Whaling | Page 6 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

September 19, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

First Whalers in Hawai‘i

Edmund Gardner was born in Nantucket, MA in 1784. In 1800, at the age of 16, he began his career as a mariner, sailing on a whaling voyage in the sloop Dove. He married Susanna Hussey of Nantucket in 1807. Six of their twelve children survived childhood.

His first command came in 1807 when he was asked to be the master of the Nantucket ship Union. Captain Gardner achieved some notoriety on this voyage by having his vessel sunk by a whale while on route to the Azores. This event was noted in Melville’s Moby Dick which was first published in 1851.

Edmond Gardner, captain of the New Bedford whaler Balaena (also called Balena,) and Elisha Folger, captain of the Nantucket whaler Equator, made history in 1819 when they became the first American whalers to visit the Sandwich Islands (Hawai‘i.)

“I had one man complaining with scurvy and fearing I might have more had made up my mind to go to the Sandwich Islands. I had prepared my ship with all light sails when I met the Equator.”

“I informed him of my intention. He thought it was too late to go off there and get in time on the West Coast of Mexico. I informed Folger what my determination was.”

“So little did I expect him to accompany me that I wrote my letters for him to forward to the United States if an opportunity presented. He took my letters and then said ‘if I conclude to go in company with you, I will stand on, if not, shall tack in for the land.’”

“I gave orders in the morning to put the ship on a WSW course putting on all sail. In a short time after the morning, I discovered he was following. We made the best of our way to the Sandwich Islands where we arrived in six-teen days, had a pleasant passage to the Islands and arrived at Hawaii 19th 9 Mo 1819.“ (Gardner Journal)

“I left California 3d of 9 Mo 1819. I came to anchor in Kealakekua Bay, Hawai‘i in seventeen fathoms water. While at this place heeled my ship to paint the bends and kept all the natives on one side of the ship, having previously installed one of the Natives as shipkeeper with a rattan for his badge of office.”

“He had in his possession several recommendations from shipmasters of his efficiency of clearing the ship of natives when troublesome. One day I think there must have been more than two hundred on board, when they became much excited, making a great noise.”

“I was somewhat alarmed, stamped on the deck and called on the shipkeeper to clear the ship of Kanakas. He accordingly drove them from the deck in five minutes into the sea. I then suffered but few to come at a time.”

“The next day a native who had been in Boston came on board and he spoke good English. I desired him to make inquiry what was the difficulty with the natives the previous day.”

“He soon came and informed me that the natives of the district where the ship lay wanted to have all our trade and would not suffer others from other districts to interfere. Their intention was to monopolize all the trade with us. I then found that the Sandwich Islanders possessed the same feelings as ourselves and ready to contend for their supposed rights.”

“After being there a week I was on deck early in the morning when one of the Kanakas called in an animated manner ‘mokee, mokee.’”

“In looking to the westward, I saw a large sperm Whale spouting. I immediately called to Captain Folger of the Equator and told him there was a large sperm whale, that I would send two boats if he would send two, and we would divide what we obtained.”

“He agreed to the same and our boats left at 7 am in pursuit and were soon out of sight north of the harbor. I did not like to send all my boats, not having full confidence in the natives of that place.”

“We saw nothing nor heard anything until 4 pm, when two canoes arrived in the bay paddling very fast and came to my ship. The Kanakas wiped the perspiration and talked very fast, being much excited. I could understand nothing. One of them shut his eyes and laid his head on one side in his hand.”

“I then called to Capt Folger and told him our boats had killed the whale (for we had remained on board our ships in the absence of our boats.)”

“He asked me how I knew. I answered him the natives had told me so. I immediately sent another boat to help tow the whale to the ship. In two hours they made their appearance, with fifty canoes helping tow. Our boats were absent the whole day, reaching the ship after sunset.”

“The next day we commenced cutting in our fish, and I have no doubt there were as many natives around our ship as Capt Cook had around his ship when first he visited those Islands. All the canoes were called into requisition far and near, and hundreds came swimming, not having any conveyance.”

