Young Brothers | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

August 28, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Metropolitan Meat Market

As early as 1871, Metropolitan Market appears to have been started as a beef marketing operation on O‘ahu by Gilbert Waller (Bergin); he had a “branch store”, Family Market (formerly the Rose Cottage Market), on the corner of Union and Hotel (that he bought at auction in 1875). (HSA and Tourist Guide, 1880-1881)

In 1872, his nephew, Gilbert Johnson Waller, acquired the Metropolitan meat company and eventually took in as partners James Campbell, James Dowsett, and Thos R Foster, prominent ranch owners on the Island of O‘ahu. (Bergin)

This meat purveying operation grew rapidly over the next two decades, with Parker Ranch being its main supplier of beef. In July 1900, the original partnership was transformed into a limited liability stock company and incorporated as the Metropolitan Meat Company, Ltd, with Gilbert J Waller serving as manager/treasurer. (Bergin)

The Metropolitan Meat Company flourished at its King Street location, with forty-seven employees providing processing and delivery of slaughtered beef throughout Honolulu. The company eventually added a tannery as part of its broad diversification. (Bergin)

To distribute beef to ships anchored at Honolulu, in 1901. Metropolitan Meat Market purchased the ‘Fun’; the launch was operated by Young Brothers to deliver supplies. Young Brothers had a delivery contract with Metropolitan, so eighteen-year-old Jack Young had the job of getting up at 4 am to make the meat deliveries.

By 1902, the brothers were able to buy the eight-horsepower boat and take over the contract to deliver meat and other fresh supplies to ships anchored in the harbor. (YB, 100 Years)

With respect to beef suppliers, Alfred Wellington “AW” Carter (Parker Ranch Manager) sought that Metropolitan Meat company allow greater ownership interest by the actual ranchers – many of whom were neighbor island ranchers who shipped their market cattle to this consortium. (Bergin)

Parker Ranch and other neighbor island ranchers had legitimate concerns with Metropolitan Meat Company’s autocratic and monopolistic way of doing business. Without notice, the price could drop as much as a penny per pound, or Metropolitan Meat would cancel cattle shipments to O‘ahu at the last minute. (Bergin)

A federal antitrust lawsuit was filed October 2, 1906 (and decided in 1917) to restrain the operation of alleged unlawful combinations in restraint of trade in beef and beef products.

The suit charged Metropolitan Meat (and other defendants) with “an unlawful combination, trust and conspiracy … in restraint of the trade and commerce of the Territory of Hawaii in violation of an act of Congress of July 2nd, 1890, entitled ‘An act to protect trade and commerce against restraints and monopolies’”.

During the proceedings, it was determined that “[a]bout 3,667,105 pounds weight of beef cattle produced in the Territory, of the value of $317,178.25 in money of the United States, are consumed annually by such people …”

“… and about ninety (90%) per cent of such beef cattle has been, is now and will continue to be produced and dealt in by [Metropolitan Meat] in the Territory as an object of trade and commerce therein.” (United States v Metropolitan Meat Co)

“All of such beef cattle are produced in the Territory. The defendants comprise nearly all the wholesale dealers in the Territory, who produce and deal in beef cattle and fresh beef to consumers and dealers in the Territory, and if combined together they can and do control the prices charged for fresh beef produced in the Territory.” (United States v Metropolitan Meat Co)

Under the leadership of Carter, with the participation and support of other neighbor island ranchers such as the Greenwells of Kona, the Maguires of Hu‘ehu‘e, Homers of Kuka’iau, Kohala Ranch Company, and WH Shipman, Parker Ranch announced plans to build a slaughterhouse on O’ahu (in competition with Metropolitan).

In March of 1909, Hawai‘i Meat Company was born, with the articles of incorporation signed by Carter, Robert Leighton Hind Sr., Albert Horner, JA Maguire, Maud WH Greenwell, JD Paris, JF Woods, A Morrow, and RA Cooke. Gilbert J. Waller was named manager of the new company.

