Saturday press. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1880-1885, 1883-10-27
tnorr rnr lLiMnpt,s cirriIN.


" UNNH NiHl hNnHaNs NtNtu uaNN ailN TWO
minutes from pilo, to pilot,
In every essential particular the Alameda
Is an exact duplicate Of the Mariposa, cousc.
qucntly detailed description Of the Manpo>a's
twin sister would I've valuelcss repetition. but
the Alameta's officers have histories and in.
diyidualitics Of their own well worthy more
extended mention than time or space admits.
The names of those officers ares II. q.
Morse. captain !. c. Hawthorne. first OH.
Ger a. d. Little, chief engineer; !. u. SUIT.
ton, pufser VI. W. Falroncr. surgeon u.
C. Martin, first assstan, engineer: G.. ".
Wood, second assistant Henry Fletcher,
third assistant; +. &. Lucas. second officer I;
w. II. Fergutson, third officer Charles Dex.
ter. steward
When the city editor told the gush reporter
to 20 and welcome the Alameda, that soft.
voiced youth sharpened an extra pencil and
took along an extra quire OF copy clip, for he
had iorcknowlcdgc OF Captain Morse and knew
that officers old.iime friends would expect
many biographical and personal details not
otherwise demanded. And so-with some
tact and talent in interviewing, some reading
of old newspapers, and some listening to the
chit chat Of the ehandlery stores have been
gathered the following details Of one Of the
mos, experienced and popular Of steam boat
captains
Hiram G.. Morse was born in Haverhill,
Massachusetts, in 1889. As a lad he used to
sail single ships ON Haverhi Pond, and
sometimes he went down to the sea shore TO
listen to the surf dogs and wish he were
sailor He was only ten years old when he
made his first voyage out Of Newburyport in
the schooner Ocean bound for the mackercl
grounds off the Maine and New Brunswick
coast. Three years he sailed a.mack relnp
and in three other schoonerS the Pledge, the
Thistle and the Leader Then he wen, out of
! schooners and maekereling and coas, work
generally, and, in the brig Nereus, made his
first voyage to the blue Mediterranean.
After that no more Of briggs By this time he
had gained experience, won confidence and
risen in rank For fivs adventurous years he
sailed from Boston TO Sumatra in the full.rieped
ship Plato, then in the pepper trade; making
one return voyage by way ofthe Mediterranean.
In his sixth year with the Plato, by which
time he had risen to be a first officer, his ship
made one voyage for coffee TO Rio Ianciro.
lie nas twenty years old when he left the
Plato and entered the service of William II.
Bordman OF Boston, as chief officer and
saiing-master of the bark Bhering The
Bhering left Boston on the 2Sth of January,
1852. Her captain, William Jennings, was III
when tbevessel sailed. She arrived in Honolulu
on April 25rd, having made quick passage of a
hundred and fifteen days. Captain Jennings
died four days after the vessel reached this
port and was buried in the Nuuanu Street
Cemetery. Yesterday, Captain Morse did the
graceful kindness of repainting with his own
hands the palings that surround his dead mess.
mates grave. The late Elisha p. Allen
then American Consul at this port-placcd the
name of Sailing Master Morse on the register
as captain; and the Bhering sped away for the
Siberian coast, where for the FIVE years follow
ing she made annual voyages in quest of furs.
In 1857 Captain Morse entered the service OF
that staunch friend of the Hawaiian Islands
land OF Oahu College, James Hunnewell; and
took command of the Polynesian. In that
vessel Captain Morse sailed, via Honolulu, fol
Jarvis Island, then under the governorship oil
Samuel q. Wilder, at which place he took on
load of guau6. In the following year he re.
turned to Honolulu with the same vessel and
proceeded 10 Bakers Island, of which c. III.
Judd was then governor. Returning with hi.
guano TO Boston, he resumed command of the
Bhering and sailed to the Amoor River by way
OF the Cape OF Good Hope, taking cargo Of
China tea to Nicilief. His next voyage wa,
again TO Bakers Island after guano, in the shir
Siren, at which time Captain Babcock. now OF
this city, was governing the island 1t had
been arranged that on his return voyage he
should relinquish the command of the Siren n,
Honolulu and join the plantation venture OF
$. G. Wilder. But the failure of the San
Francisco firm of C. W. Brooks & Co. pre-
vented and Captain Morse returned with the
Siren to Boston. He then entered the ser.
vice of w. III. Webb of New York, looking
out for that gentleman's extensive docking and
shipping interests. Subsequently he was 10
have taken charge Of the Pacific guano en-
terPrise of Mr.. Webb; but upon the com
promise Of that gentleman with the American
Guano Company, in 1862 the captain Joined
the Pacific Mail, as a second officer Eighteen
months thereafter he was promoted to a
captaincy. Since then he has been eleven
years with the Mail Company and something
over two years with the Pacific Coas, Steam.
ship Company being transferred by the Tor.
mer TO the latter company, along with the
steamer Dakota, in 1880. Except five
voyages to Panama, his routes have been from
San Francisco to China, and from San Fran,
cisco to Puget Sound. On the Panama route
he commanded the Constitution, the Nevada
and the Arizona; on the Shanghai route
the China, the Colorado, the Pekir
and the Alaska; ON the Sound route
the Alaska, the China and the Dakota
During the presidency Of Rufus Hatch, the
Pacific Mail adopted rule that all com
manders on the China route should leav.
their ships at San Francisco, proceed IL
Panama in command of a coaster, cross tn,
isthmus Of Darien. exchanging ships with al
Atlantic captain, and proceed to New York
Captain Morse Was the first commander to ac
under the new rule. When he reached New
York, he succeeded in convincing Presiden
Hatch that the rule was bad one because cap
tains could not learn in so brief change tn,
local knowledge necessary to make their differ
ing commands economical or safe. Captain
Morse has made one hundred and twenty .eigh
voyages IRON San Francisco 10 Pugc; sound
touching at Victoria, Pon Townsend. Seattle
New Tacoma and other less prominent places
No more popular commander ever sailed Alon,
fbf. rrarh.fcfss III. "a