“While cutting in, we had to be careful to prevent cutting the Kanakas for as soon as we had taken off the blubber they commenced (with our leave) to tear off the lean from the carcass and fill their canoes as fast as they could tear it off. They had a great festival from what they got from the whale.”

“There was a little incident which occurred while at Kealakekua when we were boiling through the night which I will relate. Both ships were making much light from the tryworks, so at times to light the whole bay; it was a natural conclusion with the natives that we must want fuel.”

“In the morning canoes came to my ship bringing wood for sale. They were somewhat surprised to find we were not in want of wood. The oil obtained from the whale was one hundred and two barrels.”

“After laying till 1st of 10 Mo left for Rahina (Lahaina) Mowee (Maui) for water, where we found Butler a resident, formerly from Martha’s Vineyard.”

“Also a Chief called Governor and sometimes John Adams (Kuakini.) He seemed to be principal man at Maui. After taking in our water went to Woahoo (Oahu) to leave letters to be sent Via Canton. The ship Paragon, Wilds and Ship Eagle, Meek were nearly ready to sail for China.”

“Left Oahu 10th of 10 Mo 1819 for Coast of California. I shipped two Kanakas from Maui and had them the remainder of the Voyage and took them to New Bedford. Their names were Joe Bal and Jack Ena, the two names comprising that of my ship Balaena.” (Gardner Journal)

A year later, Captain Joseph Allen discovered large concentrations of sperm whales off the coast of Japan. His find was widely publicized in New England, setting off an exodus of whalers to this area.

These ships might have sought provisions in Japan, except that Japanese ports were closed to foreign ships. So when Captain Allen befriended the missionaries at Honolulu and Lahaina, he helped establish these areas as the major ports of call for whalers. (NPS)

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Kealakekua Bay in the 1820s, from Hiram Bingham I’s book

George_Vancouver-arriving_at_Kealakekua_Bay

View_of_Houses_at_Kealakekua,_William_Ellis-1779

Masked_Paddlers_at_Kealakekua-(HerbKane)

John_Webber_-_’Kealakekua_Bay_and_the_village_Kaawaloa’,_1779

Kaawaloa, Kealakekua Bay. A copperplate engraving from a drawing by Lucy or Persis Thurston about 1835

KealakekuaBay

June 27, 2015 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

West Maui

Maui captured “Best Island in the World” honors in the annual Conde Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards Poll nearly twenty-years in a row. Readers rave about this “veritable paradise,” calling it a “combination of tropical ambience and American comforts.”

Maui is known for its beaches and water activities, and the west side boasts some of the most beautiful shores in Hawaiʻi, and it also has the distinction of having some of the most beautiful sunset views on the planet.

West Maui is the second most visited place in Maui – (behind the beaches) – a combination of natural scenic beauty, white sandy beaches, lush green uplands, and near-perfect weather, rich culture and a good serving of Hawaiian history in its sunny shores.

In West Maui, you can head to the beach, be captivated by the beauty of its natural scenes and marine life, visit the different historical attractions, and immerse yourself in the local art and culture.

West Maui has experienced six major historical eras, from its days as an ancient Hawaiian Royal Center, capital and home of the Hawaiian Monarchy, home to Missionaries, Landing/Provisioning for Whalers, the Sugar and Pineapple Plantation era and now Tourism.

All of these historical eras are still visible in West Maui today.

West Maui has played an important role in the history of Maui and the neighboring islands of Molokai, Lānaʻi and Kahoʻolawe, with West Maui serving as the Royal Center, selected for its abundance of resources and recreation opportunities, with good surfing and canoe-landing sites being favored.

Probably there is no portion of the Valley Isle, around which gathers so much historic value as West Maui. It was the former capital and favorite residence of kings and chiefs.

After serving for centuries as home to ruling chiefs, West Maui was selected by Kamehameha III and his chiefs to be the seat of government; here the first Hawaiian constitution was drafted and the first legislature was convened.