Metropolitan suggested that Carter purchase the stock of the company. Carter noted: “I said I would appoint someone, they should appoint someone, both of these men to appoint a third, to put a price on the business and we would pay it.”

“That is how we got the Metropolitan Meat Co. I went to Hawaii and got the graziers together, outlined my plan and arranged with the bank to borrow $100,000. All the fellows who came in endorsed that note. No one put up a cent.” (Carter; Bergin)

The retail meant facility expanded … “Everything conceivable for perfect sanitation, convenience, attractiveness and service is embodied in the appointments of the recently remodelled Metropolitan Meat Market”.

“Situated in the heart of the city of Honolulu, at 50 King street, between Fort and Bethel streets, this thoroughly modern market, with its beautiful marble, glass and tile work would delight the heart of the most particular housewife of famous ‘Spotless Town’ itself.”

“There are larger establishments of the kind in the greater cities, to be sure, but it is absolutely safe to assert that nowhere in the world is there a cleaner, neater, more attractive, more pleasing or more wholesome appearing headquarters for the purchase of choice meats, poultry, butter, eggs, cheese, hams, bacon, sausages, delicatessen and what else one may want to procure in a well-stocked market.”

“Sanitary improvements and the utmost convenience were the main objects in the reconstruction. Rapid increase in business called for enlargement, too, and the change that has been wrought fulfills these plans to the last degree. Marble and tile finish insure perfect sanitation, so marble and tile finish were provided.”

“The same architect and builder who originated the Washington and Long’s markets in San Francisco was obtained to carry out the work for the Metropolitan Meat Market, Frank Loehr of Oakland.”

“The front of the new building is of terra cotta, the first of its kind to be used in Honolulu. The decorations are modelled after those on one of the buildings at the San Francisco Exposition, afterwards sold and used in the ornamentation of a millionaire’s new home on Knob Hill.”

“An extensive refrigerating system of coiled pipes fed by calcium chloride brine, pumped from a tank at the rear, keep a large number of rooms, as well as the show cases and windows at the required temperature.” (Paradise of the Pacific, Dec 1917)

No longer a packing house, Metropolitan Meat Company continued as a retailing concern on King and Bethel Street and finally closed its doors in 1950, a victim of the cash and carry trend. (Bergin)

January 19, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

125 Years of Young Brothers

John Nelson Young was a chair and cabinetmaker from Canada. He and his brothers James and Alexander later started a furniture business, one of the first commercial enterprises in San Diego. They called it Young Brothers Carpenters and Furniture Builders (they added undertaking as a sideline).

John and his wife 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.

Eleanor Young died on February 16, 1894 at age forty-five, leaving minor children Jack, 12, and Edgar, 10. John died September 13, 1896. Edith accepted the responsibility of raising and educating the youngest brothers, Jack and Edgar. Herbert and William worked to help support the family.

Avalon, Catalina Island

Herb and Will visited Catalina Island in 1898. Then, “In 1899 all four of us were on hand at the island. In addition to the marine garden excursions we offered the special attraction of exhibition diving … Herb would dress and go down. Picking up objects as souvenirs and catching brightly colored fish with a butterfly net for various shore aquariums.”

“Not averse to picking up a few dollars here and there, we four would often conduct parties to the sandab grounds. Sandab, a tasty fish and much in demand, were to be caught only in deep water … We caught then on lines with dozens of hooks each …”

Some suggest this was the beginning of charter fishing; likewise, this marked the beginning of the famous glass-bottom boat rides which were to prove of such great interest and profit at Catalina.

The Great Adventure

After the season on Catalina 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.’ “On January 9, 1900, we sailed out of Golden Gate toward the Great adventure …”

“At last, on January 19, after a fine voyage, we sighted Honolulu. The green shores. the white beach and coral formations, the boats of the Kanakas, the town rising at the harbor edge to be lost in the verdure of the tropical plants …”

“Although there was then no actual tourist trade, which has of late years assumed such importance in Hawaii, all ships on their way to or from the Orient and Australia made Honolulu a port of call, and the harbor in 1900 was always a veritable forest of masts so that mooring was at a premium.”

