Native Hawaiian Tyrone Young,
KeOlaMagazine.com | January - February 2022
age 82, was born in the wild isolation of Waipi‘o Valley. Now, he is coming forward to disclose details of his mana‘o (truth) about the most haunting event of his life that has remained unsettled in his heart for almost 40 years. In 1983, Tyrone, then 44, was asked to accompany a National Geographic photographer into the burial chambers of a North Kona lava tube complex. The magazine wanted Tyrone to pose with the skeletons of the four massacred sailors from the Fair American, a schooner captured off the Kona coast in 1790. The photograph appeared in an article titled “Kamehameha, The Warrior King,” by Louise Levathes, for the November 1983 issue. Tyrone, who was claustrophobic, reluctantly entered the lava tube. He was startled to see the extraordinary sight of a complete skeleton in a canoe. It appeared to be at least seven feet in length. To this day, Tyrone believes—without a doubt—that the bones in this canoe are the lost bones of King Kamehameha the Great, the first ruler of the Hawaiian Kingdom. The “lost” bones refer to the infamous two-century-long search to locate the king’s final resting place, somewhere along the Kona coast. Today, the location of the lava tube burial is a protected historical site on land owned by Bishop Estates.
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Bone Boy of Sacred Waipi‘o On April 1, 1946, the most destructive tsunami in Hawai‘i’s modern history hit the Hawaiian Islands. “In Waipi‘o,” explained Tyrone, “the waves destroyed my grandfather’s rice fields and dragged my grandmother inside her house a mile deep into the valley. It also tore apart the ancient sacrificial temple, Pa‘akalana Heiau [historical spelling Paka‘alana], that had stood guarding the mouth of the valley for centuries. The young conqueror Kamehameha once tended the heiau when Waipi‘o was the ancient capital of Hawai‘i Island. “After the tsunami, when my father leased 11 acres from the Bishop Museum to farm lo‘i kalo [wetland taro] as part of the deal, they made him caretaker of the ruins of Pa‘akalana Heiau. “During the winter months, the kona winds blew from the south over the black sand beach and exposed the bleached white bones of the fallen warriors that had been displaced under the heiau debris. My older brother Robert and I were tasked with reburying the fractured skulls, thigh bones, and pieces I could not name. I was eight years old when my father stood over me and said, ‘Never touch the bones with your bare hands. Grab a piece of driftwood to dig a hole. Get them back in the earth. Hurry son. Don’t tarry!’”
Lost Bones of Kamehameha Tyrone Young’s 1983 Discovery By Melisse Malone
Tyrone Young, photographed for National Geographic magazine’s November 1983 issue with a circulation of more than 30 million copies. Tyrone is in the burial chamber of American teenager Thomas Metcalfe and his crew of three Chinese men of the schooner Fair American. After publication, Herb Käne invited the Metcalfe family descendants of New Jersey to Hawaiÿi to meet Tyrone, “a descendant of Chief Kameÿeiamoku, the chief who killed their great-great uncle Thomas 193 years earlier.” photo copyright Steve Raymer, 1983