Hawai‘i’s whaling era began in 1819 when two New England ships became the first whaling ships to arrive in the Hawaiian Islands. Over the next two decades, the Pacific whaling fleet nearly quadrupled in size and in the record year of 1846, 736-whaling ships arrived in Hawai’i.

West Maui was the port of choice for whaling ships. Central among the islands, West Maui was a convenient spot from which to administer the affairs of both Hawaiian and foreigner.

Since the anchorage was an open roadstead, vessels could always approach or leave it with any wind that blew. No pilot was needed here. Vessels generally approached through the channel between Maui and Moloka‘i, standing well over to Lanai, as far as the trade would carry them, then take the sea breeze, which would set in during the forenoon, and head for the town.

In November 1822, the 2nd Company from the New England missionaries set sail on the ‘Thames’ from New Haven, Connecticut for the Hawaiian Islands; they arrived on April 23, 1823 (included in this Company were missionaries Charles Stewart, William Richards and Betsey Stockton – they were the first to settle and set up a mission in West Maui.)

The Christian religion really caught on when High Chiefess Keōpūolani (widow of Kamehameha I and mother of future kings) is said to have been the first convert of the missionaries in the islands, receiving baptism from Rev. William Ellis in West Maui on September 16, 1823, just before her death.

In 1831, classes at the new Mission Seminary at Lahainaluna (later known as Lahainaluna (‘Upper Lahaina’)) began. The school was established by the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions “to instruct young men of piety and promising talents” (training preachers and teachers.) It is the oldest high school west of the Mississippi River.

Per the requests of the chiefs, the American Protestant missionaries began teaching the makaʻāinana (commoners.) Literacy levels exploded.

From 1820 to 1832, in which Hawaiian literacy grew by 91 percent, the literacy rate on the US continent grew by only 6 percent and did not exceed the 90 percent level until 1902 – three hundred years after the first settlers landed in Jamestown – overall European literacy rates in 1850 had not been much above 50 percent.

Centuries ago, the early Polynesian settlers to Hawaiʻi brought sugar cane with them and demonstrated that it could be grown successfully.

It was not until 1823 that several members of the West Maui Mission Station began to process sugar from native sugarcanes for their tables. By the 1840s, efforts were underway in West Maui to develop a means for making sugar as a commodity.

Starting in the 1850s, when the Hawaiian Legislature passed “An Act for the Governance of Masters and Servants,” a section of which provided the legal basis for a contract-labor system, labor shortages were eased by bringing in contract workers from Asia, Europe and North America.

It is not likely anyone then foresaw the impact this would have on the cultural and social structure of the islands. The sugar industry is at the center of Hawaiʻi’s modern diversity of races and ethnic cultures.

Of the nearly 385,000-workers that came, many thousands stayed to become a part of Hawai‘i’s unique ethnic mix. Hawai‘i continues to be one of the most culturally-diverse and racially-integrated places.

Historically Maui’s second largest industry, pineapple cultivation has also played a large role in forming Maui’s modern day landscape. The pineapple industry began on Maui in 1890 with Dwight D. Baldwin’s Haiku Fruit and Packing Company on the northeast side of the island.

One of the first hotels in West Maui was the Pioneer Hotel – founded in 1901. George Freeland arrived in the Lahaina roadstead on a ship that had just come from a long voyage through the south seas; he noted a need for a hotel.

It remained the only place for visitors to stay on Maui’s west side until the early-1960s. Tourism exploded; West Maui is a full-fledged tourist destination second only to Waikīkī.

Lahaina’s Front Street, offering an incredible oceanfront setting, people of diverse cultures, architecture and incredible stories of Hawaiʻi’s past, was recognized as one of the American Planning Association’s 2011 “Great Streets in America.”

