In their attack, the Imperial Japanese Navy lost two thirds of its fleet aircraft carriers (four Japanese aircraft carriers and their accompanying aircraft and crews.) The loss of USS Yorktown was a major blow to the US, but the American wartime production of men and materiel would soon make up the difference and outpace that of the Japanese.

While the primary carrier fleet engagement occurred well to the north of Midway Atoll, much of the “secondary” action occurred within or originated from the atoll.

The Battle of Midway (June 4-7, 1942) is considered the most decisive US victory and is referred to as the “turning point” of World War II in the Pacific.  The victory allowed the United States and its allies to move into an offensive position.

In 2000, Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt designated Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge as the Battle of Midway National Memorial, making it the first National Memorial designated on a National Wildlife Refuge.

Of all the Islands and atolls in the Hawaiian archipelago, while Midway is part of the US, it the only one that is not part of the State of Hawaiʻi.

Today, Midway is administered by the US Fish and Wildlife Service as Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge within Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, a marine protected area encompassing all of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

© 2024 Hoʻokuleana LLC

by Peter T Young 1 Comment

The Walkers

“The ‘Wandering Minstrel’ was purchased in Hong Kong … Sailors believe in lucky and unlucky ships. I never did – but I do now. She ruined her builders; everyone that owned her, regretted it; … From the time of sailing, Friday, October the 13th, 1887, we had nothing but gales, a typhoon and ill luck ….”  (Walker)

So starts the story of Captain Frederick Dunbar Walker, born in Dublin, Ireland, December 3, 1838, and his family – their misadventures aboard the ‘Wandering Minstrel’ and life in Honolulu.

“The Wandering Minstrel, a 500-ton bark, left Hong Kong on September 3, 1887, on a shark fishing expedition.  It was Captain Walker’s intention to be gone a year and a half.  The first port touched at was Honolulu”.  (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, August 15, 1900)

“(S)he sailed from Honolulu, December 10th, 1887, on a fishing cruise, with a crew of 24 hands and 4 passengers, arrived at French Frigate Shoals on the 18th December, left same place December 27th, arrived at Midway Island, and anchored in Welles’ Harbour, Jan. 9th, 1888.”

“On February 2nd a strong wind and sea sprung up, so that she was unable to get out, and on the following day became a total loss.”  (Board of Trade Wreck Report for ‘Wandering Minstrel,’ 1889)

“During their enforced sojourn on this forsaken place the Walkers existed entirely on bird’s egg, fish and a shark and a turtle which they were fortunate to capture … Sometimes the party were a week without food…”

“On the Island was found a man named Jorgensen, a Dane, who was one of the crew of the ship named the General Siegel, which had been wrecked on the Island some time before.”

“Jorgensen had murdered the captain and a man of the ‘General Siegel,’ and after the killing the crew had deserted him, having previously destroyed another boat and gone in the remaining boat to the Marshall Islands six months before the Wandering Minstrel went to pieces on the reef.”  (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, August 15, 1900)

“About three months after the wreck six of the crew took the best boat we had at nighttime, and went to Green Island, and from thence the following day started for the open sea.  A heavy gale set in that night, and there is no doubt all perished, as no tidings were ever heard of them.”

“Our life was one continual hunt for food. Six men left for Green Island and lived there and were never sick, though the water was a dirty greenish color, owing to decayed vegetable matter. Several of us on Sand Island, however, were ill with scurvy. Three died.”  (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, October 24, 1909)

“The castaways were at last rescued by the schooner Norma, from Yokohama, engaged in shark fishing. The captain of the Norma had been told by friends of the Walkers in Yokohama to keep a sharp lookout for them, and he called at Midway Island in pursuance of what he admitted to be forlorn hope.”  (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, August 15, 1900)

“Of the twenty-nine souls wrecked, six were drowned by the upsetting of a boat, one was murdered, three succumbed to the ravages of beri-beri, two died of starvation, one died on the way home and was buried at sea, and only sixteen of the original complement came back alive to Honolulu”.

