Shark | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

August 1, 2026 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Nanaue

Puʻumano (Shark Hill) is in the ahupuaʻa of Kainalu on the south-western side of the Island of Molokai. There is a shallow ravine leading up the slope to the summit – tradition suggests this was caused when Nanaue was dragged by Unauna.

Let’s look back …

During the time of ʻUmi, there was a beautiful girl from Waipiʻo named Kalei. She was an expert swimmer, a good diver and noted for the neatness and grace with which she would ‘lelekawa’ (jump from the rocks into deep water without any splashing of water.)

Kalei was very fond of shell-fish, and frequently went to the coast for her favorite food. She generally went in the company of other women, but if the sea was a little rough, and her usual companion was afraid out, she very often went alone.

In those days, the Waipiʻo River emptied over a low fall into a basin partly open to the sea. (The forces of nature have since filled the pool with rocks.) Back then, it was a deep pool and a favorite bathing place.

The shark-god, Kamohoaliʻi, also used to visit this pool.

Kamohoaliʻi was the King-shark of Hawaiʻi and Maui. It was the belief of the ancient Hawaiians that several of these shark-gods could assume any shape they chose, even the human form, when occasion demanded.

Kamohoaliʻi had noted the charms of the beautiful Kalei, and took a liking to her. Knowing he couldn’t court her in his shark form, he assumed the form of a very handsome man, and waited for the girl to show up at the beach.

It was a rough day and Kalei came alone; caught in a wave (raised by the god himself,) the handsome stranger came to Kalei’s rescue. The acquaintance was established and Kalei met the stranger from time to time – finally becoming his wife.

Some little time before she expected to become a mother, her husband, who all this time would only come home at night, told her his true nature, and informing her that he would have to leave her, gave orders in regard to the bringing up of the future child.

He particularly cautioned the mother never to let him be fed on animal flesh of any kind, as he would be born with a dual nature, and with a body that he could change at will.

In time, Kalei delivered a healthy boy named Nanaue; he was apparently the same as any other child, but he had, besides the normal mouth of a human being, a shark’s mouth on his back between the shoulder blades.

Kalei had told her family of the kind of being her husband was, and they all agreed to keep the matter of the shark mouth on the child’s back a secret.

The old grandfather, far from heeding the warning given by Kamohoaliʻi in the matter of animal diet, as soon as the boy was old enough to come under the tabu in regard to the eating of males, and had to take his meals at the hale mua (men’s eating house,) took special pains to feed him on dog meat or pork.

When he became a man, Nanaue’s appetite for animal diet, indulged in childhood, had grown so strong, that the ordinary allowance of a human being would not suffice for him.

The old grandfather had died in the meantime, so that he was dependent on the food supplied by his stepfather and uncles, to feed his shark-like appetite. This gave rise to the common native nickname of a ‘manohae’ (ravenous shark) for a very gluttonous man, especially in the matter of meat.

People were curious as to why Nanaue always kept a kihei (a loose garment of tapa thrown over one shoulder and tied in a knot) on his shoulders.

He also didn’t participate in the games and pastimes of the young people (for fear that the wind or some active movement might displace the kapa mantle, and the shark-mouth be exposed to view.)

About this time children, and eventually grown-ups, began to mysteriously disappear.

Nanaue had one good quality that seemed to redeem his apparent unsociability; he was almost always to be seen working in his mother’s taro or potato patch when not fishing or bathing. People going to the beach would pass by, and it was Nanaue’s habit to ask where they were going.

If they answered ‘to bathe in the sea’” or for ‘fishing,’ he would answer, ‘take care or you may disappear head and tail.’ Whenever he so confronted anyone, it would not be long before some member of the party so addressed would be bitten by a shark. If it should be a man or woman going to the beach alone, that person would never be seen again.

The shark-man would immediately follow, and watching for a favorable opportunity, jump into the sea. Having previously marked the whereabouts of the person he was after, it was an easy thing for him to approach quite close and changing into a shark, rush on the unsuspecting person and drag him or her down into the deep, where he would devour his victim.

This was the danger to humanity which his king-father foresaw when he cautioned the mother of the unborn child about feeding him on animal flesh, as thereby an appetite would be evoked which they had no means of satisfying, and a human being would furnish the most handy meal of the kind that he would desire.

