Schooner Kaimiloa “KFUH” Owner millionaire family Mr. and Mrs. Medford R. Kellum. Thisis a multi purpose story including what became of the Kellum’s and “The Kaimiloa Expedition.”Oursubjects wife, Elizabeth Lauder Kellum was the niece of Andrew Carnegie. Liz was probably oneof the most wealthy young ladies in the U.S.A. at the time. The rest of the story; Medford Kellum’s
younger years an alumni of College of William & Mary 1895. Starting in 1907 had served as aseaman and tourist guide for the Lauder family, holding captains operators license 65178 from the1914 list of officers of merchant; steam; motor and sail vessels. He had supervised the Lauderfamily on Florida fishing trips for Tarpon in the Florida Keys.
January of 1910 Med married Elizabeth Lauder, half his age. From 1920 to 1923 he made a fortune
in Miami real estate. In 1924 the couple sailed in quest of eternal happiness, only to have it end inReno Nevada divorce courts. It (1928) was a tragic year, the end of the Kellum marriage andElizabeth expired a year or so later after the divorce, leaving some children and their daughter Anna..

However in the better years of the association Med Kellum formed an expedition in 1924 throughthe Bishop Museum in Honolulu who invited a select a group of scientists to accompany them on
their private four masted schooner Kaimiloa (Explorer) on a visit to many island calls in the southPacific. Their expedition into Polynesian Anthropology would be known as “The KaimiloaExpedition.” The Schooner Kaimiloa Captained by A.E. Carter with steam auxiliary, specially fittedfor the South Sea cruise and exploration work, arrived from San Francisco Oct 31st with owner
M.R.Kellum, wife and family and party of friends, they planned to enjoy the islands by again sailingto visit Maui, then to Hilo, to permit the party’s visit to the volcano.
Our Radioman stationed aboard the Kaimiloa, one Frederick G. Roebuck, a veteran ex 6ZY and 6FD
employed many first shortwave radio contacts with experimentation along the whole trip. Many QSL
cards of the expedition still exist today! Just yesterday I observed a battered KFUH card on Ebay.
Zoologist Stanley C. Ball, was chief of the party of six which included Kenneth P. Emory,ethnologist and Armstrong Sperry, associate ethnologist. The Kaimiloa sailed from Honolulu onNovember 9th 1924 and made short stops at Fanning, Christmas, Malden and Tongareva, wheresome archaeological research was possible. The schooner arrived at Tahiti on Jan 1 1925, where thescientific personnel disembarked. Emory and Sperry remained for some months to continue the studyof archaeology in Tahiti and the Tuamotus. Continued page two.

The Kellum dream of a perpetual honeymoon may not have been achieved. You be the judge. Yourauthor is going to give you some homework to view the apparent tumultuous (Kellum/Lauder)marriage. Please remember Kellum did not defended himself. His education and proper sailingmasters credentials were obtained by your author. He showed keen judgement having a veteranCaptain in charge of the SS. Kaimiloa on the “South Seas.”
Roots Web has the marriage and unfortunate status of the Kellum/Lauder affair in black and white.
Dial up the information by the following;
http://listsearches.rootsweb.com/th/read/KELLUM/2004-02/1075765731
Should that URL fail and bring up the registry instead,click on February 2004 -7 messages, then click on thefirst header. You should be in business with the family
history (2 pages) via Rootsweb.
We might add, Medford R. Kellum born
1874Vincennes In, (home of Red Skelton) expired at
Del Rio TX in 1934. Ships view of the Schooner
Kaimiloa, radio call KFUH. Picture taken November
2nd 1924 before leaving port in Honolulu T.H. - On
the “Kaimiloa Expedition.”
Did the owners have some cash? You bet they did,that is a monster of a sailing ship and would havetaken a well equipped crew to handle her.
It is noted Armstrong Sperry one of the technical party
who sailed along, learned the languages, the legends
and the music. He drew pictures and stored memories
that have found their way into many of his publishedbooks. He was awarded the Newbery medal in 1941.
With an expedition the size of the Ka-imi-loa one
would think there would be a sizeable radio file. But
was not the case, only two small references of being
on the air in the Pacific and she was removed from theFCC Radio Service Bulletin December 1929. Meaning
she was either sold or scrapped. The owner expired in
1934. With appreciation Robbin Kellum Harrison,Comings and goings Time Magazine July 2 -1928;
www.nzetc.org www.ogram.org
QSL card
www.qslcollection.co.uk Kaimiloa photo owned byBob Ballantine 2009.
W8SU 2009