For many, it’s more simply stated … Maui No Ka Oi (Maui is the best)

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Whales from McGregor Point-(cphamrah)

Olowalu-Petroglyphs

Port-of-Lahaina-Maui-1848

Lahaina,_Maui,_c._1831

Bathing scene, Lahaina, Maui, watercolor, by James Gay Sawkins-1855

Lahaina,_West_Maui,_Sandwich_Islands2,_watercolor_and_pencil,_by_James_Gay_Sawkins-1855

Whale-ships at Lahaina-(vintagehawaii)-1848

Lahaina as seen from Lahainaluna

Edward_T._Perkins,_Rear_View_of_Lahaina,_1854

Lahaina Courthouse-fronting beach-(now Lahaina Small Boat Harbor)

Lahaina_from_offshore_in-1885

Lahaina_Boat_Landing

Lahaina Harbor before harbor perimeter retaining wall built-ca 1940

Pioneer Mill

Baldwin Packers Cannery (kapalua)

Lahaina, Front Street 1942

Lahaina Roads

McGregor_Point-Norwegian-Monument

Lahaina Tunnel Dedication (1951)

Banyan Tree located in courthouse square in the center of Lahaina

Humpback_Whale-Maui-(Stan_Butler-NOAA)-WC

1837 Map of the Islands; made by students at Lahainaluna School (Mission Houses)

September 10, 2014 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

US Marine Hospital

“Lāhainā (anciently called Lele, from the short stay of Chiefs there) is pleasantly located on the western shore of West Maui … It may be considered as the second port of the Hawaiian Islands, as, next to Honolulu, it is most generally frequented by the whaling fleet which touch at the islands in the spring and fall for recruits and refreshments.”

“This town was selected by Kamehameha III and his chiefs to lie the seat of government of the group … It has two churches, a hospital, a “palace,” which from the anchorage looms up and appears a stately building … There are three ship chandlery stores, some fifteen retail stores, and three practicing physicians.” (The Friend, April 30, 1857)

“As near as we can ascertain, the first whale ships that visited these islands and touched at this port were the “Bellina,’ Capt, Gardner, and (unknown) Capt. Worth, which was some where about 1819.”

The central location of the Hawaiian Islands between the continent and Japan whaling grounds brought many whaling ships to the Islands. Whalers needed food and the islands supplied this need from its fertile lands.

Several hundred whaling ships might call in season, each with 20 to 30 men aboard and each desiring to resupply with enough food for another tour ‘on Japan,’ ‘on the Northwest’ or into the Arctic. (Thrum)

Between the 1820s and the 1860s, the Lāhainā Roadstead was the principal anchorage of the American Pacific whaling fleet. During that time, up to 1,500 sailors at a time were on the streets of the small town.

One reason why so many whalers preferred Lāhainā to other ports was that by anchoring in a roadstead from half a mile to a mile from shore they could control their crews better than when in a harbor.

“To whale ships no port at the islands offers better facilities for all their business (with the exception of heavy repairs) than does Lāhainā. As it is on this island, and but a short distance that the extensive potato fields are located that have furnished an almost inexhaustible supply … and fine herds of cattle …” (The Friend, April 30, 1857)

About this same time (1831,) Joaquin Armas came to Islands from Mexico (California) to catch cattle for Kamehameha III. His later reward for years of service to the King was several parcels of land, including a site in Lāhainā. (Pyle)

It is suggested that in 1833 Kamehameha III commissioned the construction of a two-story stone building on a property left to Armas, about a mile from the central core of Lāhainā, to serve as a store and inn to cater to visiting sailors. (Lāhainā Restoration Foundation)

During Armas’ occupation, on January 24, 1841, the first Catholic mass on Maui was celebrated in the house. (Bergin) Armas left the Islands in 1844.

On February 4, 1844, Milo Calkin was appointed US Vice Commercial Agent for the port of Lāhainā by William Hooper, acting United States Commercial Agent. One of his duties was to arrange for medical care for sick sailors.

In the beginning, sick and destitute sailors were being boarded out at some private establishment and being given medical care by a physician hired by the Agent. Calkin soon requested the ability to contract for a hospital to attend to the growing numbers. (HABS)

By August 1844, the US Marine Hospital was opened on the Armas site. Back then, the hospital business was divided into three major sections. The Commercial Agent (Calkin was the first) was responsible for recommending seamen to the hospital, keeping necessary papers and books, and handling the financial transactions.