The first view of Honolulu that greeted Herb and Will on January 19, 1900 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.

“We dropped anchor at quarantine and stood on deck, silently, in wonder at the natural beauty of the island. Would our dreams come true here?”

“Herb and I had just seventy-five dollars between us, which wasn’t very much. It had to last until we were able to find some new occupation. The decision was easy as we were in no danger of starvation aboard the Surprise, and we could still have our jobs there.”

Jack Young arrived later that year (October 16, 1900); Youngest of all, Edgar, arrived in July 1901 (but being only fifteen at the time, he attended McKinley High School before returning to California to study medicine; he became a Doctor and returned to the Islands.)

They Formed Young Brothers

The brothers bought a small launch, the Billy, and started running a ‘bum boat’ service in Honolulu harbor – they called their family business Young Brothers.

Their early years were focused on activities at Honolulu 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 brothers 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 did other things to entertain people, as well.

Shark Hunting

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 (Herb, Will & Jack) 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.

Flying Fish Hunting

It was the idea of Jack … “He has been plying the waters of the bay at all hours of the day and night for many years and had grown so accustomed to seeing the buzzing blue fish leap out of the water as his launch plowed past that he knew, almost to a foot, where every school of flying fish is between the bell buoy and Diamond Head.”

“Yesterday a new sport was born; Waikiki bay was the birthplace, and HP Wood of the Hawaii promotion committee was the accoucheur. For the first time in the history of the field and gun were flying fish flushed with a steam launch and shot on the wing.”

“Taking pot shots at fish on the wing is sport of the first water, affording plenty of exercise in the good sea air, giving the opportunity for quick shooting, providing for the use of all the alertness contained within a man and being not too hard upon the fish.”

Activities In and Around Honolulu Harbor

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 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.

They entered a contract to use the Waterwitch 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 Waterwitch remained in service for over forty years.

Young Brothers Boathouse

The first Young Brothers Boathouse was near the lighthouse in Honolulu Harbor. ln March of 1903, the Youngs moved 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.

“Young Brothers’ Boathouse, where we lived, near the harbor entrance, was the center of information along the waterfront. From this point of vantage, everything going in or out, or approaching, was seen by those of us on duty at the Boathouse.”

“Two or three launchmen and a couple of deckhands were sure to be found about the place besides ourselves, and we were on twenty-four-hour service with the Customs people and Immigration Service.”

“In front were moored our boats, the Fun, the Billy, the Brothers and the Huki Huki. Alongside was warped the Water Witch, a fifty-footer used for Customs work. This boat, brought down by Archie Young, for whom we went to work at first on Oahu, is still in service after thirty-two strenuous years.”

Young Brothers Incorporated in 1913

In 1903, Edith moved to the Hawaiian Islands and 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 was incorporated [May 5, 1913], and for the first time someone outside the family directed activities.” 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, remained as the operating manager.

Libby’s

Libby began to grow pineapple on land leased from Molokai Ranch; their activities were focused primarily in the Kaluakoʻi section of the island. Lacking facilities and housing, the plantation began building clusters of dwellings (“camps”) around Maunaloa.

Libby’s need to ship fruit from the growing area on Molokai, to pineapple processing on Oʻahu created an opportunity for the brothers. Young Brothers, using their first wooden barges, YB1 and YB2, hauled pineapples from Libby’s wharf to Honolulu. “That’s how [Young Brothers] started the freight.” (Jack Young Jr)

Tandem Towing

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.

About 1929, Young Brothers’ Captain Bob Purdy pioneered this because two barges were needed to serve Molokai. They would drop one barge off at Kolo for pineapples and then carry on to Kaunakakai for general freight; they’d pick up the Kolo barge on the way back to Honolulu.

Building Breakwaters

Most associate Young Brothers as an inter-island barge company. But, in their early years in the Islands, Young Brothers did a lot of things. Young Brothers was given a contract to help with the original dredging of Pearl Harbor. They engaged to tow mud scows out to sea and dump them.

