The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1917-10-12
CAPTAIN MATSON
" IS DEAD ON COAST.
Honolulu Business interests
Mourn Passing Of Shipping
Man Who Boosted HaWAAiA !

'H sl ~ 1SFtNNtf>iTHTA :
Captain William Matson, president
and a principal owner in the Matson
Navigation Company, of San Francisco,
died at half past six clock yesterday
morning at his home in San Francisco,
announcements being received in Ho-
nolulu both by Associated Press and by
private cablegrams to Castle & Cooke,
local agents for the shipping firm. The
funeral will be held tomorrow after.
noon, at which time all places of bust.
ness Of the Matson Company and allied
companies and all Offices at sugar plan
tations in which the captain was in
terested, will be closed. For FIVE min.
utes, while the funeral services arc
being held, the engines of all steamers
will be stopped and silence will pre-
vail throughout the fleet which Captain
Matson built up TO he one of the larg-
est merchant marine corporations un.
der the American flag.
Castle l. Cooke received a message
early yesterday morning announcing
the death, and that the captain did not
regain consciousness after receiving q
stroke of paralysis the night before.
This was the third attack he has had
in the last two years.
Business Sec ton Shocked
The death of Captain MatsOn was
received with profound regret through.
out the city, particularly in the bust
ness district and along the waterfront,
for his name has been intimately asso-
ciated with the Development Of the
Hawaiian Islands through the great
corporation he built up from the small
schooner Emma Claudina which he him
self commanded, to the palatial steam
ship Maui which was commissioned last
April and which made it's maiden trip
TO Honolulu the same month, with
himself as passenger. ...'
The chamber of commerce Of Homo
lulu sent message of coincidence to
Mrs. Matson at San Francisco, and re-
uuested +. D.. Tenney, president of Gas,
tie & Cooke, and also ice.president Of
The MatsOn Company, who is now in
San Francisco, to provide suitable
floral tribute at the funeral as the ex.
preston of sympathy of the local
chamber. 49,.
The promotion committee also passed
resolutions of sympathy, eulogizing
Captain Matson. The resolutions stated
that Captain MatsOn had at all times
done everything in his power to pro
mote travel to the Hawaiian Islands
tevcn at times when his steamers could
be more Profitably employed else
where.
Honolulu was prepared, however, fol-
an early announcement of the death OF
Captain Matson through the cable DIES
patches concerning his serious illness
which were published in The Advertiser
yesterday morning.
Great Loss to Hawaii
~ rank Atherton, one of the official,
of Castle & Cooke, in a message of ap
probation to the public, said the j.
lands have suffered n great loss in thu
death Of Captain Matson, who has beer
Hawaii 'ssstaunch friend for years, and
that his foresight, indomitable perse
verance and progressiveness have beer
great factors in retaining freight anC
passenger facilities between the Is
lands and San Francisco; that he al
ways maintained reasonable rates, AM
particularly during the period of the
war had not taken the slightest ad
vantage of the situation to increase
rates to his gain, or to divert any OF
his steamers from this trade when HI
was offered very attractive inducements
to charter his vessels to other parties
Mr.. AthertOn expressed the opinion
that his death would be keenly felt il
Hawaii for many years.
Captain Matson was president of thu
San Francisco chamber of commerce
at time when San Francisco was ris
ing rapidly from the disaster which
Overcame it in 1906. He was identi
fed with public interests, and becam,
identified with many corporations asso
ciated more or less with shipping, suci
as being president of the Honolulu Con
sOlidated Oil Company, which has beer
largely capitalized by Honolulans; vice
president of the Honolulu Sugar Plan
tatiOn Company; interested as a direc
tor in the Irwin sugar plantations here
lIakalau and Hutchinson sugar compa
MES, and director of several San Fran
cisco banking institutions. He paveC
the way for the organization nov
known as the Associated Oil Company
The fact that he had made his way VI
to the top in the commercial and ship
ping world, focusing his operations II
San Francisco, and had developed from
"A man before the mast to head of one
of the most important of the maritime
corporations, made him n conspicuous
and unique figure in California, and hi.
name known acorss the continent.
Captain Matson was born at Lyse
xii, Sweden, October Is, 1S49. 1t is 8
coincidence that Captain Matson, born
in the year of the gold rush to Califor
mia, should at the time of his dealt
have risen to become so conspicuous o
factor in California's progress.
He is survived by a widow, Mrs. Lily
Matson, and daughter, Lurline, wife
Of William Roth, formerly of Honolulu
and now secretary Of the Matson Com
pany. The captains private fortune
~ estimated at four or five million dol