Statewide County HI Archives News.....Important People - Part 9. July 31, 2008 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/hi/hifiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Darlene E. Kelley http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374 August 3, 2008, 7:30 pm Keepers Of The Culture, A Study In Time Of The Hawaiian Islands July 31, 2008 Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Darlene E. Kelley http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374 July 31, 2008. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Historical Collections of Hawai'i Keepers of the Culture A Study in Time, of the Hawai'ian Islands Important People - Part 9 by Darlene E. Kelley ++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Part 9 Important People CHARLES CLERKE (1743 - 1779) Clerke, who began a career at the age of twelve, had sailed twice previously on Pacific voyages with James Cook before coming to Hawai'i. He had been master's mate and third Lieutenant of the Endeaver and Lieutenant on the first voyage of the Resolution. He was put in command of the Discovery in February. 1776, and fled from the threat of debtors prison for having signed a promissory note for his brother. Before departing he had caught the dread germs of tuberculosis, and his condition worsened throughout the third voyage. He was in command of the discovery, the ship from which the Hawai'ians at Kealakua Bay stole his best boat, and logically should have been the captain to go shore and reclaim it. After consultation with Cook, Clerke rowed back to his own ship and ordred a cordon of boats to guard the bay. When he returned to the Resolution, Cook had suddenly decided to go ashore, with fatal results. Clerke immediately assumed command of the flagship, the Resolution, on February 14, 1779, and on the return voyage died at sea on August 22, 1779. +++++++++++++++++++++ RICHARD JEFFREY CLEVELAND ( 1773 -1860 ) Born in Salem. Massachusetts, son of a privateer in the Revolutinary War, Cleveland made his first voyage to China in 1792. As a trader on the Northwest Coast, he first visited Hawai'i in 1799. In 1803, in partnership with William Shaler, he brought the first horses to Hawai'i in the Lelia Byrd. The animals came from California. A mare and a foal were landed at Kawaiahae Bay for John Young. The ship then proceeded to Lahaina, Mau'i, where Kamehameha I visited aboard and viewed the horse and mare before they were landed. Kamehameha himself was the first to learn horsemanship, he was followed in later years by thousands of dedicated riders. ++++++++++++++++++++ TITUS COAN (1801 -1882 ) Born in Connecticut, Coan was educated at Auburn Theological Seminery, Massachusetts, and was ordained 1833. After a missionary exploring trip to Patagonia, he married Fidelia Church in 1834 and the couple arrived in Honolulu in 1835 with the Seventh Company of American missionaries. They were stationed at Hilo, Hawai'i, where Coan spent most of the remainder of his life. He was the leader in the " great revival " of 1838-1840; on one Sunday in July, 1838, the Hilo missionaries baptized 1,705 converts and gave communion to 2,400 church members. Three years later, seven thousand people belonged to Coan's church, making it the largest Protestant congregation in the world at the time. Important visitors to Hilo usually were invited to stay with the Coans. The minister was an active student of the volcano region,and led many trips to Kilauea. He recorded almost all that is known of volcanic action from 1835 to 1865 in letters to the Missionary Herald and American Journal of Science. The first Mrs. Coan died in 1872, leaving four children, and Titus married Lydia Bingham, a daughter of Hiram Bingham I. ++++++++++++++ RAY COLL, Sr. (1872 -1962 ) Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Coll early became a newspaper man interested in politics. He worked in Arizona and California for several years before returning to Pennsylvania, wherehe was editor of the Pittsburgh Dispatch from 1912 to 1921. On a world cruise, he stopped over to visit a sister-in-law in Hawai'i. When his wife, Annette Towzy pointed out that he was without a job, Coll began working for the Honolulu Advertiser, and soon became editor in 1922. He was active in that post until 1959. He was the first person to broadcast an account of the Pearl Harbor attack of December 7, 1941. For many years he had conducted a weely news program on KGU radio. He received an honorary doctorate from the University of Hawai'i in 1958 and the Order of the Splintered Paddle from the Honolulu Chamber of Commerce the same year. +++++++++++++++++ JAMES COLNETT (1755 -1806 ) An early trader to the Northwest Coast and Hawai'i, Colnett was master of the Prince of Wales, 1787 -1788, and of the Argonaut, 1791. The Princess Royal, captained by Charles Duncan, and the Prince of Wales, under Colnett, were in Hawai'ian waters from January 2 to March 18,1788. Archibald Menzies was among the crew of the latter ship. The Argonaut and Prince of Wales were captured by the Spanish during the Nootka Sound controversy in 1789. The Argonaut was soon returned to Colnett and came to Hawai'i in April, 1791. The Princess Royal, under Spanish colors and commanded by Manuel Quimper, was in the islands at this time. The two ships met off the coast of the Big Island and Colnett fearing that the Spanish were trying to take over Hawai'i and seeing his captured ship under the Spanish ensign, almost came to a point of firing a broadside at the Pricess Royal. +++++++++++++++++ James Cook (1728 -1799 ) The leader of the expedition that first revealed the existence of the Hawai'ian Islands to the rest of the world was born in a farm cottage in Yorkshire in northern England. He sailed the North Sea before rising to the rank of master's mate in the Royal Navy,and then served during the battle for Quebec in the French and Indian War. He learned to be an expert navagator and for four years mapped the coast of Newfoundland. With the rank of lieutenant, Cook was chosen to command the Endeavour during his first Pacific voyage. On June 3, 1768, he observed at Tahiti the passage of the planet Venus across the face of the sun. During the next six months, Cook, and his men mapped the coasts of New Zealand and the eastern coast of Australia. The small vessel went home to England aound the world and Cook was soon asked to head a second Pacific expedition. On this voyage, during which he commanded the Resolution and Adveture, Cook was the first to sail south of the Antartic Circle and discovered or rediscovered many Pacific Islands. The Resolution returned to England in July, 