The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-03-02

) NEWS OF THE WATERFRONT
kUkUI ARRIVES
HERE At LAST
Lighthouse Tender Is Speedy,
and Has a Fine
Equipment.

Arriving at her home station after q
maiden voyage that has taken her halt
around the globe, the trim little light
house tender Kukui was sighted oIi
Diamond Head early yesterday after
noon and pulled into her dock at the
Naval slip shortly before four CLOCK
Hereafter this boat will attend to the
wants of the isolated lighthouse keep
ers along the coasts of the Hawaiian
Islands, and, according to a rumor that
was circulated late yesterday, she will
make an annual trip to Midway Island
and an occasional one to Page Page.
A neater little craft, one more suit.
able for the work she is to handle
could hardly be imagined. She appears
to be about the size of the Inter ISLAND
steamer Kinau, though her shape and
general makeup are considerably diff,
ferent. The Kukui is 100 feet long
and she has a 800 net and CT gross
tonnage. She is equipped with twin
screws, triple expansion, HOO horse
power engines, and is capable of max
ing fourteen knots per hour under fav.
orabe conditions. That she is an IN
usually speedN boat was demonstrated
on the trip down here from San Fran
cisco, for on her best days run she
covered 316 miles, which smashed to
pieces the builders trial record.
The Kukui swung into some fearful
weather the moment she got outside Of
San Francisco harbor, and for eighteen
he foroo1 m, IN Hold
it not been for this delay, the light
house tender would have easily arrived
here Sunday afternoon, at the very
latest. AS it was, she made but 98
miles that day, while her general daily
average was close around the 300 mile
mark.
Enormous seas and head winds mark
ed the first few days of the vessel S pas
sage from the Coast metropolis, and she
was held back to some extent by these
and the cargo of coal which she car
ried in her forward hold. Enough coal
for the voyage could not be carried
in the bunl1ers of the vessel, SO her
hold was filed, and the men were kept
on the Jump most of the way down
transferring the byack stuff from the
hold to the after part of the tender.
In one instance. the forward hatch was
left open, and a mountainous sea
threw the nose of the little boat so
sharply up in the air that coal from
the hold was strewn all over the
bridge This is merely an illustration
of the rough conditions from a wealth
er standpoint which the Kukui bueked
against on her way here.
Cantain Thomas .Iobson is master OF
the lighthouse tender, and FL. s. MID
dleton is the first officer. Captain
.Jobson is an excellent man for the po-
sition he holds, having been III Ha-
waiian waters enough in the past to
have the general run of the place well
in mind already H. S. Middleton IS
first officer, and Fred Clark is chief en-
oineer. The other officers are NJ. Ar
cell, first assistant engineer, and
Charles Vaughn second assistant englz
neer. First Officer Middleton is Ho-
nolulu kamaaina, returned once more to
the land of sunshine. He was station
ed for fourteen months at this port on
the e. S. S. Nipsic, in 1891, just AFTER
the vessel arrived here from her terrible
experience in Samoa when several men
of-war were wrecked by combination
of hurricane and typhoon that sudden
lv struck them there. Mr.. Middleton
has an inexhaustible fund of interesting
"reminiscences of his lengthy stay at
this port many years ago, many OF them
concerning King Kalakaua.
On Zach side of the bow OF the tender
Kukui is a miniature lighthouse, en-
.hlematic of the work which the vessel
will be engaged in. Her name, . ku-
kui. - is peculiarly applicable, inasmuch
as the Hawaiian translation OF the Wofa
means eight She is not IN a very
clean condition at the present time on
account of her long voyage, ana she VIII
undergo thorough brushing-up lmmedl-
ately. She was on the marine ways
while in San Francisco, where her bot
tom was seraped. The vessel IS abso-
IuteIv new and makes splendid addi-
tion to the fleet of boats that is al
ready here The Kukui will have
special docking place IN Honolulu, out
whether this will be at the quarantine
wharf or on the Waikiki side OF the
harbor has not yet been definitely de
eided.
Makura Comes In.
With seventeen passengers for. tins
port, the Royal Mail steamer Makura,
one of the finest boats that runs here,
locked at ten O'Clock last night, ana
work was Immediately begun dlseharg-
ing what cargo she had for this port.
The Makura has a record list OF passen-
gers, carrying over 800 all told this
trip. Purser Bartlett reports the tour
list trade brisk il Australia, and saFs
large number of people are coming
this way soon. The most imortans
passenger on the boat was probably
Jack johnson. the heavyweight cham
pion. The Makura will probably con
tinue her voyage at four clock this
afternoon, though nothing definite was
known about this up until ten-thlrty
last night. T. H. Davies II Co.,, are
the agents.
Shipping Notes.
The schooner James H. Bruce IS at
anchor in the offing. where she Will say
for a few DAYS until her two jiis aud