Eventually, while he was in human form, folks managed to remove his kihei and see the shark mouth on his back. The news of the shark-mouth and his characteristic shark-like actions were quickly reported to the King.

The King was told of the disappearance of so many people in the vicinity of the pools frequented by Nanaue; and of his pretended warnings to people going to the sea, which were immediately followed by a shark bite or by their being eaten bodily, with every one’s surmise and belief that Nanaue was the cause of all those disappearances.

ʻUmi asked the priests and shark kahunas to make offerings and invocations to Kamohoaliʻi that his spirit might take possession of one of his ‘hakas’ (medium devoted to his cult,) and so express to humanity his desires in regard to his bad son, who had presumed to eat human beings, a practice well known to be contrary to Kamohoaliʻi’s desires.

The shark-god manifested himself through a ‘haka’ and expressed his grief at the action of his wayward son. He told them that the grandfather was to blame for feeding him on animal flesh contrary to his orders.

Then the shark-god, promised they would be forever free from any persecutions on account of their unnatural son, and Nanaue left the island of Hawaii, crossed over to Maui and, later on to Molokai.

It was not very long before he was at his old practice of observing and accosting people, giving them his peculiar warning, then following them into the sea in his human shape, then seizing one of them as a shark and pulling the unfortunate one to the bottom, where he would devour his victim.

This went on for some time, until the frightened and harassed people in desperation, went to consult a shark kahuna, as the ravages of the man-eating shark had put a practical tabu on all kinds of fishing. It was not safe to be anywhere near the sea, even in the shallowest water.

Following the instructions of the kahuna, the people overpowered Nanaue and started a fire to burn him (it was well known that only by being totally consumed by fire that a man-shark can be thoroughly destroyed, and prevented from taking possession of the body of some harmless fish shark, who would then be incited to do all the pernicious acts of a shark-man.)

The people also called to their aid the demi-god Unauna, who lived in the mountains of upper Kainalu. It was then a case of Akua vs. Akua.

Nanaue was finally conquered and hauled up on the hill slopes of Kainalu to be burnt. The shallow ravine left by the passage of his immense body over the light yielding soil of the Kainalu hill slope, can be seen to this day.

The place was ever afterwards called Puʻumano (Shark Hill,) and is so known to this day.

Unauna ordered the people to cut and bring for the purpose of splitting into knives, bamboos from the sacred grove of Kainalu. The shark flesh was then cut into strips, partly dried and then burnt; but the whole bamboo grove had to be used up before the big shark was all cut up.

The God Mohoaliʻi, (another form of the same God Kamohoaliʻi) father of Unauna, was so angered by the destruction of the grove, that he took away all the edge and sharpness from the bamboos of this grove forever.

To this day they are different from the bamboos of any other place or grove on the islands in this particular, that a piece of them cannot cut any more than any piece of common wood. (This summary comes completely from The Legend of the Shark-Man Nanaue, by Mrs Emma M Nakuina.)

July 11, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kohala Shark Hunt

In the old days, folks used to catch and kill sharks. The accepted attitude was, “the only good shark is a dead shark.”

In an attempt to relieve public fears and to reduce the risk of shark attack, the state government of Hawaiʻi spent over $300,000 on shark control programs between 1959 and 1976. Six control programs of various intensity resulted in the killing of 4,668-sharks.

Subsequent evaluation of the 1959-1976 efforts noted, “Shark control programs do not appear to have had measurable effects on the rate of shark attacks in Hawaiian waters. Implementation of large-scale control programs in the future in Hawaiʻi may not be appropriate.” (Wetherbee, 1994)

At the turn of the century, my grandfather and his brothers (Young Brothers) used to have various jobs in Honolulu Harbor; one was taking paying customers out to harpoon sharks off-shore. My great-uncle, William, wrote books about his adventures shark hunting.

I remember Kohala shark “hunts” on the Big Island where a donated steer carcass was tied between points in a cove and “hunters,” on surrounding cliffs using high-powered rifles, shot at sharks feeding off the carcass.

“For both spectator and participant thrills it would be hard to beat a shark hunt, a sports event that originated in Kohala and perhaps is still unique in this community.”

