Statewide County HI Archives Biographies.....Foster, William Robson March 5, 1868 - 
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J. Orr jessicanorr@gmail.com July 5, 2011, 9:07 pm

Source: The Story of Hawaii and Its Builders, Honolulu Star Bulletin, Ltd. Territory of Hawaii, 1925
Author: Edited by George F. Nellist

WILLIAM ROBSON FOSTER, Harbor Master. Associated with the sea and shipping 
since 1879, William R. Foster, harbor master of Honolulu, was appointed to 
that position in 1911 after having been associated with various firms in the 
city following his arrival in Honolulu in 1898.
  Born March 5, 1868, at Liverpool, England, Captain Foster is the son of 
Thomas Yates and Ellen (Appleton) Foster, and received his education at Mount 
Pleasant Institute, Liverpool. At the age of 11 he ran away to sea, making his 
first trip to America as a stowaway on the sailing vessel “Edward O’Brien.” 
Thereafter he followed the sea continuously for almost twenty years, advancing 
from cabin boy to master of sailing and steam vessels. In the 80’s Captain 
Foster engaged in pearl fishing enterprises in the South Seas and at Samoa he 
was a friend of Robert Louis Stevenson, who frequently made mariners his 
guests, urging them to relate their experiences at sea. Some of these stories 
were used by Stevenson in fiction.
  Captain Foster came to Honolulu on H.R.M. “Monowai,” leaving the vessel here 
to enter the employ of the Inter-Island Steam Navigation Co., acting as chief 
mate from 1898 to 1900, when he joined Theo H. Davies & Co. and had charge of 
that firm’s warehouses until 1908. In the latter year he became associated 
with the Honolulu Construction and Draying Co., Ltd., serving as vice-
president and assistant manager until his appointment as harbor master. 
Captain Foster became a naturalized American citizen in 1892.
  He married Christine Maud Stevenson in Honolulu, Dec. 24, 1899, and they 
have one son, Dr. Herbert Robson Foster, now practicing dentistry in Oakland, 
Calif. Captain Foster is a Mason, Odd Fellow and a member of Healani Boat 
Club. He is master (1925) of Honolulu Lodge, No. 409, F.&A.M.


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