They also got involved in the construction of a couple substantial breakwaters that continue to protect Hilo and Nawiliwili.

Miki and Kāpena Class of Tugs

In 1929, the tug Mikimiki (‘to be quick, to be on time’) was launched. She made the voyage to Hawaiʻi from the West Coast, towing a 140-foot steel barge, in eleven days, sixteen hours and ten minutes. This worked out to an average speed of 8.5 knots, bettering the record of the earlier Seattle-built Mahoe by almost three days.

The excellent performance of the original Mikimiki led to the adoption of her basic design for a large fleet of tugs produced for the US Army Transport Service in West Coast shipyards for World War II service.

At the beginning of 1942, more ships were needed for the war effort. Folks recognized the Mikimiki design “could be used as it was a proven, reliable tug that has already been drawn and lofted, and was available with only slight design changes”.

Miki-class tugs were built for the US Army during World War II to haul supplies and rescue stalled ships; a Miki-class tug landed men on the beach in Normandy during World War II.

Young Brothers continued with another innovation; the Kāpena class tugs that modernizes the Young Brothers’ fleet. ‘Kāpena’ means ‘captain’ in the Hawaiian language, and the name for the class of ships celebrates the skill and innovation of Young Brothers’ Hawaiian navigators and will be home-ported in Kaunakakai, Molokai.

“The Kāpena Jack Young is named after Captain Jack Young, one of three brothers who founded Young Brothers in 1900 [and his son, Jack Young Jr, who was also a captain and active with the company]. Each of the four new Kāpena class tugs are named after an original Young Brothers’ captain, including nā Kāpena George Panui Sr. and Jr., Bob Purdy, and Raymond Alapa‘i.”

Young Brothers Moving Forward

In 1999, Saltchuk Resources, Inc acquired Young Brothers and selected assets of Hawaiian Tug & Barge. Saltchuk is the parent company of Foss Maritime.

Saltchuk is a privately owned family of diversified transportation and distribution companies headquartered in Seattle. Throughout North America, Saltchuk companies provide Air Cargo, Marine Services, Energy Distribution, Domestic Shipping, International Shipping and Logistics.

In 2014, Hawaiian Tug & Barge (HTB) was rebranded and incorporated into the Foss Maritime fleet, and Young Brothers remains a wholly-owned independent subsidiary of Foss Maritime, part of the Saltchuk Marine family of companies.

Our Young Family Connection

I am the youngest brother of the youngest brother of the youngest brother of Young Brothers. (My grandfather was the youngest of the Young Brothers; my father was the youngest brother in his generation; and I am the youngest brother in our family.)

Jack Young Sr is my grandfather. Jack Sr had three children, Jack Jr, Dorothy (Babe) and Kenny. Kenny is my father. When Jack Sr’s two sons (Jack Jr and Kenny) became old enough, they joined Young Brothers.

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

Click the link for more information on the 125 Anniversary:

Click to access 125_Years_of_Young_Brothers.pdf

(Lots of information here is from Young Brothers, Young family background and genealogy, William Youngs’ book ‘Shark! Shark!, and oral history interview with Jack Young Jr.)

September 30, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Young Brothers Save Prince Kūhiō

On July 10, 1902, Prince Kūhiō left the Home Rule Party and, a few months later, on September 1, 1902, joined the Republican Party; he was nominated as their candidate for Congress and, on November 4, 1902, won the election to serve as Hawai‘i’s delegate to Congress.

“Prince Kūhiō, accompanied by a half dozen personal friends and the quartet club which sang Republican songs during the campaign just closed, left for Lihue, Kauai (November 14) in a special steamer.”

“They will return Sunday morning (November 16) and will at once proceed to Pearl Harbor where the Prince will sail his yacht Princess in the races on that day.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, November 15, 1902)

“Prince Kūhiō arrived at 4 o’clock Sunday morning from Kauai, and after breakfast and dressing at his home started for the harbor.”