“The shark hunt is the brain child of Pierre Bowman, personnel manager for Kohala Sugar Co, and these day-long events are staged a couple times a year with hundreds of people turning out with family picnics to watch the kill from along the low cliffs two miles west of the Kohala mill.” (HTH, July 2, 1952)

“The shark hunts originated [in about 1950 and appear to have been run into the mid-1970s] … [on each hunt] hunters have bagged as many as a half-dozen sharks, ranging in size to 29 feet, in good years.” (HTH, July 26, 1965) Some years, no sharks showed up.

“The shark hunt conducted annually be the Kohala group has drawn the interest of persons all over the state.” (HTH, July 24, 1965)

“The affair goes like this: Forty eight hours before the shark hunt begins, a mule [steer] or a horse is shot and the carcass is lashed securely to the reef, out of reach of the sharks but so that the water will wash over it.”

“The vicious monsters of the sea eventually scent the bait and begin to collect. Sharks are always ravenous. When the hunt begins the bait is allowed to float out into the sea, and the sharks close in. The bait is hauled slowly shoreward and the hungry sharks fighting for food come right along with it.”

“Three or four men with harpoons strike when a shark comes close enough, and then the real fun begins for the trick is to get 700 to 1,000 pounds of thrashing hell and fury out of the water and onto the reef for the kill.”

“Then the shore battery, which includes almost everything from .22 rifles to Revolutionary muskets, closes in to finish off the monster.” (HTH, July 2, 1952)

Occasionally, “The Kohala High School stage band played swing music from the 1930s – rather incongruous music to watch sharks while the now bloated cow bobbed in the sea.” (Adv, June 25, 1975)

“Over the years, shark hunts have been staged to raise money for all sorts of school projects in North Kohala.” [i.e., Future Framers of America, Kohala high basketball team, Boys Scouts, Kohala squadron of the Civil Air Patrol, …] [HTH, June 19, 1975)

Times have changed.

We have learned that tiger sharks (the ones most implicated in attacks on humans) don’t simply dwell in small coastal territories but are instead extremely wide-ranging.

They are opportunistic predators and typically move on soon after arriving in an area, because the element of surprise is quickly lost, and potential prey become wary and difficult to catch.

We know more now and recognize that sharks are an important part of the marine ecosystem. Sharks are often the “apex” or top of the food chain predators in their ecosystems because they have few natural predators.

As top predators, sharks help to manage healthy ocean ecosystems. Sharks feed on the animals below them in the food chain, helping to regulate and maintain the balance of marine ecosystems; limiting the populations of their prey, in turn affects the prey species of those animals, and so on.

To some, sharks are ʻaumakua (ancestral spirits that take possession of living creatures) that make appearances to express parental concern for the living, bringing warnings of impending danger, comfort in times of stress or sorrow or in other ways being helpful. (Kane)

Sad and Tragic, yes – we continue to have shark attacks. However, many believe it is typically mistaken identity – the sharks mistake surfers and floaters as turtles or seals. (Remember, we are visitors to their realm in the ocean.)

I still vividly recall Halloween morning, 2003, when DLNR’s shark expert came to my office to brief me on the shark attack on Bethany Hamilton on Kauai. It was a somber day at DLNR. Unlike the old days, there was no “hunt” called for. Other incidents and attacks continue to occur.

“The number of shark attacks has nothing to do with how many sharks are in the water and everything to do with how many people are in the water,” said Kim Holland, University of Hawaiʻi shark researcher and Shark Task Force member. (Honolulu Advertiser, following the Hamilton attack)

John Naughton, a National Marine Fisheries Service biologist, said previous efforts to remove large predatory sharks saw the proliferation of smaller ones, which harassed fishermen and their catches.

“It’s an archaic way to manage the resource. It’s like the turn of the century, when they shot wolves. It doesn’t make sense anymore.” (Honolulu Advertiser, November, 2003)

June 16, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Young Brothers – Innovation and Opportunity

John Nelson Young had 5-kids – Edith, Herbert, William, John and Edgar; they hailed from San Diego.

In the summer of 1899, the four boys ran a glass-bottomed boat at Catalina Island; this was the beginning of the famous glass-bottom boat rides that continue today.

It marked the beginning of the innovation and opportunity that followed the brothers.