“(A)mong that number are the five members of the Walker family, whose survival is all the more wonderful on account of their being the least fitting to stand the hardships endured.  (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, August 15, 1900)

Walker’s three sons “have grown up with the town as enterprising and useful citizens, while he himself had been active to the last in various commercial and industrial projects.”  (Honolulu Star Bulletin, November 20, 1916)

The sons are, “Frederick GE Walker (a photographer,) Henry E Walker of the Walker rice mill, and Charles D Walker who is engaged in the boat-building business here.”   (Hawaiian Gazette, November 21, 1916)

The experience obviously didn’t deter the brothers from going to sea.  They raced boats; Charles, “recently returned from Japan, where he had gone to challenge Japanese yachtsmen to compete for a Hawaiian cup … stating that he will race a Hawaiian-built boat in Japanese waters on certain conditions.”   (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, January 13, 1904)

Son Henry showed, “The milling of rice is not confined to the Chinese, as is the cultural phase of the industry. One of the largest and most modern of the rice mills is conducted by Mr HE Walker in Honolulu.”  (Hawaiʻi Experiment Station, 1906)

The three boys also left a lasting legacy to their mother, Elizabeth.  Down the short Mission Lane, just below Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site and Museum, in the shadow of Kawaiahaʻo Church, is the ‘Elizabeth Building.)  (It’s still there.)

The brothers lived on the top two floors and maintained a carriage shop on the street level. The older brick building next door (‘Mews’) served as their place of business, which included carriage and boat shops. (“Mews” is a British slang term for stables.)  (Burlingame)

Another family legacy lives on … “Captain Walker once related the story to Mr Strong, a son-in-law of Robert Louis Stevenson, and it is shrewdly suspected in certain quarters that the diverting tale of “The Wrecker” is based on none other than the experiences of the survivors of the Wandering Minstrel.”  (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, August 15, 1900)

Walker liked life in the Islands.  “Homeward bound – for Honolulu – beautiful Honolulu, justly called the ‘Paradise of the Pacific.’  I am unable to state how many residents there are who came as visitors, either on business or pleasure, and remained permanently.”

“Many, like myself, are sea waifs, rescued from shipwreck, brought here and declined to move on, but commenced life anew, and are now well satisfied with their decision.”  (Walker)  Walker became a naturalized citizen on September 21, 1906.

© 2023 Hoʻokuleana LLC

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Carrollton

The coal industry was a major foundation for American industrialization in the nineteenth century. As a fuel source, coal provided a cheap and efficient source of power for steam engines, furnaces and forges across the US.

The influence of coal was so pervasive that by the advent of the twentieth century, it became a necessity of everyday life. In an era where smokestacks equaled progress, the smoky air and sooty landscape of industrial America owed a great deal to the growth of the availability of coal. (Adams)

A peculiar feature of 1907 was that in spite of the coasting laws, foreign vessels were chartered to bring domestic coal from the Atlantic ports of the US for the use of the American battleships ordered to the Pacific.

The coal trade of San Francisco was practically in the hands of one firm. Coal was always dear in California, as no supply is produced locally, but since the formation of this combination it has doubled in price. … 80,000-tons were on the way from Australia. (Great Britain, Trade & Commerce Report, 1908)

Coal was first discovered in Australia in 1791 by an escaped convict near the site of Newcastle. Mining began in 1799 with the collection of coal from outcrops near Newcastle for sale in Sydney; the cargo resulted in Newcastle becoming Australia’s first commercial export port. (Australia Bureau of Statistics)

Fast forward about a century … the three-masted bark Carrollton was en route from “New South Wales” Australia to San Francisco, via Honolulu, with a load of coal.

The Carrollton was built in 1872 by the Arthur Sewall Shipyard in Bath, Maine. Bath-built down-easters were some of the most celebrated commercial sailing vessels of their day.

Sewall ships, though not the fastest, were proven economic winners in the long-haul maritime trades of the mid- and late-19th century.

In the midst of her career in the Pacific lumber, grain, and coal business, the Carrollton under the command of Captain Hinrichs was accidentally lost on December 26th, 1906, when she ran bow-on onto the reef on the southern side of Sand Island at Midway. (PMNM)

Here’s a link to a Google Earth ‘Street View’ on the southern part of Sand Island at Midway:
https://goo.gl/WVhYhb

All of her crew were saved (rescued by the cable ship Restorer,) but the vessel was a total loss.

Typical of wooden ship wreck sites, all exposed hull and superstructure have vanished. But the heavier elements (anchor, chain, stanchions, fasteners, deck machinery, donkey boiler, lead scuppers, pintles and gudgeons etc.) remain scattered in an area near the reef.

The confused path of the anchor chain on the bottom adds to the story of the wreck. The chain locker, its wooden sides long gone, is now a fused mass of iron almost indistinguishable from reef. The windlass has grown corals. The ship remains will ultimately be ‘recycled’ as reef substrate in this fashion. (Van Tilburg)

Today, a large variety of artifacts from the shipwreck lie scattered over an area almost 1,000 feet long. A portion of the ship’s cargo of coal testify to the sea’s power to break apart what the best wooden shipwrights once created. (PMNM)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Wisdom

We’re the same age.