“The two young men who make the crew were on hand when Prince Kūhiō and his friend Judge Mahaulu drove to the boathouse. There was little time lost in getting the boat away and with the Prince at the helm it stood out to sea.”

“The Princess is a staunch third-rater, and nothing less than a heavy blow makes the crew which sails the little craft think for a moment of reefing down or running for the harbor.”

“When the trip was arranged for yesterday morning there was nothing to suggest that there was any danger for such a boat and the four sailed out gaily as ever before they inaugurated as cruise.”

“The canvas was full and the crew was keeping a close watch for squalls as the wind was gusty and the prospect that there might be such a blow outside that some reefing would have to be done.”

“The little boat went off to the south east when approaching the outside reef, and was way between the spar buoy and the ball buoy when Prince Cupid saw a squall coming down upon them.”

“He ordered the main sheet slackened and was himself getting ready to bring the boat into the wind, when with lightning rapidity, before anything could be done to prevent it …”

“… the winds hit the little boat and over it went carrying every one of the men in the craft with it. Luckily the crew was in windward and all escaped being fouled in the lines as the boat went broadside into the sea.”

“They made themselves as secure as possible on the topside of the sailer’s hull and clung there while each wave broke over them and threatened to wash them away.”

“The minutes lengthened, and though their halloos might easily have been heard on the (nearby) battleship, the wind setting in that direction, there was no sign given that any one on board had seen the accident or noted the men struggling in the water.”

“For more than an hour … Prince Kūhiō Kalaniana‘ole and the three companions with whom he started to make the sail from the harbor to Pearl River …”

“… battled for their lives in the waves which swept over their heads and threatened each moment to wash them from the hull of the overturned boat, to which they clung. They were without the bell buoy and within three quarters of a mile of the battleship Oregon.”

“It was left for some young men on the galleries of the Myrtle Boat house to see, without a glass, the accident and the position of the sailors, and to rush an order to Young Brothers to send their fastest launch to the rescue.”

“This order was given in such time that the schooner and attending launch were just passing Young’s island when the little boat went out to assist the castaways.”

“When the men were reached they were all in fair shape though they felt the effects of the battering of the waves and were considerably exhausted by the strain upon them.”

“They were taken into the launch and a line passed to the yacht and she was towed to her anchorage off the club house. Last evening all the members of the party were in the best of shape.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, November 17, 1902)

“The Delegate elect, Prince Kūhiō, came pretty close to a fatal accident yesterday. Apart from the of a brilliant young Hawaiian, a fatal accident to the Prince have necessitated a fresh election …”

“… and the Territory having passed through one election struggle is not prepared to start out for another. The Prince belongs to the people now and his life and breath are matters of public importance.” (Hawaiian Star, November 17, 1902)

This wasn’t the only rescue of the time by Young Brothers, less than 2-weeks before, “The small island schooner Kauikeaouli … was just putting to sea with a cargo of general merchandise which had been taken from the disabled schooner Concord, which had to return from sea a few days ago after springing a leak.”

“It seems that the schooner had a fair wind and sailed away from the wharf, but would not steer. Her skipper thought this was because of her foul bottom, but a moment later the vessel swung over against the bow of the Alameda and had a small hole punched in her by one of the steamer’s anchors which was hanging half out of the water.”

“One of Young Brothers’ launches got hold of the schooner and took her bark to the wharf, where carpenters found the damage, to be light and easily repaired It during the day.”

“The captain of the schooner says that he had a shipsmith repair his steering gear, and that the wheel was put on in such a way that It steered the vessel in just the opposite direction from what was intended.” (Hawaiian Gazette, November 7, 1902)

The image shows the Young Brothers’ boathouse (center – structure with open house for boats on its left (1910), on what is now about where Piers 1 and 2 are, in the background is what is now Kaka‘ako Makai).

Young_Brothers_Boathouse-center_structure_with_open_house_for_boats_on_its_left-1910

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.

“[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.)