They took guests out fishing during the day; to help promote their activities they took hotel employees on moonlight sails. It’s not clear if this was the beginning of the booze cruise or pau hana parties.

They saw opportunity in Hawai‘i; in January 1900, Herbert (29) and William (25) arrived in Honolulu; in October of that year, their younger brother, John Alexander Young, arrived – they called him Jack (18).

They formed Young Brothers.

Their early years were focused around Honolulu Harbor. They would run lines for anchoring or docking vessels, carry supplies and sailors to ships at anchor outside the harbor, and various other harbor-related activities.

They built a glass bottom boat and started a sport fishing service – and would take pictures of the people with their fish. Some suggest this was the beginning of the charter boat business in Hawai‘i.

They expanded into shark fishing … Jack also saw another opportunity and a new sport was born – they took customers out to ‘hunt’ flying fish, with customers at the bow of their skiff with shot guns “taking pot shots at fish on the fly”.

Back then, there were two inter-island freight carriers, Inter-Island Steam Navigation and Wilder Steamship Company. In 1905 Inter-Island bought out Wilder. (Later Inter-Island became Hawaiian Airlines.)

Opportunity knocked again for Young Brothers.

Libby’s shut down its pineapple operation in windward O‘ahu and started planting pineapples on the west end of Molokai.

Libby’s built a wharf at Kolo, just below Maunaloa. Kolo had a shallow channel and the Inter-Island Steam Navigation ships couldn’t get in.

The brothers made a special tender and with its first barges, YB-1 and YB-2, Young Brothers got into the freight business, carrying pineapple from Kolo Wharf to Libby’s O‘ahu cannery.

With expanded freight service to Molokai (to Kolo and Kaunakakai,) Young Brothers further innovated with the practice of tandem towing – towing two barges with one tug.

They pioneered the system because two barges were needed to serve Molokai – they would drop one off at Kolo and then carry on to Kaunakakai; they’d pick up the Kolo barge on the way back to Honolulu.

(The 1946 tsunami destroyed Kolo Wharf. Rather than repair it, Libby’s bought trucks and shipped their pineapples out of Kaunakakai.)

Young Brothers’ innovation did not stop. In 1929, their new tug, the Mikimiki, was launched.

The excellent performance of the original Mikimiki led to the adoption of her basic design for a large fleet of tugs that the US Army Transport Service copied for World War II service.

Young Brothers continued with another innovation; the Kapena class tugs that modernizes the Young Brothers’ fleet. They are named for two prior captains; the first was named for Jack Young Sr and his oldest son Jack Young Jr. Both were instrumental in making Young Brothers a leader in inter-island shipping.

Jack Young had three children, Jack Jr, Babe and Kenny. Jack Sr had 11 grandchildren, but he and his wife had died knowing only one of them. Jack Sr is my grandfather, but I never knew him or my grandmother; Kenny is my father.

While the Youngs have been out of Young Brothers for a long time, we still feel very much a part of it and its heritage.

April 19, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

William Edward Young

John and Eleanor Young had a family of five children: Annie Edith Young was born December 28, 1868 (in San Francisco), then in San Diego, Herbert Gray Young, on March 21, 1870; William Edward Young, on April 24, 1875; John Alexander ‘Jack’ Young, on January 2 1882; and Edgar Nelson Young, on July 21, 1885.

John’s father was a chair and cabinetmaker, and John followed in his father’s footsteps. The family supplemented their income with produce from their garden; John often took the older boys fishing mackerel and bottom fish in San Diego Bay.

Eleanor Young developed rheumatoid arthritis when she was in her early forties. She died on February 16, 1894 at age forty-five, leaving minor children Jack, 12, and Edgar, 10, and granddaughter Belle, 8.

John Young suffered from tuberculosis in the 1890s. After Eleanor died, he traveled extensively trying in vain to find a more suitable climate. He finally returned to San Diego. There, he died September 13, 1896 at age fifty-seven.

John Young’s sons, Herb and Will had a business in the summers of 1898 and 1899 at Catalina Island (the Island was then owned by the Banning Brothers).

They set up a concession to provide sightseeing excursion boats circling the Island and fishing for the tourists. They also got permission to take tourists out in glass-bottomed boats to view the fish and undersea creatures. It was a very successful venture.

