The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-11-21

other interests IN these seas
Did Commodore Downes have vision
of the future great naval base at Pearl
Harbor, now being built and fortified,
TO be ready to challenge the world in
1922
Whalers Came to Winter.
Whalers found Honolulu harbor Of
refuge when Arctic billiards drove them
southwark; place where tradesmen
could reft their ships and supply their
necessities in the way of food. and
where stores of oil could be landed and
sent back to New England in trading
clippers. New England shipping ports
were the starting points of many yes
sells which became widely known as
carriers of the first missionaries and
the gospel to the natives of the Sand
witch Islands, as they were then desig-
mated.
Goods were first landed at Waikiki
and later discharged at Honolulu proper.
At first there were no wharves and
boats came to the beach from the an
chored vessels. depositing the goods
upon the sand. A breach was made
in the coral reef-guard at the entrance
into the harbor in a unique manner.
It was no easy task for ships to enter
the port. for there were no towing
steamers in those early days. A long
hawser had to be sent ashore and dozens
of natives, great, strong men, took
grip upon ii and pulled. BullOcks were
also employed to aid the towing process.
The first ship to come into the harbor
was the schooner Jackal which in 1894
was the first to drop anchor in the
stream. Within a year of the great
invasion of Oahu by Kamehameha and
few months after Vancouver had
anchored off Waikiki Bay the entrance
into the inner harbor was discovered
| by Captain Brown Of the Jackal. With
! the entry of the first schooner Homo
lulu became recognized as a shipping
headquarters and between December 1,
| 1917, and September 20, 1918, the ar
rival and sailing of thirty-eight ships
at Honolulu harbor was noted in the
journal of James Hunnewell, one of
the first foreigners to open trading
store in Honolulu.
Honolulu Harbor Crowded.
Honolulu harbor became well known,
although for many years Lahaina was
the chief port in the Islands. AS the
whaling in dustry in the Pacific seas be-
came greater, more vessels came here
for reftting and there would be half a
dozen whalers in port at a time, then
score, some times fifty and sixty, and
at one time it is said about hundred
ships were in these waters. Their crews
were hardy, happy go-lueky venture
some men of the sea. With hundreds
of whaleman in port at the same time
the town shuddered, for their ways were
rough, and at times there were riots,
| for even in those days the liquor ques-
ton was an important topic of public
and official consideration.
Warships became more frequent in
| these waters and the Islands assumed
greater Importance from a strategic
standpoint and but for the policy of
| the American Republic, proclaimed by
Daniel Webster, warning other nations
| to keep their hands off. a flag other
than that of the United States might
have flown over these Islands decades
ago, and annexation, as known to Amer
leans. would never have been a ques
ton to consider at all
Steam Replaced Sails.
Wooden frigates gave way to steam
warships and the clipper boats which
made fast runs from San Francisco tt
Honolulu-the only passenger carrier:
in those days-were given a setback
when paddle-wheel liners We're dispatch
ed from San Francisco for this port
| In the Cos the steamers began to pl1