A physician of the hospital (the first in Lāhainā was Dr Charles Winslow) had a contract with the US States Government which guaranteed him exclusive treatment of American seamen at US expense.

The third person involved in the hospital management was the purveyor (the first at Lāhainā was John Munn,) supplying food, clothing, shelter, maid service, laundry service and assorted other necessities. All of these services were charged to the US government. (Pyle)

The hospital (sometimes referred to as the ‘Seamen’s Hospital’) continued until 1862. A couple things caused it to close – (1) demand was dwindling (in 1859, an oil well was discovered and developed in Titusville, Pennsylvania; within a few years this new type of oil replaced whale oil for lamps and many other uses – spelling the end of the whaling industry) and (2) a festering scandal surfaced accusing misuse of government funds.

Part of the scandal started with some questions about the exorbitant amounts charged by Dr Winslow. Winslow evidently made his fortune in Lāhainā and left. In a November 19, 1847 letter (Rev Baldwin to EB Robinson, “…. tomorrow morning they (Winslow) embark … for the U. States. Dr. W. came out four years since from Nantucket—has had the Seamenʻs hospital here and other practices who have probably yielded him $20,000 or more, and now feels rich enough to go home.”

Calkin was not only Commercial Agent, he was a successful ship chandler; however, he abruptly dissolved his business in February, 1846 and departed from Hawaiʻi in November of that same year. “It seems unlikely that Calkin was actually involved in the fraud, but he must have known about it.” (Pyle)

After Charles Bunker of Massachusetts arrived as US consul to Lāhainā in 1850 (which had recently been elevated to a Consulate from an Agent) costs at the consulate skyrocketed. By 1852, officials at the Treasury Department had become suspicious. The costs to care for seamen at Lāhainā were nearly double per person than those in Honolulu. (US Archives)

The situation continued for a few more years, but when the total amount spent for the hospitals in Honolulu, Lāhainā and Hilo reached more than $150,000 per year, an investigation was demanded by the Treasury Department.

US Commissioner in Hawaii, James W Borden, investigated the workings of the United States hospital and consular system in Honolulu, Lāhainā and Hilo.

In part, Borden reported, “A careful examination of the evidence will, I believe, satisfy you that the Physician as well as the Purveyor, in this respect, and also in that of obtaining from the seamen blank receipts, have been engaged in defrauding the Government, and I have therefore no hesitation in recommending the removal of them both …” (Borden, April 27, 1860; US Archives)

“It is a notorious fact that … many of our citizens deprecated the system which has been so long pursued by the consuls in the expenditures of the fund so wisely appropriated by Congress for the relief of sick and disabled American seamen, and the exaction of illegal fees and unjust charges from the seamen…” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, February 28, 1861)

“The testimony disclosed the long mooted fact, that the consulates of Honolulu and Lāhainā have a large patronage and that therefore the temptation to illegal practices is consequently very great; that the offices of physician and purveyor, highly lucrative positions …”

“…they possessed power to embarrass the operations of the merchants and shipmasters … therefore, the corrupt and unwarranted practices of the consuls has been heretofore winked at by them…” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, February 28, 1861)

The US Marine Hospital (Seamen’s Hospital) in Lāhainā officially closed on September 10, 1862.

In 1865 the Anglican sisters founded St. Cross School for Girls at the Marine Hospital premises, at first leasing the property and finally purchasing it in 1872. The Sisterhood opened a similar school – St Andrew’s Priory – on May 30, 1867. The Lāhainā school continued to operate until 1877.

After the school closed, the building was used for many years as a vicarage for the Anglican ministers and was later exchanged with Bishop Estate for another piece of property in 1909. (HABS) It has also been used as a private home and a meeting room for civic groups. Today, the property is leased for business use. (Lāhainā Restoration Foundation)

The image shows the US Marine Hospital (Seamen’s Hospital.) (National Library Of Medicine) In addition, I have added others similar images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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