Will was a good storyteller and kept the tourists amused, while Herb went diving under the boat and excited the fish. Once he found a hammerhead shark with a lot of curiosity. Herb played with the shark and put on a good show for the viewers who thought he might be in mortal danger. The glass-bottomed boat trips became very popular.

Then Herb and Will saw opportunity for business in Honolulu. Herb thought it looked good and persuaded Will to join him there in December. In January 1900, Herb and Will started Young Brothers.

They purchased a small launch, the Billy, and made a business running lines for the ships, delivering foodstuffs to the crews, and ferrying passengers. They were joined in October by their younger brother, John Alexander ‘Jack’ Young, who was then eighteen years old.

From their first days in Honolulu, the Young brothers were fascinated by the big sharks that infested the waters just outside the harbor where the garbage was dumped.

While the three brothers were involved in their daily harbor activities, they came to befriend boat captains, passengers and interested bystanders who were fascinated by tales of sharks, and more particularly whether they attacked humans.

This led to a small side-business in shark hunting that quickly earned William the nickname ‘Sharkey Bill.’ Fishing parties would he formed from among hotel guests, who were taken out on the Billy for a day of shark fishing.

“[W]e got the contract for towing garbage out and dumping it daily. But despite the numbers of horses ashore, only once in a while was a carcass available for our uses.”

“We had our best opportunity to study the sharks as they fought over the floating body, literally going into frenzies with snapping jaws and lashing tails, whipping the water white with foam.” (William Young)

“Little by little we began to suspect that there might be profit in our old friend the shark. Passengers and visitors were very curious about the tigers of the sea and often became rabid partisans, as they do to this day, over the question of whether sharks attack and eat human beings.”

“What would have been rather gruesome stories, save for the fact that they were matched by many in our own daily experience, were recounted to make or discredit a point.”

“Our opinions were sought, but we could not say for sure, never having actually seen a shark devour a man. But we could and did offer to take anyone shark fishing who wanted to go, and many went.”

“Our method was always the same, except when circumstances beyond our control arose, to which we had to adapt our [shark] hunting …”

“It was great sport to take a small party of fishermen out, and using a carcass for bait, attract sharks close enough to catch or kill.”

“But it does not attack at once. A shark is above all cautious, for all his curiosity. He swims around the carcass, sniffing and sizing up the situation.”

“He comes close to the boat and sticks up one cold, expressionless eye, and winks at us in his ghostly way. Then, once more he returns to the alluring meal spread so invitingly before him. He cannot seem to make up his mind. Finally he disappears.”

“Gone? Wait a bit and see. In twenty minutes or half an hour he is back, this time with four or five of his friends whom he has informed of the free meal that he found. They circle about, hungrily. … What is the matter, don’t they want it? Have patience, this is their custom.”

On February 27, 1904, Herbert Young caught a monster gray shark off Ewa in the harbor. Measuring fourteen feet long, it was the largest shark ever seen there. When opened, the stomach contained the remains of three big pigs and a quantity of horse flesh.

The body of one of the pigs was nearly intact and had apparently been just gulped down whole. The shark could easily have swallowed a man.

It was put on display at the Navy wharf. Then it was skinned by Fish Inspector Berndt and, after preparation, the skin was sent off to the fish commission as an outstanding specimen of gray shark.

On another adventure, “Professor PM Stewart who occupies one of the chairs of language in Cambridge University, England, has had an experience during his visit to Honolulu that probably never came to him before. He went shark fishing.”

“On Friday he caught a shark. His wife who has attracted much attention in this city on account of being a very tall striking looking blonde with very ultra English appearance, accompanied him and to catch the first shark.”

“He hooked one shark yesterday morning and drew the shark close to the boat and then started to dispatch the sea wolf with a spade. The weapon was bent and then Professor Stewart took a hatchet to strike the monster. In his excitement the professor struck the line with the hatchet cutting the line and allowing the shark to escape.”

“Later in the day a second shark was caught near the bell buoy. This time the shark was dispatched without cutting the line and was towed in shore. The shark measured about 14 feet in length and was of the man eating variety.”

