The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1917-10-12
CAPTAIN WILLIAM WATSON
is NEAR DEATH ON COAST
WeIl-known Shipping Man Suf-
fers Second Stroke and Physi-
clans Say End win Come Soon

II
/ Capt. william Matson, president and
principal owner Of the Matson Naviea.
ton Company, lies In his home at San
Francisco at death Is door, according 10
an Associated Press report received
last night by The Advertiser. &.
| Captain Matson was the victim of a
stroke some months ago, from the ef.
feets of which he was slowly recover.
ing, having visited Honolulu some
months ago In a trip for his health.
He came down from the Coast on the
maiden trip OF his newest steamer, the
Mani, and left Hawaii much improved
physically. .....r.r,
Yesterday he had second stroke
and last night he was suffering from
cerebral hemorrhage, his physicians
announcing that his end was very near.
Caused BY overwork
The San Francisco despatch states
that this second stroke was brought on
by overwork while in poor health
| f. ID. Tenney, president and man.
ager Of Castle & Cooke and a director
of the Matson Navigation Company, is
! now on the Coast. In the event Of
the death of Captain Matson, il is prob.
able that the management of the steam.
ship company will devolve upon Mr..
Tenney. short time ago, during
Captain Matson Is previous severe N.
ness, Mr.. Tenney acted for him in the
management Of the company and the
plan then was for him TO make, his
home in San Francisco and to succeed
Captain Matson. The remarkable re-
covery made by the latter at that time
however, made these plans unnecessary.
Was Poor Boy y ....... O..
Captain Matson, whose hours appear
to be numbered, has for years been an
outstanding figure in Pacific marine
| circles. He started out in life 10
! Sweden, son of poor parents, forced by
| circumstances to go to sea when he
was a lad Of ten. Today he is one of
the largest owners in a great feet Of
steamers and one of the prominent men
of the Pacific Coast.
He was born October Is, 1919, the
year Of the famous California gold rush.
in Lysekil, Sweden. In his veins runs
the red blood of the ancient vikings;
within his breast is. that love of adven.
ture that will send man to the ends
of the earth to crafty the longing.
Perhaps this explains why the subse,
quent career of the man has been pos
sible. &c.. ".F b..
| Attendance at the public schools was
interrupted for Captain Matson when
he was ten years old, and he spent a
year at sea on sailing vessel as all
round "handy boy" Thereafter he
| went back to his books, but the lure
of the ocean continued to attract him,
and he left the school room for good
when he was but fourteen years old,
and sailed away for New York on the
Aurora, a Nova Scotia vessel.
| Gotham held it's attractions for the
young sailor only short time. Perhaps
it was the stories of the great West
that he heard that impelled him on.
ward. At any rate, he took passage
on the Bridgewater for the long and
hazardous trips around the Horn for
San Francisco where he arrived in
1867.
Becomes Captain
This same year young Matson Sc
cured berth on the old schooner John
J. for Puget Sound and other Northern
oorts, and upon his return transferred
to the bark Oakland and made a second
trip north. Afterward he was signed
on the schooner William Frederick. at
that time plying about San Francisco
bay and engaged chiefly in carrying
coal from Mount Diablo TO the Spreck-
els sugar refinery at Eighth and Bran
nan Streets. Two years later, just af.
ter he reached the age of majority, he
was put in charge of the vessel as cap
tain. He subsequently became captain
# the schooner Mission Canal, also en-
gagged in the transportation of coal.
In 1882 Captain Matson entered
upon his career as a ship owner, with
the building of the Emma Claudiha
for the run to the Sandwich Islands.
This was the nucleus of the business
that, under the title of the Matson
Navigation Company has since become
power in the shipping world. The
Emma Claudina was used in transport.
ing merchandise, particularly planta-
ton stores, to the Islands and bring
ing back eargOes of sugar.
Three years after the launching of
the Emma Claudina the schooner was
sold and CAPTAIN Matson built the
brig LurliRe for the same trade. Not
| "i'Vi "hiu NHEct Nobhtlb
making the route. Seeing the need of
replacing wood with iron, and sails with
steam, he soon increased his fleet of
vessels by the Santiago, Roderick Dhu,
Falls of Clyde, Chilcott and Monterey,
all Of iron, and later by the steamers
Enterprise, HilOAian and Rosecrans;
during the past few years there have
been added the steamers Lurline, Hy-
AIDES, Wilhelmina, Matsonia, Manoa and
Maui. of about 5000 tons each, and en-.
gagged in carrying passengers and
freight between San Francisco and
Hawaii and, just recently, the Philip.
pines.
Pioneer Oil Shipper
| Not content with transporting mer.
chandise, Captain Matson many years
ago entered as pioneer into the indus.
try of carrying oil by water. Immedi.
ately after the discovery of oil in the
California fields he rebuilt some of his
sailing vessels into tank ships, the
first on this Coast. He also branehed
out as an oil operator himself, with
heavy financial interests. The forty
/ five mile pine line from Gaviota IN the