1775, having sailed more than sixty thousand miles in a voyage lasting more than three years -- the longest then on record. Thanks to Cook's experiments in the need for vitamins in diet, not one of his crew died of the dread disease of scurvy, which was so prevailent in those days. On his famed third voyage, which completed a career of ten years as the foremost figure in Pacific exploration, Cook commanded the Resolution, his consort ship was the Discovery under Captain Charles Clerke. After revisiting islands in the South Pacific and discovering Christmas Island, the ships headed northward. On January 18, 1778, Cook sighted an island to the norheast, soon after, another to the north. Next day, another was seen to the northwest. These were O'ahu, Kaua'i, and Niihau, westernmost of the main islands of the Hawai'ian group. Cook christened them the Sandwich Islands in order of his patron in the British Admiralty, the Earl of Sandwich. Many canoes came off from the coast of Kaua'i to the ships, which the Hawai'ians called " floating islands." Trade began, helped by the fact that the local language was simular to that of Tahiti, and some Tahitians were aboard Cook's ships. The Hawai'ians were especially eager to obtain iron nails, which they used for fishhooks. Captain Cook went ashore for the first time at the village of Waimea, Kaua'i, on January 21. He was greeted everywhere as if he were one of the highest chiefs. Cook also went ashore a few days later at a small island of Niihau. He was given a few yams and salt for curing pork. In return, he gave the people three goats and two English pigs, as well as some seeds to plant -- melon. pumpkin, and onion. The two ships headed north early in February, to seek the legendary Northwest Passage that would enable ships to sail ships to sail between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans north of North America. Cook spent many months exploring the coasts of Oregon on the American side across to Kamchatka on the Asian side, and went north beyond the Arctic Circle without finding the fabled Passage. Cook decided to sail south to spend the coming winter in the warm Sandwich Islands among its friendly people. On November 26, 1778, the ships sighted the north coast of Mau'i, and the next day viewed the mass of Haleakala Volcano. Two chiefs, Kahekili and Kalaniopuu, who were fighting each other, visited the ships separately. A young chief, nephew of Kalaniopuu, spent the night aboard the Resolution. His name was Kamehameha, and he was quick to observe the objects that made the white and dark strangers appear so powerful. Instead of running south, where he would have found the shelter of the Kona Coast, Cook began to circle the Big Island for six weeks, by way of the Hamakua Coast, Cape Kumakahi, and Ka Lae, and then went north until a haven was found at Kealakekua Bay. No fewer than ten thousand Hawai'ians, shouting and singing, " swimming about the ships like shoals of fish, " or riding on surfboards (planks) surrounded the visitors. During the months since Cook had visited the northwestern islands, the people had decided that he was their god, Lono, returning to his people during the makahiki (enjoyment of harvest ) season of peace and games. Cook went through a ceremony at the heiau alongshore, but he thought that the title of " Erono " was merely one of high repect. He did not understand that from now on he was supposed to act like a God. Kalaniopuu returned to his domain and on January 25,1779, began visits, to the ships with his procession of canoes. Gifts were exchanged and the sailors freely visited with the people ashore. It is said that during this time, that Cook lost some of his crew to the women of the islands, particularly some of the polynesians that were aboard the Discovery. The work of refitting the battered ships along with some of the native Hawai'ians helping and the collecting of provisions for the voyage to Asia was marred by occassional theft. After a farewell feast, the English ships sailed north on February 4, with the suppliment of natives, to replace the sailors that had jumped ship and no longer could be found. But on the night of the 7th, strong southerly winds damaged the foremast of the Resolution and the ships had to creep back to Kealakekua. Cook feared that he had worn ou his welcome, for the makahiki season was over and all the supplies had disappeared from the region. Perhaps too, he feared that he would lose the natives he had taken aboard to replace lost sailors, as some had wives ashore. The mast was laid out ashore, but work was interrupted by further stealing, and fights broke out between the natives and sailors. When it was found that the largest boat of the Discovery had been stolen, Captain Cook decided to teach the Hawai'ians a lesson. On the early morning of February 14th, he went ashore with a lieutenant and nine marines, and attempted to take Kalaniopuu as a hostage until the boat was returned. After a series of unfortunate events, the shore party was attacked by a howling crowd of two or three hundred angry Hawai'ians. They were unaware of the power of the power of the sailors' guns, and showered the party with stones. Cook was hit with a club and then was stabbed in the neck or shoulder with one of the iron daggers made aboard ships fo trade. Cook groaned, and the Hawai'ians decided that he was not their God Lono after all. Under fire from the boats offshore, the Hawai'ians carried inland the bodies of their many dead and wounded, along with the bodies of four marines and the dead Captain. After some further fighting, the mast was brought back on the Resolution and a truce was arrainged and the Hawai'ians that were aboard dismissed, part of the body of Cook was delivered to Captain Clerke, now in command, and was buried on February 21, in the waters of the bay. Other parts of Cooks' body had been given to various chiefs ashore who had taken part in the fighting. The ships departed for the second time on the 22nd. they sailed west of Mau'i and north of Moloka'i, and skirted the north shore of O'ahu before spending a few hours off Waimea, Kaua'i. On March 15 the ships left the Sandwich Islands and the grave of their captain in the wake. But thereafter, Cooks' fame spread as the world's greatest explorer by sea, and for some years the Hawai'ian group was considered to be under the protection of the spreading British Empire. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ to be continued in part 10. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/hi/statewide/newspapers/importan30nnw.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/hifiles/ File size: 13.5 Kb