The boys “have hit on a new scheme for shark fishing. They are able now to take the sharks with a hook and line instead of harpooning them as was done formerly. Some very successful expeditious have been taken out by tile young men.” (Hawaiian Star, June 2, 1906)

Shark jaws would sell for $5 apiece and were prized as souvenirs for mounting and display by members of the party, while the fins were taken away to be made into soup by the many Chinese who frequented the wharves.

On March 19, 1904, the Waikiki Aquarium opened. “The land and the building at Waikiki were donated by prominent citizens, and the traction company had the job of maintenance.”

[William]I applied for the position of manager, having previously caught and tended many fish with Herb for the Aquarium at Catalina. My application was accepted, and so for a year I herded fish. I not only nursed, fed and attended to their wants, but also, with the help of a native fisherman, caught all the specimens exhibited in the building.”

“Many were caught within a stone-throw of the building wall. There were big ones, little ones, brilliantly colored tropical fish, squid, shark and surgeon fish, which carries the sheathed spine near his tail for a weapon.” (William Young) He also continued to help run Young Brothers until the demands of Young Brothers compelled him to return full time.

William decided to make a little extra money by harpooning a large shark to show at the County Fair, held in Honolulu each September.

The Elks Club was in charge of the amusement concession, so for a booth rental of $60, William set up a display of a shark packed in ice and charged ten cents a look. By the end of the week, he had collected $1,500.

Herbert sold his interest in the Young Brothers business and went to the mainland to look for work as a diver. Jack Young and Will Young incorporated the business in 1913 as Young Bros. Ltd; Will no longer took an active part in the business.

In the years that followed incorporation, it was necessary for the Young Brothers’ fleet to continue growing in order to meet the needs of business that paralleled the expanding territorial economy.

Will preferred to pursue his fascination with sharks and eventually left the islands for good in 1921 to become a well-known international shark hunter.

“A business proposition that looked promising came along about this time, but it meant that I would leave Honolulu for New York to be gone an indefinite time. Nothing of a business nature held me in Hawaii, and so I made arrangements to sail aboard the President Harrison.”

“I went aboard just as I had boarded all the big ships for so many years in the harbor, but this time there would be no hurried climb over the side to the towboat as the vessel swung out the channel. Once she had warped out of the dock, I was aboard for good, headed for the States and a new future.”

“Good-bye to Honolulu! A passenger at my elbow sighed and said, ‘I hate to go,’ which, I realized, summed up my case, but inadequately.”

William left Young Brothers in the hands of Jack, the last founding member of the company to remain in Hawai‘i. (Lots of information here is from William Young’s book Shark Shark, Young Brothers: 100 Years of Service, and a Young family background and genealogy.)

February 16, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Young Brothers Come to Hawaii

John Nelson Young was born April 15, 1839 in St. Andrews, New Brunswick, the third child of John Alexander Young and Lucy Baldwin. John grew up in St. Andrews, a small but busy port on the shore of Passamaquoddy Bay, just across the international border from Maine.

His father was a chair and cabinetmaker, and John followed in his father’s footsteps. He also learned the art of trading and shipping for profit. In 1859, when he was twenty years old, he and his brothers, James and Alexander, left St. Andrews to go to California.

They sailed to Panama, crossed the Isthmus, and from there sailed up the west coast to San Francisco. John bought the schooner Champion and sailed between San Francisco and Sacramento carrying trade goods and passengers. (He may also have traded as far north as Portland, OR, or Eureka, CA, and as far south as San Diego.)

In San Francisco on April 15, 1868, John N. Young married Eleanor Annie Gray, daughter of Robert and Mary K Gray, emigrants from Robbinston, Maine. Shortly thereafter, John and Eleanor moved to San Diego.

In 1868, with his brothers James, Alexander, and William, John started a furniture business, one of the first commercial enterprises in San Diego. After James and Alex left the firm in 1869, John and William continued the firm of Young Brothers Carpenters and Furniture Builders, and added undertaking as a sideline.

William Young, John’s brother and business partner, died in 1873. John then reorganized the Young Brothers business as the Pioneer Furniture Company.

John and Eleanor had a growing family with five children. Annie Edith Young was born December 28, 1868 (in San Francisco), then in San Diego, Herbert Gray Young, on March 21, 1870; William Edward Young, on April 24, 1875; John Alexander ‘Jack’ Young, on January 2 1882; and Edgar Nelson Young, on July 21, 1885.

