Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-01-08
WELCOME 70 CABLE
How Hawaii Received the
Steamer silyertown.
GREAT RE1oIc1N Gs
ANIMATED SCENES IN THE HAIR
BOB OF HONOLULU.
Last Stage of the Linking of the Is
lands to the Main
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.

Special Correspondence Of The Evening Star.
HONOLULU, T. H., December q, 1902.
With scores of whistles blowing screechy
inharmonious welcomes on shore, and the
famous old Royal Hawaiian Band circling
about her on tug and playing the Star
Spangled Banner God Save the King"
aloha De" Hawaii Ponoi' and others of
the beautiful Hawaiian airs, the great ca
BILE ship Silvertown steame dinto Honolulu
harbor yesterday morning, after carrying
to within thirty-fve miles Of the shore of
the island the wonderful 1000 mile thread
which for years to come will connect these
far-off Islands with the great Anne n
continent. The Sivertown was the most
important arrival at Honolulu that any one
among the throngs greeting her will live
to see.
The silvertown is British vessel, and
the union jack fioated at her stern All
the other vessels on the scene with the ex-
ception Of big sailing ships, which natural
ly stayed at their moorings in the harbor,
were American. 1t was In good taste there
fore that kappelmiester Berger, for thirty
years the leader Of the royal government
band, struck up God Save the King as
the first national anthem. He had played
a lively march or two as he steamed
through the channel to meet the huge
steamer, which had dropped 5000 tons of
LOCO tons Of coal in doing it, and which
therefore stood high out of the water, AL
most like great top-heavy, unbalanced
cork AS he approached the Silvertown
and struck up the hymn the Britishers love
to hear, 1t was hats off all over the Silver
town. The little tug steamed round her
and played the British hymn, and then
suddenly changed u to The Star spangled
banner. Heads remained uncovered. The
band went on with Aloha De-" and fol-
lowed with everything that Berger could
think Of.
The Official Greeting.
Other vessels were coming out in the
meantime. The tug Eleu, with Secretary
of the Territory Henry E. Cooper on board,
was already on the scene Governor Dole
was absent on the Island Of Hawaii, and
the secretary was his representative. The
Eleu cavorted about the great cable steamer
also, and the ke Au Hou, an interisland
steamer, came to the scene her decks up
per and lower, black with Honolulans, who
cheered and cheered again, and were
answered by the Britishers every time, as
the steamer which had accomplished the
task Of connecting Honolulu with San
Francisco by wire moved slowly through
the channel of Honolulu harbor. A thin
rain, the liquid sunshine Of Hawaii, was
falling through the. sunlight, and making
rainbows such as the new arrivals had
never seen before in front Of the old ex-
tinct crater Of Punchbowl. There were
small boats galore. and every wharf was
thronged with people.
The Silvertown had buoyed the cable in
the open sea, thirty five miles northeast of
Oahu. At am. OF the day on which she
arrived at Honolulu, December 26. she
dropped the cable end overheard, fastened
to huge red buoy,~and then, her task al
most completed, she pointed her bow to
Honolulu harbor. ALL that remained to be
done was to lay the shore end, splice the
end that touched the Golden Gate with the
end that landed on the beautiful shore of
Waikiki, close tot where Robert Louis
Stevenson spent some of his happiest days
looking across the blue waters and writing
parts Of the sea stories that his name ever
recalls. then drop the whole thing into the
sea, and the cable connection of the Isolated
Sandwich Islands with the American con-
tinent would be complete.