We were born in the Islands; I have been fortunate to have visited her home island on several occasions.  She has flown over 3-million miles; I have over 1-million miles in my Hawaiian Air account.

She represents inspiration and hope – folks on the island named her recent child ‘Mana‘olana’ (Hope.)

They call her ‘Wisdom.’

She lives on Midway, at least during the breeding season she can be found there.  She is joined by about a million other Laysan albatross, there.  She has had around 35 chicks, nesting each year within 15-feet of prior years’ nests.  She’s the oldest known wild bird.

The Laysan species of albatross traditionally mate with one partner for life and lay only one egg at a time, each year. It takes much of that year to incubate and raise the chick.

Laysan albatross are black and white seabirds named after Laysan Island. They stand almost 3-feet tall, weigh 6 to 7-pounds and have wingspans of more than 6-feet.

They spend most of their days out at sea and spend hours gliding on headwinds – they eat mostly fish, fish eggs, squid and crustaceans.

Laysan albatross live on both land and sea. The birds spend nearly half the year in the North Pacific Ocean, touching land only during breeding season.

Here’s a link to short video of Laysan Albatross mating ritual on Midway:

Here’s a link to short video of Laysan Albatross sitting on nests on Midway:

Here’s some of the “street view” from Google:

Its traditional name ‘moli’ means a bone tattoo needle, which was made from the bone of an albatross.

Albatross are famously mentioned in Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s epic poem ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,’ published in 1798 …

‘God save thee, ancient Mariner!
From the fiends, that plague thee thus!—
Why look’st thou so?’—With my cross-bow
I shot the Albatross.

Ah! well a-day! what evil looks
Had I from old and young!
Instead of the cross, the Albatross
About my neck was hung.

The Mariner’s act of shooting the albatross (that had once brought good luck to his ship) is the mother of irrational, self-defeating acts. He never offers a good explanation for why he does it, and his crewmates get so upset that they hang the dead albatross around his neck as a burden, so he won’t forget what he did.

To have an albatross around your neck is to have a constant reminder of a big mistake you made. Instead of the gift that keeps on giving, it’s the blunder that keeps on taking. The phrase has come to mean carrying a great burden.  (Schmoop)

Kuaiheilani, suggested as a mythical place, is the traditional name for what we refer to as Midway Atoll.  Described in the legend of Aukelenuiaiku, the origin of this name can be traced to an ancient homeland of the Hawaiian people, located somewhere in central Polynesia.  (Kikiloi)

According to historical sources, this island was used by Native Hawaiians even in the late-1800s as a sailing point for seasonal trips to this area of the archipelago.

Theodore Kelsey writes, “Back in 1879 and 1880 these old men used navigation gourds for trips to Kuaihelani, which they told me included Nihoa, Necker, and the islets beyond … the old men might be gone on their trips for six months at a time through May to August was the special sailing season.”  (Papahānaumokuākea MP, Cultural Impact Assessment)

Look at a map of the Pacific and you understand the reasoning for the “Midway” reference (actually, it’s a little closer to Asia than it is to the North American continent.)

Midway’s importance grew for commercial and military planners. The first transpacific cable and station were in operation by 1903. In the 1930s, Midway became a stopover for the Pan American Airways’ flying “clippers” (seaplanes) crossing the ocean on their five-day transpacific passage.

The US was inspired to invest in the improvement of Midway in the mid-1930s with the rise of imperial Japan. In 1938 the Army Corps of Engineers dredged the lagoon during this period and, that year, Midway was declared second to Pearl Harbor in terms of naval base development in the Pacific.

The construction of the naval air facility at Midway began in 1940. At that time, French Frigate Shoals was also a US naval air facility. Midway also became an important submarine advance base.

The reef was dredged to form a channel and harbor to accommodate submarine refit and repair. Patrol vessels of the Hawaiian Sea Frontier forces stationed patrol vessels at most of the islands and atolls.

The Battle of Midway (June 4-7, 1942) is considered the most decisive US victory and is referred to as the “turning point” of World War II in the Pacific.  The victory allowed the United States and its allies to move into an offensive position.

In 2000, Secretary of the Interior designated Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge as the Battle of Midway National Memorial, making it the first National Memorial designated on a National Wildlife Refuge.

Of all the Islands and atolls in the Hawaiian archipelago, while Midway is part of the US, it the only one that is not part of the State of Hawaiʻi.

Today, Midway is administered by the US Fish and Wildlife Service as Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge within Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument (a marine protected area encompassing all of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.)

The image shows Wisdom and her chick.  (USGS) In addition, I have added other related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

© Hoʻokuleana LLC 2015