The family supplemented their income with produce from their garden John often took the older boys fishing mackerel and bottom fish in San Diego Bay.

John Young’s sons, Herbert and William, were working to help support the family. Herb learned deep sea diving by accepting several salvage jobs that required underwater skills and, in the summer of 1899, all four boys ran a glass-bottomed boat excursion at Catalina Island.

After the season ended, Herb landed a berth on a schooner bound for the Hawaiian Islands, and Will decided to join him on what he would later call ‘the great adventure.’ Twenty-nine-year-old Herb had served as chief engineer during the ten-day journey from San Francisco, while Will, then age twenty-five, served as crew.

The first view of Honolulu that greeted Will and Herb on January 19, 1900 and revealed a town numbering fewer than 45,000 residents. For several days, Chinatown had been burning to what would become a smoldering ruin in an effort to rid the city of bubonic plague.

With a capital of only $86, they bought a small launch, the Billie, and started running a ‘bum boat’ service in Honolulu harbor – they called their family business Young Brothers.

Jack Young arrived later that year (October); he once reminisced about arriving in Honolulu in 1900 with a few cans of fruit, a large trunk and only twenty-five cents in cash-too little to pay to have his trunk brought ashore. So, he rustled up a spare rowboat and rowed in his own gear.

In those days there were usually between five and twenty ships moored off Sand Island in the harbor at any one time. Most of ships used sail and needed help to move about in the crowded harbor.

The Young brothers ran lines for the ships in the harbor. When a ship came in, the anchor line had to be run out to secure the ship. Or if the ship needed to unload, a line had to be carried to the pier.

The next year they bought the Fun from the Metropolitan Meat Market and took over the contract to deliver meat and other fresh supplies to the ships anchored in the harbor. Herb got the contract, but Jack was assigned the job every morning of picking up meat, vegetables and fruits and deliver them to the various ships in the harbor.

Herb and Will also worked as a diving team, salvaging lost anchors, unfouling propellers, or inspecting hulls of ships for repairs. A more frequently needed undersea service was to scrape the sea growth off the hulls of ships.

The launches of the Young Brothers were routinely asked to pull stranded boats or ships off the shore or reef or to rescue ships in trouble at sea. In 1902 they saved six Japanese fishermen in a sampan that had become disabled in a sudden storm off Honolulu. The sampan had gone too far out to sea searching for fish and was caught by heavy seas.

The same year, they rescued a novice seaman in a rowboat who thought he could row out of the harbor to where a battleship was anchored. If he hadn’t been seen from the boathouse, he would have been lost. On another occasion, the schooner Mokihana was towed back to harbor from twenty miles out in 1901 when she lost control from the helm.

May 1903 saw the beginning of a long association between the Young Brothers and the Customs Department. Young Brothers purchased the launch Water Witch, from AA Young (no relation) and completely renovated her.

They entered a contract to use the Water Witch launch as a revenue and patrol boat, and to take boarding officers to all incoming liners. Herb had the privilege of presenting her and flying the Custom’s flag on May 21, 1903. The Water Witch remained in service for over forty years.

ln March of 1903, the Youngs moved from their first little boathouse on a sand spit near the lighthouse to a spot near what is now Piers 1&2. The Young Brothers’ boathouse was home to Herb, Will and Jack, and was a structure well known on the waterfront as a center of information for everything going on in the harbor.

In 1903, Edith moved to the Hawaiian Islands an joined her brothers. In 1905, Herb sold his interest in the Young Brothers business and went to the mainland to look for work as a diver. Young Brothers incorporated on May 5, 1913.

Following incorporation, Will stopped taking an active role in the operations of the company, preferring to pursue his fascination with sharks, and eventually left the islands for good in 1921 to become a well-known international shark hunter. Jack, the last founding member of the company to remain in Hawai‘i remained as the operating manager.

I am the youngest brother of the youngest brother of the youngest brother of Young Brothers. Jack Young is my grandfather. We never met him, and he and my grandmother never knew they had grandchildren from their son Kenny.

They both had died before they knew my mother was pregnant with my older brother. (Lots of information here is from Young Brothers: 100 Years of Service and a Young family background and genealogy.)